Our decision in Cordoba to go to Santa Cruz together was a bit of a relief for me. Bolivia is South America's poorest country, and I was a bit worried about crossing the border and taking night buses on my own. We've heard plenty of stories about night buses being hijacked, passengers being robbed, or buses going over cliffs in the night...even though all the stories seem to be at least about 5 years old.
We caught our bus from Cordoba, and arrived in a small town in Northern Argentina, called Metan, at 6 in the morning where we needed to wait for 3 hours to change buses. Rich and I had decided in Cordoba that we should use up all our Argentinian pesos on a nice dinner, so we only had a small amount left for breakfast, but it turned out to be just the right amount for 2 coffees and two tostados. We sat in the only cafe and watched Argentinian news for two hours, which was mostly about a competition between two cities to build the largest chocolate Easter egg. The footage ran on a 4 picture loop while newscasters tried to make a 15 minute story out of, which was repeated every hour.
When our next bus arrived, we hopped on board and were treated to a series of really bad movies, one of which was called "John Carter" and was basically a Star Wars meets Civil War film, via time travel. Prior to our trip, I had a visa consultation to get all the necessary paperwork in order for our trip. I got my Brazil travel visa, yellow fever shot, travel insurance, and all the other necessary fees ready for payment. I knew that I had to pay a fee in Bolivia and provide my yellow fever vaccine confirmation. Our bus pulled up at the border town of Yacuiba, and we queued to get our exit stamps from Argentina. Stamps received, we re-queued for the entry into Bolivia. One Bolivian border official asked me if I had my visa. When I said no, he told me it would be $135 USD, which I informed him was fine as we had the money, so he sent me to another official. The next person told me I needed several other documents, including 2 ID photos for my visa. We argued back and forth for a while, and he provided me with an informal list of things I would need before I could enter Bolivia, and sent me into Bolivia to get these things done. I was told the bus would be waiting an hour as the road was closed to vendors until 6.30, and which time the bus would leave.
Rich and I ran through the streets of Yacuiba, which is a stark contrast from it's Argentinian sister city on the other side of the border. The streets are flooded with vendor stalls, selling anything from fruit to fake Nikes. Our first stop was a money exchange to get some Bolivanos, then we headed off looking for a photo stall. We asked a policewoman who sent us to the plaza, and found a small, doorless shop. The shop was set up in between two buildings as an afterthought and contained a red screen, and a man with a digital camera. He took my photo on a red background, and gave me four copies printed on glossy paper. We were about to go to an internet cafe, when we realized we only had 15 minutes left, so decided it would be better to go back and see if what we had was acceptable.
On our way back, we ran into our bus, which was leaving. We told the driver we needed out bags, and were waiting for someone to open the door, when a man who had been helping our bus passengers at the border approached me and told me it would be no problem to get my stamp, he could do it, and we'd catch the bus in time. Rich was skeptical, so we told him we'd get our bags and come back to the border. We again tried to get our bags off the bus, but the bus driver simply opened the door to get on. We jumped on the bus, and deliberated what to do next, deciding that it would be better to stay on the bus and just go to the embassy/consulate in Santa Cruz with all the documents and explain the situation. The border town, after all, was chaos. And who knows when the next bus will be? Our plan worked for a full 5 minutes, until the man who we left earlier jumped on board the bus and made us get off. He again reassured me that the bus would wait for us, but when I asked the driver he told me he had a schedule to follow and couldn't wait - fair enough. We grabbed our bags, and headed back to the border.
I gave them the documents I'd pulled together and told them about our internet cafe woes, where he still refused me entry, and told me I could come back, when I had the remaining items they wanted. Additionally, he now wanted a copy of my passport and my credit card. We walked back to the Argentinian border, explaining that I couldn't enter Bolivia, and we would be re-entering Argentina for the night. They told me I couldn't get a new entry stamp into Argentina, because I needed a Bolivian exit stamp before they could give me one, but they'd let us enter for the night anyway, and in the morning we wouldn't have any problems.
We wandered around the border town, before it became apparent that there was no way of getting money there, and we didn't have enough money to spend on a hotel for the night. The receptionist at the hotel did tell us that the nearby town of Tartagal had all the things we needed, and he found us a taxi driver that would bring us there, knowing we didn't have the money yet, on the promise we'd go to a cash point first thing. In Tartargal we found all the things we needed: a cashpoint, a hotel for the night, dinner, and an internet cafe with a printer to get the documents ready. We unsuccessfully tried to relax for the night, and then returned to the border the next day.
As I already had my Argentinian exit stamp, they sent me over to Bolivia to get my entry without further questioning. I handed all my documents to the Bolivian border officer, who looked at my passport, pointed out my previous days exit from Argentina, and told me I couldn't enter Bolivia because my exit stamp wasn't the same date. I argued with him about the previous days events, and he sent me back to Argentina. The Argentinian officials looked at my passport, and I explained again what had happened. Unfortunately, their protocol is that they can not give another re-entry stamp, unless I have an exit stamp from another country. I explained that I understood, but currently, I was in no country, and couldn't get a stamp to either exit or enter either country. This also meant that if I went to another port of entry, I'd have the same problems. The female officer explained that I needed to go back to Bolivia again and try harder. I could hear her and her colleagues talking about the situation as I started to walk over to Bolivia, and she called me back. She took all my documents and went with a male colleague to the Bolivian border to argue on my behalf. After about 20 minutes she came back and walked me to Bolivia.
The new Bolivian border officer told me "The problem stops with me", and started getting my paperwork ready. I thanked Argentina for their help, and when they laughed Bolivian man no. 2 handed me over to a woman. I gave her my documents, and the money, $135 USD. She sat counting the money, and held up a $20 with a tiny tear on the crease, and then a $5 with a black mark on the corner, and told me Bolivia couldn't accept money in bad condition, we would need to get money in better condition. We again argued that it wasn't possible. Where could we get USD in Bolivia? After a few minuted of back and forth, she sent Rich to the money exchange, where he traded all the money we'd taken from the bank last night for Bolivianos, and we paid the $25 USD of damaged funds to Bolivia in their own currency.
Finally having my visa and stamp in hand, we walked through the chaotic streets once more to take a taxi to the bus station. A $1 taxi ride later, we found plenty of offices offering trips to Santa Cruz. The only problem was that it was 10 AM, and every bus left at 8 PM. So, we'd need to wait 12 hours longer in this town before we could escape.
