Imprisoned in Peru

SUNAT, home of Aduana, Peruvian Customs, in Callao, Peru.

For many reasons, I just am not going to go into all the details of what happened to me, how I was treated, and/or how much it cost me in terms of time, and money, it is just not important at this point in time. What is much more important is what has happened since, so I will only provide a quick summary here. Customs officials in Peru, at the port of Callao, simply just did not understand that I was a tourist, and as a result, they treated me like an importer, even like a criminal at times. They held me captive in Peru, first in Miraflores, and then later in La Punta. They cost me thousands of dollars, in terms of what I felt were totally unnecessary fees and cost, and in terms of the delay, staying in a hotel for weeks on end is not cheap, even in Peru. They made things very difficult, they did not even know their own policies and rules, they lied to me on at least two occasions, and generally treated me very poorly. I told them many times, I am just a tourist, and asked them many times, do they treat all tourists like this? Their response, this is different senior, but it is not. Whether I drove my van full of equipment across the border from Ecuador, or brough my van and gear into the county by boat, it does not change the fact that I am a tourist, a temporary visitor, I am importing nothing, I do not have a tax ID number, I plan to leave as soon as I can. It did not help that my customs broker, my clearing agent, DASA Logistics, were almost as bad, all a bunch of incompetent idiots. The whole process was terrible, costy, and left a scare that will never heal. I hate Peru, full of a bunch of crooks. And the problems run deeper than just what happens at the port of Callao. I told many people, Peru has many, many problems, and these extend to their tourism industry as well, the only part of their economy which is currently growing. Peru loves tourism, and the dollars tourist bring in, but, they simply do not like tourist, they do not like us. With one exception, I only found one person who was involved with the port who was sincerely interested in helping me, a tourist, bring my van and gear into the country so that I could explore Peru further, Alex Gomez from Transmeridian. Other than Alex, I met no one who was sincerely willing to help me, whether at BJ Logisitics, Vanguard Logisitics, DASA Logistics (who I paid), Aduana (customs), Neptunia SA (warehouse people where stuff is stored until it clears customs), the US Embassy, etc. All I wanted was my van, and then my gear, so I could go. Instead, I was imprisoned for just over two months, it was not fun. 

But, I did get my van, and eventually most of my gear, though they did take my Engel portable refrigerator. Is a bit of a story, but, problem was they they have import restrictions on refrigerators in Peru, antiquated law going back to the Montreal Protocol, ozone protection, etc. My fridge was 100%CFC free, I provided documentation from the manufacturer (MSDS, letter stating fact that unit was CFC free and used perfectly harmless refrigerant), as specified on the Peruvian Customs webpage, but they confiscated it anyway, and to add insult to injury, they later fined me S/.1200 (or about US$340) for illegal importation of a refrigerator, though again, I was not importing anything, I am a tourist.

So, moral to the story? Do not start your trip in Peru, and heck, I would ask everyone to not go to Peru, period. They want our money, but they generally have no interested in us, in helping us, in understanding tourists and who we are. They only want our money. Now, I met a number of wonderful Peruvians, and while I hate Peru, I do not hate all Peruvians. But after the way they, at Customs, at my broker, at the different warehouses treated me, it is easy to understand why I feel the way I do. I planned this adventure for a number of years, and Peruvians put all my entire trip in jeopardy. I will have to shorten my trip, limit certain activities, and generally see and do less than I had planned. Peruvians associated with Callao, the port, cost me much, and I will never forget, never forgive.

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