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DianaT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by defrag4
funny you should mention that... stay tuned for a future blogpost 
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Looking forward to it!!
And as far as crime goes, especially petty crime, parts of Tegus are really not good places to be and the police, well let's just say that when we
lived in Juticalpa, at least one bank a week was robbed in Tegus. And out in Olancho, the people settled things their way and seldom involved the
police. Every one carried a gun.
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defrag4
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DianaT
| Quote: | Originally posted by defrag4
funny you should mention that... stay tuned for a future blogpost
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Looking forward to it!!
And as far as crime goes, especially petty crime, parts of Tegus are really not good places to be and the police, well let's just say that when we
lived in Juticalpa, at least one bank a week was robbed in Tegus. And out in Olancho, the people settled things their way and seldom involved the
police. Every one carried a gun. |
ya we drove through Tegu, seemed sketchy.
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defrag4
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We packed up our stuff from the “Omega Tours” in Pico Bonito and headed to town to stock up on supplies, gas, and cash. We were planning to drive out
to the remote “Miskito Coast” and needed to be prepared for anything.
We load up the grocery cart with tons of food, water, beer etc. Hit the register and try to pay with our debit card. Lady tells me its not working for
some reason… OK, try this one? Still not working… Great. OK Let me go pull some cash from the ATM.
ATM is not working either. Crap. We try Lauren’s card, same thing. Nada. “Please contact your bank” UGH. Worst case scenario as we now have no money,
no food, and no phone to call to figure out what is going on.
We apologize to the clerk and abandon our cart full of crap in the store, luckily we were in a mall and figured we could find a payphone/internet café
to call the bank and see what was up. We went out to the truck and pilfered our last few bits of change from the ashtray to pay for a call.
We find an internet café which is setup for international dialing, after messing around for 20 minutes trying to dial a 1800 number (If you have ever
tried to use a phone outside the country you will understand!) we finally get through. Then we end up waiting on hold for 45 minutes…. Lauren and I
start to wonder if we have enough change to cover this damn call.
Finally an exasperated man picks up the line, Before I get a chance to say anything he yells “THE VISA NETWORK IS DOWN! YOU CANT USE YOUR CARD!”
Oh. Looks like we weren't the only ones with problems….
It turns out while we were staring blankly at the grocery store clerk and then confusedly stumbling from ATM to ATM with no success. The entire VISA
network in the states was taking a 45-minute coffee break.
We hung up the phone, walked out to the ATM, and tried again. The sweet whiiir of cash being queued up was like music to our ears.
Life is all about timing my friends… 10 minutes earlier we would have had no problems getting cash, 45 minutes later the same. We just happened to
arrive at the perfectly incorrect time.
Overlanding ProTip: We have a stash of US currency in the truck for emergencies like this, however the store did not take U.S. money. We now
keep a little stash of local currency in the truck as well. You never know when your card is going to crap out on you.
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defrag4
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Stocked up, fueled up, and ready for adventure! We hit the road to the Moskito coast.
The directions we had were shaky at best and we ended up taking a wrong turn into a small sketchy neighborhood. Before I got a chance to turn around
we found ourselves smack in the middle of a police-checkpoint in this barrio.
The checkpoint was manned by 6 young fellas. They see us coming and pull me over. Young guy asks me the usual paperwork questions and then says he
needs to search my truck... OK. We haven’t been asked to search our truck yet in Honduras so I thought it a bit odd.
Then he asks me to get out of the truck. Again odd, I haven't been asked to get out in quite some time either.
So I get out and he puts me up against the truck and gives me a crappy cursory pat-down. The first pat-down I have received since leaving the U.S.
Obviously he wasn’t looking very hard since he doesn't notice I have a damn buck knife in my pocket. He starts asking me if I have drugs, where we are
from, did we come here to buy drugs. We are conversing in spanish, I am telling him… No we are just lost, we are tourists bla bla blah.
He continues to search the truck, I roll down the rear-window, he opens the cooler and comes back around to the front of the truck. He then tells me
“Having a cooler full of beer during Semana Santa is illegal...”
I say... Por Que? (Why?) and he says because the police say so...
So from this point on we know this guy is trying to take us for a bribe and we mentally shift gears.
As sick as it sounds… We have been preparing for this moment now for so long we are almost excited to get a chance to have a go at some corrupt cops.
The game is a-foot!
