Crossing The Boarder By Foot

In the thirty-three countries I have visited, I don't think I have ever driven to the border and walked over into the neighboring country; until now. Alex, Andrew and I took a bus to the northern border of Argentina which it shares with Bolivia. We then hired three women with a push cart to help us with the process. The three women took us off the paved road into a lightly wooded area and across some train tracks. It seemed very dodgy.

At the border, two guards looked at our passports, laughing the whole time they flipped through the documents. They asked what my Egypt stamp was in my passport and Alex, who speaks the best Spanish between us, searched his brain for an explanation. Finally he said "pyramido" and made a triangle with his fingers and they understood.

At this point, the three woman helping us had to leave their hand cart behind. They took almost all of our luggage, and it is extremely heavy (Andrew would not give up the camera or the hard drives). They wouldn't let us help. These were strong women. It was strange that they didn't need to show I.D. as we crossed over into Bolivia.


The women helped us with the boarder patrol in Bolivia and then got us a cab. We paid them the agreed on 5 pesos each, less than US$2. It was all very easy and a bit exciting.