Category: Travel

Hi, just a quick note to let you know that I am about to embark on a weekend journey to Paraguay via Brazil.

Sounds exotic and far, but the reality is that I travel through Argentina for 6 or 7 hours and then stay at a hostel there (Puerto Iguazu). From there it is a 40minute journey through Brazil until I get to the Bridge of Friendship which I walk over to get to Paraguay, and the famous Ciudad del Este. Center of many things that, well…, that are not very nice. But also the centre of really good electronics prices. So while I am there, there was one or two things that I was thinking would be really great to have… ah, you cannot deny a man a big-toys shopping experience. They are lots of fun.

So that is the story. I will be back on Tuesday morning if not before. If anything interesting happens, you will find out about it via the faithful blog on my website. So if you are the praying kind, please send up some prayers for me.

Oh, and just a quick update for everyone that is now starting to think that South America is getting safe (well it is really, but only in some places such as Argentina), here is some quick excerpts from my mate Chris who is travelling north at the moment. I am sure he won’t mind a few extra prayers heading his way:

• La Paz, Peru (18 July): I didn’t see any explosions or signs of them, but the locals said it was happening. I did see a huge military presence around town…
• La Paz, Peru (19 July): I lost my camera!!! DOH. I had it out of my bag on the bus to Puno and was asleep when we arrived, so half asleep I grabed my bag and jacket and got off… we rang ahead to Cusco …and she has it and will meet me at the air port in Lima 10am tomorrow. (20 July): …my camera didn’t turn up, I waited at the airport for 5 hours…rang all the numbers I had and talked to the bloke I spoke to, who told me he had it, said he hasn’t seen it. [no camera ever turned up].
• Riobamba, Equador (today, 30 July): …while I was in the market, it was packed, 2 or 3 guys had a go to get my wallet but I pushed up against an old lady with my leg. But the second time they got it. They slashed my pants with a knife and came really close to my leg, it’s cut all the way through, 2 layers. So that makes this the most expensive trip I’ve been on, with the camera and all… I’m still going on the train in the morning but I’m really on a budget now…

So that’s about it for now.

Two bus lines, running in opposite directions, every ten to twenty minutes each day. There is always a bus to catch.

Continue reading “Bus 106, Bus 111”

Breakdown in Pirayuí, Corrientes.

Continue reading “Colectivo 106”

After burning the candle at both ends, I finally find a day to rest, basically sleeping through the whole thing.
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Well, I arrived at the bus station with plenty of time spare, only to discover that the bus arrived an hour after I was expecting it to. Fortunately for me, the bus I had inadvertently chosen was a full-cama. This meant there were big comfy seats that leant a long way back which I could sleep on.

So from midnight last night, when I boarded the bus, until 8am today, I slept soundly and hardly woke throughout the entire journey. This should have been sufficient sleep if it were not for my current sleep-deprived condition.

You see, over the last week, and especially the night before, my sleeping hours grew progressively shorter and my condition progressively worse, as I tried to complete all of my commitments to people before I left. I succeeded, but my body was a wreck.

So today was a day of rest. Literally. When I reached the hostel in Puerto Iguazu, only 5mins walk from the bus station, I put down my bags and climbed into the bed. Another 6hrs later, I climb out again, and wander slowly around the quiet township which has all but completely shut up for the siesta hours.

After finding a small shop for lunch, at around 3pm in the afternoon, I then return to my hostel, and my bed, and sleep a further 3hrs. I guess I was really tired, huh. I feel better now, but expect an early night will also help out a little more. Then it is off to Paraguay tomorrow.

BTW some recent news that I heard leads me to believe that Australians and New Zealanders no longer need a visa to enter Brazil. It would be nice to know that my journeys through Brazil are now no longer subvertive. I will ask at the border tomorrow.

Well, I have finished my travels into Ciudad del Este, the famous shopping centre of South America. It is also the famous mafia centre, the famous crime centre, and the famous money laundering centre of South America also. Some of its not so wonderful reputations.

I discovered about the cime aspect of this place today, when my backpack was surrupticiously opened and my recent purchase of 25 DVDs disappeared forever. When I found out about it, there was no trace of the DVDs. Fortunately, some of the more expensive items in the same pocket were tucked out of sight, and survived the intrusion. Non-the-less, it was a wake up call to me to be a lot more cautious than I had been recently.

