Today was a very interesting day. We met a couple, we shall call them Trevor
and Sue. They started their day in the
usual fashion by getting up and having the supplied breakfast of medialuna’s
with cups of tea. They then went to the
bus stop and had to run to catch up to the bus that had just departed. This bus was heading to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. The reason why I say their day was
interesting was because they had to exit Argentina and then drive through a
part of Brazil to get to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. But that is only the beginning of the
interesting part. Technically they
needed a visa to enter the country of Paraguay, which was going to cost them a
bit of money. However they had heard
stories of other people not getting the visa and crossing the border without
any customs or immigration. Ciudad del
Este is a bustling but somewhat ugly city which is only renowned for the super
cheap shopping available. People from
Argentina and Brazil head across the river and do their shopping for a fraction
of the price. This is what attracted
Trevor and Sue so they decided to give it a crack. At the end of the day they were only going to
go to Paraguay for a couple of hours and they were only a couple of hundred
metres away from Brazil where they could legally enter.
The bus took Trevor and Sue to the Argentinean border, which
is about 10 minutes away from the centre of Puerto Iguazu. They were stamped out and then continued
their journey, missing the Brazilian border and not being stamped into the
country of Brazil, similar to our experiences two days earlier when we went to
the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls (Day 93).
Their journey took them to Foz Iguazu and then through the immigration
area to exit Brazil, over the bridge to Ciudad del Este. They were now in Paraguay! The bus ride took
them about an hour, the longest part of the journey was the traffic jam before
and on the bridge over to Paraguay. It
was interesting for them as there was no immigration to attend in Brazil and
now in Paraguay, where they exited the bus on the main street and began their
shopping. The shopping went for blocks
and blocks, pretty incredible. Market
stalls were set up with all kinds of gear, the majority of stalls selling
branded clothing and knock off electronics.
Trevor and Sue decided to stay on the main street, where there was still
plenty of shopping, because they didn’t want to get lost or stray in the city
where they were technically not welcome.
They stayed in Ciudad del Este for about an hour or so, with both Trevor
and Sue buying a jersey each for a very small price. During the morning Sue had been very nervous,
from what they were telling us it sounds like Sue did not like the experience
at all, but Trevor didn’t mind. They
caught the next bus back to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. The bus took them back down the main street,
through the immigration area in Paraguay, over the bridge, through the
immigration area in Brazil (this all taking about half an hour because the
traffic was terrible, and no customs or immigration checks, just strait on
through). They then drove through Foz
Iguazu, Brazil, through the Brazilian immigration area, over the river
separating Brazil and Argentina and then to Argentina immigration where they
were stamped back into Argentina. The
immigration officer asked Trevor if he had been to Iguazu Falls on the Brazil
side which he said yes too. They were
then back in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina by lunchtime. Sounds like a very eventful morning – going into two countries without technically being in them (according to the passport), and illegally entering a country with no visa as one was required to enter Paraguay for citizens of Trevor and Sues country. Sue was very relieved when she got back into Argentina.
We had a good chat with these two, then we went our separate
ways after lunch. After lunch we decided
to have a look around the town, there was not too much to see here really. A few shops were around but half of them were
closed. We later found out they open a
bit later in the afternoon and stay open during the evening to cater for the
tourists who would all be at Iguazu Falls during the day. We go out for dinner and get our final steak
in Argentina. Unfortunately this steak
was probably the worst we have had in Argentina, it was still pretty good but
not up to the high standards we are now used to in this country. We then head to the supermarket to get some
snacks for our long 24 hour bus ride to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil tomorrow
(including a bottle of red wine, not to have on the bus but to have in Rio) and
then go back to the hostel for the evening.
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