Fruit fright: Chile to Argentina border
Getting through customs was surprisingly easy. Force of habit, I always get a little tense when going across international borders. What if I don't have everything I need? What if I have something I'm not supposed to have and they give me trouble? What if they give me a hard time for any reason at all? What if my checked bag gets stolen or lost?
First they had us get off the bus and get into lines to get our stamps for Argentina! The guard asked questions like where we are going, for how long, what the address is. He took each of our passports and our old Visa/PDI slips, kept the old slips, and gave us tourist blue stamps for Argentina. I assume we'll get new slips when we enter into Chile again.
Then we got back on the bus and waited awhile. That's when they came around with coffee and a snack. Then, we pulled up to a different spot within the checkpoint and they x rayed our checked bags. We stood in a line in the cold waiting for our turn to walk through metal detectors (with our backpacks and shoes on).
The entire time from when we stopped until my backpack was "searched" I was hoping they wouldn't care about the fruit I had. I have read online, heard by work did mouth, and saw signs indicating that they would be strict about fruits and vegetables. I ate and tried to share the two bananas I had while in line and during the snack time. I chanced it with the pear. My plan was to eat it if they gave me shit for it, but also I wasn't that hungry so I kept it in my bag. The women in front of me had strawberries which made me feel a bit better. She didn't think they would let her fruit through either.