Utila to San Andrés Itzapa (the real entry)

The humid tropical heat and bright indoor lighting in Utila disturbed my regular, 10pm to 6 or 7am Guatemalan sleeping pattern somewhat. I left Utila on a Friday afternoon, took a ferry and a taxi to a very pleasant $5/night hotel in La Ceiba with a loaded mango tree and trampoline in its courtyard. At around 4pm I lied down for a moment on my bed and promptly fell asleep. I slept until 10, and thanks to the porch light and unexpectedness of such a long sleep, I had no idea whether it was AM or PM or what I was supposed to do. When I finally re-oriented, I realized that it was 10PM, that my taxi driver was going to return at 4:30am, and that I was going to take an 'executive class' bus, 12 hours direct to Guatemala City along the same route that had taken me 2 days coming to Honduras. I was lukewarm about the idea of the executive class bus, thinking yes it would get me back so much quicker, but geez it probably wouldn't be nearly as interesting as taking a slower way. I managed to get a couple more hours sleep before my taxi driver helped make up my mind by not showing up so I missed the 5am direct bus. Instead I caught a 5:30am bus to San Pedro Sula, where I decided to take a different route back through Puerto Barrios, Guatemala.

This route was intriguing but unknown - I had heard one story of someone taking 10 hours just to cross the border here, and the Lonely Planet guide had only one hearsay report of someone crossing here via pickup. But my taxi driver and someone else I had talked to said it was fine and quick, and I had extra time, so figured why not. I waited for the bus from San Pedro Sula to la frontera (border) about 35 minutes, the longest I've had to wait for any of the maybe 30 buses I've caught now in central america. This was a beautiful ride, 3 hours along bumpy, muddy dirt roads through very rural countryside with farms, rainforest, numerous rivers, and one place where we bypassed a broken bridge by driving through the creek. On this ride, the woman I was sitting next to assured me it would take 8 hours to cross the border and I almost got off the bus to change my mind and take the known route. Instead I moved to the front of the bus and talked to the driver and another man, who both assured me I would have no problem or delay crossing the border. I've often found it hard to get consistent advice on directions or travel matters here. I especially felt like I could believe the man at the front of the bus, who I talked to for a while about his time as an immigrant in Denver Colorado, where I was born. So I continued on. The border office was in a little wood shack, where an officer promptly stamped my passport and sent me on my way without a single question. I boarded the back of a pickup along with the rest of the people from the bus, which took us 5 minutes across a rough, muddy road to a highway where a microbus waited to take us to the intersection to the carretera del atlántico which goes to Puerto Barrios to the east and Guatemala City to the west. Here the Guatemalan official stamped my passport, I paid in quetzales again for the pickup, and felt relief to be back in Guatemala, especially craving the fresh corn tortillas.

Grr, the internet cafe is closing, I'll have to continue this tomorrow.