What a Day!

Thursday, Apr. 28, 2011--Perquin to Nowhere

My plans were to see the tourist sites this morning and catch the afternoon bus to Marcala across the Honduras border.  I slept long hours to try to deal with my sore throat which was quite a bit better.  I had a fantastic breakfast that came with my room--eggs, refried black beans, fruit salad, fruit juice, toast, jam, and coffee.  I walked into town and saw the museum related to the civil war.  Then I went next door and saw the guerrilla war camp.  Both were interesting.  I sat at a park for a couple of hours reading my guidebook information about the war and about Honduras.  Then I returned to the hotel, checked out, and walked to the bus stop for the Marcala bus.

The bus came an hour later than I had been told it would come--14:30 instead of 13:30.  We loaded on, and it went up a terrible mountain road through a national park, past campgrounds, etc., climbing, climbing, climbing.  It reminded me of the remote area of the Philippines where I was assigned in the Peace Corps.  The scenery was gorgeous.

Then we came to a military checkpoint.  They would not let me go further.  Although my guidebook had even updated its information about the border crossing saying that it was now possible to return to El Salvador and not just to leave for Honduras, I was told that there is no checkpoint there and foreigners cannot pass.  This has been a disputed area, so I am guessing that there has been a flareup recently related to the border.  Anyway, the bus left without me.  The soldiers called their headquarters and had to give them information from my passport and when I entered the country and where.  I guess they were making sure I am not a terrorist who was trying to sneak out of the country.  Eventually, all was fine, but by then, it was getting late.

One of the soldiers had communicated a little with me although he spoke less English than I do Spanish.  It was 17:00, and he told me if a truck didn't arrive that would give me a ride, I could sleep there at the military barracks and catch a ride tomorrow morning.  I actually would have preferred that to coming all the way back to Perquin at night.  But a truck came.  I jumped in the back with another man.  Later, a man, his wife, and their baby also joined us.  It was a rough ride sitting on the wheel arch.  But the man who got on with his wife spoke some English, so it helped make the trip go faster.

The truck only went as far as the crossroads 2 km (1.2 mi) from the hotel.  Since it was getting dark, there was hardly any traffic on the road.  I met two cars while making the uphill walk to the hotel.  Then I had to climb the approximately 200 steps again with my luggage to get to the rooms at the top of the hill.  I was exhausted and sweating.  I made it, however, around 18:30.

Tomorrow, I have a long trip ahead of me.  I must go south and east to cross at another border crossing which will take me far out of the way.  Because I am here for an extra night, I have canceled my plans to go to Marcala.  Although it will be a long travel day, tomorrow, I will try to get all the way to Comayagua via the capital city of Tegulcigalpa.  That way, I will be back on schedule.  Apparently the earliest I can catch a bus that direction is 9:00 which should get me to the border around 13:00.  Then there will still be maybe 5 hours to go!!