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Other entries in Maicao

Back to the border I guess (6 July 2004)

The following morning I woke up at 7:15 AM. Amazaing because I was really tired the evening before. I had slept very well probably and even felt reasonably fit. Good. I had a breakfast at the restaurant a few doors down the road and was shown that Colombian service can be as slow as the Venezuelan service. Coffee, juice and eggs on toast took more than 30 minutes!

I took a taxi to the DAS office in order to get my passport fixed with a nice stamp making me being in this country legal. Surprisingly enough the officer spoke some English and with my some Spanish I managed to explain what happened. He pointed at the wall to the list of tariffs. It would cost about 70 American dollars and 15 working days to fix it! Aaargh! I can not stay that long here! I asked him if there was nothing we could do about the 15 days ... Yes, I tried to bribe him. Against my principles but sometimes prionciples are there to forget. Strange enough it was not possible to bribe me through the process. Everybody can be bribed on this continent but not here in the most corrupt country in South America. He insisted that the best option was to go back to the border, 300 km away ...

So, I did not have much choice and took another taxi to the bus terminalk, paid my juice of the day before and hopped on the 9:00 AM bus to Maicao, yes indeed, the lawless town closest to the border. The aircon was good this time and 4 hours later I arrived at the terminal of Maicao. Thank God we had not been stopped by police, army or paramilitaries to check passports! A ten minute taxi ride set me back about as much as the whole bus trip, 15.000 pesos and there I was again, at Paraguachon, a place I will never foget.

The immigration was indeed there, of course. Just about 50 meters from where we had changed buses the day before. How stupid not to see this! Well, that can happen when you have to get up at 3:30 AM! Too sleepy! I decided that it was better not to tell the immigration officer the problem and just pretend that I had just arrived from Venezuela today. I hoped that he would see that the date on the exit stamp of Venezuela was from the day before and not todays!

I held my breath and acted as cool and relaxed as possible. No questions asked, no forms to fill out and I got an electronic stamp allowing me 60 days in this great country. Litterally a minute after I had arrived I was trying to find a ride back to Maicao. No taxis to be seen, but some Venezuean who had just crossed the border was happy to take me back to Maicao and drop me at the terminal for 2000 pesos. Excellent!

Speaking about connections, the touting agent of one of the bus companies almost pulled me out of the car and got me on the bus to Santa Marta that was leaving at the very second I arrived. At 13:30 we left Maicao and after 4 checkpoints by police, army and some obscure paramilitary group, another 300 kilometers and a taxi ride I was back at my hotel in Santa marta at 18:00. Pfff, what a day, again!