We're in the middle of a two-month journey through Central America, making our way from Panama City to Mexico City.
Right now, we're in León, Nicaragua, and we've hit some transportation snags we didn't see coming.
Figuring out where to go? Easy.
Getting there? That's a whole different story.
We started in Panama, passed through Costa Rica, and now we're in Nicaragua, heading to Honduras and then El Salvador.
Sounds straightforward, right?
Well, we've spent DAYS piecing together transportation for the next two weeks. We need at least four separate legs, including two international border crossings. And since our accommodations are already booked, we can't leave transportation to chance.
Normally, we have a few options. A long-distance bus with air conditioning and decent seats. Shared shuttles or vans. Or a private driver, if the price is right or there's no other choice. And as a last resort, a series of local buses, affectionately known as chicken buses. They're cheap, but hot, slow, and rarely direct. Flying isn't a real option on these routes, so we're going overland.
But there have been a few snags.
Not many tourists travel these particular routes, which means far fewer transportation options than we expected.
And border crossings make things even more complicated. Usually, you need a separate vehicle for each country, because only vehicles registered in both countries can cross. Unless you find an international bus that handles the crossing for you.
Which brings us to our first challenge.
Challenge One: León, Nicaragua, to Tegucigalpa, Honduras
León is Nicaragua 's second-largest city, and Tegucigalpa is Honduras's capital.So surely we could catch a bus without much trouble.
Nope.
The main international option is Tica Bus. But that bus starts in Managua, the capital. León is just a roadside pickup along the way. There's only one bus a day, leaving Managua at five in the morning and reaching León around seven. Except it might arrive 15 to 45 minutes early. So you're standing there in the dark, wondering whether the bus has already come and gone.
We tried booking online. Over and over and over again. Either the website wasn't working, or there were no seats for any upcoming dates.
So we started looking for alternatives.
We'd just discovered a new AI assistant called Muse, so we gave it a challenge: get us onto this Tica Bus.
Meanwhile, Bama Mike contacted Tica Bus directly through WhatsApp.
Let's just say Muse won that competition. Although, to be fair, Tica Bus had no idea it was competing.
Muse navigated the booking website for us and found that our travel date had only one seat left.
One.
We need two.
The following day had two seats available.
Tica Bus eventually sent Bama Mike to its ticket office in León, where a real person confirmed our original date was fully booked.
So Muse had gotten it right. And yes, I was VERY impressed, which is hard to do.
Unfortunately, we still needed a ride.
And here's something we hadn't considered: we may have run straight into Honduras's biggest holiday travel week. It's called Semana Morazánica, a long October holiday that combines several national commemorations into one extended break to encourage domestic tourism. This year, the private sector's holiday runs from noon on October 7 through noon on October 10, stretching into the weekend. So a lot of Hondurans are traveling around their own country just as we're trying to get into it. We can't say for certain that's why the bus sold out, but it could be part of the crunch. And it's a good reminder when traveling overland: sometimes the challenge isn't just the route. It's the timing.
Gemini AI pointed us to a company that arranges private and shared transfers in Honduras. We contacted them on WhatsApp, but communication was painfully slow. They'd disappear, and I'd have to chase them for updates, for days.
Meanwhile, the clock was ticking.
We needed to leave in three days, with no confirmed transportation.
So I contacted Gekko Trails, a company I'd come across for another leg, to see if they could arrange this trip too.
Soon I had both companies on WhatsApp, waiting for quotes.
Gekko Trails was far more responsive and professional.
The price? Five hundred dollars. Ouch. Tica Bus would've been $200 total.
But we were running out of time.
And this wasn't just a ride. It was a private vehicle, door to door, across an international border, with no complicated transfers. They also seemed to know when the border would be less crowded. So we booked it. Departure: 5:30 in the morning.
Honestly, getting there without losing our minds was worth the premium.
Challenge Two: Tegucigalpa, Honduras to Copán Ruinas, Honduras via San Pedro Sula
We chose to stop in Tegucigalpa because we assumed a capital city would have plenty of transportation.
Wrong again.
Not many tourists pass through, so there aren't many tourist buses heading to places like Copán Ruinas, where we're going. And there's no direct bus.
Instead, we have to go to San Pedro Sula, on the Caribbean side, where there are more tourists, and transfer there.
I asked Gemini AI to find a bus from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula. It kept suggesting buses going to other places.
Not helpful.
So I turned to transportation apps like 12Go and Rome2Rio.
And finally, a breakthrough.
12Go listed Cristina Bus Transport Company, and we could book tickets online. Leg secured. Well, mostly. We haven't received the actual tickets yet, but 12Go says they'll arrive a few days before departure. We're choosing to stay optimistic.
Challenge Three: San Pedro Sula, Honduras to Copán Ruinas, Honduras
From San Pedro Sula to Copán Ruinas, there's a regional bus called Casasola Express.
AI told me I could reserve seats through WhatsApp, but the number seemed to be wrong. So I emailed the company. No response.
A couple of days later, I gave Muse another test. I asked it to book two tickets on the one o'clock bus to Copán Ruinas for a specific date.
And this is the part that blew me away.
Muse found an online booking site that I, Gemini, and ChatGPT had all failed to find. Then it filled out the form in Spanish, navigated the payment process, and got all the way to the Stripe credit card screen. All while running in the background as I did other things.
I mean, I can barely find the website, and this thing is filling out forms in Spanish.
Challenge Four: Copán Ruinas, Honduras, to Santa Ana, El Salvador
Thankfully, this one was much easier.
AI identified Gekko Trails as an option, and this time, WhatsApp went smoothly. We arranged the ride, and they sent an official booking link, then an email confirmation with a QR code for our tickets.
Professional. Responsive. Confirmed.
That experience helped seal our decision to use them for the much more complicated Nicaragua-to-Honduras journey, too.
Almost every step has involved a different company, a different booking method, and a different kind of technological frustration.
Sometimes it's a website that won't work.
Sometimes it's a WhatsApp message that goes unanswered.
Sometimes it's an AI assistant finding a booking page nobody else could find.
And sometimes, it's paying $500 for a private transfer because you're leaving in three days and really need to cross a border.
But after days of searching websites, chasing messages, testing AI assistants, and piecing together routes, we finally have a plan.
At least, we think we do.
Because one thing we're learning about overland travel in Central America is that transportation can be an adventure all by itself.
Sometimes, the hardest part of traveling isn't deciding where to go. It's figuring out how to get there.
And we haven't even crossed the border yet.
Wish us luck!
