Rant 2: shipments & packages

Next rant is about supplies. Some of them need to be shipped from the USA. The first shipment was ordered in Jul 07 and reached me in Jan 08, which is the sole reason why I am still here instead of celebrating the end of the data collection. Shipments arrive to the airport, where one has to go, clear customs and pick them up. For the first shipment, I arrived and was asked 1,200$ of custom taxes to release it! It took me a whole day and a half to reduce that to 600$, the third day to get to 200$ and the fourth to convince them to get it for free. The best was the first guy, who filled out the fake form saying I had to pay 1,200$: after it became obvious that he had tried to cheat me, he still wanted to be paid 35$ for the form, which he had to fill out using resources, computer, internet connection!

Last week, a second package arrived. I alerted WCS office, but the shipping company instead of calling sent an email, which was kindly disregarded. So after a week that I expected the package, I went out of the forest and found that it had actually arrived a week ago. After asking if WCS could send somebody to take care of this, which was rudely refused, I took the bloody night-bus and started my fight in the cargo area at dawn. I thought I could make use of the broad experience I had gained, but not at all. I release the documents, go to the customs building, discover that there is another one, I make my way to the big boss in only five steps (last time it took me about 14), he says he will help, he cuts the taxes in half but that still leaves 300$ to pay. He says I should then talk to the other office (the bigger boss). They take me back there, I am directed to a creepy office with pictures of people arrested with illegal drugs (not the big boss, whom I met the previous time, surrounded by a godly aura, in a celestial blue office full of curtains and airplane models). I explain my case again, tailoring it to the new audience, they decide to help me, call the first boss, make me write an “autocertification letter”, and send me back with some hope. After another eight bureaucratic steps, they all go to pray and then lunch, except for a mother-like woman who keeps working on my application, and offers me water and “gorengan”, mixed fried foods. We then go inspect the stuff, with an overweight and frightened officer, then back to customs, other four steps and indeed I can go get the package without having paid anything. Having protested that I had not been properly warned of the arrival of the package, they waive the storage fee as well. The package of course is in the middle of nowhere, and I am on foot, eheh. But the nice girl who signs the last document offers to take me to the bus stop when she gets out of work, in 20 mins, at 5pm. This hardly an exciting tale, yet, sadly, in the state I am in, it takes the place of great adventures and accomplishments. To improve the post with some meaningful conclusive remarks, I can say that in the world there are people that are useful and helpful, and others who are not. And I am being fortunate enough to meet several of the first kind. In this instance, among dozens of idling useless burocrats, there were some that, only out of their good heart, went out of their way (and out of the law too) to help me. I must also stress the fact that I was never asked a bribe by any custom officer (because one must fight commonplaces).