Of all of the places I have visited, there has never been a place of such incredible contrasts as this city. It still amazes me to see people inside currency-exchanges with piles of hundred dollar US notes, while beggars, some without an arm or leg hobble along the footpaths outside. Carts full of notebook computers, printers, clothing, stereos, and virtually any other goods you can think of are pushed up and down the steep roads, piled to almost twice the height of the men manuevering it.

My task this visit was to complete some purchases for some friends, and to pick up a couple of things for myself. With budgets tight for all of us, it took a lot more searching to find what we needed at the prices we could afford. The difference this time however, was that I was not exhausted tired as I wandered through the city.

One of the things that has annoyed me greatly about Ciudad del Este, is the amount of stress it seemed to cause me each time I have visited it in the past. However every visit in the past has also been during moments of great tiredness. My first day there yesterday was the first day that I arrived in the city feeling refreshed and alive. This turned out to make a huge difference in everything.

Not only was I fresh, but also did not feel any amount of pressure to buy everything that day. This allowed me to meander and look around the place, and as a result I found some of the best prices available. I am sure my friends will be happy. I know I was.

Tomorrow I leave for another journey. Easter time provides a great opportunity for travelling, and the fact that my friend Chris needs to renew his visa provides the motivation.

So we leave at 6am for Posadas, Missiones (1), then hitchhike to Obera (2), a smaller town only one hour away where we will meet up with the Mobile Mission School team that are working there. This is the same group of people that I was with during my time in Ciudad del Este. They have moved back into Argentina now.

From here we continue North to Puerto Iguazu (3) to check out the famous waterfalls on the Argentine side, then stop around at the Brazilian side in Foz de Igua?for a general impression of the whole place. From here we will don a helmet and brave the dangers of a motorbike taxi over the crowded bridge into Ciudad del Este (4) for a look around and to pick up some purchases for some friends.

After this, Chris continues on his journey through Paraguay, while I return to Corrientes to continue with my work here. It should be a fun time.

Just in case anyone does not know where some of these places are, I have provided a map below with arrows to indicate where we are going. Have a great day, Rob.

NOTE: Puerto Iguazu, Foz Igua?and Ciudad del Este are all in the same area, and you can see the other two from each place. Obera is only a short distance north of Posadas. Argentina is Green, Brazil is Orange, and Paraguay is Yellow. This is the North Eastern part of Argentina.

THE JOURNEY
For Easter I went to Ciudad del Este. After the bus ride and a few days with friends, it was time to visit the falls and the city. The falls of course are the mighty Iguazu falls, among the biggest in the world. The city was in Paraguay.

The famous Ciudad de Este of Paraguay. The man with the cart of boxes is carrying something like CD players, stereos, or computers to Brazil by foot. The people on the right are searching out clean paper and cardboard to sell so they can survive. Hundreds of thousands of dollars change hands here every day.

Now to get to Paraguay from Puerto Iguazu the easiest and cheapest way is by bus. This local bus goes through Foz Igua? part of Brazil, to arrive outside the bridge leading to Paraguay. Unfortunately, all Australians need a visa to enter Brazil and Paraguay. However, since the buses only stop for the Argentine border in the entire journey, there is no real problems in slipping through. It is seen by some as a “tourist area” where visas are optional and not mandatory.

There is another way to Paraguay too, but it is slower and more costly and less convenient. That is to directly cross over the river by boat to Paraguay. This misses out the Brazil part of the equation. In my case, since I had a Paraguayan visa, it would have been the better choice. But I was not thinking about this at the time.

Traffic lining up to cross the bridge from Paraguay to Brazil

It was my second crossing through Brazil now, and all had gone smoothly as I entered Paraguay and went about the business I needed to complete while there. On my return over the bridge, I hire a motorcycle taxi as usual. These daredevil style riders provide a rather unsafe ride as they cut through the gaps between the busy bridge traffic, but their full face helmets help in the process of entering the countries without being stopped. It was fortunate that I asked this rider to drop me off on the other side of the bridge.

THE RETURN
Normally I would have asked for a ride back to the bus station or something else, further in town, but today I knew there was a bus that I could catch to take me all the way back to Argentina from the other side of the bridge. So I asked to stop there, and when we arrived there I was very glad that I had. There seemed to be a huge congestion of bikes ahead.
Continue reading “Almost a Refugee”