Quito, Ecuador - Chapter 53
Which recounts the struggle with Ecuadorian Customs, as well as other events worthy of being recorded and remembered forever.
I had read many times on HorizonsUnlimited.com and other websites that Girag was the way to go as far as shipping a motorcycle from Panama to Ecuador, over the impassable Darien Gap between Columbia and Panama. From what I had read, it sounded like such a simple, common, straight forward process successfully completed very frequently by many travelers. So I was surprised when we got off the plane yesterday and with the only instruction from Girag to “go to the cargo terminal and get your bike” and EVERY SINGLE PERSON AT THE CARGO TERMINAL NEVER HEARD OF GIRAG, I got first concerned, then panicked, then angry, then melancholy, then angry again.
Luckily, Gunther, a German riding from California to Argentina who we mentioned before who is in the exact same situation as us, saved some notes on his computer which included a phone number and address for a Girag office in Ecuador. You would think this would be given to us, or at least printed on the Girag waybill. We had none of this info. We called Girag and were told to come to the office today, so that’s what we did.
We got a taxi to the address, which wasn’t very close to the airport at all and seemed to be an office in a residential neighborhood. We waited there for a bit, were told our bike was in Ecuador and safe, and our documents were ready to go to customs. They offered us the services of a Senora Magoly Marquez who charges $50 for her services of speeding up the process. They said with her help we would have our bike this afternoon, without it, it could take days. Bewildered, as Gunter and I have already $750 to ship the bike and another $22 to Girag on arrival for “Handling,” what’s another $50 if we can get our bike today?
Senora Marquez did not instill confidence. She was in her late 30s, dressed like she was 18, tons of makeup, fancy for Ecuador, but 80s style by US standards. When she came into Girag it was hugs and kisses all around, obviously a family friend.
We followed her to her “office”, I use the term loosely because the sign out front was a lady’s clothing boutique, and we filled out a couple of generic homemade forms requesting our names, passport numbers, vins, etc. Just as the clock struck 11:30, she told us to meet her at Aduana (customs) at 1:30, she was going for Lunch. ???
The only directions she gave us for Aduana and where we should meet was “around the corner and to the right.” Luckily I had the presence of mind to ask for her cell phone number. Gunther and I went back to the hotel, picked up amie in our taxi and got some lunch, Gunther’s treat (thanks Gunther!) at TGI Fridays, not our favorite, but something we felt we could trust. After finding out there are 5 different customs offices, and the area Senora Marquez described is locally known as the “Labryinth” I was surprised, and at the same time, not at all, to realize how vague our directions from Senora Marquez wore. I called her on her cell, and she arrived at 2pm. She dropped our papers in an office and said she had to go downstairs. We did not see her again. We sat in the office for the next few hours, and at about 3:30, customs officials began asking us what we were waiting for. We explained how we had hired a woman was helping us get our papers through. They were surprised as they had never heard of this woman or even seen our papers, but not to fret, they had time and could help us now, all we had to do was give them our documents… but Senora Marquez had them. So down the street and around the corner to the pay phone I ran again to call her and ask her where the hell she is and where are papers are as we were getting the attention we needed from the officials. She said she’d be right there. She showed up at 4pm. Customs closes at 4:30. She came into the office and gave our papers to the official, and then the official said, “ok, we’ll do this tomorrow. I’m going home.” ??? WTF??? We are paying this lady $100 (between the two of us) to help speed the process and its because of her we didn’t finish today!??!?! I wanted to strangle this Senora, but that would not get me my bike any faster. I explained the situation to her in Spanish as best I could and got through that I was not pleased. Her response was, “its not my fault.” Not only did she do NOTHING for us, she wasn’t even concerned or remorseful that we would be delayed another day. Gunther had steam coming from his ears and nose.
To add insult to injury, Gunther pointed out a big sign on the door of the Aduana office with there mission statement, something along these lines:
Customs of Ecuador is a modern, efficient machine which strives to be the model not only for South America, but the whole world. Integrity, honesty and diligence is what we pride ourselves on….
Is this for real?????
I was totally at the end of my rope. 9am – 4pm waiting and paying money all day, and nothing at the end of it. I was pissed.
Gunther wasn’t doing much better, and German’s I’ve met tend to get pretty hot headed. He headed off and bought 3 bottles of mine. I had one, he had two. That made us feel a little better.
Later that evening, Gloria was kind enough to invite us back to her place where we enjoyed the comforts of a home and some good conversation. Later, we made our weigh to a delicious 24 hour café were we got good food, cheap.
Back at the hotel around midnight, I was dreading the alarm clock which would awake me at 7am for another round with Aduana.
