Illegals in Honduras

Honduras - March 11, 2006

After arriving in Puerto Cortez, Honduras's largest port city, we crammed in a small taxi with a couple from England (Nico and Isabella) and headed to the immigration office. After a small spat with a taxi driver who was trying to overcharge us, we realized that the immigration office was closed. Despite a small crowd of gringos (from the same boat) waiting patiently yet with a somewhat "what do we do" look, we decided to hump it over to the bus station and deal with immigration later. Utila Island (our destination, which had an international airport) and La Ceibia (another port city where we were to take the ferry to Utila) were bound to have immigration offices. Waiting for the mysterious immigration officers to turn up could force us to miss our connections to Utila and potentially delay us by a day. Rumor has it that they showed up about 15 minutes after we left (a siesta after lunch is suspected no doubt). The lack of being illegal tourists is turning out to be a bit of a pain as the immigration officer in Utila seems to be on a perpetual vacation of sorts and thus we have been unable to get our passports stamped with a Honduras visit. Leaving the country with no proof of showing that we ever arrived may prove to be a fun one to explain to the immigration office.

At any rate, after taking a two-hour bus ride to San Pedro Sula, an hour bus station transfer and a three-hour bus to La Ceiba, we arrived late at night forcing us to spend the night there. We went out for a drink and then dinner with Nico, Isabella and another girl from Quebec, Emmanuell, who was also going to Utila. It was a great night full of laughs. Nico and Isabella were on their 7th month of travel with a few more to go. They traveled all of South America and were now touring Central America before going back south again; it was evident that they fell in love with South America.