Do you want to successfully cross the border between Argentina and Paraguay?
There are several ways to cross the border between Argentina and Paraguay but I did the crossing from Puerto Iguazu, ARGENTINA to Ciudad del Este, PARAGUAY. I was there in December 2010. In hindsight, the border crossing was easy compared to others I've been to, but you still need to get things right, if you read on I'll explain exactly how I did it. This was one of the most unusual border crossings I have ever done, for one reason and that is that in about 45 minutes I was in three countries! Really are you confused? Yes it did confuse me a bit as well...read on for my first border crossing report in this series from my travels...
The first thing to know is - you board a bus at Puerto Iguazu bus station with PARAGUAY as the destination on it. These buses are yellow and single decker with the words El Practico on it. They leave fairly regularly throughout the day. I did my crossing on a Sunday morning, around 10 am I think. I don't think you can buy tickets in advance, just check out of your hostel or hotel in the town of Puerto Iguazu and head to the bus station (there is only one main bus station in Puerto Iguazu). I would definitely recommend doing this early morning - no idea if the border would be open at night - nor if it would be safe to risk it.
I was on my own and I was basically wanting to get across into Paraguay and then onwards to Asuncion.
Ciudad del Este, the current name for this Paraguayan city, which is The City of The East, is on the other side of the river to Argentina. The river is the border, and the bridge is the most common crossing. As this is a post about the border crossing, I won't talk about other stuff but I had already been to the triple border of 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 thought that a lot of "backpackers" (I don't like that term, but I guess I probably am one...) would be going on the route from Iguazu across the border into Paraguay next to see Ituapu Dam and the famous Jesuit Ruins at Trinidad. But I spoke to lots of people at the hostel (the wonderful Hostel Inn Iguazu Falls) and none of them were going to Paraguay. A few of them even said to me "why are you going there?"! That kind of statement that makes me realise that some of us are made to be travellers and some are just not. An avid traveller will always go anywhere, anytime and often for no reason. Someone who is not an avid traveller will be more fussy about where they go. I am not - I will go anywhere. In any case there were no other "backpackers" on my bus or in the station that morning.
When you travel in South America you should have some kind of knowledge of Spanish at least (I actually studied in Montevideo but my Spanish is still 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. But I had my passport in hand and had already all of my money changed into Paraguayan Guarani. This is important - make sure you change ALL your Argentine Pesos (except for the price of the bus) over into Paraguayan Guarani in Puerto Iguazu. You can do this anytime in daylight hours, even on a Sunday morning - I found a small bank/exchange place in town open around 9am to got mine changed in there.
After boarding the bus you will be driven out of the town of Puerto Iguazu to the border bridge with BRAZIL. Yes, don't be alarmed at this point, you are still on the bus to PARAGUAY! At the Argentine exit customs you MUST make sure you ask the driver to let you off to get your passport stamped. Most on the bus may not need it - they're mostly locals.
Get out, taking your bags with you and get your passport stamped and then straight back on the bus. Make sure the driver waits for you. Then you will cross the Iguazu River into Brazil but you won't stop at Brazilian border control. This is a regular route and the sign on the front of the bus lets you know that you are heading directly to Paraguay. So we are now in BRAZIL, "in transit on a bus" officially.
You arrive in the city of Foz Do Iguacu which you drive through quickly, I have written a lot more about the actual waterfalls and my first trip across into Brazil elsewhere on this blog. You'd be crazy to be on this route without having visited the nearby Iguazu Falls.
After 20 minutes or so in Brazil on the bus you arrive at a crazy bridge. Again you see a border checkpoint here, but we by pass it. It's the Brazilian border point. Your eyes will remind you that your were in Brazil for 20 minutes, your passport will not. There is no need to get your passport stamped at either Brazil passport checkpoint, BUT once your bus gets onto the bridge, Keep your eyes peeled for the Paraguay entrance border checkpoint. Why? Because the driver won't stop there, but you need to tell him to stop there for you.
The worst thing is that when you tell the driver to stop, he will not wait for you because all the other passengers onboard won't want to wait for a foreigner to get their passport stamped. The bus will continue on its route and you are basically bundled out into the craziness of the border city of Ciudad del Este.
You are recommended not to cross this border on foot by the way, mainly due to robberies and potential safety issues. Honestly - don't risk it - take my advice for just 5 Pesos you can get the bus. I had to yell at the driver having ran to the front of the bus on arrival in Ciudad del Este, just to get him to stop! This was a few hundred yards in front of the checkpoint. I thought the driver would stop somewhere just over the border, but he didn't. You will need to keep your eyes open for the border immigration point and get out of the bus on your own. I did ask the driver if he'd hang around for me but when I realised he wouldn't, I just grabbed my bags, got off the bus and without flinching an eyelid, here I was in Paraguay!
I had to find the place to stamp the passport now - it was hidden shyly in a very obscure spot in the middle of a building site on the Paraguay side of the bridge. I wish I had a video from above of my trip that morning - it was just crazy. It was hot and I was bag laden, but within a few minutes I found the passport place and was the only person in there. They stamped my entry and I was now legally in Paraguay! In the last hour I had been in 3 countries, though officially just Argentina and Paraguay.
I must admit though that I honestly am not sure if this is the easiest and best way across the border into Paraguay but I love these types of adventures on my own. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of my travels because I was the only traveller about. It was a zany place at the border and the city was so busy. People everywhere trying to sell me things. Some people might want to stay a night or 2 in Ciudad del Este but I was on a fast trip and basically wanted to head straight to Asuncion, the capital.
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.