He rechecks all of our papers and tells us our vehicle import papers are only good for Guatemala (which is bullchit. Why would Honduran immigration
give me an vehicle import document for Guatemala?) so I call him out on that in spanish. Surprised by our confidence. He moves on.
Then he says I need a front plate. I explain to him you do not need one in the United States and they do not issue you a front Honduran plate at the
border, in spanish. He moves on again.
He starts saying I have drugs in the car, since I am from California and Californias love drugs! (I see our reputation precedes us…) I tell him we do
not have any in spanish. He moves on.
The cop just keeps coming up random crap hoping we cave and just offer him cash. I keep calling him on his B.S. in spanish. He is almost smiling at
this point, unable to keep the con alive and remain serious.
Eventually he just straight up starts asking for a bribe/regalo (gift). That is when we start playing the fool and immediately forget all the spanish
we know….
Everything he asks now is met with a "no entiendo"(I dont understand)
He asks Lauren something, she replies “No entiendo”
We go back and forth for 10 more minutes with him asking me for a regalo and me saying “no entiendo”and talking to him about random nonsense
in rapid fire english which really confuses him.
He keeps saying in frustration “You don’t understand my language!?”. Guess he forgot about the 1st half of our conversation that took place entirely
in spanish…
Eventually he calls his buddy over who just tells him to knock it off. Young Cop #2 takes our paperwork from Young Cop #1 hands it to me and tells us
to get going.
Home on the Highway-1 Honduran Corrupt Cop-0
While every case dealing with the police is different…we have found, as have most others, if you play along with the cop long enough, waste their
time, or just downright confuse them. You can get out of most bribery incidents without paying a nickel.
NOTE: This was our first bribe attempt in over 5 months of travel and 20,000+ miles covered. The majority of police/military we have
encountered have been friendly and helpful.
PS: He never did ask about our reflective triangles, fire extinguisher, or reflective tape!!!
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DianaT
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Miskito Coast? When we lived there, we were told that the road that is shown on the AAA map that goes to the Miskito Coast does not really
exist----is that still the case or how are you going? We wanted to get out there but is is one place we missed.
Love your cop story --- rather typical there. They were terrible with their check point at the beginning of our town until some gang members did a
drive by shooting. Then the police packed up and stopped the check point. Things like store robberies etc. were never reported to the police---it
was handled in other ways. But asking about the triangles did seem to be a holiday event. 
[Edited on 5-7-2012 by DianaT]
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defrag4
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stayed tuned Diana! The road does exist!
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DianaT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by defrag4
stayed tuned Diana! The road does exist! |
I can't wait!
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defrag4
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ATM disaster dodged, Corrupt cops deflected. What else could go wrong!?
We are climbing through the mountain passes of Honduras and I can tell the 4Runner is losing power. Not exactly sure what is going on I do what any
proud Toyota owner would do and simply ignore it. Hell... She still runs don’t she?
Eventually we are coming through a construction zone near the top of a pass and I lose all momentum/power. The truck basically cuts out. The
accelerator pedal pins flat to the floor and doesn't come back up.
We are smackdab in the middle of the construction zone. Huge dumptrucks and bulldozers battle it out with the mountainside all around us. It is at
least 95F, hot, dusty, and LOUD.
We are stuck blocking the 1-lane of the passable highway with gigantic buses and semi-trucks all honking and trying to squeeze around us.
I jump out of the truck and pop the hood. Chaos everywhere. Tons of dust, huge loud tractors, people honking like crazy at us. I check the throttle
cable and its all screwed up, sagging from the throttle body like a limp noodle.
I try to jerry rig it quickly. No go, It wont retract. Something is jamming. I pull out my tools and take it apart in the middle of the highway with
people passing everywhere.
No wonder it wont retract... Line is frayed and jamming inside the throttle cable housing.
Not going anywhere fast I decide to push the truck to the side of the road and assess the situation. I figured the cable had not yet broke and I could
just remove the frayed wires and it would get me a little further. While I was working on this 2 random construction workers came over and started
talking to us. They said they knew a mechanic in the next town and would be happy to give us both a ride. We locked up the truck and jumped into the
construction workers truck.
They gave us a ride to town where the mechanic looked at the cable and said we needed a new one (you don’t say!?) He didn’t have one but knew there
were parts stores in the next town. Back into the construction workers truck we go. Drove about 15 miles to the next town....
