From Nicaragua to Honduras

At 4:30 in the morning, the bus rolled through Sebaco, heading towards Honduras. We had bought our tickets from Kingquality, a company that takes care of everything at the border crossing, serves food on the bus, and has reclining seats. The ticket wasn’t cheap—$41 per person. The journey from Sebaco to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, takes about 7 hours. We didn’t dare walk through Sebaco that early in the morning, so we had a guy from Hotel Plaza accompany us to the bus stop. He waited with us until the bus arrived. When you leave Nicaragua by land, you don’t get an exit stamp. The same goes for Honduras. When you enter the country by land, there’s no entry stamp either. Tegucigalpa is yet another Central American capital that you should steer clear of. The city is rundown, impoverished, and crime runs rampant. It’s not safe to take the city buses, as they are often targeted for attacks. Some taxis are controlled by gang members, meaning the driver could be part of a gang and might rob you. Overall, the city is just too dangerous to be in. The better bus companies each have their own fenced-off stops. Each destination also has its own stop scattered around the city. We didn’t plan on staying in Tegucigalpa, so we hopped on the next bus heading to La Ceiba. The ticket cost 217 lempira, and the trip took another 7 hours. After a grueling 14-hour bus ride, we finally arrived in La Ceiba, which is located on the Caribbean coast in northern Honduras. We got there at 11 PM. Traveling around Honduras this late isn’t ideal. Normally, you should only drive during daylight hours, but since we were heading towards the safer parts of the country, we preferred to keep going rather than spend the night in Tegucigalpa or San Pedro Sula, both of which are known for their gang violence and criminal activities. In fact, the better bus companies pay gangs to leave their buses alone. So, it’s always best to avoid taking the local chicken bus in this country.