Yesterday (Thursday 20th June) we made the journey from Tupiza, in southern Bolivia, to Salta, in northern Argentina. Based on the number of people we have met who have made this journey we expected it to be relatively straight forward. However, we were very much mistaken!
On Wednesday we had walked from our hostel in Tupiza to the bus station in order to book our tickets to the border town of Villazon. Despite the number of people shouting “Villazon, Villazon, Villazon, Villazooooon” – apparently offering to sell tickets to Villazon, the majority of the little offices we went to said that they didn’t offer that route and we should try the office next door. We eventually managed to find an office that said they had a bus going on Thursday morning (which was when we wanted to travel), but on further questioning about the type of bus the lady in the office pointed to the minibus behind us! Seeing as we didn’t seem to have any other option, we paid B$15 each (about £1.50 each) for the 90 minute journey.
Thursday morning we arrived at the bus station 45 minutes early for our minibus and sat and watched the chaos going on all around us. In Bolivia, buses are used to transport goods and parcels as well as passengers and this was the same for our minibus to Villazon. Our big rucksacks were put on the roof with other passengers’ luggage and a variety of goods and packages. We left Tupiza about 15 minutes schedule with a full minibus. The journey down to the border town of Villazon is on tarmaced roads, which was a bit of a relief after doing 1200km on dirt roads for our recent trip to the Salar de Uyuni. On the way to Villazon we stopped a number of times at small communities where passengers were dropped off and more goods collected.
Arriving at Villazon we were immediately hounded by ‘helpers’ offering to help us get bus tickets or to show us how to get across the border. They were quite insistent and had to be told ‘no, graçias’ a number of times before they got the message and left us alone. We then found a bench to sit on and enjoy our egg sandwiches, which we had made the night before, before we attempted cross the border. With no idea which direction the border was in we decided to take a taxi, for what turned out to be only be a two minute journey! At the border the process for crossing into Argentina wasn’t clear, so we looked our heads into the first official-looking building (it had ‘migration’ written outside) only to be told that we were in the wrong place – this was for people arriving in Bolivia. Fortunately we were pointed in the right direction!
Joining the back of the queue to which we had been pointed, we were immediately approached by an official who ushered us straight to the front. We have ko idea why we were able to jump the queue but we followed him and were swiftly given our exit stamps for Bolivia. The next challenge was to work out how to officially enter Argentina as there were ko signs indicating where to go. Our tactic of standing still and looking highly confused paid off and, again, we were pointed in the right direction. Getting our entry stamps for Argentina was a very easy process – there were no forms or declarations to complete, we just handed over our passports and then were given them back a minute late complete with entry stamp! Seeing as our tactic of standing still and looking confused worked so well last time, we tried he same approach again and were quickly pointed in the direction of the customs desk where another official had a very quick look in our big rucksacks before he stepped aside and ushered us into Argentina! Our next destination was the bus terminal and, having no idea where it is, we squeezed the two of us and all of our bags into the back of a Fiat Uno taxi. This journey was slightly further (all of 3 minutes!) and as soon as we were out of the taxi we were again surrounded by ‘helpers’. Ignoring them and forcing our way through we entered the small terminal and quickly found a bus to Salta, which was due to leave in two minutes. Immediately after paying, a member of staff ran out off the office, our tickets in his Hans and shouting for us to follow. With our big rucksacks we weren’t particularly quick, but we did our best. The bus was already pulling away as we got outside so the guy with our tickets had to flag it down for us to get on! We threw our big bags into he hold and climbed aboard. The bus pulled away as we were finding our seats and then we settled in for the log journey ahead. It takes seven hours to get to Salta and we had just realised that we would have to change buses in San Salvador de Juyjuy.
About an hour into the journey the bus stopped at a police checkpoint. We all had to get off the bus, claim our bags from the hold and queue up inside the checkpoint building. After searching the bus the policemen came back into the building and searched our bags. I have no idea what they were looking for but they seemed particularly interested in smelling beauty products and shampoos! Our bags went back in the hold, we climbed aboard and the bus continued its journey to San Salvador de Juyjuy.
The closer we got to San Salvador, the more concerned we became about the time of our connecting bus to Salta. The bus we were on was due to arrive at 1830 and our connection leave at 1915. At 1900 we were still on the highway approaching San Salvador. We eventually pulled in at 1910 and the conductor disappeared to ensure our bags were the first ones out of the hold. He then showed us to our next bus and we joined the queue at 1913 – two minutes before the bus was due to leave. At this point we hadn’t eaten anything since our egg sandwiches in Villazon at 1130 and so were getting a bit hungry. I disappeared into the terminal, while Lindsay waited with our bags, and I re-emerged 90 seconds later with a packet of crisps and a bar of chocolate just as we were boarding the bus!
The journey to Salta took two hours and we whiled away he time watching an Argentine film called ‘Vuidas’ (Widows). It was an odd film but it ended just as we were pulling into the bus station in Salta – perfect timing!
At gone 9pm, more than 10 hours after leaving Tupiza (there is a one hour time difference between Bolivia and Argentina), we had reached Salta, but our journey was not yet complete – we still had to find somewhere to stay. We had sent a number of emails to Salta hostels when we were in Tupiza, but non of them got back to us with a confirmed booking. We had the addresses for a number of hostels written down and planned to work our way through them until we were successful. As it worked out, the first hostel we visited (Hostel par Siempre) had space in a dorm for the night. We readily accepted, dropped our bags in the room and set out in search for some proper food for dinner!
Our journey had encountered one minibus, two buses, three taxis, one border crossing and had taken more than ten hours!
Travelling around London will be a doddle after this!! It sounds quite an experience. My form loved the perspective pictures. I showed them some of your pictures before I read your blog, I can now explain a little more about them – especially the salt buildings and furniture. Enjoy Argentina. x x x