We searched from store to store. 83 throttle cable for a 22R motor, 88 throttle cable for a diesel Hilux, 22RE cable for a Corolla. No exact matches
for a 87 4Runner 22RE. I figured I could make the 22R cable work but the parts guy insisted we need the right one.
The little town did not have the right cable but they assured us we could find one in San Pedro Sula (Large industrial town of Honduras). However the
town was almost an hour away.
I started asking the guys if they knew a taxi that we could call to take us all the way to San Pedro. They said “Nonsense!” and off to San Pedro Sula
we went, a 45-mile drive in the construction truck.
An hour later we arrive in San Pedro, same situation. Store to store to store with no exact match found. These guys have been helping me now for 3
hours in the hot as hades Honduran sun. We can barely speak to them, we have no idea what the hell is going on with our truck back at the construction
site, and store after store turns us down. Our gracious construction workers are getting frustrated as well. I am wishing I just rigged my cable and
ignored these guys, when all of the sudden I see a little hole-in-the-wall parts store "TOYOTA REPUESTOS IMPORTER". I jump out of the truck and run in
with my cable, 30 seconds later I have an EXACT match 87 4Runner cable. We all rejoice and head back to the truck.
With the bad cable out.
We put the new cable in. Success!!! Back in business. I offered to pay these guy for their gas/time (They drove over 60 miles and were with us for
almost 5 hours) but they refused. They said to us…
"Today we help you, tomorrow maybe someone help us"
I forced a few cold coke-colas on them from our fridge, we gave them some hugs, thanks, and said goodbye.
Time and time again we say that the people of Mexico/Central America we meet are the nicest, friendliest, most giving people on earth. The people of
Honduras live up this mantra as well. We have loved getting to know them and their beautiful country.
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desertcpl
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Great stuff
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David K
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That is so cool... and is why I have always enjoyed the backroads of Baja... where people help people WITHOUT conditions!
Keep the adventure coming to us, please!
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defrag4
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We had seen the movie "The Mosquito Coast"with Harrison Ford a few years ago that described this very remote undeveloped area of the northern Honduran
coastline. We forgot all about it until we saw the name again in our Honduras guidebook. The Moskito Coast is described as the least developed area in
all of Central America. With minimal roads, no services, and no tourist infrastructure. It sounded right up our alley.
We heard about a 4x4 trail that hugs the coastline out to a small Miskito village named “Pueblo Nuevo”. They said it was rough going, lots of
beach/sand driving, river crossings, and no support out their if something was to go wrong. SOLD!
Winding through the hills towards the coastline
The paved road gave way to dirt path on the way to the coast.
Loads of Coconut/Date palms, Banana trees, all kinds of fruit trees. Dole/United Fruit Company/Chiquita Banana have had Honduras on lock for 50+
years. You can find various sides of the story, some people say they have exploited the people/land for profit, others say they took a
malaria-infested swamp and turned it into livable habitat and provide a decent life for the people. Either way, They are here to stay. We passed mile
after mile after mile of fruit trees. And thousands of people selling bushels of fresh off the tree (still green) bananas everywhere. You could buy a
huge bushel of bananas (like 50 bananas) for $1.
Dirt roads through mile after mile of plantation.
Somewhere along the way on these horrible rutted roads, I go to push the brake pedal down and it hits the floor… Slowing to a stop, I jump out and
find the front driver side brakeline peeing brake fluid and my front caliper bolt missing.
The caliper bolt had somehow rattled its way out allowing the caliper to rock back and forth eventually causing the brakeline to snap. 40 miles out
into the bush with no brakes… We had the option to turn around and head back to civilization (Knowing that it was Semana Santa week and most shops
would be closed) or just keep mashing it out towards the Miskito Coast using just the transmission and E-Brake to stop. What do you think we chose?
Getting further and further from civilization we encounter lots of small Garifun/Miskito villages. Most people live in simple thatched roof mud huts
out here. Very basic but they all seemed happy and smiled at us when we waved.
Couldn't find any place to camp so we rolled into a small village and ask around for place to stay. We find Don Tinos hospedaje (small hotel) for $5 a
night. We met Tino himself who was a nice guy and it was getting dark, so we say OK.
Things are a little rougher inside. Raggedy bed with roach guide on the wall. The roach guide did come in handy that night as we played “GUESS THAT
BUG!” TV syndication rights in progress, back off FOX!
