Santa Cruz, Bolivia

ok, so no update on santa cruz, bol as i didnt do a whole lot, just sat there around the pool in a hammock for a few days, went out at night, and slept in the mornings, but still a good 5 day rest stop!

Longest Day of my Life!! 24th/25th Jan 2007

Well in fact it probably works out as two days, but thats neither here nor there, it was long, and hellish, so here goes.

It started when i bought my ticket to Yacuiba, which is a small village on the border of bolivia and argentina. The journey from Santa Cruz to Yacuiba was in fact probably the best journey i have been on, as i slept for most of the way. We set off at about 8pm, and i didnt wake until we eventually got to Yacuiba at about 5. This is where my problems started.

Yacuiba is a very small place, and at 5am in the morning is completely desolate. i had no idea as to where i was going from here, or in fact, how i was going to get there. my impressions were that this place would be right on the border, but it turns out its about two miles away, without indication as to which way. anyway, i ended up waiting around 2 hours for a taxi to show up, to take me to the borders. When i got there it was completely different to Yacuiba, it had thousands of people in buses, cars, lorries. I joined a queue of about two hundred people waiting to get their exit stamp from bolivia before crossing the border. This queue of two hundred people took about 3 hours to move on until i recieved my stamp, so by this time it was turning about 9am, and the sun was just starting to come out. so anyway, across the border, which was in the form of a river, and onto the argentinian side. This wasnt so bad, all i did was walk through this building, had my bag searched, and then out i was, in argentina. i thought it funny that i had no stamp or anything in my passport saying i had entered, espeically as they were kind of a souvenir, i was sort of disappointed, but hey, i was there, at last. But the day wasnt over yet

I had to find a place to but a ticket so i could get to Salta. Which wasnt a problem as about 15 people all came up to me pestering me to buy a ticket from them to get there, so i settled for the one with the prettiest female, shallow i know, but i had to decide someway, and that i figured would be the best. My bus was to leave at 11, which i thought was fine as by now it was 9:30, so i had a little time to grab my breakfast before getting on the 5 hour bus. i walked up the the bus station, which was again slightly out of town, and found a nice little place to have some brekkie. Whilst eating i looked over into the bus stands, and saw what appeared to be my bus. strange, as it was over an hour early, but i rushed down my tea, and ate these funny little cracker things, and headed over to the counter. i asked the lady if this was my bus, and she said in a rather hurried tone, yes yes, yours. So i went over, was shunted onto it, and off we went. This was at 10:15, 45 mins before i was meant to go. Then it dawned, in argentina, the clocks go forward again another hour!! oops. so anyway, we left the village, and by this time i was shattered, so fell asleep, only to be awoken by an argentinian soldier pocking me asking me to get off the bus. Its ok, he didnt just pick me, everyone had to get off as they had to again check our bags, and then ckeck the bus. thats ok i thought as i guess a load of people try and smuggle stuff over. so my backpack being so large, had everything searched, which took the poor guy about 20mins, then i was asked to show documentation, i gave across my passport, and the guy flicked through, checked my name and picture (which is awful by the way) and then continued to flick through. turns out he was looking for a a stamp, to which i hadnt got. so off th bus i was taken again, and into a small office by the side of the road. some guys spoke in some spanish i couldn't understand and then muttered stuff to me. By now i had got quite good at understanding what people are saying, but i have no idea how to respond still. anyway, turns out i needed to go back to the border and get an entrance stamp, just like i thought i should've and then i could come back. So basically somehow i had smuggled myself past the immargration officers at the argentinian border without them even knowing!! which i thought was pretty funny, i was an illegal immigrant. so anyway, i had to get a bus back into the border town, and get a stamp. which again proved to be difficult, but fortunately after about 20mins a local bus came by. so i got my passport stamped. and given my 90 visa thing, then i had to head back to the bus station and explain to the lady, who spoke no english, what had happened and that i needed to get a later bus. eventually after much an arm movement i got through to her what had happened, and she said that there wasnt a bus until tomorrow. GREAT!! (sarcastic) so now i had to spend a night in a place that i didnt want to, just so i could get out of it tomorrow. i asked for a refund to which i got a straight no reply, so i walked off to find a hostel, to no prevail, so i walked back up to the bus station to see if i could get another bus with a different company. turns out to my luck (eventually) there was one leaving in 10 mins. so on i got. THANKGOD. then on the 5 hour journey we got stopped by 5 different road checkpoints and eventually arrived in Salta, which is a really nice place. even though i think if it had been a dump, i would have still been glad to get here! anyway, argentina here i am, and so far, im pretty impressed by it. complete contrast to Bolivia anyway!!