Paraguay, Brazil, & Argentina

My 14-day trip to Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina was a truly amazing experience.

Sadly, however, it started off on a bit of a downer.

It began with my initial flight into Paraguay. As my friend Roberto and I flew over South America (VERY early in the morning, I might add), we could see what looked to be several small rings of light in the distance, standing out vividly in the darkness below. Initially, I chalked them up to being just towns or cities, and went back to sleep without much further thought. However, when I woke up later and studied them more closely, I realized that they were actually what are known as “slash and burn fires,” an oft-used farming technique that sees forests or fields be chopped down, allowed to dry, and then burned in order to pave the way for further agriculture. Beyond the flames, there were zero indications of civilization visible in the darkness – the only other light visible was that from the fires, raging away in random rings across the inky black. Our flight’s stewardess, who herself was from Brazil, noticed me examining the flames and commented on just how sad it made her feel that this was such a common practice in her country. It was heartbreaking.

Upon landing, I found that the airport was small and very easy to navigate, catering to what seemed like only a few major international flights at any given time. Getting through customs was easy enough as well, only taking about 15 minutes, and taxis and Ubers to and from the airport were plentiful.

We ended up staying three nights in the Villa Moora neighborhood of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, an affluent shopping district located just west of San Cristobal. The area was filled with modern malls, shops, and restaurants, both local and western. Just south of the neighborhood is Recoleta, a similarly nice – and very walkable – district. Exploring both areas of the city, I found that English-speaking was minimal in the elderly, but that many of the younger people in the area spoke it, albeit brokenly. Thankfully, at most of the larger stores in the area, I found that I could usually find at least one employee who spoke it clearly enough to communicate.

All places in town took credit card, and although we did have a small amount of local currency on-hand (in retrospect, we probably could have increased how much we carried on our persons, if only to make purchasing smaller items easier), we found that we only used it while traveling on the toll roads…which, by the way, proved quite affordable: in total, Ubers in Paraguay only cost $5 US per 25-minute rides. Talk about cost-effectiveness. That frugal cost-of-living extended to most other daily expenses we paid, as well – in total, we probably only spent about $25 a day, something that we could have likely lowered even further, had we needed to.

Over the three days we spent in Paraguay, we only saw one other pair of foreign travelers, who we assumed to be German. Other than that, we were definitely the standouts of the local populace, often fielding more than our share of strange looks and attempted conversations, an occurrence that only went up when they found out that we were American. So many other cultures are enamored with how the American Political system works with respect to having such a strong cultural influence world wide. We walked the neighborhood for 5-6 miles, then took an Uber to the downtown area of Asuncion, also known as the “Cathedral district.” On the whole, this area of town felt like a pretty standard city, consisting of restaurants, shopping, and parks where locals sat for their midday lunch. Interestingly, we noticed a significant influx of police patrolling the district – at one point while strolling through one such park, we counted 8 officers in total congregating nearby, people-watching at a local beer-stop. However, despite the noticeable police presence, crime itself didn’t seem to be a significant concern in that area – the district itself felt safe, and with the exception of a few homeless, significantly well-to-do (only one hobo offered to give me a massage – so I consider it a win).

We rented a car at the airport (by far the most expensive item we purchased – $100 per day), then drove 7 hours cross-country from Asuncion to Iguazu Falls, located on the border of Argentina and Brazil. The drive itself took us down a brand new stretch of road, and was quite pleasant, taking us through a countryside composed of small hills and lots of green, the kind that brought back memories of driving through the Midwest (albeit a Midwest that also happened to feature jungle-style trees and way less crops).

Of course, there are always hiccups – even on the nicest of roads – and it wasn’t even 10 minutes after we’d left town that we found ourselves pulled over by a local cop, who proceeded to try to “shake us down” for 800K local. We countered by offering him 100K, and after a bit of haggling, we eventually settled on 200K (about $20 in US currency). Seriously – it must be good to be a small cop in small countries. These kinds of encounters with law enforcement are rare, but they do happen every once in a while when traveling abroad – hence why it’s always a good idea to carry a small amount of cash on your person while traveling.

At the Brazil border, there were plenty of custom officers and customs stations, but fortunately, we were able to drive right through and quickly found ourselves at the Argentine crossing. Unfortunately, the journey across the Argentina border wasn’t quite as speedy as Brazil’s – we ended up spending about 2 hours in stop-and-go traffic in what was a ridiculously short line, just waiting to cross (blame the one-lane road, which alone added SIGNIFICANT time to the journey). Eventually, we reached the gate and showed our passports, and – after pulling us over for a quick trunk-search – they waved us through.

