Believe it or not, the Iguazu Falls weren’t on my to-do list. However since I wanted to swing by Asuncion, Paraguay, and the falls were nearby, I decided to travel via the popular tourist attraction to Rio de Janeiro. By bus. Initially it looked like I had to make Paraguayan Ciudad del Este my destination, and from there getting a taxi crossing the border into Brazil, to Foz do Iguacu. There are local buses running this stretch, but the stories I read painted a picture that things easily could go wrong, at least when Spanish is not a task I master. We’re talking buses not stopping for immigration procedures, meaning leaving Paraguay and entering Brazil illegally. Luckily, after some research, I found the NSA bus company, which runs across the border, and brought me all the way to Foz do Iguacu. Before I arrived at my new “home”, there were a few hurdles to climb, so let’s start at the beginning.
When I travel I bring things, which means I need close to 20 kilos of baggage allowance added to my ticket. For that reason I went to great lengths to try and buy my ticket directly from NSA, as they stated a higher allowance than the agency websites. With a foreign credit card, it proved not to be easy. After a lot of making sure I would be able to bring the amount of luggage I wanted, booking through an agent, I went ahead. Unfortunately I can’t for the life of me remember which agent site I went with, but got a few recommendations from NSA.
The bus station in Asuncion is outside the city centre, so I got in a taxi. When I got dropped off, I got a little anxious. It looked a bit too chaotic for my taste. Lots of cars, buses, street vendors, people commuting, and no obvious direction of which to head. The taxi driver tried to explain in his limited English, God bless!, so I trod on. The inside of the bus station was not more calming, or less confusing. The ticket confirmation stated I had to check in at the ticket office. Asking people, they pointed me in the direction of the departure gate. The man working the gate looked at my papers, pointed, sit down and wait. Did as I was told. Not feeling too confident about not having to go to the ticket office, I decided to give it another try. After asking a few people I was told to go to the second floor, and there I found it. Checked in, and relieved I returned to the plastic seats by the gate.
The bus was nice. Got a seat on a single seat row, which reclines, has a leg rest, and leg room. Curtains for privacy, and TV. No problem spending 6 hours sitting here.
Wouldn’t have minded more exciting scenery to enjoy though. I’ve had more impressive landscape pass by my bus window on other overland trips. Here, mostly wasteland. Continuous roadwork. Some small towns. At one point it got “interesting”. In the middle of nowhere the bus halted, and outside the police appeared. First I thought it was passport control, but it didn’t make sense. No idea what happened. After a while we continued on.
Border crossings in South America had so far proved to be quite easy. This one too. Arriving in Ciudad del Este, which by the way looked less appealing than Foz de Iguacu, from the glimpse I got, we were met by an unorganised stream of vehicles waiting to get through. In this chaos a man onboard decided to approach another man wandering the streets, offering money exchange. Realising what my fellow traveller was doing, I decided to ask if he could do the same for me, getting rid of all guarani, even the coins. His wife told me we got a good exchange rate 🙂 Being us three only left on the bus, we got to talking, and they, and the onboard host, made sure I, and them, got through immigration, on both sides. Without a hitch. You can also cross the border on foot. Via Puente de la Amistad, the Friendship Bridge, that connects the two towns.
The long distance bus station at which you arrive in Foz do Iguacu, is located outside the town centre, not to be mistaken for the local bus station in town. From there I got an Uber to my hotel.
The bus
On the road
Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
Crossing the border
