i’ve said this before….and i’ll say it again. why must all the borders suck? these ports of entry/exit are the first and last impressions of the country….so you’d think they should be nice and efficient. moreover, most countries have less than 10 ports of entry (including land, air and sea)….so it’s not too much money to improve the infrastructure. that said, today’s border was the worst thus far:
leaving nicaragu is a bit of an easter egg hunt. i was forced to get 6 signatures from various people milling around the buildings/parking lot. after getting one, they would tell me the general direction of the next signature…and i’d have to find them. it would have been more fun if i got a chocolate bar after completing my form….but after my experience in nicaragua yesterday, permission to leave sufficed. (note: i actually intended to spend a night at isla omotepe….but a landslide shut down the road between the two ports on the island….meaning i couldn’t end up with my car in the border town on the south side of the lake)
entering costa rica is the worst border experience thus far. it started off fine, with me driving into costa rica.. the costa rican border guard even waved me on. however, after 5 miles, i realized that i probably missed customs….so i turned back. FIRST U-TURN. the border guard who initially waved me on confirmed that i had left without the proper paperwork (….he’s got one job….to collect a slip of paper from cars to confirm that you went through customs….c’mon!). so, i continued to the first customs station (for vehicles). there, they told me i needed to get my passport stamped at a customs station even further north. SECOND U-TURN. after waiting in a line for 1-1.5hrs in the sun to get my passport stamped, i got back in the car and went to the vehicles customs station. turns out i needed to get another form near the same building further north. THIRD U-TURN. i got the forms stampes, paid $15 and headed south again. this time he accepted my papers and i finally headed to costa rica….about 2-3 hrs later.