I tried to crimp/JBweld the snapped brakeline so we could at least have 3 working brakes. It worked for a few minutes but after I bled the brakes and
applied some real pressure to the crimp/JBweld it gave out spraying my eyes full of brake fluid (fun!)
Oh well. E-Brake still works!
We mash on further. Tino from the hotel tells us there is a road that leads deeper into the Miskito Coast but the road is completely sand and there is
a "river crossing" we need to pass. OK, I can dig a river crossing. He says its difficult to pass the river if you don’t know where to cross. He
assigns some random dude from the village to jump on the back of our truck to show us the way.
Our new guia (guide)
We drive through the village and eventually out onto the beach, We drive through the deep sand for a ways when the truck stalls due to getting stuck
in the sand. Homeboy jumps off the truck and starts running towards the ocean and taking off his pants. Lauren and I are thinking... What the hell?
Did we just give this dude a ride to the ocean so he can go for a swim?
Eventually we realize this guy is fording some sort of underwater sandbar and trying to show us the way to drive across the damn ocean to get to the
other side.
I look at Lauren and say.... Looks like were driving in the ocean! We get out and air down the tires to 10psi which frees us from the sand and we head
to the start of this underwater sandbar. Homeboy runs back to guide us once more.
We drive into the ocean, water up to the hood of our lifted truck and this random Honduran kid swimming in front of the truck in the ocean.
See more pics and read the rest of the story on the blog, http://homeonthehighway.com
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Udo
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Really cool story, y'all!
That's a new one on me...a motel with a roach guide!
BTW...Next time you can get to a major city, you need to go to an optometrist and have them REALLY inspect your eyes and rinse out any contamination
of brake fluid. THIS HAS TO BE DONE! It's a real danger and you will contract early cataracts. The big problem with those type of cataracts as opposed
to the ones that come with the onset of old age, is that they appear suddenly and grow rapidly, as in less than 6 months.
Also, how come nothing goes wrong with the Willy wagon?
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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ddawson
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Great reports, keep em coming!
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Skipjack Joe
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Wow. You've got me on the edge of my seat. I love the spirit of the journey. Can't wait for the next 'installment'.
Regarding the room with the roach guide. I wouldn't be able to fall asleep in a place like that. Not knowing where the next bite came from. I would
prefer sleeping the car.
I slept in a place like that in Peru and next morning found bites all along the back of the neck and ears just below the hair line.
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DianaT
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Loving every bit of your adventure! And it is making me so wanting to return to Honduras! So glad you are sharing this journey.
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defrag4
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We camped out on the beach and did not a see a soul for most of the next day.
Later in the afternoon, 2 young guys came riding up on horses. We started talking and it turns out that one guy was from Belize (and spoke english)
and the other dude was Garifun from the village just up the road. We shared some beers and became instant friends.
We spent the rest of the day sharing stories, drinkin’, and riding their horses bareback on the beach. Kenry told us the last time he saw white people
was over a year ago, another Californian (surprise, surprise) had backpacked his way down to the village.
Eventually we run out of beer and they say we can buy more in their village which is about 5 miles up the beach. OFF WE GO! FOLLOW THAT HORSE!
We parked in front of the village bar, headed inside to BOOMING reggae music and a handful of 5-10 year old kids doing some of the dirtiest dancing I
have ever seen. It was hilarious. We picked up some more beer and on our way out a drunk dude tried to sell Lauren a dead iguana for dinner. I almost
bought it (I've been trying to eat iguana this whole trip!) but my buddy said it wasn't a good tasting one.
We headed back to the beach and continued the party. Our friends brought a bottle of Miskito hooch, which got us all pretty loopy. The stuff was
straight fire water.
Not a bad spot to party at.
After many beers and bottles of Miskito liquor I decided it would be a good idea to ride the horse again...
UP YOU GO!
DOWN YOU GO!
SUCCESS!
We say goodnight to our friends, they pose for some stunna shots and rode off into the sunset.
Another night in Paradise.
See more pics and read the rest of the story on the blog, http://homeonthehighway.com
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sd
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Fantastic trip, thanks for sharing!
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Udo
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Keep up the great trip as well as the photos...you have a lot of fans here based on the number of reads of your posts.
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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DianaT
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You are having way too much fun. If there was a green envy face in the smiles, I would use it.
Seriously, we are really enjoying your trip!
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David K
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Extreme Fun is what I see... Love the tropical atmosphere and reggae music, mon! Thanks for sharing this fantastic voyage!
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