I just fell victim to one of those pesky money changers again :))
Im down in the "very small" countries of Central America. Its quite easy to ride right across most of them in a single day each.
My side pannier that I put stickers of each countries flags on is getting quite full already!
If you take a big wad of cash out in one country then you have well and truly got way too much to spend in a day or two before you move to the next country.
But if you take out just enough for your short stay in that country then you will get clobbered by the size of the duties and exchange rates, and non-client ATM machine charges...
You cant win :)
So, I end up taking out the big lump of cash and changing it at the boarders as I ride along.
Now, having done this trip three times now, I can tell you with assurance that the CostaRica-Panama boarder is the most complicated (largest number of items- about a dozen), and the Nicaragua-CostaRica boarder is the most painful (Takes hours in line-ups and the hot sun).
But at the end of each crossing, I find that Ive usually spent about $30US for visas and insurance etc... Not too bad really.
My usual plan with the money is to check what the official exchange rate is on-line a day or two before I get there. Then I know what to aim for - not that I get it but I at least know how far off their rate is :)))
Then, once I have exited the country I am coming from with both immigration (for me) and customs (for the bike) I find a money changer and get the best deal I can (usually I have to move to a second or third money changer to make it clear that I know what Im doing)
Then I go through immigration and customs for the new country Im going to.
So, this all went fine and I got it all done for going into CostaRica...
But, at the next boarder, I have a snag...
Ive settled and exchange deal but the guy does not like my money...
Actually its just one note he doesnt like...
I take a look, and he is right... Its not the same.
We give it a good looking at and I have to agree with him its a fake... quite a good one but a fake.
It was just one of the four notes of that size that I got... Id likely have noticed if it was all of them, but it was buried in amongst normal notes...
Fine, Ill keep that one... Its about $16US in value which is quite a lot down here but in the scheme of things I can absorb it and Im not too worried.
Thats how it goes though... You do what you can but every now and then, they "get you"... Its just another part of the overall fun :)))