Argentina Bound:

 Enter: Argentina.

We stayed three nights at the Panoramic Grand Hotel. Being upgraded from our original room we found our top floor suite overlooking the Iguazu River. The view looked over the nearby Ferris Wheel, a local favorite– it was a GREAT view, and each evening, we were able to watch/listen to the local kids hanging out on the grass in the nearby park, which was fun. At least, it was fun earlier on in the evening – by around 1:00 a.m. the kids turned to teenagers. I found myself wanting to yell at them to “get off my lawn.” Alas, it was not my lawn, and they paid me no attention. Stinkers. The hotel also featured a little hot tub/sauna room to reserve, as well as free parking – in total, we paid $150 a night for the room, not bad for a 4-star hotel split two ways!

The next morning, we drove 15 minutes down to the Iguazu Falls. We were surprised to find it was fairly empty – one of the few positives of traveling during the pandemic has been the noticeable lack of tourists. We spent some time hiking some of the paths in and around the Falls, including both the upper loop hike (called Superior) and the lower loop hike (called Inferior). Piece of advice if you hike either of these paths: don’t take the on-site train – which runs up the side of the Falls – to either trailhead; instead, just walk the side paths to the start of both trails. This will save you considerable time, since the train only runs so often, AND you avoid any potential crowds. Plus, let’s face it: you probably need the exercise. The paths themselves are a bit of a maze, with several sections on both looking to be closed permanently in favor of “new and improved” walkways. A bummer, since several of these closed-off areas looked like they featured some pretty impressive views.

The train itself is pretty fun, running every 30 minutes, and is free with park admission, which itself costs $30, plus $2.50 for parking. While you can hire a guide to accompany you on the ride up the Falls if you’d like, I didn’t really see much of a need for one, unless you happen to be particularly interested in learning more about the local culture and animal-life on the ride up. Unlike the first two paths, the third one – called The Devil’s Throat – does require a 10-minute ride on the train to the trailhead and takes about 15 minutes to walk. Similarly to the other two paths, much of “Del Diablo ” has been majorly renovated, with an elevated skywalk leading out over both the water and remnants of the original trail. Like Inferior and Superior original closed-off sections, it looked to be significantly more scenic than the newer, “better” version we walked. Still, though – despite our disappointment in not being able to experience the trail’s original pathways, it was hard to deny the sheer impressiveness of Del Diablo’s final view, which looked out on Brazil and the Devil’s Pool waterfall. It was quite something, and honestly, we could have probably spent hours just taking in the ferocious sound and FEELING of the water – it was amazing to see just how carved out the rock was, and the power of the water itself was nothing less than amazing to behold.

On our drive back to the hotel, we were once again pulled over by police, and this time, we were asked to pay a “tourist” tax (yes, you read that right). We spent about 2-3 minutes going back and forth with the officer (who didn’t speak English), trying to negotiate the price and currency; he originally asked us to pay the tax in the local currency, which we didn’t have; then in American dollars again – nothing on us as everywhere had taken credit card, and finally, in any currency that we could pay. Unfortunately for him, we only had four small coins on us from Paraguay, which he refused, and after a little further conversation, he waved us on.

You have to say this for the Argentinian police officers: when it comes to extracting currency from tourists, they are mighty persistent.

We returned to the Falls the next day and went straight to the booth to purchase tickets for the on-site boat ride, which takes you directly next to the waterfalls themselves (pro tip: if you return to the Falls for a second day, hold onto your receipt from day #1 and you’ll get a 50% discount). We bought our tickets, then rode in a truck to the riverfront which cost $80 for each rider. Totally worth it. The weather was warmer than on the previous day, which ended up being more than a little bit fortuitous, as the boat ride itself proved EXTREMELY cold and EXTREMELY wet –the  boat ride itself takes you directly underneath several of the Falls, and – as you can probably imagine – it didn’t take long before we were absolutely soaked, to the point that water was even inside our coats! The whole ride was an absolute blast and provided us with several great views and pictures. A definite must-do.

We returned to the park after a few hours and checked out some of the local wildlife, including several small monkeys called capuchin and the ground animals called South American Coati. Which is odd as I don’t remember seeing any North American Coati. It was tempting to want to feed them, but we resisted the urge to not be “those” tourists – instead, we waited until others fed them, then watched them from a distance as they got in trouble.

Sometimes, it’s the little things that make all the difference.