I had read many times on HorizonsUnlimited.com and other websites that Girag was the way to go as far as shipping a motorcycle from Panama to Ecuador, over the impassable Darien Gap between Columbia and Panama. From what I had read, it sounded like such a simple, common, straight forward process successfully completed very frequently by many travelers. So I was surprised when we got off the plane yesterday and with the only instruction from Girag to “go to the cargo terminal and get your bike” and EVERY SINGLE PERSON AT THE CARGO TERMINAL NEVER HEARD OF GIRAG, I got first concerned, then panicked, then angry, then melancholy, then angry again.
Luckily, Gunther, a German riding from California to Argentina who we mentioned before who is in the exact same situation as us, saved some notes on his computer which included a phone number and address for a Girag office in Ecuador. You would think this would be given to us, or at least printed on the Girag waybill. We had none of this info. We called Girag and were told to come to the office today, so that’s what we did.
We got a taxi to the address, which wasn’t very close to the airport at all and seemed to be an office in a residential neighborhood. We waited there for a bit, were told our bike was in Ecuador and safe, and our documents were ready to go to customs. They offered us the services of a Senora Magoly Marquez who charges $50 for her services of speeding up the process. They said with her help we would have our bike this afternoon, without it, it could take days. Bewildered, as Gunter and I have already $750 to ship the bike and another $22 to Girag on arrival for “Handling,” what’s another $50 if we can get our bike today?
Senora Marquez did not instill confidence. She was in her late 30s, dressed like she was 18, tons of makeup, fancy for Ecuador, but 80s style by US standards. When she came into Girag it was hugs and kisses all around, obviously a family friend.
We followed her to her “office”, I use the term loosely because the sign out front was a lady’s clothing boutique, and we filled out a couple of generic homemade forms requesting our names, passport numbers, vins, etc. Just as the clock struck 11:30, she told us to meet her at Aduana (customs) at 1:30, she was going for Lunch. ???
The only directions she gave us for Aduana and where we should meet was “around the corner and to the right.” Luckily I had the presence of mind to ask for her cell phone number. Gunther and I went back to the hotel, picked up amie in our taxi and got some lunch, Gunther’s treat (thanks Gunther!) at TGI Fridays, not our favorite, but something we felt we could trust. After finding out there are 5 different customs offices, and the area Senora Marquez described is locally known as the “Labryinth” I was surprised, and at the same time, not at all, to realize how vague our directions from Senora Marquez wore. I called her on her cell, and she arrived at 2pm. She dropped our papers in an office and said she had to go downstairs. We did not see her again. We sat in the office for the next few hours, and at about 3:30, customs officials began asking us what we were waiting for. We explained how we had hired a woman was helping us get our papers through. They were surprised as they had never heard of this woman or even seen our papers, but not to fret, they had time and could help us now, all we had to do was give them our documents… but Senora Marquez had them. So down the street and around the corner to the pay phone I ran again to call her and ask her where the hell she is and where are papers are as we were getting the attention we needed from the officials. She said she’d be right there. She showed up at 4pm. Customs closes at 4:30. She came into the office and gave our papers to the official, and then the official said, “ok, we’ll do this tomorrow. I’m going home.” ??? WTF??? We are paying this lady $100 (between the two of us) to help speed the process and its because of her we didn’t finish today!??!?! I wanted to strangle this Senora, but that would not get me my bike any faster. I explained the situation to her in Spanish as best I could and got through that I was not pleased. Her response was, “its not my fault.” Not only did she do NOTHING for us, she wasn’t even concerned or remorseful that we would be delayed another day. Gunther had steam coming from his ears and nose.
To add insult to injury, Gunther pointed out a big sign on the door of the Aduana office with there mission statement, something along these lines:
Customs of Ecuador is a modern, efficient machine which strives to be the model not only for South America, but the whole world. Integrity, honesty and diligence is what we pride ourselves on….
Is this for real?????
I was totally at the end of my rope. 9am – 4pm waiting and paying money all day, and nothing at the end of it. I was pissed.
Gunther wasn’t doing much better, and German’s I’ve met tend to get pretty hot headed. He headed off and bought 3 bottles of mine. I had one, he had two. That made us feel a little better.
Later that evening, Gloria was kind enough to invite us back to her place where we enjoyed the comforts of a home and some good conversation. Later, we made our weigh to a delicious 24 hour café were we got good food, cheap.
Back at the hotel around midnight, I was dreading the alarm clock which would awake me at 7am for another round with Aduana.
The entire day spent here
Such a lovely home
posted by Pedro and Maria at 6:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home