...why are you here??

To be honest…after slipping through immigration three times prior to this, I had begun to believe I just might be able to worm my way out of any situation, that I just may be able to go Visa/extension free for the entire 18 months here, that the Lucian government would not succeed in taking every penny I own….boy was I wrong!

We returned to “paradise” last Sunday.  Every time I prepare to come through immigration I have a routine…fix my hair, wipe my eyes, straighten my clothes, all the time giving myself a silent pep talk to bat my eyes, smile big, and “Play Dumb!”  As I stood in line next to Brandon I knew we were in for it before we even got to the front of the line.  To my misfortune, 6 out of the 7 immigration guards checking paper work were women…my regular routine, a WASTE OF TIME!

We stepped up to the window…”passports please?”  After standing in silence for what seemed like hours, watching her flip back and forth through the pages of my passport, robotically looking for something that was apparently not there, she looked up at me and asked…

”Why are you here?” 
I replied with the only logical answer…”to visit my husband who is in medical school.”  Immediately follow she responded with…”when are you leaving?” 
With a smile I replied…”within the next few weeks, I have not yet purchased my ticket so I am unsure of the exact day.”

And that was all she wrote….

Brandon and I were escorted promptly to the back, also known as fDETAINMENT, where we were commanded to sit down.

Question after question…

Officer…“Why are you here?”
Me…”To visit my husband who is here going to school?”
Officer..."...but why are you here?"
Me....(thinking are you for REAL?)..."to be with my husband."
Officer…”Why do you want to see him?”
…..”ummmm, (with tested patience) because he is my husband.” (forcing my eyes not the roll back into my head and willing myself to not bust out in laughter!)

What seemed like 100’s of repeated questions, some mediocre attempts at intimidating me, and my butt getting sore from the hard chair, the immigration boss hog came to a conclusion.

I would have to pay basically 500 US dollars for the time I had been here “illegally” and had to book a plane ticket home, (so that I had a date that I would be returning to the states), on the spot…which means I did not get the best deal at all.  Until I came up with the money for both of these things, my passport was in custody, and the last thing I wanted was for them to hang onto my passport...who knows if I would ever get it back.  So just as they commanded I paid up.

Lesson learned…next time you are planning to stay in a country illegally, whatever you do…AVOID female immigration officers, because the routine, only works on MEN!!

 

(YES...this picture was taken in detainment...I could not let the experience pass without a picture to remember the moment.)