Asuncion to Iguassu Falls

I just got back on Friday. WHAT an adventure! Thanks to some great tips from Bob here on Fodor and some improvisation, I was able to experience a grand adventure to Iguazu Falls, starting off overland from Asuncion. After a week in Buenos Aires and a night in Montevideo (really liked it) my travel bud and I flew on to Asuncion and immediately took a taxi ($16 US) to the bus station. We chose one of the MANY alternative buses and headed off to Cuidad del Este (CdE). My Spanish is pretty good, so we had no problem asking tons of questions and understanding the answers . When we arrived at the bus station in CdE we decided to spend the night at a nearby hotel and venture off to Puerto del Iguazu (in Argentina)the following morning.

The next morning we walked back to the bus station and found a direct bus to Puerto del Iguazu, which drove through Brasil, but didn’t stop. One Brasilian asked to get on the bus in CdE but was refused by the driver, since we wouldn’t be stopping in Brasil. The bus simply drove through or around the customs window, after being waived on by the officer. I wasn’t sure what would happen, although the bus company assured us when we purchased the tickets in CdE that it wouldn’t be a problem, and we wouldn’t need a visa.

Our hostel was 100 yards from the bus station in Puerto del Iguazu, so that made it real easy. We caught a bus from the station to the falls for a couple of pesos and visited the park two days, paying $60 AR for the first days and $30 AR for the send day. At the end of the first day, we walked to the Sheraton for a cocktail, and to see the kind of view that Bob and his wife experienced - It was great. We met some wonderful fellow travelers, and after enjoying the views well past sunset, we headed back towards the park, which was now closed! LOL! After chatting with a few of the park’s employees who hadn’t yet headed home, we found the local bus which picked up employees of both the park and the hotel, and we headed back to town. I LOVE adventures like that, were there IS some adventure, but everything turns out fine. We decided to head back a little earlier the following day

Before having a great meal in Puerto del Iguazu that night, we walked to the point where the two rivers come together and the three countries of Paraguay, Brasil, and Argentina come together. It was maybe a kilometer from our hostel and the bus station. As we walked there, we came across the ferry crossing! It may have appeared remote when you came across, but it’s VERY close to the center of Puerto del Iguazu. What LUCK! We checked out the times for the next morning and jumped the ferry back to Paraguay. It was great and just a few kilometers to Paraguay on the boat. Of course, we were out in the middle of nowhere on the Paraguay side, which ended up being around 8 km from the bus station in CdE. After walking 500 meters up the side of the hill from the river, we were able to flag down a bus which took us by the station in town. We would have gone RIGHT on by it, had one of the locals not told us we were passing the station Everyone was SO helpful! The bus, by the way, cost maybe 80 cents for two of us, and a local taxi wanted $10 or $15, US. The bus ride was SO much more colorful. By the way, the bus ride over from Asuncion was on Nuestra Señora de Asunción which was pretty much an express, with only one or two very brief stops. The bus company we used on the way back to Asuncion was leaving sooner than the NSA company, and was 23,000 Guarani less, so we took it. Mistake It stopped 20 or more times, and also had a flat tire, so it took more like 7 and a half hours. I’d stick with NSA next time.

I won’t bore readers here with more details, but from CdE we caught the next bus to Asuncion and decided to stay in a hotel in the center of town – the Hotel Presidente, which was right next to the Hotel Guarani, the best ($150/night) hotel in the City. The Hotel Presidente was $50 a night and had a really good breakfast. Asuncion was an experience in itself, but that’s another story.