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Practicalities
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Buses
between Puerto Cortes to Corinto pass the southern end of the village, close to the
migracion
(daily 8am-5pm in theory, though it's often unmanned), which is right on the highway. The coast and hotels are 2km away to the north, past the fortress and the
Hondutel
office.
Rising numbers of foreign tourists have led to the opening of a handful of reasonably comfortable places to stay . Heading towards the beach from the highway, you'll come to the Swiss-run Roli's Place (tel & fax 658 9082, RG@yaxpactours.com ; US$5-10), an excellent budget base with camping (US$2 per person) and mosquito-screened dormitories (US$3.50 per person); they also have Internet access for US$5.80 per hour. Close to the seafront, the new Pia's Place (tel 658 9076; US$5-10) is run by a friendly long-term gringa resident and offers basic clean rooms and dormitory accommodation (US$3 per person). Next door, by the waterfront, the comfortable Bahia de Omoa (tel 658 9076; US$15-25), also run by Pia, has large, modern rooms, all with private bath and a/c. Pia also organizes snorkelling trips to the spectacular Sapadillo cayes, in Belizean waters northwest of Omoa, when there's sufficient demand. For a good meal head to the Botin del Suizo restaurant for European and local dishes or one of the champas on the beachfront - small, palm-thatched restaurants serving well-cooked seafood and other dishes. Try the clean and friendly Fisherman's Hut , or Champa Virginia , where a substantial meal costs just US$3-4. Moving on from Omoa to Guatemala it's an excruciatingly slow and bumpy bus ride southwest to the town of Corinto , 2km from the border. Buses run every ninety minutes along this route, which is steadily being patched up after Hurricane Mitch wiped out all the bridges in 1998. It currently takes up to three hours to cover the (flat) 50km to Corinto, though the journey time will fall as the road improves and bridges are rebuilt. Corinto currently has its own migracion (daily 8am-5.30pm), though a new joint Guatemalan-Honduran customs and immigration point is due to open at the border itself (2km north of town) in the near future. At present, frequent pick-ups shuttle to and from the border, from where you catch a minibus (every thirty minutes) over the recently built Arizona bridge, along a new paved road which crosses the Rio Motagua. Minibuses pass though the village of Entre Rios, for Guatemalan migracion, to Puerto Barrios, an hour from the Honduras border.
If you're pressed for time, adventurous souls can charter a lancha from Omoa to make the two-hour - and invariably very wet - boat journey over to Livingston in
Guatemala
. Ask around in the guesthouses or the
Botin del Suizo
for a captain; the price is around US$260 for the trip, which can be divided between up to ten people. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Honduras,
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