We’ve crossed 58 borders so far on our Trans-Americas Journey road trip through the Americas. And while 90% of the border officials we’ve come across have been pros, the other 10% have been, as we say in the travel business, border dicks. They come in many shapes and sizes. Here are a few of our favorites.
The Career Dick – Possibly the most common border dick of all, the Career Dick is usually old and fat (the truth hurts). He or she probably sleeps in his or her uniform and boasts about their authority to all who will listen, but lost any interest in actually doing the job many, many years ago.
On the border between Argentina and Bolivia.
The Flaccid Dick – On the border between Bolivia and Argentina we encountered a Flaccid Dick, that is: a border official who talks a big game but, when push comes to shove, doesn’t have what it takes to follow through. Our Flaccid Dick insisted that we had to remove the entire contents of our truck and put said contents through an airport-style X-ray machine. We did that for about an hour until the Flaccid Dick was over ruled by another border official and the very real limits of his power were made clear. That’s when the Flaccid Dick usually turns into the even more offensive and potentially dangerous Frustrated Dick.
Waiting, waiting, waiting on the Peruvian border.
The Out-To-Lunch Dick – Not all border dicks are male (though the majority of border officials we’ve encountered are). The first time we entered Peru we were stuck at the border for more than an hour waiting for the woman in charge to return from her hours-long lunch break.
The Pompous Dick – The border official at a crossing from Honduras into El Salvador really was just doing his job and we really did inadvertently violate Central American border rules resulting in not being allowed to enter El Salvador. But did he have to be so obnoxious about it? Turns out, yes. That’s what made him a Pompous Dick.
North American borders we have known.
The Picky Dick – You will not believe the hoops we had to jump through (cash, forms, reservations, letters of recommendation, inoculations) to get past Picky Dick border officials in Bolivia because of our US passports…
The Know-Nothing Dick – It is alarmingly common that customs officials do not speak to immigration officials (and vice versa). That lack of communication, and a world-class Know-Nothing Dick customs agent, created infuriating chaos during a crossing into Ecuador from Colombia. After purchasing visas at the Ecuadorean consulate in a nearby Colombian border town, we headed for the border. The problem: the consulate agent, perhaps distracted by the strong earthquake which occurred in the midst of our transaction, failed to write the number of days on both visas after they were stamped into our passports. One visa clearly noted 90 days while the other had no days noted. Despite the fact that the visa we purchased is, by law, a 90 day visa, the customs official at the border would not let our truck into Ecuador with us, claiming he did not know how many days to give the truck because our visas were unclear. After hours of explaining Ecuadorean immigration and visa law to the Know-Nothing Dick we finally begged the extremely reluctant head of immigration at the border to intervene. In what may be a world first, representatives of these two agencies spoke (so awkward) and we were finally let into Ecuador with a glare for good measure.
South American borders we have known.
The Chicken Little Dick – Borders are tense places under the best of circumstances. Add in a Chicken-Little-Dick border official, like the customs woman we dealt with while exiting Peru and entering Chile where delays caused by TWO tire blowouts on the road to the border had resulted in overstaying our visa and truck importation permit by 14 hours. But surely there’s a way to overcome such an unavoidable and inadvertent breaking of the rules, no? Well, yes. But the Chicken-Little-Dick border agent had to make it as nerve-wracking as possible with her end of the world attitude, pointing out that under Peruvian law any importation permit overstay gives officials the right to confiscate our vehicle. Blood pressure rising, we spent two days rectifying the problem with Peruvian officials, employing a time-tested recipe of begging, Spanish language documentation, and the help of local businessmen. Unbeknownst to us, the Chicken-Little-Dick border official was reprimanded for her handling of our situation, so when we returned to the border with our papers in order she had transformed into a particularly sour Mopey Dick.
The Half-Hearted Dick – During a crossing from Peru to Chile, a Chilean customs official made a lot of noise about needing to see EVERYTHING in our truck. Lucky for us he was a Half-Hearted Dick and almost immediately lost the will to follow through on his threats and we passed without unpacking.
Have you come across other types of border dicks in your travels? Tell us about them in the comments section, below.
North and Central American borders we have known.
Loved reading these stories! Great pics, too. Glad to hear these only occur about 10% of the time…. :)
We’re glad it’s only 10% too!
You are a great storyteller, I enjoyed reading it. Thank you for sharing.
Wow sounds like there are a lot of dicks out there. Hopefully when I come across the border through one of these countries I will hopefully either not meet them or at least know what to expect when I encounter one of these dicks. Thanks for letting me know all the kinds of dicks that are out there!
As we said, MOST of our nearly 60 border crossings (so far) have been dick-free, so we think you’ll be fine!
Hey what an original, amusing and interesting post, thanks for sharing!
We’ve all met similar dicks when travelling, often it’s those ‘entrepreneurial’ dicks that feel one need to make a donation to their own personal tourism fund.
However, kudos indeed for collating such a comprehensive list of all travel-related dickery that seem compelled to find themselves in little empires of BS and self-aggrandization.
Keep up the great work!
What a good read! I finished the story with a big smile and a chuckle. Its sad, but no matter where one travels there always has to be a dick of some sort….
Great read!
How about “the football game is on and I don’t have time for you right now Dick”. There is always a game on in the background somewhere but this guy could do TIPs with his eyes closed but you had to get him at the stoppage of play. The van was behind the gate going nowhere and there was a bar/restaurant on the other side of no man’s land. Had a beer while aduana did his thing.
Hey Mark – That’s a good one too!