Montevideo to Buenos Aires by Boat

After getting caught in the tail end of a hurricane and crossing Uruguay by bus from Salto to get in to Montevideo past midnight, the next morning it was time to go. The city was bouncing back to normal, but we had no time left. After breakfast at the After Hotel, we squeezed into the supremely undersized Uruguayan taxi cabs and headed for the Buquebus terminal.

Our hotel looked great and was really comfortable, for the 9 hours that we spent there total. The front desk staff was exceedingly helpful and friendly as well, and best of all? It was pretty inexpensive. We had planned to stay an extra night here before Pluna went bankrupt and we had to change our itinerary, but we would have been pretty happy here.

 The most that we saw of Montevideo was from the taxi ride to the ferry terminal. It looked like an interesting city. I would have liked to spend more time there, but it wasn't in the cards for this trip. Instead, we were on to the boat to Buenos Aires. At the terminal here, you check in and then go through pass control. I can confirm for those looking for a way around the reciprocal fee for the Argentine visa that entering the country by ferry lets you skip the $160 fee.

Once on the boat and away from the dock (we needed a tug because of strong winds), it was smooth if uninteresting sailing from there. After a few hours, Buenos Aires appeared on the horizon with the skyline set against the gray skies. As we drew closer, my thoughts turned elsewhere, back to Stockholm. Part of the reason that I wanted to come to Buenos Aires was because nearly 90 years ago my grandmother also arrived in the port of Buenos Aires by sea. She was a child at the time and doesn't remember much from the time that she and her family spent there, but in some way this was an echo back to that event and the photo of this exact harbor that she shared with me in Stockholm. The tall ships are gone and the skyline today strikes upward, but this is where she was so long ago.

And tomorrow, I would start my own exploration of the city.

Flight Report: Iguaçu Falls to Uruguay (but where in Uruguay?)

Getting from Iguaçu to Uruguay was originally supposed to by an easy, time saving side trip. We would fly in on a direct Pluna flight to Montevideo, spend two days there and then take the ferry direct to Buenos Aires. All total, we would save $160 per person by avoiding the reciprocal fees at the Buenos Aires airports and check off another country. Easy, right?

Except then Pluna went bankrupt and was shut down and until the day before our flight we weren't 100% sure if we were leaving from the Brazilian or Argentine airport. Buquebus, the airline that we got our replacement tickets on (still to Montevideo), doesn't actually use airport codes on their website. We knew we left from the area, but which airport was something that only a local call to the airport could actually answer.

A couple lessons from this: First, if your airline goes bankrupt, call your credit card and contest the charge. You may be able to, as we did, recoup the cost of the ticket with minimum stress. The second, in times like this, don't panic. There is always a solution. If we hadn't been able to find this replacement flight at the right price, there were buses that could take us directly to Buenos Aires overnight. Most things you can fix.

The day of our flight we caught the bus from the central bus station in Foz do Iguaçu and headed to the airport. The trip took about 40 minutes along the main road and finally, we were at the airport. Check in went smoothly and we were given some of the most atypical boarding passes I've seen to date. They were nothing like the regular boarding pass stock and we were given stickers for our seat assignments.

Security went smoothly and then into the boarding area. There are no services except for a small snack bar in the international area that we were in, so beware that once you start towards security you lose your ability to change money, which might be important if you have excess guarani. It is basically worthless outside of Paraguay (On that note, if you have a few nice guarani notes left over, I would be interested in them. Email me!) We headed over to our plane and proceeded to... wait.

We were there for about an hour plus after boarding and watched two planes land and one of them leave again. While we were waiting, people were in generally good spirits, except for one young child who was fussy over being hungry and thirsty. When the flight attendants offered some water and a cracker pack, some others started to pretend to whine as well, jokingly asking for "Papa fritas" (French fries) and "aqua con gas" (carbonated water). Despite the delay, people were at least having fun. We pushed back and were finally off to Salto, which was our first stop before heading to Montevideo.The flight had a little chop, but mainly below there were light fluffy clouds and green land underneath. Our in flight snack was pizza flavored crackers and small pouch of cookies.

Landing in Salto, I had a bad feeling. As we pulled up to the tiny airport, I noticed immediately that there was a bus waiting just on the other side of the fence. Once the plane had shut down, the captain came on the overhead and then the fun started: It was too windy in Montevideo to fly there and we would be taking a bus the rest of the way...

...for the next six hours.

The entire plane took it in stride. At most, people gave a low grown and then got ready. We figured it was bad news, but didn't really know what was going on. That is part of the adventure of travel, and sure enough we left the plane, went through security and got stamps in our passport and then headed off by bus. We stopped at a gas station, bought snacks for the trip, and settled in for the ride. Eventually we got to Montevideo just past midnight and found out why we couldn't fly there directly: They had been hit by a hurricane and everything had been shut down.

The 24 hour McDonald's at the main bus terminal? Closed. The other 24 hour McDonald's near our hotel? Closed. The city wasn't too badly damaged, but signs had been uprooted out of concrete, branches were everywhere, and in general people were pretty shocked that they had been hit by such a strong storm. At the very least, I can say that I was impressed with how quickly they recovered. Just the fact that they had a bus waiting for us at Salto was probably a sign that they had things pretty well organized, given the storm and the confusion that must have come with being hit by that.

Finally, after a long trip we settled into After Hotel (which was very nice with very helpful staff), and got ready to get up and head to Buenos Aires.

Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil (not the Falls)

After a day at Iguaçu Falls and the Caratas Hotel, we left the falls and headed into the nearby town, Foz do Iguaçu to stay the night and then depart the next day. Setting up the next leg of the trip from Foz do Iguaçu to Buenos Aires was one of the biggest challenges that we had in setting up the trip. We wanted to avoid the reciprocal fee that Argentina charges American tourists at the two main airports in Buenos Aires and also wanted to check another country off our list. First we had tickets on PLUNA to Montevideo, but they went bankrupt. Fortunately, Buquebus happened to have flights that would work for us the next day and we were able to shift things around. We were scheduled to have an evening in Montevideo and then off to Buenos Aires, but that is not exactly what happened.

But before the the flight, we had a chance to stay in the city Foz do Iguaçu itself and visit the Avian Park that is near the falls. I like birds and brightly colored tropical birds are not something that I get to see too often. When I was in Mongolia, one of the highlights of the trip was holding a Golden Eagle on my arm and this ended up being the avian highlight of the trip. The park is geared towards children, but it does offer you a chance to get close to get close to some of the iconic birds of the region, like toucans and macaws.

The hummingbird house was one of the highlights, especially with my new camera that is equipped with slow (albeit low-resolution) motion.



After the bird park, we went into the city for our night there. We stayed at the Pousada Sonho Meu, which is on the other end of the spectrum from the Caratas Hotel. It is a perfectly serviceable hotel on the lower end (about $30-40 per person) and it is located about two blocks from the main bus terminal (which goes to the airport and the waterfalls). There isn't too much in the town itself for visitors. While the entire main street was once redone to be more bike and pedestrian friendly (complete with handicap ramps!), the main downtown area is pretty quiet. We didn't have a lot of time to spend, and there really isn't much to do. I only regret not getting a couple thousand guarani (Paraguayan currency) from a money changer. At $0.0002 per guarani, you only need $225 to be a millionaire.

Finally, we were off to the airport. It's a good idea to get the bus at the bus station if you are in the area. These buses are designed for capacity and there are few seats on board. If you want them, you need to among the first on the bus at the bus station, which is where the route starts.

Next time, we fly to Montevideo! Or do we?