Well, it finally happened… I got royally screwed at the Guatemala/Nicaragua border. I wasn’t going to cross today, f*ckers at the hostel were partying till 4am, I didn’t sleep much so, wanting to have my wits about me for the crossing, thought I’d get close to the border today then hit it fresh in the morning. Got to a town close by, couldn’t find a hotel so asked a policewoman. She responded by asking me if I was going to the frontera, and before I could answer she said, “follow me”. She obviously didn’t get the bit about the hotel, but I thought at least if she’s taking me to the border (it’s not as if it was hard to find from where I was) then maybe she has friends there or something and she’ll smooth the way. No such luck, she just dropped me at the border. Nice of her, but didn’t help me since I didn’t want to cross the border right at that moment. It was getting late, and even if things went smoothly it would be almost dark by the time I got to the El Salvador side. I’d seen a hotel a mile after I started following her, should have just stayed there.
Anyway I was here now and decided I may as well just get it over with. A guy’s offering me a decent exchange rate for my leftover Quetzals, shows me the calculation on the calculator, looks fine but I didn’t do the math in my head. Turns out he screwed me for $30. They must have “fixed” calculators?
At the same time this other guy is wanting to help. I said no at first but then it wasn’t obvious which office I needed to go to first (as usual). He spoke good English, so I said OK but I’m not giving you any of my docs, just show me where to go.
Part way through the process we need more photocopies, and while we are getting them he’s asking for $44.85 to pay for one of the docs. I say I only have a $100 note – no problem, I can change. So he pulls a wad of $20’s and I give him the hundred, but instead of giving me the change he gives the lot to his runner who supposedly goes off to pay the $44.85. Meanwhile the copy guy has all my documents (passport, registration, insurance) so I can’t go anywhere, I don’t want to lose track of them.
I’m getting annoyed now, and my lack of sleep the night before is starting to show. It’s getting late and I’m worried about getting a hotel on the other side before dark. I should have gone with plan A, obviously.
The guy comes back with some papers, supposedly the $44.85 was due when leaving Guatemala. I said “Where’s the receipt to show it’s been paid?” He says “It’s Sunday, secretaries day off, if you want a receipt you’ll have to come back tomorrow.” Farrrk – that’s when I knew I’d been had. If it hadn’t been so late in the day I would have chucked a tantrum, but I just wanted it to be over.
Off to the El Salvador side, half-expecting my docs to be wrong, got shunted around a bit but eventually got away from there just before 5pm. No fees at the Aduana? Weird. Hope they don’t hit me on the other side.
Next day, and I’m over it. I should have known better, I should have stuck to my plan and hit the border fresh in the morning rather than tired in the late afternoon. There were some extenuating circumstances (like the cop taking me to the border instead of a hotel, and me going through with the crossing partly because I didn’t want to be rude). But basically, it was my screwup, and I just have to look at it as an “idiot tax” and let it go – but try not to let it happen again. People have been so great and helpful on this trip that I’ve just gotten used to trusting them, and part of the reason I was pissed about yesterday was not so much about the money but because I now have to come back to earth and be WARY of people who may or may not be trying to help.
Still, at least it’s only an “idiot tax” and not a “completely and totally moronic tax”. I met a young guy in Antigua who was all down in the mouth. He’d met some Guatemalans in a bar the night before, they had some cocaine to sell him. He says, I just have to go back to my hostel to get some money. Does that, returns for the drugs but next morning he finds that all his cash, and his iPhone, is missing. About $400. Looks like one of his friendly drug dealers followed him back to the hostel and watched him when he retrieved the cash, then stole it after he went back to the bar. Stupid on so many levels…
On the up side, the owner of the cafe I’m in now gave me free cake and coffee, because he likes my bike!