As per usual when arriving into the United States of America from a foreign port, we were welcomed with open arms... Well, fire arms actually and although we were greeted we were certainly not welcomed. The three armed customs officials had all been on board at least once, if not twice in this past year and the familiarity was totally lost on their humourless demeanor. One of these officials must have had the body mass index of a large hippo! As he sat down I was worried about his gun. I winced a little as the gun became enveloped in the folds of his body fat. Guns just make me a little nervous, especially when carried by professionals such as these! God only knows what would happen if this bloke wanted to use it.
Next is the US agriculture, (complete with guns) they inspect the ships fridges for non USDA approved meat, foreign fruit and vegetables. Any garbage that we have collected on the trip between the last port and arrival must also be inspected. We are wise to this these days, so we make sure we use anything up, fruits are juiced veggies are used up because if you don't, these guys basically make you chuck it. It must then be thrown into a large garbage sack, marked foreign garbage and collected by a special truck that probably takes it to the same tip as the rest.
The next day the truck comes. There were two Mexicans (probably illegal workers) and three armed men to make sure we threw six avocados and 3 bags of cardboard and food packaging that was our complete complement of garbage from the passage. The laugh of it is that the avocados that we will buy in the shop up the road to replace the contaminated foreign ones, will probably also come from Mexico!
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