Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Border Crossings and More Border Crossings

For the first leg of our trip down to the bottom of South America we are trying to get there as fast as possible. From there, our plan is to slow down and take in the sights on our return trip. So far we have travelled six countries in 13 days! We started in Mexico, moved on to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and now Panama. In the smaller countries we were able to pass through in a day! It has been quite the culture shock in Central America and quite interesting with the language barrier. The phrase "Mi español es muy malo" has become a staple in our conversations with locals. 

The biggest learning curve was when we crossed the Mexico-Guatemalan border. With our only previous experience coming from the borders at Canada and Mexico (which were painless in comparison) this was, to quote Aladdin, a whole new world. But not a very good one... The Mexican side was pretty straight forward. At the border into Guatemala we needed to cancel out Temporary Vehicle Importation Permit (TVIP) and cancel our Tourist Cards. It all happened at one office with a woman who spoke some english and there was very little confusion. Then, we went to the Guatemala side. The immigration office was in a poorly labelled shack with no actual office to walk into, just windows to walk up to. After filling out a little form with our basic info, we got our passport stamped. From there we had to find the Aduana to get a new TVIP and insurance for the vehicle. This was a trick. We found it, then found out we had to find a different establishment to make copies of various documents for their records (vehicle title, registration, passport, license, etc). Then go back to the Aduana to finish the paperwork. Oh but wait! Its lunch time! Meaning that all of the offices close for a full hour. After waiting for them to open again, we were finally able to get everything done and we could be on our way. All of this took four hours from start to finish. 

It doesn't seem to bad... But mind you that this whole time we are being hassled by people walking up the the cars selling things, busy roads, language barriers, and the scammers trying to 'help' us cross, and try to make a buck off us. First of all, the scammers are in no way affiliated with the actual border officials and they even go as far as making fake name tags in plastic holders slung around their necks to try to convince you. But, we noticed they were obviously printed at home, and everyone has a different design on each tag. They spotted our car pulling up to the border and immediately jumped into action. They rushed us into the immigration office and try to tell us the steps of how to do everything. Don't be fooled, they tried to scam us four times. The first time it was for entry into Guatemala, they said we had to pay $5 to just get past the cones they put in the road. We did end up paying that one, but it was a small loss in the grand scheme of things to get things moving. The next was that we had to park in a certain lot for $20 USD while we did our paperwork. This lot was made to look like it was being used and that people actually paid to park there, but it was all broken down cars when we looked closer. And they required our license plate number for some reason? Needless to say, we skipped that, and opted to have to move the vehicle every time a shop owner told us we were in the way of his storefront (like four times). A small price to pay, really.

After stopping at immigration so that we were allowed into the country, Seth had to venture out to try to get the Guatamalan TVIP. No doubt the scammers were hot on his heels the whole way. Although we tried many times to have them back off, they were persistent. Too persistent. At one point while Seth was at a booth working with an official, one guy took him to the side and said he had to pay $300 USD in cash so he could go onto the next step of the 'paperwork'. Good thing Seth also noted that the man had taken him to a place outside of the security cameras, wanted cash, and the guys' story was that Seth had to specifically hand the money off to him (not an official) for more 'paperwork' that didn't exist. Um, no. Nice try. 

Eventually after hours of trying to figure out where to go, who to talk to, and dodging two more scams, we finally were on our way! That border left a bad taste in our mouths, but it was a good learning experience. Since then, all of the border crossings have been much more successful and much less stressful. There haven't been as many scammers at the rest of the crossings we have done, and the sure as hell aren't as persistent as in Guatemala. It was probably for the best that we had that experience right off the bat. Now we are better prepared to handle scammers and notice the tricks they will try to play. 

Some of the border crossings are pretty easy (such as going into Honduras), some are more complex (like going into Panama), and some are just down right hectic (like going into Guatemala). It all depends on how well the crossing has been set up. Some crossings require us to go to five different locations and talk to many different people, while some only require two buildings where we can go from immigration to the aduana all in one stop. All of them are different, so there is no way of knowing what to expect other than our one reference- ioverlander. Ioverlander is an app where people have marked waypoints for hotels, gas stations, food, good places to go and places to avoid, and info about boarders. It like a google maps review page with everything you'd want to stop at nearby. It is seriously amazing, and we aren't quite sure what we would do without it! It has saved our butts on a few occasions. 

The crossings sound impossible, but with a whole bunch of perseverance and energy, it all works out. From here we are shipping our vehicle from Colón, Panama, to Cartagena, Columbia! Stay tuned!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like an incredible trip. You are learning as you go and managing the hurdles well !!
    Enjoying your blog.....thanks for updates !!

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