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  • Day 35

    Bordercrossing to Honduras

    January 31, 2017 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    I had decided to take a tourist shuttle and not the public busses to make my way to Copan Ruinas in Honduras from Antigua. The Shuttle was supposed to puck me up around 4 a.m. and I ended up almost not sleeping at all that night as I was to nervous to really fall asleep and miss the shuttle and people from my room kept coming in.
    So when I was waiting for my shuttle I was really looking forward to catching some sleep on the bus.

    The bus arrived around 4:30 which I thought was normal because these shuttles usually pick up different people from different hostels around town. There were 4 people on the bus. I picked a seat in the back and curled together to sleep but as soon as the bus started moving one of the guys started grumbling really loud. He was kind of freaking out about something and first I thought they had all been robbed. But at some point I figured he had just lost his wallet or probably just wasn't able to find it due to his condition. It became pretty obvious that these four had decided to just party till 4 and get on the bus straight away - they were covered in glitter. The bus driver told me later it took them 20 minutes to get this one guy on the bus - the reason for the delay. I don't know how much he drank and what else he took but he didn't stop talking about his wallet till he popped some valium which put him to sleep for a while.
    When the bus stopped again for a little break he got of saying "I just gonna steel someone elses money. That's karma!".
    I think he didn't manage to do that as he didn't even find his way back on the bus without help.
    Around 10 in the morning we had made our way to the border of Guatemala and Honduras. From here it was only 20 more minutes for me to Copan. The others would continue on to the coast to get to La Ceiba.
    The busdriver asked for our Passports to take them to the Guatemalan border and get our departure stamp (I thought it was a little weird that we didn't have to go by ourselves but he said it's faster that way). Of course the drunk guy couldn't find his passport.
    When the busdriver came back I took my passport and went to the Honduran Immigration Office to get my stamp and pay $3 Immigration Fee. Even though the officer took his time and even checked my fingerprints and took a photo of me I was out before the other four even entered.
    The drunk guy had found his passport and joined the group. Unfortunately he didn't get his stamp for leaving Guatemala first which led to the first confusion. The officer got pretty angry because it seemed he was trying to leave Guatemala illegally. He made him go back there and one of the girls joined him so he wouldn't get lost again on the way there.
    While the two of them were gone the guy who seemed to be the least drunk came out and I started talking to him. He was really upset with the other three. He said he barely knew them but they just decided to follow him from Guatemala to Honduras and he didn't like the way they behaved and he didn't wanna be responsible for them.
    The other girl came out of the immigration office saying that she didn't have any cash as well as the two who just came back from the Guatemalan Office.
    Our busdriver told them to take a TukTuk back to the last town to get to an ATM as he wouldn't go back there. The sober guy decided to pay for the three of them just so we could keep going. He made them promise to pay him back as soon as we hit the first ATM in Honduras. I was still pretty happy he paid. The other 3 probably wouldn't have made it otherwise.
    Especially as the drunk guy was still behaving really stupid. Turns out he didn't want to show his passport to the officer "What do you need to see my passport for?!". We tried to talk to the girls and make them aware of what they were getting themselves into. Honduras is more dangerous than most of the other countries. You don't wanna walk through the streets here completely wasted. And your friend shouldn't carry drugs across the border "Why?" - they really didn't get any of it.
    I couldn't believe when everybody was back on the bus and we finally drove into Honduras. I so expected them to search our car. We just crossed a border with someone who was obviously on drugs and probably carried some as well!
    So I was really happy when the bus dropped me a few minutes later at my hostel in Copan and I send the other 4 of for their own adventure.
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