Day 15: Border crossing in 25 easy steps

If you’ve not been through many border crossings by land, I have a brief, bleary-eyed recommendation for you: Don’t. 

We started with a taxi for the two hour trip to the border. To fully appreciate the day, you need to know that it was well over 100 degrees when we left at noon.  Keep this in mind. We then went:

1. To a checkpoint where we were told we couldn’t proceed in that taxi, and then 
2. To a line of taxis where we found we were on the wrong side of the road, and then,
3. To a u-turn where we could go to the other side of the road, and then
4. Out onto the approximately 120 degree roadside, and then, 
5. To a taxi that pulled up, and then, 
6. To security where our bags were scanned, and then, 
7. Back to the taxi (I thought we were going in a bus? I asked Rosetta. I thought so too, she said), and then,
8. To a large eerily empty passport control building, and then, 
9. To the passport counter where we told we have to go pay an exit fee first, and then, 
10. To the exit few booth, and then, 
11. To the passport counter, and then, 
12. To a bus ticket booth, and then,
13. To the bus, and then,
14. 500 feet forward to a stop across from 13 palm trees while someone walked around the bottom of our bus with a mirror, and then,
15. Forward another 500 feet, across the  river, to a stop by some beautiful flowers and an exquisite small bird. Well, I may as well take a picture while we idle I thought, and just like that we pulled forward so I got mostly barbed wire,  and then, 
16. Forward another 500 feet to a passport control, and then, 
17. Through security (Why are you coming? Why on this day?), and then,
18. Into a maelstrom of people waiting in line for the passport windows, and then, 
19. After 30 minutes, to the window, and then,
20. Questions for 30 minutes (Is this the first time you’ve been here? Why were you in _________? What cities have you lived in?), and then
21. To some chairs while some things are checked for an hour and a half, and then
22. To a counter where we were asked more questions, and then
23. Back to the chairs for another hour and a half, and then
24. On a nice long walk through the palm trees in search of a taxi, and then 
25. Approximately six hours after leaving our first taxi that brought us to the border, we found one to take us from the border.

I don’t recall any time feeling so glad to drop into bed.  The recap on our last day of interviews will have to wait, perhaps for Saturday night. 

Good night!