Argentina to Paraguay via Brazil
by Jonny Blair
Do you want to successfully cross the border between Argentina and Paraguay?
So there are various ways to cross the border between Argentina and Paraguay - I went from Puerto Iguazu, ARGENTINA to Ciudad del Este, PARAGUAY. Back in December 2010. Although looking back, this border crossing seemed easy compared to others I've passed through, there is still a need to be careful, read on and I'll tell you exactly what I did. This was one of the strangest border crossings I have ever done, for the reason that in the space of 45 minutes I was in three countries!! Confused? Yes it confused me a bit...this is the first of a series of reports on crossing world borders from my travels...
To start with you should board a bus at the bus station in Puerto Iguazu - the bus will have Paraguay as the destination on it. The bus is yellow and says El Practico on it. They leave quite often during the day. I went early Sunday morning. I'm not sure if you can buy tickets in advance, but check out of your hostel or hotel in Puerto Iguazu the town and head to the bus station - the main bus station in Puerto Iguazu. I would say do this early morning - as I'm not sure if the border is open at night - nor if it would be safe to risk.
I was alone and my plan was simply get into Paraguay, have a quick look at Ciudad del Este and then head to Asuncion.
Ciudad del Este, the current name for this city, which literally means City of The East, is on the other side of the river from Argentina. The river acts as the border, and the bridge is the preferred crossing. As this is a post about the border crossing, I won't digress but I had already been to Tres Fronteras (the point where you can see all three countries). It gets confusing when you realise that your bus to Paraguay goes VIA BRAZIL.
So I paid 5 Argentine Pesos for the bus and asked with the driver to confirm if he could stop at the border for me to get my passport stamped. I was the only person on the bus that wasn't from either Brazil, Argentina or Paraguay. Those three countries have some kind of agreement between each other visa wise.
I actually reckoned a lot of "backpackers" (I dislike that term, but I actually am one...) would be going from Iguazu through into Paraguay next to see the popular Ituapu Dam and the Jesuit Ruins in Trinidad. But after talking to around 30 people at the hostel (the marvellous Hostel Inn Iguazu Falls) I realised not one of them was going to Paraguay, nor did they want to go. A few of my fellow travellers even said to me "why would you want to go to Paraguay?"! With that kind of statement it that makes me realise that some of us are avid travellers and some are just not up for the travel melarkey. An avid traveller will literally go anywhere, anytime. Someone who is not in the avid traveller mode, will be much more choosy about where they go. I'll go anywhere. Whether these guys in the hostel wanted to head to Paraguay or not was up to them, but I was now alone and there were no other "backpackers" on my bus or in the station that morning at all.
Of course to travel in South America you should have some grasp of Spanish at least (I studied in Montevideo but my Spanish is shocking) so you can chat to locals and bus drivers. Once I saw the "queue for Paraguay" developing, I joined it, bag laden to the core and sweaty. Importantly I had my passport in hand and all my money changed into Paraguayan Guarani. This is important - change ALL your Argentine Pesos (except for the price of the bus) into Paraguayan Guarani in Puerto Iguazu. You can even do this on a Sunday morning - I found a bank/exchange place in town at 9am to get mine changed.
After boarding the bus you head out of the town of Puerto Iguazu to the border bridge into Brazil. Brazil? Yes! don't be worried at this point as you are still on the bus to Paraguay! At the Argentina exit customs place you have to ensure you ask your driver to let you out to get your passport stamped. Most of your fellow passengers on the bus won't need to get off - on my trip they were mostly locals.
Get off the bus, grab your bags and get your passport stamped and straight back on the bus. Then the bus will cross the Iguazu River into Brazil. But the bus will not stop at the Brazilian border control. The driver of the bus does this route all the time and the sign on the front of the bus tells you that you are heading to "Paraguay Directo" (directly to Paraguay). You have arrived officially in Brazil, but with no proof of it as you are in transit on a bus!
You will drive through the city of Foz Do Iguacu, you can read on my website many more of my reports on the actual waterfalls and my first trip across into Brazil. Most people on this route will have just been to the awesome Iguazu Falls.
After about 20 minutes in Brazil on the bus you arrive at the border bridge. Again you will see a border checkpoint here, but you will by pass it. This is the Brazilian border point. Your eyes will remind you that you were officially in Brazil for 20 minutes, but your passport will not. There is no requirement to get your passport stamped at either of these Brazilian passport checkpoints, BUT once your bus gets onto the bridge, keep your eyes peeled for the actual Paraguay entrance border checkpoint. You should do this because the driver will not stop there, so you need to tell him to stop there for you to get out and get your passport stamped.
Unfortunately when you tell the driver to stop and you get out, he won't wait for you as the passengers onboard Don't want to hang around waiting for a gringo to get their passport stamped. You get out and are immediately in the madness of Ciudad del Este, while your bus continues on its route.
I should also mention that you are urged not to cross this border by foot, mainly because of of the risk of robberies and personal safety issues. The bus is only 5 Pesos you might as well get the bus! I ran to the front of the bus and shouted for the driver to stop, this was about 300 metres ahead of the checkpoint. I just expected him to stop soon but of course he didn't so I got out on my own. I actually asked him if he could wait for me but I soon realised he wouldn't, so I had to grab both my bags. This was my amazing arrival into Paraguay!
OK so I was now in Paraguay but I still had to find the place to get my entry stamp on my passport - and it was far from obvious - at the back of a building site on the Paraguayan side of the bridge. I actually wish I had made a video of my trip that morning - looking back it was just madness!. It was hot, busy, stuffy and I was bag laden, lonely, lost and inspired! Luckily within a few minutes I arrived in the passport immigration place and obviously I was the only person in there. They stamped my entry quickly and it was easy here I was in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay! In the previous hour I had now been "in" three countries. Though I had no proof of my Brazilian bus journey (save for a video I took!).
I can't promise you that this is the simplest way across the border into Paraguay from Brazil (or Argentina) but I loved it partly because I was the only real traveller about. I could tell instantly that Ciudad del Este was a crazy city. Lots of locals asked me if I wanted to buy stuff. You can stay a night or two in this border city known as Ciudad del Este if you want but I had no time to linger as I wanted to get to Asuncion fairly quickly.
By chance I found a taxi driver hanging around opposite the Immigration Office (he was on a corner where food and all sorts were being sold) and he could drive me to the main bus station on the edge of Ciudad del Este for a fee of 3-4 US Dollars I think (this was thousands in Paraguayan Guarani!). Get yourself off the busy streets and a taxi to the bus station if you're heading out of Ciudad del Este.
I hope this series of border crossings will be useful for fellow travellers - please let me know if you have crossed the same borders as me and whether you experienced the same thing or not.
Safe travels!
If you want more incredible tips on crossing world borders and popular travel tips and stories, check out Jonny Blair's awesome travel and lifestyle website <a href='http://dontstopliving.net/'>Dont Stop Living</a> Happy travels and don't stop living!
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