On our way back to town, we were pulled over again by the same police officer as before, who promptly demanded that we pay the  “tourist” tax he had requested only the day prior. This time, however, he was not alone – along for the ride was his supervisor, who was every bit as insistent that we pay up. We offered them the small amount of Paraguayan change that we had before, which – shocker – neither were interested in. After going back and forth for a while, the officer and his supervisor confirmed our credit card usage at the park and hotel, then waved us on.

The next day we went back to Brazil before heading back to Paraguay. We wanted to check out the Falls from the other side. The Brazilians have a much more commercialized entrance to the falls. The buses to and from the Falls run every 20 minutes, and thankfully, while you can pre-order tickets to save time, you can also purchase them on-site, which is what we did (there are also, just like with Argentina, optional boat rides you can take, if you’re so inclined). The bus ride was about 15 minutes; once we arrived at the Falls, we hiked several of the trails on-site, all of which were much shorter and way less complicated that the Argentinian ones (it helped that they all more or less followed a large circle, making it nearly impossible to get turned around on). The walk was beautiful, with several overlooks along the way that allowed for some great pics, and ultimately culminated in an AMAZING 180-degree view of the falls. To walk out and feel the mist of that rushing pounding water. It’s nothing less than spectacular.

We took the on-site elevator up to the top of the falls to check out the view, then walked back to the bus and headed out. On the way back, we passed a restaurant, apparently designed to serve as one-last “goodbye” to the area which we took full advantage of, than drove through Brazil customs, which – mercifully – was just as easy on the way back in as it was out: all total, it only took about 10 minutes to pass through. Unfortunately, getting back into Paraguay took quite a bit longer – the route leading in consists of 4 individual lanes, which proceed to merge into 1 lane, then 2 lanes, and then ultimately back into 1 lane again. As you imagine, the end result is miles of truckers, all backed up, all trying to cross with their goods. It’s nothing less than a madhouse, and we ended up waiting about an hour before we were able to successfully enter (one up-side to the chaos: the construction work being done on the route is clearly going to help make the drive across-country much quicker. So maybe – hopefully – in a few years, the drive won’t be quite as time-consuming). Once through, the drive through the hills speeds up significantly, with speeds changing from 100K to 80K to 60K very quickly, with VERY little notice.

It quickly became apparent why, exactly, that is – within only a few minutes, we found ourselves the victim of (yep) a speed trap. The local officer pulled us over, citing us for going 70K in what was apparently a 60, and with that, the law enforcement negotiations began yet again. Thankfully, we had the Google Translate app on hand, which more or less guided the conversation with the officer and his buddies. The officer seemed nice enough, even going so far as to ask me to get out of the car and shake his hand. The end result of said negotiations? The officer received a fresh $20 American bill and our smiles – not bad for a day’s work (plus, considering that he was originally asking for $120, we made out fairly decently, as well). We bid them adieu, then drove back to town, wondering if it was the fact that we were Americans that had prompted the pull-over…or if we really had been speeding.

Yet another reason why splitting your cash, as opposed to keeping it all in your wallet, is a good idea.

Back to Paraguay:

Back in Paraguay, we stayed our last night in the Centro downtown business district. If you’re looking for somewhere to eat, here’s a tip: I would highly recommend eating at Bolsi by the Park Plaza de la Democracia, which features an awesome side patio that was completely full when we visited, good pizza and cheese fries, and great music. Also kind of cute: the owner’s little girl walked around the restaurant while we ate, trying to sell candies as dessert.

Overall, I would say two days is more than enough time to say in Paraguay – it was well worth visiting, and ultimately, I don’t have anything overly negative to say about the experience (aside from, you know, the whole lining-the-cops-pocket-with-$20-bucks thing). If you were looking to retire abroad with a low-key lifestyle, Paraguay would be a great place to consider. In São Paulo, we stayed at the Selina Hostel, located in the Pinheiros neighborhood, mainly so that we could check out the nearby Batman’s alley art (think Rino in Denver for those familiar). The breakfast at the hostel was divine both mornings we stayed, and the neighborhood itself was packed with a variety of interesting shops and restaurants, while also being very walkable – it felt completely safe, at all hours of the day. We spent some time walking the shopping district along Ave Paulista, which helped us to get a good feel for the culture and vibe of the city.

