How to cross El Amatillo border from La Union (El Salvador) to Tegucigalpa (Honduras)

Should you need to cross the land border from La Union (El Salvador) to Tegucigalpa (Honduras) through the El Amatillo crossing, then you might be interested in these quick steps valid as of March 2022. Usually straightforward, this border crossing could instead turn out to get quite tricky in Covid times.

• TAKE A LOCAL BUS FROM LA UNION TO SANTA ROSA: unfortunately no direct buses are available there. Instead, search for a Santa Rosa one. The bus departs at fairly regular intervals from the town bus terminal shown below. The ride takes approx. 1 hour (for only 35 Km) and drops you at the San Carlos crossroad. The bus driver will warn you once there, no worries. Only state you wish to reach the border. Price is 1 USD.

• CATCH A LOCAL BUS FROM SAN CARLOS CROSSROAD TO AMATILLO BORDER (SALVADOR): in my case I only had to wait about 15 minutes to jump into this bus. You are subsequently left at few meters from the border bridge, at a negligible walking distance.
• EXCHANGE YOUR DOLLARS INTO HONDURAS LEMPIRAS: I have been told it is quite the same rate when doing it before or after the border. Exchange rate was between 23.50 and 23.80 for 1 Lempira as of March 2022.
• STAMP OUT (VIRTUALLY) AT EL SALVADOR MIGRATION POINT: somewhat a formality without any exit fees required. Regrettably no real stamp in your passport, like the entry (see previous article). Just be aware to keep the white paper you are issued, since you need to hand it to the migration guards thereafter.
• WALK THE BORDER BRIDGE

• GET THE MEDICAL APPROVAL AT THE HONDURAS MIGRATION POST: this for me was the toughest part. As per all official pages, you are technically requested to only exhibit ONE between the Covid vaccination certificate and the Covid test (antigen or PCR). However, I was at first denied entrance since the medical officer assertively and stubbornly kept insisting that both docs were required instead. According to migration guards and soldiers, on the contrary, my version was the correct one (I had a two doses European digital certificate). We got to a stage where I firmly clang on my position and decided to wait there no matter what, while urging the migration officer to call his supervisor. After 2 hours deadlock, eventually the medical officer accepted to provide me with the green light white paper to be shown to the following migration checkpoint. Indeed, there was a clash between medical and migratory authorities. At any rate, be sure to complete the online migration and medical form (prechequeo migratorio), even the previous day, at this web address. The issue here is that most of tourists just use this border crossing to enter Nicaragua straight away, having already the PCR test with them (for Nicaragua border). There is oppositely lack of legislation (government website not updated, different versions, etc.) for travellers willing to stay in Honduras for a while.
• GET THE HONDURAS MIGRATION STAMP (ONLY DIGITAL): a few hundreds meters later, you just need to enter the catchy building to hand in the med paper and pay 75 HNL (or 3 USD, here accepted) to receive final admission to the country. Again, as for El Salvador, no physical stamp is indeed applied to your passport.
• EXIT THE BUILDING AND WALK RIGHT UP TO THE BUS STOP: while observing the desolate Honduras side (a bit slummy), you just need to keep moving until you see the final buses on the right side. Buses for Tegucigalpa depart every 30 minutes and cost 100 HNL or 4 USD (which are still accepted here). Take into consideration it might take around 3 hours to get there. The bus goes straight up to the center (I got off at Mirna Bus Terminal, as shown below), from where further transportation can be caught.

In summary, although the process in theory could be straightforward, it might get tangled because of unexpected mismatches between medical and migratory authorities or between the official web pages and the real requirements demanded at the border. Despite my insisting that if the official info on the web was not updated, that was not my fault indeed, even with apologies and all persuasive techniques, I had to withstand a long waiting time before getting cleared out. In my opinion, it would be relatively unwise to spend money for tests that are not in fact officially required. Maybe they were also expecting some bribe, who knows. And here lies the ambush : )

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