Columbia Crossing on Jan. 1

[seismeses]

We plan to cross the border at Columbia on New Year's Day. Is traffic likely to be lighter because of the holiday? Also, how busy does the Columbia crossing tend to get as the day goes on? Everyone recommends crossing when they open, at 8am, but our ideal travel plan would have us crossing around noon. Can anyone offer experience or insights?

[RVGRINGO]

The moment that you cross the border is unimportant. What matters is that you can then take a deep breath, relax and begin to enjoy this beautiful country. Please don't be in a rush. Just don't plan on driving in the dark, especially if you might encounter rain. Visibility can deteriorate to almost zero without the reflective paint lines that you are accustomed to up north.

[circle110]

I arrived at Colombia at about 9:30 AM. I had horrible luck and had to wait behind someone who had the same name as a wanted criminal in Mexico. I had to wait an hour plus just for la Migra to clear the fellow. There were 4-5 regular border-crossers in front of me and they all told me that this was a bizarre occurrence and that they had never waited more than 15 minutes on the worst day. I suspect that News Year's day at noon will be still fairly light traffic and you'll have no problem - unless you get unlucky and have a weird experience like I did.