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Two and a half hours later, the windows reopened and the line resumed its slow motion forward. The travelers passed the first and second windows, arriving at the third and final onethey thought.
"Documentos," came a voice from within the trailer. Nuco, who had assumed control over the four sets of papers, handed them through the window.
"Where are you going?" came the voice.
"Nicaragua and Costa Rica."
"How are you traveling?"
"Bus."
"Why are you here?"
"Vacation."
Eyebrows rose. "How long do you plan to stay in Nicaragua?"
"Three days."
A moment later the border agent inside the RV handed the papers back to Nuco, and said, "These are no good. You checked the wrong box." He pointed to a box that apparently had been incorrectly checked.
"I can correct that," Nuco replied, "just change that one mark."
"No," the agent replied. "You must return to the start and fill out the documents again."
Nuco tried to reason with the agent, informing him that they had been at the border over four hours already, but the agent stood firm. After several more minutes of futile argument, Nuco grabbed the bundle of papers and stormed away from the window. "Fuck these assholes!" he swore. "They can take their revolution and shove it! Let's go back to Honduras!" Reaching the spot where the group had disembarked from the border bus, he threw the papers to the ground.
"Ahora, ahora, ahora...let's think this one over," said the BigCanadian, hastily gathering up the scattered documentos.
Capn and Medio weighed in, voicing their reluctance to return to Honduras, and the group decided to redo the entire process. The BigCanadian, after this show of leadership, automatically regained his US citizenship.
Two hours later, the travelers reached the same agent who had rejected their documents. The agent took them, rifled through the piles, then looked sharply at one of the passports.
"?Que pasa?" Nuco snapped, expecting another rejection.
"Larry!" the agent said, then smiled gleefully and pointed to Capn's passport picture. "Larry!" he repeated and held up the passport. "!Los Tres Chiflados! Los Tres Chiflados!" The agent laughed. "Larry!" He began stamping the papers and passports.
"What's he saying?" Capn asked, as the papers were handed back to the group.
"He says we're The Three Stooges and you look like Larry," Nuco explained.
Medio peered over Capn's shoulder. His compañero's passport sported a balding, wild-haired photo resembling one of America's funniest comedy characters. "He's right."
"And he's letting us into his country," the BigAmerican said, relieved.
"Yeah, but the fucking asshole can't count." |
