CA4 border crossings

The border dance through the Central American states of El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua is a reluctant sashay between the traveller seeking passage and several shady characters.

There is always the Illegal Money Changer, since money changers are outlawed in the countries because of Escobar. The money changer holds a thick bunch of cash and approaches to change needed currenies as one is surrounded by...

The Helpers. If they speak English, they can be helpful guides for non Spanish speaking travellers for a small fee of say, $10, but they are often unnecessary at well marked borders, or borders such as El Salvador and Nicaragua where customs officers or Tourism Information Officers speak English. The Helper sometimes tries to convince you he is an official by showing a phony ID card. I have a knack of calling bullshit on this one, but mistook an official DGM officer for a Helper when he wore plain clothes because he didn't wanted a tan. The Helper is an opportunist and often a good sport.

The Corrupted Border Official is the asshole who gets you, the one who expects an inflated Vehicle Permit fee to be paid or to fix an error on the Vin number made by the official at the entry. The Honduras official took the cake in this department, despite us calling out multiple bluffs like non existent road tax or insurance payments we knew we didn't had to pay from Wikioverland website.

In Nicaragua we encountered another character - The Incompetent Official. This official managed to spell Debbie's name as Dennie, wrote her nationality as Slovenia instead of Singapore, got my driving license and bike colour incorrect, requiring 4 corrections to be signed and stamped and taking a long time while she was at it, creating potential problems for us at exit. She probably exaggerated her academic qualifications to get the job.

Sometimes, you encounter The Good One, a friendly, helpful and efficient official who genuinely wants to help you get from one border to the next quickly without expecting bribery. When you meet one, as we sometimes did, count yourself lucky.

The Central American border dance is a rite of passage for travellers seeking the Pan American run, an experience not to be missed, but preferably not to be repeated - Written by Kelvin