Bordercrossing to Chile

To get to Chile I first had to catch a bus from Arequipa to Tacna close to the Chilean border. Here I could get a bus all the way to Arica in Chile that would stop for immigration at the border. I had read that they take your passport from you when you get on the bus so I was prepared when they asked for it. After handing over my passport and putting my backpack into the storage compartment of the bus the driver asked me if I had payed the station tax inside the bus station. This is some fee you sometimes have to pay when taking a bus from a big bus terminal. As I had arrived to the national bus terminal next door with my bus from Arequipa and just walked in from the back directly towards the bus I hadn't entered the terminal building and for this reason not paid the tax. So the busdriver made me go back. It was a weird feeling leaving behind my passport and backpack. I literally ran inside the station to pay my tax. When I climbed back on the bus I saw another "Gringo Girl" who had been watching me. Fanny was from France and she told me when she saw the busdriver was sending me back inside the terminal, she kept an eye out for me to make sure I was reunited with my passport and backpack. It's always nice to experience something like this when you travel by yourself - backpackers looking out for each other.
The border crossing was fairly easy. Just the customs control to get into Chile took quite long and somehow every local had managed to be faster and just Fanny, me and the only other foreigner who was from Venezuela got back to the bus late. We earned some pitiful smiles but I really don't know how everybody else managed to be faster. Maybe they all cut the line? At least the bus had waited and after half an hour more we arrived at Arica in Chile.Read more