Eff You Peruvian Cops

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I made it back to Quito, Ecuador. I made it safe. No one physically hurt harmed me but the damned Peruvian border patrol definitely didn´t make things easy on me...and so here it goes

I leave Mancora in the morning, a small surfing and party town on the northern coast of Peru, towards the border of ecuador. I knew it wasn´t the best of timing to cross borders due to the presidential elections coming quickly to ecuador ( sunday to be exact ). Anyway, I got to the border and there was a big protest going on the Peruvian side of the border. I didn´t know what it was but I wanted nothing to do with it.

I walked into the immigration office to get my exit stamp and the officers inside, 4 of them, immediately gave me a hard time. They looked at my passport and tried telling me it wasn´t me. Admittedly i know i look a lot different but th picture was 6 years old. Anyway, the next thing they tell me is that Im in Peru Illegally because I don´t have the right passport stamp. My ass I don´t there just trying to scam a gringo coming through.

To avoid any problems i don´t even fuss with them much and hand over the two 20 dollar bills I have, american currency. They hold the billsup to the light and to there surprise and my amazement there fake 20s. So here I am, trying to bribe a peruvian border officer with fake american money. This type of thing is not looked upon very nicely and i was told I´m going to jail. Basically when i heard the officer say ¨carcel¨i nearly dropped my lunch if you know what I mean. I had to haggle and bargain with the bastards explaining I didn´t know how i got the bills. They thought I was a drug and money runner crossing the borders.

Anyway, after lots of confusion and me doing anything to stall them in the office and not take me to a freakin peruvian jail cell for god knows how long, i went to a cash machine with one of the officers and took out 100$ and handed it over. thats all i could take out and apparently the officer was happy. He brought me back to the office and stamped my passport. I basically ran over the border and got cleared by ecuadorian officials.

I got my stamp and flagged down a bus towards Quito and rode the bus for about 16 hours until I arrived at my buddies front porch at 330 in the morning.

It´s the day after the event and i´m still quite shooken up by it. I´m unsure of what my future will be for the remaining 2 months i have of this trip. I have to weigh out various options and pick which is best for me.

I just want all you to know however that I am safe and in Quito. NOthing was stolen from me nor was I hurt. Just super scared and robbed of some money.

I´ve been keeping a diary of stories during my past month in Peru and will be breaking them down into segments over the next few weeks or so. Just need to clear my head a bit.

Miss and love you all, hope everyone is doing great.

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Comments

[K Grogs]

Holy Shit!
Holy shit!! Now that is a narrative, my friend. SOO glad to know you are safe and sound and NOT in a fucking jail cell. Counterfeit money? That must have blown your mind dealing with that. Well man, keep on keeping on, and enjoy the rest of your trip. PEace and loyalty 4-eva. Grogs

[anonymous]

holy crap! i can't believe that happened to you. I am glad that you made it safely and all that was lost was money. this adventure of yours never stops being exciting. i am really interested to see where you go next. take care and live it up. peace ivy!

[nales]

unreal

[julie]

bryan, i'm so glad that your safe. sorry to here about what happened.

[TS]

5-0
Ivy, remember the night in Valladolid when we got pulled over by the two cops walking??? what the hell, apparently they dont like long haired americans anywhere else eh??? glad to hear you are doing all right. catch ya on the flip side.

[katie]

wow...you're actually beating the p. murph drama now! lol. ;-)

[dannyboy]

...
that definitely shouldn't have happened. and btw the amount you payed as a bribe is EXORBITANT. honestly, i would contact an authority of some sort, because i know the Andean governments are trying to crack down on corruption, especially recently. last time i was south america, customs was trying to give me trouble at one of the land borders, but i didn't even hint that i might be willing to pay a bribe. i ended up saying that I would call my embassy, because i didn't understand what the problem was, and they immediately stamped my passport. if you pay a couple of american dollars as a bribe, that's one thing. but you definitely payed waaaay too much.

[Kate]

Yipes!
That sounds like a crazy ordeal, I'm glad you're okay!

[Rizzle]

Experience
Y'know I've always wanted to travel in Ecuador, but holy crap. Were you alone (ie only American?) Man, even when I got robbed in Valladolid I didn't even get that much taken (unless you add the camera) but seriously that is a bunch hypocritical BS. I haven't been following you journal super carefully, but when I'm searching for what I've been missing, I pop in a bit. When you get back, another gathering with the Spain group might do you some good ;) See you 'round, Rachel Rizzle.