You might expect the "special" bus service from San Pedro, Chile to Salta, Argentina, at almost three times the price of the standard service, would be a fairly luxurious journey. You'd be wrong. We travelled in a battered old minivan, myself and seven other Europeans similarly trapped by the lack of cross border bus services. The Chilean border post was just outside San Pedro, after which we climbed slowly and steadily up to 4,200m through the Paso de Jama. We eventually arrived at the Argentine border post, but here our journey came to a halt. We spent about 2.5 hours waiting for permission to cross - the driver claimed it was because the border guards were accepting bribes from others which he refused to give, we suspected he hadn't got his papers in order. Either way
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