I've never done this before. On foot, that is. Normally, it's been by bus, train, plane, or shuttle service. This time, my plan was to get to the border town, walk across immigration, and catch an onward bus. Piece of cake!!!
Or so I thought.
I wanted to get to the border as early as possible - who knows how efficient Argentinian and Bolivian immigration can be?! So I bought a ticket on the 2nd earliest morning bus (didn't wake up in time for the 1st!) from Humahuaca to La Quiaca, the border town on the Argentina side.
After waiting for about half an hour, the bus finally came and started loading the bags. For some reason though, the driver wouldn't let me on, saying that this wasn't my bus. Fine. I took his word and waited around a while for another bus. But then I got suspicious….this one HAAAAAAS to be my bus!!! There aren't that many buses operating that route!!! Worried, I ran into the ticket office and asked the sales lady if that was my bus…which she confirmed. What the f*ck?! Nice lady - she came out, took me to the bus, and got me on board. Apparently, the driver refused to let me on because I was missing some sort of signature on the paper ticket. Mean driver.
Good thing it took over 15 minutes to load the bags and get everyone on board. Otherwise, I would've had to wait another 4 hours or so for the next bus.
About 3 hours to La Quiaca. Really crappy, hot bus. With the bus trouble in the morning, I was quite worried about how this border crossing was going to pan out. Nail biting situation…
Things only got better though, thank god.
From La Quiaca, most travelers seemed to hire cars or carts (hand-drawn) to get to the border, but I decided to do it on my own. Although I didn't exactly know how long the walk to the border would be…Oh well. Waru trying to be adventurous.
On the way, I stopped by a little pastry shop to grab a bite to eat. The donut was too sweet and greasy, and the roll was too dry. But they did fill my tummy! Important.
In 20 minutes I was in line to get stamped out of Argentina. Lots of backpackers in the line, which was helpful when I had to run to the toilet; we watched each others' bags. Slow moving line…I think it took me over an hour to get through.
Once stamped, I walked across the road to the longer line on the Bolivian side. SIGH. But the Spanish couple in front of me told me that we could go to another line for non South Americans. I was out of there in 10 minutes!!! A pleasant surprise, considering I'd thought that Bolivian immigration would be an absolute nightmare.
Oh, and this was the first time I had to show my yellow fever vaccination card to gain entry. Glad I paid for that.
I'm in Boliviaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ : ) : ) : ) : ) : )
A lot of people come to Villazon (Bolivian border town) for a day trip to buy cheap souvenirs. Somewhat similar to what's on offer in the Cuzco markets of Peru.
I had no interest in the many stores that lined the street from outside immigration. Except for one - money exchange. I don't think they have many ATMs in Bolivia, especially in these rural areas. Since I wanted to immediately catch a bus to Tupiza, I needed some boliviano ASAP. Not the best exchange rate as expected, but I didn't have a choice.
With a supply of bolivianos, I walked up to the bus station (~20 minutes) and managed to get a bus leaving within the hour. Several backpackers on the bus.
Let me just say that after being on relatively modern buses in Chile and Argentina, the buses of Bolivia SUUUUUUCK!!! First of all, they have a reputation of being accident-prone (hence the Spaniards chose to take the safer train option). Secondly, they are SO uncomfortable! You feel every single bump on the road. And no toilets of course…which is probably a good thing.
Anyways, about 5 hours later, we safely arrived in Tupiza.
I befriended a couple of European girls and an American guy on the bus, and we decided to find a room together and maybe book a tour to Uyuni. We found a pretty nice place, but not dirt cheap. I was happy there, but the others wanted to find something a bit cheaper. Since I was dead tired from all the moving I did during the day, I stayed in the first hostel I found, while the others found something with a pool - no appeal to me whatsoever.
Good choice - I had the whole room to myself for the day! Not only that, I met a Dutch girl named Nicole (who was also on the bus from Villazon) and we became really good travel buddies. We went out to dinner at a touristy cafe (had "Pasta to the Olive" - really LUV that name!!!) and decided to go on the Uyuni tour together. How fun!
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