Crossing an international border is a simple affair: you go through Immigration, they check your passport and visa, if needed; then you go through Customs. Our next destination after San Pedro de Atacama is Bolivia. Two vans took us to the border, one for luggage, the other for passengers. Normally when you exit a country, Immigration gives you cursory look at your passport, check your vehicle to make sure you are not smuggling anything out of the country, and then wave you on. However, the morning we left for Bolivia, it was not easy.
We arrived at the Chilean border just before 9 am. There was already a line of vehicles formed and we were probably number 6 or 7. The border office was not yet opened. By then some of us have to relieve ourselves and looking around the area, there were no facilities. You can't stop Mother Nature so you find whatever concealment that works. A mound of dirt, a bush, a building, etc. Two cars enter the building at a time and went through a fairly thorough check. Probably takes about 15 minutes per vehicle so that by the time we pass through we've already spent over an hour at this checkpoint.
Our vans drive us to a "no-man's land" between the two checkpoints and meet our next host and guide, The Andes Salt Expedition. They came in three robust Toyota Land Cruisers (TLC). Our group of 16 was split up into the 3 vehicles. Our luggage was strapped to the roof of the TLCs'. We then drove to the Bolivian border. Here it looks like every backpacker in Bolivia has congregated there. It took some time before our passports were checked and we were allowed to move on to our next destination: the Altiplano in Bolivia.
It took us at least about 3 hours before we were finally on our way. Well, it's not that simple after all.
 |
| At the border checkpoint |
 |
| Lining up to go through Bolivian Immigration |
 |
| A beautiful morning mist at the border from Chile to Bolivia |
No comments:
Post a Comment