Midnight Express

Santiago. That's German for whale's ... oh wait, I'm sorry, I was thinking of San Diego. After another visit to Mendoza, we went on to Santiago, Chile. This was our first time out of the country since we arrived in Argentina. It was an overnight bus ride into Chile and at some point in the middle of the night we had to go through the border control. You would think with such an enormous border between Argentina and Chile and large numbers of people passing through it every day, this process would be streamlined.

First everyone was asked to step off the bus and get in a line outside in the chilly Chilean night air. Then, we were led inside and had to wait to let a woman behind one of the windows stamp our passport for leaving Argentina. She also stamped some of the paperwork we had been told to fill out on the bus. Then, we had to wait in line to get a stamp to go into Chile and more stamps on the paperwork. The bus company had told us that, because we were from the United States, we would have to pay about $130 USD to enter into Chile. James' parents paid the fee when they flew into the airport. This is an expensive fee that I think reflects the attitude of many people here that all North Americans are rich. We are often told that a store or restaurant is expensive and then the person will pause and say, "Well, not for you."

I was told by the bus company that the fee was retribution for all the difficulties that Chileans have to go through to enter the U.S. Another common complaint we have heard. Other foreigners all complain of the hassles of flying into the United States. Most of them said they tried to avoid layovers in the U.S. I was unaware prior to this trip that foreigners have to request permission online to enter into the country and then wait for a response, including for layovers.

Either there was a mistake or the American entrance fee into Chile does not apply when you enter on a bus. I was relieved that we did have to pay it.

After all the passport stamping, we were loaded back on the bus. The bus drove about thirty feet, and we were unloaded again, this time with any carry-on baggage. All the passengers were herded into a room and lined-up with narrow metal tables in front of us. We stood behind the tables as every piece of luggage from underneath the bus was removed and x-rayed. Then they called forward the people who had suspicious items in their bags. It felt like any moment you could be called out of line and end up in a Chilean prison like in that movie with Claire Danes. As we stood behind the tables, the bus porter came around with a cup and insisted that we put a tip in it for the baggage handlers. As if we had requested to have all of our things removed from the bus and x-rayed.

After all our hand luggage was also x-rayed we were allowed to board the bus and continue on our way. The moral of the story is: Don't try to smuggle produce or meat products into Chile, they take their border control seriously.