Contrabando...everybody's doing it!

Every Tuesday and Thursday I ride on a "combi", public transportation, from Puno to the town of Chucuito for my Aymara language and culture lessons. The ride takes between 15 to 35 minutes and costs one sol. The ride time fluxuates because people can get on and off at any time.

We don't leave the station until the combi is full (squished seating capacity of about 18 people...in a car the size of a mini-van). If more people want a ride, well...they get to stand. I have been on the ride when roughly 25 people smash inside the car. Generally, it is a painful ride for me as I am very tall in comparison to the other people on the ride. Not a lot of leg room, and let me tell you, the smell is not so pleasant.

On the way back from Chucuito to Puno there is always a stop through a make-shift customs post. About 10 police officers check every car and bus that passes. The road is the only route from the border with Bolivia and is NOTORIOUS for contraband. Typically the stop if very brief. A police officer asks the driver for his documents and sometimes they peek around the seats looking for anything obvious. In all of my experiences to-date, the police hardly make an effort to look around, and no one has ever been questioned or detained. The police never even come close to me or any other foreigners on the ride.

The amazing part, though, is that on EVERY trip I have taken, someone has gotten past with contraband. A normal case is a woman with a large bag full of clothes, shoes, and sometimes electronics. Once she gets on the combi she will unwrap her bag and pass the items to the other passengers. People will put the leather jackets on, sit on top of the pants, or tuck pairs of shoes into their own bags or under their shirts. The woman will almost start begging you if you refuse to help.

This happened the other day when Juan road back from a conference that was held with the NGO. The woman kept asking him to help, and he kept refusing. Finally, she tucked the bag underneath both his and my seat. On this occassion, the woman was smuggling TONS of stuff. She had at least four or five bags full of contraband and additionally looked enormously overweight as she had things tucked all around her body. Almost everyone on the ride had a possession of her on or under their person. She did not even ask me to help...I have never been asked to hide anything. I think it best that way. "Fulbright fellow detained for smuggling contraband" doesn't really sound like the publicity I want to have while I am in Peru.

Once we arrived at the check station it was obvious that people were a bit more concerned than normal because of the quantity of goods that were on the combi. The police officer who came into the inspect the ride took five seconds and hardly even made an effort. We were flagged to move on and continued to Puno without a problem.

As we pushed our way out of the packed combi in Puno, Juan asked me what I thought about the ride. I told him I was fascinated by how much contraband had passed through with such ease. I asked him if he ever helped hide contraband and he said no. But then he commented, "you know we both helped the contraband sneak through?" He was absolutely right. Indirectly, having not said anything, we were accomplices. The other choice would have been to said "hey, Mr. Policia! Everyone on the bus is wearing a piece of contraband!!!!" The probable reaction would have been rather ugly, so I think it much better to shut my mouth and participate in silence. It seems the best of the two evils.

Now, I feel it is important to note that contraband is a reality of life in southern Peru. The region is economically depressed. These products simply are not obtainable by the majority of the populace that live in the city and rural areas. Walking through "el contrabando" (the market where all the contraband is sold) is an eye-opening experience. You can get ANYTHING there--microwaves, Ralph Lauren polos, Bailey's liquor, underwear, Pringles potatoe chips...you name it. The prices range from outrageously cheap to rather pricey. I asked the price for a nice pair of sketcher's sneakers and it was roughly 120 soles (roughly $40).

Judge the situation as you like, but contraband is just the way things work here...everybody's doing it!