Enjoy your border crossings!
There are several ways to cross the border between Argentina and Paraguay but I did the crossing from Puerto Iguazu, ARGENTINA to Ciudad del Este, PARAGUAY. I was there in December 2010. In hindsight, the border crossing was easy compared to others I've been to, but you still need to get things right, if you read on I'll explain exactly how I did it. This was one of the most unusual border crossings I have ever done, for one reason and that is that in about 45 minutes I was in three countries! Really are you confused? Yes it did confuse me a bit as well...read on for my first border crossing report in this series from my travels...
The first thing to know is - you board a bus at Puerto Iguazu bus station with PARAGUAY as the destination on it. These buses are yellow and single decker with the words El Practico on it. They leave fairly regularly throughout the day. I did my crossing on a Sunday morning, around 10 am I think. I don't think you can buy tickets in advance, just check out of your hostel or hotel in the town of Puerto Iguazu and head to the bus station (there is only one main bus station in Puerto Iguazu). I would definitely recommend doing this early morning - no idea if the border would be open at night - nor if it would be safe to risk it.
I was on my own and I was basically wanting to get across into Paraguay and then onwards to Asuncion.
Ciudad del Este, the current name for this Paraguayan city, which is The City of The East, is on the other side of the river to Argentina. The river is the border, and the bridge is the most common crossing. As this is a post about the border crossing, I won't talk about other stuff but I had already been to the triple border of 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 thought that a lot of "backpackers" (I don't like that term, but I guess I probably am one...) would be going on the route from Iguazu across the border into Paraguay next to see Ituapu Dam and the famous Jesuit Ruins at Trinidad. But I spoke to lots of people at the hostel (the wonderful Hostel Inn Iguazu Falls) and none of them were going to Paraguay. A few of them even said to me "why are you going there?"! That kind of statement that makes me realise that some of us are made to be travellers and some are just not. An avid traveller will always go anywhere, anytime and often for no reason. Someone who is not an avid traveller will be more fussy about where they go. I am not - I will go anywhere. In any case there were no other "backpackers" on my bus or in the station that morning.
When you travel in South America you should have some kind of knowledge of Spanish at least (I actually studied in Montevideo but my Spanish is still 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. But I had my passport in hand and had already all of my money changed into Paraguayan Guarani. This is important - make sure you change ALL your Argentine Pesos (except for the price of the bus) over into Paraguayan Guarani in Puerto Iguazu. You can do this anytime in daylight hours, even on a Sunday morning - I found a small bank/exchange place in town open around 9am to got mine changed in there.
After boarding the bus you will be driven out of the town of Puerto Iguazu to the border bridge with BRAZIL. Yes, don't be alarmed at this point, you are still on the bus to PARAGUAY! At the Argentine exit customs you MUST make sure you ask the driver to let you off to get your passport stamped. Most on the bus may not need it - they're mostly locals.
Get out, taking your bags with you and get your passport stamped and then straight back on the bus. Make sure the driver waits for you. Then you will cross the Iguazu River into Brazil but you won't stop at Brazilian border control. This is a regular route and the sign on the front of the bus lets you know that you are heading directly to Paraguay. So we are now in BRAZIL, "in transit on a bus" officially.
You arrive in the city of Foz Do Iguacu which you drive through quickly, I have written a lot more about the actual waterfalls and my first trip across into Brazil elsewhere on this blog. You'd be crazy to be on this route without having visited the nearby Iguazu Falls.
After 20 minutes or so in Brazil on the bus you arrive at a crazy bridge. Again you see a border checkpoint here, but we by pass it. It's the Brazilian border point. Your eyes will remind you that your were in Brazil for 20 minutes, your passport will not. There is no need to get your passport stamped at either Brazil passport checkpoint, BUT once your bus gets onto the bridge, Keep your eyes peeled for the Paraguay entrance border checkpoint. Why? Because the driver won't stop there, but you need to tell him to stop there for you.
The worst thing is that when you tell the driver to stop, he will not wait for you because all the other passengers onboard won't want to wait for a foreigner to get their passport stamped. The bus will continue on its route and you are basically bundled out into the craziness of the border city of Ciudad del Este.
You are recommended not to cross this border on foot by the way, mainly due to robberies and potential safety issues. Honestly - don't risk it - take my advice for just 5 Pesos you can get the bus. I had to yell at the driver having ran to the front of the bus on arrival in Ciudad del Este, just to get him to stop! This was a few hundred yards in front of the checkpoint. I thought the driver would stop somewhere just over the border, but he didn't. You will need to keep your eyes open for the border immigration point and get out of the bus on your own. I did ask the driver if he'd hang around for me but when I realised he wouldn't, I just grabbed my bags, got off the bus and without flinching an eyelid, here I was in Paraguay!
I had to find the place to stamp the passport now - it was hidden shyly in a very obscure spot in the middle of a building site on the Paraguay side of the bridge. I wish I had a video from above of my trip that morning - it was just crazy. It was hot and I was bag laden, but within a few minutes I found the passport place and was the only person in there. They stamped my entry and I was now legally in Paraguay! In the last hour I had been in 3 countries, though officially just Argentina and Paraguay.
I must admit though that I honestly am not sure if this is the easiest and best way across the border into Paraguay but I love these types of adventures on my own. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of my travels because I was the only traveller about. It was a zany place at the border and the city was so busy. People everywhere trying to sell me things. Some people might want to stay a night or 2 in Ciudad del Este but I was on a fast trip and basically wanted to head straight to Asuncion, the capital.
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.
Enjoy your border crossings!
About the Author:
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