Central American Frontiers - Nicaragua to El Salvador

Step 3 - Honduras and El Salvador - San Carlos to Managua to San Salvador

Visa Preparation and the CA-4 Agreement

In 2006 El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua signed the The Central America-4 (CA-4) Border Control Agreement which was designed to establish free movement for citizens between the four signatory states.  The agreement also saw the establishment of a common travel area for third country nationals with a harmonized visa regime and a reduction of internal border checks.

Despite the agreement, internal border checkpoints remain in place and immigration officials are known to apply the new rules only when it suits them.  In theory, arriving third country nationals should be stamped in at the first entry into the C-4 Area and (as required depending on their nationality) purchase one tourist card to cover their entire trip.  In effect, local officials either conveniently forget the change in rules, or enforce a new admin / port fee in its place.

Officially, most Western EU, Central and South American nationals do not require a visa to travel to the C-4 Area. Others such as US, Canada, Brazil and Australians can also enter by purchasing a $10 dollar tourist card on the border.  In effect, the lines here are often blurred and some form of additional tourist fee or immigration charge will normally be enforced on everyone.

Entry - Nicaragua

Somewhere along the jungle river which meanders from Los Chiles, Costa Rica to Lago Nicaragua, we were boarded by Nicaraguan military officials for a customs check.  Our small boat was loaded with almost 40 people, tons of luggage and even a massive second hand TV, yet there was still just enough space for the customs officials to squeeze on board and examine the cargo. They chose some bags at random to search and after a few minutes sent us on our way for the final hour or so boat ride to San Carlos in Nicaragua.

San Carlos Immigration Arrivals

We arrived at what appeared to be a newly constructed immigration arrivals pier.  Passport control was reasonably straightforward with one immigration form to fill and a mandatory $10 Tourist Card stapled next to the arrival stamp.  We were also given an official looking receipt, so pointing out that Irish passport holders should not require the CA-4 Tourist card seemed a pointless exercise. The officer had a computerised passport reader and carefully scrutinized all previous stamps.  We were not asked any questions.  After immigration, customs officials selected every second passenger to search their luggage.  They also seemed to stop anyone with large boxes, although surprisingly the man carrying the massive TV was spared.

San Carlos Area Bus

Land Travel and Afro-Caribbean Roots

San Carlos is well served by bus and boat transport, however bus journeys are generally faster, if less comfortable, than the trip across the lake.  We travelled onward with the two young Nicaraguans we had met in San Juan.  They were both clearly relieved to be back home and were delighted further by the chance meeting of some familiar faces at the bus station.  

Bluefields Dock

Although quite a considerable detour from the direct road to Managua, we made the journey with one of the men to his home town of Bluefields on the Caribbean coast.  An interesting town due to its size and isolation from the road network, Bluefields has over 85,000 inhabitants yet has no roads.  Hence it must rely on boats for all its transport needs.  The one time capital of the ‘British Protectorate of the Mosquito Coast,’ followed by a couple of years as a monarchy and more recently becoming the capital of the ‘Nicaraguan Autonomous Region of the Southern Atlantic,’ Bluefields has strong Caribbean roots.  Many of its inhabitants were transferred here from Jamaica in the 1700s and it appears that links to the rest of the Caribbean remain stronger than those to the capital Managua.  

The stark social differentiation on ethnic lines is immediately apparent on arrival.  Most of the locals speak a form of Creole English, and English is clearly the primary language of both the children in the street and of trade and commerce.  Our host on the other hand, despite spending his whole life here, could not say as much as ‘How are you?’ in English.  Signs it seems of lingering tensions and division caused by forced migration of years gone by.  

Internal Controls

Cathedral of Managua

Boats and some bus companies ask your name when buying tickets, however a first name seems to suffice in most cases.  Internal flights include immigration registration and hotels keep hand-written logs of all patrons.  It appeared as though these hotel logs are frequently examined by the authorities as previous pages were embossed with an immigration stamp.  In our experience however, we were always permitted to fill the log ourselves and could have provided any name for the register. After a few days at Bluefields and Corn Island we headed for the capital Managua.

