離開時難進亦難,經過兩天兩夜終於都到了巴拉圭和玻利維亞接壤的邊境,原以為入境在望,怎知

It’s difficult to get out of Paraguay, nor was it easy to get into Bolivia.

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由於貨車清關需時,我們便一直由上午九時等到下午五時,終於清關完了可以放行了,這時邊境卻突然關閉。由於邊境關閉至明天清晨五時,無奈地,我們只能繼續呆坐至黃昏,再隨地紥營準備入睡。就當天剛黑時,卻突然傳來三聲槍聲和連續的上鏜聲,騒動了一刻,大地隨即又回復平靜。據聞這條邊境路線走私情況猖獗,邊境關閉或者跟這個有關吧。

什麼是對比?對比就是一個好一個壞。

第二天清晨六時便出發,千辛萬苦終於走到了玻利維亞 Ibibobo 的出入境管制站,這裡的職員卻先是一輪呼喝,然後拿著我的 BNO 唸唸有詞的 Chinese,Chinese,再質問我們出境巴拉圭的日期為什麼是前天,不是昨天(昨天邊境關閉了嘛,你會不知道嗎?),再之後什麼問題都找不出來了,便轉向我們的貨車司機發難,唬嚇他以後也不可再帶人,否則會找他麻煩。我們雖然心中有氣,但亦只能唯唯諾諾。終於都拿到了入境蓋章,我們便急步離開返回車上,這時又有另一名入境站職員問我們拿證件看,然後就問我們拿”貢獻”, 要我們給他巴拉圭貨幣。我們身上只有1500Guarani,即兩毛半美金,他嫌少就沒拿也就放我們走了。貨車司機跟我們說,他們如此為難我們都只是想找碴拿錢。

這是我來了南美21個月,走過八個國家以來,第一次有公職人員跟我拿錢。

當然玻利維亞的壞官員不代表玻利維亞人都壞,但我相信巴拉圭的好官卻反映了巴拉圭人的普遍人情味。

 

後記:

這次出巴拉圭用了四天,走了四百公里,走得很慢,但慢也沒問題,因為過程也是旅行的一部分。花錢坐巴士固然是一個相對舒適快捷的方法,但很大機會它只是又一個沒什麼值得回憶的巴士路程。所以就算過程走得不容易,但如果讓我重新選擇的話,我還是會這麼走。

人生本是場歷險,當中不是只有甜沒有苦。苦的歷程當然不容易,但也總比沒回憶的旅程來得珍貴。沒有高低起伏的人生,你能說你活過嗎?


After two days and nights, we finally got to the border between Paraguay and Bolivia. While we were happy our truck had finally been cleared from the Bolivian custom after another 8 hours of waiting, the border was suddenly closed without any prior notice.

After spending another night of waiting, the border was opened again and we eventually arrived the Bolivian immigration in Ibibobo at around 8am. The immigration staff here was completely different. They were NOT nice. They tried to make problems for us and even threatened our driver not to take any people on the route again, or they would give him a hard time. When we got back to our truck, another immigration staff came to check our passports and asked us to ‘contribute’ some Paraguayan Guarani. Well, all we had was 1500 Guarani, that’s like 0.25USD. It was too less and of course he wasn’t very impressed but he still let us go without taking any money at the end.

It’s a big comparison between the Paraguay and Bolivia immigration. For sure the bad staff doesn’t represent the people of Bolivia, but I believe the good staff reflects the general kindness of most Paraguayans.