the world of contraband

Contraband… it´s hidden in the bus seats, in the local restaurant by the bus stop, in your friends´ houses, in random cars, one could say it is everywhere. That is one aspect of living near the border, there is a high dependency on contraband. Clothing, shoes, and basic goods are cheaper on the Peruvian side of the border, so most business owners have women who will cross over and get the goods back to the store. Although the military and the police both have check points set up along the highway in attempts to control the trafficking, there really is little that can be done. The truth is people will always find a way to get their products across the border and into their stores, and the officials really can´t crack down on the issue too much because the entire economy of the southern border basically depends on this income.
When you leave Huaquillas, the border town anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes from us depending on how many times the bus stops, you have no choice but to face contraband first hand. Imagine the scenario… the CIFA public bus pulls up there are about 30 people pushing with big black bags of illegal goods to get on the bus, all the while the 70 or more people that are crammed on the bus are trying to squeeze their way out. The fight is not just to get on or off the bus, it is a battle for the seats. You see almost every seat is slit in the fabric and as soon as people get on the bus, they start digging through those big black bags, stuffing pants into the seats sticking shoes between the seats, and distributing the rest of their products to innocent passengers with the famous, ¨no sea malita, ayudame con esto¨… ¨don’t be a little bad person, hold onto this for me. ¨
About 10 minutes outside of the town on the way back to Arenillas, there is a military customs checkpoint. Sometimes they make everyone get off the bus so they can search for illegal goods, but the rule on buses is if you are old, pregnant, or have a baby you don’t have to get off.
Now you would think the police and the military would catch on, or if they have already maybe act on this, but for this very rule you will never see a man smuggling the goods. There will always be a group of women each with a little baby on their lap hiding the goods. And sure enough just about everything will make it through this point. As people get back on the bus, bags start getting passed around to the rightful owner and goods and coming out of every space imaginable.
Back here in Arenillas, it is like the hub for contraband. And why shouldn’t it. If people need a place to store their bags and you have a house or restaurant on the main road it makes for a great side business. I once left for an early morning bus to Guayaquil at 5 am. I´d never seen Arenillas at 5 am in the morning. As I left my house that morning, what I ended up seeing was contraband being dragged out of houses all along the main road, waiting for the next move.
Usually the checkpoints and system is easy to crack so it´s not hard to get your products back, the other day though we came across an extremely odd checkpoint. We were heading back from Huaquillas, when the police stopped the bus at the gas station. Everyone (except the exceptions) had to get off the bus. But instead of checking bags or ids, they just took a digital picture of each person and then patted down the men. We asked the office when we got back why they would be doing something like that and apparently they were looking for weapons. How the photos play into that I have no idea… and good thing is if you want to smuggle weapons just give it to a girl because they’ll never know. And if you do get caught with any contraband, just be sure to have some extra money ready for a little ¨tip.¨
Contraband, on the one hand you may try to control it on the other we all benefit from it so no one really wants to do that.