If you:

• want to travel dirt cheap
• don’t mind being squashed like a sardine
• don’t mind making several connections
• don’t mind waiting for the connections, for what could potentially be hours (breakdowns aren’t rare to hear of)
• speak enough basic Spanish to take you through what could be unpredictable schedules and bus-stops not obviously signposted
• don’t mind missing out on sleep
• don’t mind taking a longer journey

… then by all means, take what tourists have dubbed ‘chicken buses’ (because according to Lonely Planet you will sometimes have to share your seat with sqawking chickens; however, I’ve yet to actually experience that to justify the nickname) all the way across borders in Latin America.

Of course, the local chicken buses don’t traverse national borders so you’d have to get off at borders, cross them, then take another bus onward.

I met a German guy recently who caught six chicken buses from Copan, Honduras to San Salvador, El Salvador for all of $5 USD; so you know, if you have the nerve and the patience for it, it’s entirely possible.

I’d recommend traveling light though. If you have a fat backpack with you it might be difficult to squeeze into the bus if it’s full. You can leave it on the roof of the bus of course, but I prefer to have my things with me at all times. I’ve been on buses where luggages have fallen off making a noise like a gun shot.

On the other hand, if you are adamantly opposed to or are unable to afford any of the cheap thrills mentioned above, you can opt to travel with Ticabus or King Quality, the latter with in-bus café serving food and drinks for a couple more extra bucks, so I hear.

Guatemala City, Guatemala to Managua, Nicaragua:

Both bus companies leave only from certain central points in each country, and in Guatemala they leave from Guatemala City. I can’t give you any information about King Quality, but here’s how it went with Ticabus:

According to Ticabus’ website, it costs $45 USD from Guatemala City to Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, with a one-night stopover in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador because the buses don’t run at night.

Note that Ticabus has two terminals in San Salvador for the stopover, the first being San Benito and the second, San Carlos.

If your destination is Nicaragua make sure you stop at San Benito. That is where you have to catch your connection the next morning.

Both stops have a hotel where you can put up the night for your convenience, but according to Bill, an American man I met in Antigua who has made bus trips to Nicaragua more than 15 times, both of them charge the same rate of $20 USD and the hotel in San Benito is a damn sight nicer and cleaner.

I stayed in the hotel at San Benito, which is right above Ticabus’ office, and I can say that yes, it was. I can’t say what it is like in San Carlos but anyway in San Benito I had a private room with my own toilet and a TV and a towel provided. It is pricey for Latin America ($20 USD) but there’s nothing you can do about it because hey, they know you need a room since your bus connection is at 5 a.m. the next morning.

You can, of course, choose to leave for Managua, Nicaragua in the afternoon. Another bus leaves at 3 p.m.

But if you want to get on the morning bus at 5 a.m. (which will arrive in Managua at about 3 p.m. the same day), it is best to confirm with the office the night before, immediately upon your arrival in San Salvador. I have been advised by Bill that if you don’t do that and they happen to be full, they will push you onto the 3 p.m. bus instead. So you know, secure your space a.s.a.p. if time is a constraint.

Antigua, Guatemala to Managua, Nicaragua:

If you leave from the Spanish colonial town of Antigua in Guatemala, as I did, travel agencies normally charge you $60 USD, so that means an additional $15 USD for the shuttle from Antigua to Guatemala City. I guess as the middle man, the travel agency pockets some of your $15 USD.

But the thing is: it is possible to take a shuttle from Antigua to Guatemala City for just $5 USD and then book a separate ticket to Managua directly with Ticabus. You cut out the middle man, you pay $5 instead of $15 for the shuttle from Antigua to Guatemala City.

However, please make sure you hold on to your shuttle driver from Antigua once you reach Ticabus’ office in Guatemala City because he will have your ticket which he is supposed to pass on to the office for you to get your onward ticket. An Aussie traveller I met on the road told me he had to buy a new ticket (another $45 USD) because his driver left with his ticket and he couldn’t show any proof of his purchase.

There are, of course, other quicker ways of crossing borders in Central America, like flying with Copa Air or Taca Air. It really depends on how much time and money you want to save.