Success!!!

After about a week of painstaking efforts to attain this package from home, I finally have it. In my hands. It only took the following.

So beyond the whole, $20 in phone bills, night spent in Rivas, Masaya, and Managua, I only had to make it to the Customs Office and get my package. As you should know by now, this sounds SO much easier than it is in reality.

I headed to the mall to catch a taxi. Made it too the Customs Office and was confounded by what I saw. I thought it would be a simple thing to enter, get my package and leave. Instead I realized that it was anything but.

There was a group of people waiting outside, locals, all holding pieces of paper and had a number. People kept telling me I needed a number and that I should have been there earlier to get a number. I am ashamed to admit that I refused this as an answer. Clearly as a tourist, things are different for me. Right?

So I headed to the other gate and asked the gentlemen there. He told me that this entrance was only for the trucks. I had to wait. When I returned however to the second gate, with the milling crowd the security guard approached me. He asked me for my papers and took them with him. For 10 minutes I watched him from behind the gates as he talked to officials and then ultimately disappeared.

He returned and asked me to come in. I nearly fell to the ground with thankfulness. I definitely didn’t want to spend another 3 days waiting to get this package. Especially in Managua. I was ushered in and taken to the office. I was greeted by an interpreter. He told me that things had changed in the processing of the boxes and that it might take a while.

I was ushered into an office and talked to an “official”. They told me what was going to happen, and then they finally asked if I spoke Spanish. I told them enough. Which was true. I was then ushered into the waiting room. Magically my number was called next. I was told to leave my bag with the security guard. This made me extremely uncomfortable as this is EVERYTHING I own. However, for security reasons I could not take my bag with me.

I got my papers stamped and printed out, and had the slightest of panic attacks when they photo copied my entrance into Nicaragua. This would be the same one that indicates I left Nicaragua and returned on the same day. The woman behind the desk had several conversations with my passport in hand and I kept hoping that it was unrelated to my passport.

Seemingly it was, because within moments I was told to  go and retrieve my package. I had to go get a customs agent, then retrieve my package, then have him go through my box, get his ok, leave and await my package on the outside. And for the most part this is exactly how it went. My customs agent was a funny older man who I enjoyed conversing with in Spanish.

Together we opened up the package from home. I saw the contents for the first time with two Nicaraguan men standing there with me. I’m grateful my parents didn’t send anything awkward, like underwear or worse! Instead I got to see the two tubes of Tom’s Toothpaste, dental floss, bobby pins, three quick dry shirts, Larabars, a bathing suit, some makeup, socks, two home videos, and a card.
Once the package was opened, I could have cried. I could tell that the customs guy felt like he was intruding on something that clearly wasn’t harboring anything. He started making jokes about the clothing (and it’s largeness) which was exactly what the situation needed. We were joking about what things were and exchanging words in Spanish and English.

Finally he told me to go out and wait for my number again. Then I could come back in to get my package and finally leave. Within minutes I had my package and was walking out with it. My bag, safe and sound waiting for me as I left. I walked out of the compound, into a taxi and headed straight for the bus station to take me to Leon.

Got to experience the clanging of bells of the ice cream venders, the hollering of “AGUA-GUA-GUA-GUA” by those selling bags of water and juice. It was nice to have things to pass the time, because I had to wait an hour to catch my express bus. The entire time I stood there with my worldly possessions and my box filled with love from home.

I waited until I found a hostel to sleep in before cracking open the package again. I spent my night watching the home videos my parents sent, and I felt so homesick.

So thanks Mom and Dad for giving me the gifts and the feeling of being home even when I am miles away. I miss you guys!