Left our Punta Del Diablo hostel, via the owner's van, in time for the mystical 10.30 bus to Chui. Mystical because no bus in that direction turned up until closer to 12. Still, we had a lovely time at Parada 2 trying to learn a bit of Portuguese. When the bus did arrive the driver kindly stopped for us at the immigration post about 2km before the town to get a Uruguay exit stamp - only one other person apparently needed this, so either everyone else was just shopping in Chui, were 'sneaking' through the border or just have free roaming. In truth it is not much of a sneak through the border - the Uruguayan and Brazilian Immigration are about 5km apart, you only need stop at them if you want to, and in fact you only can stop at them if you can find them. On getting off our bus in Chui we asked 4 different people directions to where the buses left from for Brazil in an attempt to book a ticket to Florianopolis. Everybody gave us different directions, some in Spanish, mostly in Portuguese, but very different directions. Having 'chatted' (more gestured) to a military guard in Portuguese we gathered the direction of Brazilian immigration and found a bus station. No direct buses to Florianopolis today we were told, only Porto Allegre, at 11pm, so we settled for that and snapped up tickets to ensure we left this no mans land.
Killed time by going to a Brazilian style all-you-can-eat with waiters bringing over different cuts of meat every minute, and a spot of shopping. Finding the inhabitants of Chui/ Chuy (depending if you know whether you are in Uruguay or Brazil) a touch unruly, we sought refuge back in the bus station (itself really just a big warehouse with a bench or two in it). All was well until the bus station shut for 2 hours at 8.30 meaning we had to try our luck back out on the streets. Found the one bus to Florianopolis passing through Chui - but just stopped on a random corner with absolutely no signal to identify that would be the case. Given our luggage was now locked in the bus station we could only walk by. Sat at a streetside restaurant watching the residents of Chui drive up and down the main strip revving their trucks, cars, motorbikes, bicycles (?) and booming out awful music as loudly as they could. A foul experience, a foul town.
Half running back to the bus station at the dark end of town, looking over our shoulder for any of the suspicious people that seemed go be eyeing us up, we were happy to find a gaggle of other bus goers.
The bus stopped at Brazilian immigration for us and 2 others and we were officially in Brazil, with properly stamped passport. Goodbye Chui, we will not be returning.