Slowly but surely we continue to make our way south. Over the past two days we jumped from Guatemala, through Honduras and into Nicaragua.

Our last location in Guatemala was a unknown resort for 10 U.S. a night. We were departing from San Pedro on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala and were trying to head South but somehow ended up northwest and we were not going to make the border crossing before night fall so we decided to bunk up in this resort. Around 7 o´clock that evening loud bangs were heard out in the street, along with thousands of people running. The police were firing tear gas into a crowd to disperse them. Luckily for us, armed guards and a 15 foot fence kept everyone out. It was quick to find out what the riot was all about, power. The prices in the area continue to rise and the people are fed up with it all, but it didn´t look like things got too out of hand.
The following day we made our way to Honduras which opened up a whole new can of worms in terms of our annoyance with the border crossings. When we got there we had to wait over two hours because the staff was on lunch and they get to decide how long they want to take to eat. Every border crossing seems to be chaotic down here. As soon as you pull up in your car there are ¨guides¨trying to jump inside your car so you will pay them a tip for their services to get through the border which as we have found out is never a fast process. We are starting to get annoyed with everyone asking for free handouts and the obvious conmen who try to rip us off at every opportunity. Do we sound like experienced travellers now or what! The guides are useful in their own way but they do not help make the process any faster. All we want is someone to point out where the immigration and customs counters are because they are never well marked and there are tons of people and building selling things which confuse the issue.

After getting through the Guatemalan border into Honduras we were hounded by the police at three different stops. Luckily we were only stopped at these three because we passed through 12 of them. Honduras police are notorious for trying to bribe people and even rip off the locals. Of course, us being white and in a foreign car they thought they were going to get a free pay day. We had other plans though. Our encounters went like this I will write it in english for you:

´This might get annoying´

Good day officer how are you.
Good can you give me license registration and passport.
Ok here you go.
Where are you going.
We are heading straigt to Nicaragua.
Oh, well do you have a traffic triangle or fire extinguisher in your car

No, officer we dont and at the border no one at the border said anything about them. Do the customs officials know we are supposed to have one?

Well, it doesn´t matter you are violating the law and this is an infraction, you will have to pay a fine.

We apologize officer, but how are we supposed to know about this law if even the border official inspecting the car does not inform us or tell us we are already breaking the law. We are new to this country and want to follow the law and enjoy ourselves, but this is making it difficult to do so. Can we buy the following items in the next town.

The officer thinks about it and we argue back and forth in a polite manner for 5 minutes until he decides I am not going to give him any money and he lets us go. We got stopped and went through the same thing 3 more times that day. And no, we did not buy a triangle and fire extinguisher because it is just flat out bull shit to get us to pay them money. If it weren´t that it would be somehting else. Polite refusal to these con artists is our method. Luckily we know spanish so we can politely argue and get away with it. The other thing is, if they write us a ticket, we just wouldn´t pay it because we are off to the next country anyway and this car will never be back to Honduras anyhow.

This is one instance of many police encounters we have had, but they are men with some morals, and the longer you argue, the more guilty they feel about trying to take money from you.

After these encounters with Honduras police, it put a sour taste in our mouth for Honduras so we decided to move on into Nicaragua the same day. The border crossing took 2.5 hours with the same crap about going on lunch, needing a bribe to make the process go faster. Our greatest weapon is patience as we dont pay any bribes. Michael´s charm is also a great asset as he met a lady in the customs office for the car. She was going on lunch but with charm and wit, he won her over to fill out the necessary paperwork so we could get out of there. Same border crap, different country. Finally we entered Nicaragua.