We endured a very broken night’s sleep on the bus from Mendoza back to Chile, which involved a 2.30am border crossing, and the Chileans are pretty strict on what you bring in which meant about half the bus had their bags hand searched after they were scanned! 5am came around and the bus stopped, the lights came on, and everyone got off. We asked ‘Valparaiso?’ to the driver and he replied in Spanish in a positive way so off we got. We’d made a reservation at a hostel a bus or metro ride away, but given the early hour, public transport wasn’t yet up and running. We didn’t fancy a taxi due to expense and our Lonely Planet warning us they can be involved in scams, so we sat for an hour in the deserted bus
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