Blogs :: Crossing the Border to Hell
Alright you have to excuse me while I put a little rant down on paper. As the namesake implies it is about border crossings and how they are the incarnation of an idea formulated by the devil himself.
Now I like to think of myself as a patient and levelheaded person but these things make me want to lose my mind. Personally I believe that they are the worst part of traveling aside from getting all your stuff stolen out from under you (now that would suck) and I would also like to believe that this isn't the case everywhere but as far as Central America is concerned I think it is the norm. Now there are three things that make a border crossing pure hell: the officials, the helpers, and the tourists.
The Officials
Now I understand that they are just doing their jobs, albeit extremely inefficiently, but seriously. Did 75 percent of these guys ride the short bus to school?? Even the most simplest of tasks for them seems to be brain surgery. I admit that part of this may be my fault because of the language barrier so I cannot lay all the blame on them but why must you spend 30 minutes and six phone calls wondering why I don't have a Nicaragua stamp in my passport. The CA-4 is not a new thing and this is your full time job. How is it possible that you cannot figure out that one stamp covers all four countries and I don't need one for every single country that signed the treaty. Like I said it is your full time job. You should know this.
The "Helpers"
Everybody at the border wants something from you. These guys just happen to want your money in exchange for walking you around the clearly marked offices. Now I am not saying that they don't have a purpose. When it becomes necessary to make that bribe to a border official they are good people to have on your side but when things are going smoothly they are just a pain in the ass. They constantly yell, grab, threaten, smooth talk, or flat out ask you for money for nothing. Annoying? Yes.
The Tourists
I like to think that I am not one of these people but I prolly am albeit not as bad as some. Example. Standing at the Panama border there were two girls sitting at the window throwing a 15 minute fit in three different languages about having to have a return ticket out of Panama for entry. Now it wasn't the statement "I knew it was a rule but I didn't think they would actually enforce it" that bothered me. It was in fact that the other 100 people in line had to sit there and watch her thow this fit. Seriously??? You took a chance and it didn't work out. Now either pay the man off, buy a bus ticket, or stay in Costa Rica. Just don't stand there complaining another 15 minutes. Deal with it.
Now I of all people know that border crossings can be frustrating there are tourist cards, visas, entrance fees, exit fees, return tickets, time restrictions, and about another thousand things that can go wrong and you have to deal with it. Such is life. But damnit I am still going to complain. And please please if you are a traveler don't start screaming at the man that just squeezed in to talk to his buddy, the official at the window, don't bitch about things that you can't change (ok this one is flexible but don't do it so loudly that I have to listen to it), and please please don't get all huffy when I pay somebody off to not stand in the three hour line. It just isn't polite.
Costa Rica, borders, Panama
Posted By:
Jason
1/26/2009