It was as tiresome as I imagined and I am usually a positive individual. Somehow over night Paraguay moved into a daylight saving zone and moved one hour back. So thereI was complaining why breakfast was not served asthe stated 6 o clock when it was actually five.
Taxi arrived and drove me to the bus terminal where it was evident that his meter wasnt on. If no meter means it time to rip touriste off. Taking out the sum of money I paid on the previous day for the same distance, the fee somehow doubled. After a few minutes of gibberish I met him half way and we both shook our heads.
Next step was to find a bus stop where an unmarked bus would appear to take me for a 1 and 10 min drive to a border called Falcon ie border between Paraguay and Argentina. I will attach a picture of the kind of busses that were in operation and you will understand why I decided to taxi it all the way for 180,000.00 U G ie about R350 ie my reasoning for this was that was what i would pay to get to the airport in Jhb.
Made it to border post where i was harrassed by people wanting to sell and rip me off in everyway. My response was No!
Was directed to immigration where I was not stamped with a Exit Paraguay stamp but an exit Argentina stamp. This I only found out once I had crossed the border. A lovely spanish lady offered to help me cross the border ie 2kms and later charged me 30 pesos. ie R90.
On the Argentinan side there was obviously allot of confusion as I had an exit stamp for a country i had just entered. Luckiliy both myself and the offical picked up on this and manged a big laugh where the error was corrected. Next on to an establishment which was not a bus terminal but merely a shop where a bus stopped to pick people up.
Made frieds with the local agent of the ¨¨terminal¨¨ and we spent the next 2 hours transalting Spanish to English on Internet. Her name was Rosana.
Bus of course broke down or shall i say it was serviced during the trip not before. We finally srrived in Salta at 6:30 this morning. But it does not end there......
Get off bus and not one atm works with visa and I dont have a single Peso on me as this is the first time I have stepped in Argentina ...right. Pouring with rain I spotted two other backpackers in the similar situation as myself and they gave me incorrect directions to the hostel where i was meeting Mike. So in the pouring rain and for about half an hour I walked around trying to find the address. Luckily I found a map so wasnt to bad.
Anyway things can only get better from here. Have met up with Mike and we are on track for Bolivia for a active prison viewing by inmates, white salta plains, amazonas jungle trekking and allot of hiking including spanish lessons, volunteer work and Im sure major stomach cramps.
Next post: Mike and I are doing the Brazilian mullet at 5pm today. It should be a lag. will keep u posted.
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