Welcome to Argentina - welcome to corruption!

Now it's time: We're taking the bus from Asunción to Argentina! Our first destination Resistencia is about a 7-hour bus ride away, and it's only on our route because there are night buses from here to Salta, which is 13 hours away.

The border is right behind Asunción, so the bus stops soon and everyone has to get off once, pick up the exit stamp on the Paraguayan side, and then the entry stamp for Argentina in the next booth. So far, so good, actually pretty easy. We also get the stamps without any problems, but what's strange is that the 'Maleteros' (the ones who take care of the luggage at the border - because it also has to be taken out of the bus and through the inspection) only put our backpacks including carry-on luggage on the side. Everyone else has their luggage in hand and brings it to the inspection themselves. We ask several times and have a bad feeling about it, but it seems that's the way it works. Well, it will be fine, we think and don't take our eyes off the luggage. When our luggage is loaded back into the bus after the inspection, it quickly becomes clear what that was for: 5 Maleteros come up to us, saying 'Dollars! Pesos!' AHA. They now want our money for carrying our luggage through the inspection. And since we are probably the only tourists on the bus (and maybe the locals don't let them take anything?), they were only after our luggage. Theoretically, we could have just said no and kept walking, but since we only had about 2EUR Reais (from Brazil) and 1EUR Guarani (from Paraguay), we told them that, but they took that too. Back on the bus, we are a bit annoyed that we even fell for it, but luckily it was only 3 euros!

Continuing through the beautiful vast plains of the Chaco region... until the bus has to stop about 1 hour before Resistencia due to a police check. It takes a while and we are already wondering why it takes so long. Until two policemen march into the bus and walk straight toward us. They ask to see our tickets and passports, which we show them. 'Come with us,' they say and we walk behind them like criminals through the entire bus and into the small police house next to the road. They ask which is our luggage and pull our big backpacks out of the bus. Their (really cute) drug dog apparently barked when sniffing our luggage... Aha. No, we don't have drugs and haven't taken any either. They ask if they can search our luggage. Well, if they must. So, all the neatly packed bags of clothes come out and everything is poorly searched. The dog walks calmly around us and doesn't make any fuss. When they reach our travel pharmacy and discover the small bag with Lisa's cranberry capsules, they get suspicious... 'Cranberry', we explain. 'Completely natural and good for urinary tract infections' The word cranberry doesn't seem to be known here, so I enter it into his phone and show him the exact packaging, as he seems to find it hard to believe that we actually brought it from Germany! :D Then they are finally finished and we can pack our things again. Everything is fine! We didn't have anything to worry about. But when we want to go back to the bus (which fortunately waited for us!!), they stop us and ask for money! Uh sorry, what is that for?! Ironically, we already gave our last bills to the Maleteros and our wallet is completely empty. They are very skeptical and hardly believe that we don't carry any cash. But in the end, they believe us and let us go reluctantly...

Back on the bus, we can hardly believe that we have already experienced corruption firsthand so quickly. Later, we are told that this route is apparently known for it. It's a good thing we have that behind us now! Arriving late in Resistencia, without money and without a working ATM on site, getting to the hotel is difficult, but in the end everything works out and we fall exhausted into bed! :)

The next day we explore the city, which clearly has more to offer with its large sculpture park than we thought! And so we enjoy the day with over 30 degrees before continuing to Salta by night ride at 7 pm!