valid for 72 hours

So we were in Guatemala.

it was back in the past.

and we wanted to head towards Costa-Rica.

between, there are El-Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

and each ot them requires a COVID-19 test.

So yeh, COVID. It's a bitch. We kinda needed to choose between doing a PCR test on every country and pay ~ 100$ per person, or just skip some of the countries.

Decision have been made - crossing 3 boarders in 72 hours!!!

We wanted to travel Nicaragua, and about the other two- we can skip...

so we found the one doctor in Antigua, Guatemala that will take our tickly-nose-samples and will hand them to the lab only the morning after. results were supposed to arrive at noon (and we were positive about being negative) with a timestamp of the morning. So... We had 72 hours starting morning in Antigua to drive 700 km, and perform 3 double boarder crossing (yes, it takes time to exit, and to enter each country... annoying...)

google map says "13.5 hours drive" but we know better. it usually takes us 30% more.

Challange accepted, and the kids were hyped to eat one typical meal in every country

typical Ben pic in the boarder...:

so we drove the distance to the boarder, said goodby to Guatemala, had mucho beaurocracy to handle because of not having a TIP (Temporary Import Permit for the car). they had no idea what to do with us, but eventually they have decided that since we are leaving anyways, the best way to solve it is to pass tha problem to someone else. and that some one lives in El-Salvador.

so we did it!

exited Guate.

Welcome El-Salvador.

here we had to beging explaining how come we never got our Guate TIP cancelled.

well, we never had one...

it took a while, but eventually it was solved. fast enough so that we still had to wait for the PCR results in mail...

yes, they were all Negative.

Drive, drive, drive, and a night on a lake by a volcano. was fun!

in the morning we went swimming in the lake. was very nice. the perfect water temerature, and a nice 2 meter jumping plank that the kids found.

at noon- Honduras:

crossing was easier, driving was nice. we were pretty surprised by how good are the roads, until construction workers pointed us to make a detour around the PanAmericanHighway due to someting-something. "but the other road is really good, no worries".

and thats how we drove inside a not-so-shallow-but-very-wide stream, with local kids running in the stream to show us were to drive for some money.

no idea how smaller cars or buses drive there, but we have our beast, so we don't care...

the day after, Nicaragua.

wow, that was a tough border to cross. they want tons of paperwork, photocopies, and after all is done - to X-ray scan the whole car with camper...

there is a line of practically 2 days wait of trucks, but we managed to skip it all (with a police officer in the driver seat enjoying the A/C telling me to drive on the sidewalk and cross it all).

that's it.

challange done! and we still had few hours left for our 72 hours...

got to Leon. for some reason they say it is a nice city. one day was enough for us there. paid a night watch in the street to keep an eye on the camper...

oh, in all of Nicaragua, school kids are dressed like that:

so we went to the Pacific coast:

was very fun.

but after few days, there was a day long blackout (no electricity, and therefore no water etc), so we said goodbye and continued to the real interesting areas in Nicaragua. other post. sometime.

since it was the most boring post so far

ובאנגלית. למה באנגלית לכל הרוחות???

I will compensate with my kids pictures from random places...: