We stopped in El Calafate for two reasons: it was on the way and to visit its famous and easily accessible Perito Moreno Glacier. We arrived in El Calafate after an 11 hour trip with two buses. We stopped at the border for almost two hours – the most inefficient system ever. Give your passports to the driver, wait 20 – 30 minutes, get passports back; think you’re good to continue – wrong. Wait in the bus for another 30 minutes. Then the driver tells everyone to get off the bus and bring all of their baggage (including checked bags). We then all piled into a small customs building and lined up behind an old x-ray machine which took nearly 5 minutes a bag – partially due to the ladies behind the counter squinting at a 10-year old monitor. Almost every bag was searched by hand; while at the same time there was no system to prove we even went through the x-rays. For example, we had left a carry-on bag on the bus my mistake – no one noticed. Some people walked through with their purses over their shoulder – some had to have them scanned. Oh, and the machine wasn’t even booted up when we walked in. Overall, we wondered why any of this was done when clearly none of it was effective – and all the cars that passed the border while we were inside didn’t even step foot out of their cars… Continue reading →