I have come to the conclusion that the countries of Central America (to which I add Mexico, despite its designation as a North American country) have ar some point gathered together to discuss how to conduct their respective border logistics. By this of course, I actually mean how they can all cause the most confusion possible without duplication between countries, lest the unwitting traveller spot common anomalies and learn to navigate them.
My league of extraordinary confusion, timewise (into the country, includes exiting the previous country!) comes out as thus:
1st Place - Colombia (5 hrs)
2nd Place - Guatemala (3 1/2 hours)
3rd Place - Costa Rica (2 hours)
4th Place - Nicaragua (1 1/2 hours)
5th (joint) - Panama, El Salvador, Honduras & Mexico (1 hour)
For those keeping track that's over 13 hours spent standing scratching my head at various borders trying to work out what the game is this time, all whilst in my motorcycle gear (jacket, helmet and gloves being carried) at at least 80'F and all most exclusively in the most noisy areas I have been in outside of a machine gun live firing exercise.
For some borders it's the actual geographic layout that confuses most (Mexico into Guatemala), others it's the sheer couldn't-give-a-damn attitude of the border agents (Nicaragua! Yer bastards), and then again the beurocratic idiocy of, say, Costa Rica - $8 exit tax payable to someone in an unmarked minivan behind the passport office... why; there were even empty chairs next to the immigration officer who sent me to the van before she would stamp me out!?
But Panama to Colombia has to get its own paragraph. Much as I (still) seeth at Nicaragua for its bloody minded, ignorant and unhelpful staff and their sheer incompetence. Though, to be fair most of my 5 hours at the Bogota airport were spent just trying to locate XavieR and only 2 or so wespent dealing with the 'border' formalities. And there I was thinking that if you give a company nearly $1,000 to fly your motorbike a mere 400 miles then said company would at least be the ones to hand the bike over to you at the destination.....!
The worst thing about the Panama to Colombia debacle was actually 2 things - first being that the shipping company made no effort to help me and literally sent me off to find it myself, despite my pleas for help and waving their shipping receipt at them. Secondly, and most shameful, that I'd allowed myself to assume that because it was via a 'professional' shipping agency the border would be easier.
What's that saying? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. What about 7 times...?
