Paraguayan Visa and Our Day in Brazil

So, according both to the website and the guy working next door to the consulate, it was supposed to be open at 7am in the morning. Unfortunately we had forgotten to ask while we were actually there the day before figuring out what we needed to get the visa. I woke up bright and early to get there at 7 because we wanted to get this processed before the end of the day so we could leave Puerto Iguazu since it really didn´t have a whole lot to offer beyond the falls. I got to the consulate at around 7:15. Closed sign with no hours posted. So I waited...and waited... and I figured by 8 they would be open. So I grabbed a baked good snack at the bakery nearby and then waited some more. Finally 8 rolls around it opens! And these Paraguayans are punctual! By 8:03 the entire staff had walked in the door and was starting their work. So I walked in and the nice lady at the reception informed me that I should sit down and wait for the man who needed to process my visa. After waiting a bit longer and playing some Settlers of Catan on my phone, she finally approached me and told me that the guy needed to process the visas wasn´t going to be there until 8:30 or later. She also told me that I would need to grab Acacia to have her sign the paperwork. So I ran back to grab Acacia and woke her up to grab everything to head back to the consulate. By the time we got back, this very inconsiderate man at reception just told us to sit and wait. After like 30 minutes finally the nice lady saw us sitting down and explained exactly what we needed for the visas. Including the $160 dollars which had to be USD and could not be 100 dollar bills with number starting with DB or CB and none of the bills could have any marks, folds, tears, blemishes, etc. of any kind. So all of a sudden we did not have enough money for the  visas. And, Argentina is not the place to try to get US cash because the grey market due to the inflation of the Argentine peso means you have to pay nearly twice the exchange rate to get USD.

Since I thought this would be a much quicker process, we hadn´t cleared our stuff from the room and checkout was at 11. The process to change the money was going to take way past 10, so Acacia went back to pack since she had now at least signed all the necessary documents and I was in charge of getting the cash. First, I went to a private cambio and asked what they would change AR to USD for, and was told 7 to 1. Perfect. So I went to the bank to withdraw enough pesos to change for enough dollars to add to our set of valid dollars to have the 320 necessary for the visas. But, when I went back to the cambio, a new guy was working there who wanted 8.3 to 1. So now I didn´t have enough, and I was mad at that place and my patience on this whole process was wearing thin. So I walked to the bank to change my bad 100 for a valid 100, but the line was like 8 hours long. Literally wrapped around 2 blocks. No way. Back to the official cambio who would change pesos for 9 to 1. First I changed the Argentine pesos, then I changed the leftover Chilean pesos into Argentine pesos and then into dollars, and finally had enough. So then I rushed back to the consulate so submit all the paperwork which they then said would be ready by 2 or 2:30pm, right before they closed. Phew! Got it in in time.

At that point it was way past checkout, so I knew I needed to get back to the hostel to turn in the key, but I figured if we were a bit late that it wouldn´t be a huge deal. So I wasn´t rushing now. But, when I got to the hostel, Acacia was adamant that I needed to quickly pay the 30 pesos short she was, and submit the key because the lady at the front desk was really angry or something. But the lady wasn´t at the front desk. I quickly peed. Apparently this is frowned upon because the lady came back to the front desk while I was peeing. Then I paid and we left to find food.

We found the first place selling fish and sat down outside. The chef came out to greet us and spoke a bit of English because he had family in the states or something. We ordered the two specials, and told the chef that we liked it spicy. The food was actually really good. I basically ended up with a huge slab of river fish baked with tomato sauce and cheese, like a pizza but with fish instead of dough. Acacia got a shrimp and tomato sauce pasta that was mighty tasty. And, there was some noticeable heat. Definitely not as spicy as either of us could have handled, but maybe the spiciest dish we´ve been served in South America.

After lunch Acacia remembered that we left some food in the fridge at the hostel. So I ran back to the hostel to grab the food. Then we went to the gas station which was cash only, ran to the bank for cash, and then got gas, and then headed to the consulate to collect our visas.

The embassy had fortunately approved our applications, so we just had to watch the visa guy to make sure he entered all of our information correctly and then got the fanciest passport decorations and were out of the consulate by 3:30 and on our way to Brazil!

We had to go to Brazil for two reasons. First and foremost, the ¨Overview¨ side of the Iguazu Falls is reached from Brazil, and because the only way to enter Paraguay with a car is to cross over a bridge from the Brazil side. Both of these things are so close to the triple frontier that if you´re just visiting the falls or passing through Brazil/Argentina have no Customs forms or car import/export forms, so it felt a little weird how nonchalant these border crossings were. Nobody checked for fruits and veggies, and we had to go out of our way to get the appropriate entry/exit stamps in the passports.

Anyway, since it was still light and we probably had enough time to tackle the Brazilian side of the falls, we headed straight there with a slight pit stop at the airport on the way to use an ATM. The infrastructure here was similar to the Argentinian side, but with a 12km bus ride from the entrance to the actual falls instead of a train. The open air bus was actually pretty fun though, albeit a bit chilly on the ride back with damp clothes and dusk setting in.

We paid our 40 bucks or so for parking and entrance ticket, then hopped on the bus, and again took the bus all the way to the end while most of the patrons got off part way. The Brazilian side is interesting because it has a walkway that goes out over the edge of some the falls, so you´re probably 100 feet off the ground over the edge of the cliff that the falls go over. The first stop was a ledge near the top of the falls, and then you take an elevator down to a lower platform at the bottom of the falls with access the walkway out to the edge. We had the pleasure of being in the middle of a Brazilian military field trip or something, so were constantly walking around guys carrying shotguns and rifles hoping they didn´t slip on the wet walkways. After checking out the huge waterfall from below, we walked out along the walkway to the edge and got soaked (no pictures since there was a bit too much moisture and we´re close to killing our second camera of the trip). Afterwards we walked another kilometer or so following the edge of the river with views over to the Argentina side and where we had been the day before. You could see the whole curtain of falls from the Brazilian side, and it had spectacular views but this part was definitely less of a rush than being right next to the gushing water. Nothing particularly interesting happened except that some random guys took a picture with Acacia.

The trail along the river ended at a bus stop across the street from the in-park hotel on the Brazilian side, which was much more elegant and discreet than the one in Argentina. It was a cold ride back in the shade of the jungle with wet clothes on an open air bus.

After reaching the car, we headed to the campground listed in the Lonely Planet, which required a surprisingly large number of turns off the main road that we most definitely would not have found had it not been for the well posted signage by the campground directing us. When we got there, we immediately realized this was unlike any campground we'd been to before. It was much more of a resort, with a bar and pool with some ping pong and billiards tables. Naturally, we had a few beers, played some ping pong and 9-ball and camped next to this huge truck labelled 'Da Mogul on Tour.'

Since breakfast was included, and was just a buffet from 7-10 I figured the best way to maximize the value was to eat immediately at 7, then wait for Acacia and have my second breakfast just before 10. Solid Brazilian breakfast too, with fruit, baked goods, quality coffee, and hot dog soup or something like it.

After breakfast we packed up and did some car cleaning since we wanted to be compact and organized driving in Paraguay and be able to hide our stuff reasonably well in the car. We took off before midday and headed for the Paraguayan border!