Exit - Nicaragua

From Managua, we decided to take a different approach for our next border crossings.  Rather than choosing small and rural crossing points as we had done in the past, we would instead follow the main InterAmericana route and take a direct international bus to El Salvador, transiting southern Honduras on the way.  Tika bus is one of Central America's long distance international carriers, offering services from Panama right through to Mexico.  For $35 they offer a professional service and ‘‘hassle free border crossings’ from Managua, through Honduras and on to San Salvador.

Airport style check-in procedures ensure that all passengers have the necessary visas and paperwork in advance and a dedicated bus conductor-come-immigration assistant is assigned to every bus.  At the Somoto / San Marcos de Colon crossing, the conductor collected passports as well as an OCAM (Commission for Central American Migration Direction) immigration from all passengers.  There was also an $8 fee collected, however it was unclear whether this was given by the conductor to Nicaraguan or Honduran officials, or indeed whether he kept for himself, as no receipt was forthcoming.  To exit Nicaragua we did not meet any immigration officials ourselves, rather the conductor did the negotiating and then shouted when it was time to get back on board the bus.  Our passports were not stamped with a ‘Nicaragua-Salida’ in line with the CA-4 agreement.

Enter - Transiting Honduras

A couple of hundred meters or so from the Nicaraguan exit checkpoint, we arrived at the Honduran arrivals inspection area.  Similar to the previous checkpoint, the bus conductor presented all the passports to the official whilst we waited in the shade by the bus.  Unlike before, the officer then came to the door of the bus to match faces with passports and ensure no additional passengers were on board.  Officers had both bar code readers for local national ID cards and computers for swiping passports.  There were no apparent customs checks.

The transit route across southern Honduras between Nicaragua and El Salvador is approx 150km and takes around two hours.  During this time we were stopped at a rural police check where some bags were searched at random.  The police then spoke to every passenger on board asking to confirm that their name corresponded with the passenger manifest.  The whole process seemed somewhat pointless as our passports remained with the bus conductor during this whole time.  

Honduras/El Salvador Border Near Somoto

Exit - Transiting Honduras

There was no contact of any kind with officials when we exited Honduras.  The bus conductor brought all the passports to be stamped and returned a few minutes later returning them to us.  We had not expected an exit stamp with the CA-4 agreement, however there it was and we moved on through the raised barrier toward El Salvador.

Enter - El Salvador

The Santa Clara immigration post may have been lax for those exiting Honduras, but heavily armed El Salvadoran officials clearly don’t take the same approach.  The officers spoke to every passenger examining the details on the passenger manifest against passports and ID cards.  They spent a number of minutes with each passenger and seemed to be interested in learning passengers onward route, their occupation and the reason for their journey.  We were asked about our accommodation plans and where we go after El Salvador.   Inside other officers used flat type passport readers, blue lights and passport reading computers to check each passport.  There was no entry stamp for El Salvador and no fees or charges were imposed. We moved on.

Around five kilometers further down the road we stopped at a large customs inspections warehouse.  Most bags were given a quick search with 10 unlucky others chosen for a thorough search of all their luggage. A few hours later we reached the sprawling capital San Salvador.

Internal Checks and Onward Travel

Converted Pick Up Truck Bus

There appeared to be no internal immigration checks in El Salvador and paper based records at hotels seemed purely administrative.  Public transport is cheap and convenient, with options ranging from large American style school busses,  right down to specially converted  pick-up trucks for shorter routes.

For those heading onward to Mexico, there are a number of different routes to choose from.  You can travel on directly through Guatemala for Tuxtla Gutierrez, or you can head north through Honduras and Belize for the Cancun area of Yucatan.  We chose to hit both, heading to Honduras (technically for the second time after our short transit the day before) before going onward to Guatemala.  After a night in San Salvador and another in a town to the north called La Palma, we took a combination of bus, tuk-tuk and collectivo to arrive at the mountainous El Poy crossing.  This time we were without the helpful immigration savvy bus conductor from Tika bus and were not travelling on a dedicated transit route for those connecting between Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Exit - El Salvador

At El Poy we there were no customs officers for pedestrian traffic heading north.  The large and well equipped immigration building had computers and swipe passport readers.  We were asked about our route generally, but the officer seemed more friendly and interested than suspicious.  Our passports were not stamped, but we were given a ticket which later proved necessary to demonstrate you had cleared immigration and have the soldier let you pass into no-mans land.
Next Stop - Honduras, Properly this time!