3. the last day in Honduras
Day 73. Today is suppose to be fairly easy. An easy ride to town close to the Nicaragua border. I gave up on looking for some hidden gems in Honduras.
Little bit of a scramble in the morning when I couldn’t find my helmet. I wouldn’t be so stupid to leave it on my bike, would I? I was … I fully expected to find full of water after overnight’s T-storms. Luckily the helmet was right side up so it was dry. I’ll forget my head or my bike somewhere one day …
I was on my way fairly quickly even though there was no rush. I had planned not even 200 km for the day. Honduras is not that big. Nice day with perfect temperature. Perfect freeway towards the capital. I was staying last night near the Palmerola airport which is the main airport for the capital. If anywhere will be a good road, this would be it. And it was. Great road, little traffic and I was making a good progress. Too good, in fact. At this rate I will be at my destination before 11! I originally planned to go through the capital, Tegucigalpa. Bu I also prepared another route which completely bypasses the city. And I decide to take the bypass. That would add another one hour and about 60km in the countryside.
Even the secondary road was perfect. Nice Saturday ride but nothing worth stopping and taking pictures. Same thing. The jungle of Guatemala was replaced by nice pine forest and fields. Much more tidy then Guatemala. There was lots of motorbikes on the road. There was one ahead of me, hogging the whole lane and there was a double yellow line there. Nobody pays even slightest attention to details like that. Well, I passed the guy over the lines and it turned out to be a cop! And he was pointing at the lines and gesturing for me to stop. So I twisted the throttle a bit and the problem was fixed.
The second part of the bypass unexpectedly turned into a dirt road. Which was lots of fun. Not for long as I rejoined the original route after only about 30km. There were bunch of checkpoint today but a salute a smile got me through all of them without stopping.
Then I got to the last big town about 30km before the border. And there were tents everywhere there. First I thought there is some kind of carnival or something but then I realized that there were migrants. There were soldiers there, police, Red Cross, you name it. Thousands of people. Didn’t take any pictures, I didn’t feel it was right to take pics of people’s misery. I asked later in the hotel what is going on and they confirmed what I thought. Each day up to 4,000 new migrants arrive. Those people are from all over the world but mainly from Venezuela. There won’t be anybody left in that country at this rate. It is very sad when a country with 5th largest oil reserves can’t feed their own people. And Honduras has no idea what to do with them. Nobody does. They will just pass the buck like every country up till now. I saw those migrants walking in 36˚ heat on the road in southern Mexico. And all of them are heading for the US.
I didn’t have my hotel booked today so I stopped at the first one. And behind a big wall there is another gem. A super nice and safe place. My bike is inside the walled compound right in front of my window. Any closer and it would be in my bedroom. I didn’t even need to take anything off the bike. I just took few things and passed them through the window. Easy.
Chatted with owners who are big motorcycle fans. Always a good topic to bring up. A few piña coladas and a dinner and the day is done. I have tomorrow’s hotel in Nicaragua already booked because it is required for the customs. Don’t ask why, no idea. I have all documents prepared for tomorrow’s red tape battle so I hope it all goes well. Early departure so I avoid any potential rush hours. But it will be Sunday so everybody should be in the church. Let’s see how this theory works … It is only 5 km to the border from here.
Oh yeah, I still need to watch today’s the F1 race …