Later, we rented a car and drove to Ubatuba and Paraty, located further up the coast. We parked at Praia da Riviera, a prominent beach, which – lucky for us – happened to have very few people when we got there. We walked the entire way across the beach, which eventually led up into a forest and past a few dozen houses, culminating in Praia do Flamengo – the whole excursion only took about 20 minutes and was well worth the time. We spent some hiking through the jungle, which twisted right along the ocean, and eventually dropped us onto another secluded beach, this one ringed by a few houses and a little restaurant – like Praia da Riviera, we had it mostly to ourselves, which was quite nice.

We wound our way up into Paraty, which was much busier and more touristy, complete with lots of restaurants, stores, and hotels. Still, it was, admittedly, pretty impressive to see – the whole town stretches about 5-10 blocks along the sea and features several huge cobblestone walkways, many of which are probably hundreds of years old. We stayed the night in Paraty, then headed up to Rio the next morning to close out our drive. On the ride there, we passed literally HUNDREDS of beaches and towns – no joke, we could have probably easily spent several more days just exploring the area of the country between Paraty and Rio. Along the way, we stopped for breakfast at Dino’s Bar, located just past Belvedere Jesus Cristo. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any breakfast food available; however, there WERE more than enough portions of fish and port for us to eat (too much – we didn’t even come close to finishing). Also cool: the beach by the restaurant was composed of a black and gold sand mix, which by itself was pretty; however, even more cool was watching the tide take the sand in and out, the combined effect of which was a fascinating and beautiful mixture of unique granular color and foamy water.

We stayed the last three nights at the Rio Othon Palace, located right in the middle of Copacabana beach – from our perspective, it looked like the tallest beach front building, and had great views of the ocean on both the right and left sides. We even left the patio door open at night, just to hear the waves  – the entire stay was amazing, and overall, it proved to be a great place to stay. The one downside? The breakfast options were fairly limited – if you hope to eat before the food is devoured by hungry tourists, definitely be sure to get up earlier.

At night, we walked the beach, which felt very safe. It took us an hour to walk up and down both directions, and along the way were a variety of food, drink and street vendors. While there was parking at the beach – costing $30 a day – we were surprised to see just how many taxis and Ubers were readily available at all times, to the point that you really didn’t need a rental car, particularly if you were staying near the beach. In hindsight, we probably wouldn’t have gotten one if we knew we would be staying nearby all week. (Also a nice benefit: most Uber rides were under $5).

During one of the days we stayed at Copacabana beach, we traveled to nearby Parque Lage and the base of the trail for Christ the Redeemer. As we entered the park, we passed a small guard station, and offered (what we believed to be) the cost to hike the trail, $1; however, the guard on duty laughed and politely declined our money. Finally no shake down! Good police officer.

The start of the trail winds its way past a hard-to-see tower (which we hiked as well – it’s hard to get to, but totally worth it). From there, it extends a total of 5 miles round-trip. The trail itself starts easy enough, passing by 3 beautiful waterfalls; however, towards the top of the trail, it becomes much harder and much steeper, to the point that small chains and iron hand holds are offered along the way, just to help keep you balanced.. Eventually, we crossed a train track, which spat us out on the main road; from there, it was a short final walk to the top and to the Christ the Redeemer statue, where a small observation point awaited (the total capacity couldn’t have been more than 100 people max). We bought a ticket, then enjoyed the view which, despite a little bit of pouring rain, was still pretty spectacular. The statue itself, on the other hand, was a little bit disappointing – while 360 degree views of the statue are admittedly impressive, the ground-view perspective of the statue was surprisingly underwhelming. After spending a few minutes enjoying the view, we began our descent, this time following the back loop trail, which was a much easier decline, albeit with a lot more overgrowth and a lot less people (in all, we only saw four other people on the way down). The trail didn’t feel like it was used nearly as much as the others (hence the overgrowth), and more than a few times, we got turned around just trying to figure out where to go next. Piece of advice: if you do happen to take the back-end trail, remember to always move counter-clockwise – it’ll save you a lot of time. Thankfully we eventually made our way to the trail’s end, which spat us out into a neighborhood, of all places; we walked down the street and found a restaurant, Pizzeria Caravell, where we ate a delicious pepperoni pizza. Overall, the whole excursion was a total blast, and well worth the time investment.

For the last two days of our trip, we spent most of our time by the beach. One thing that we learned the hard way: whatever you do, DON’T eat at any of the kiosks located on-site – we tried ordering a few different times from a few different vendors, and each time, the result was…well, let’s just say “not good” example: I ordered a hamburger; I received what very much looked like dog meat on two slices of white bread – I wish I were kidding. The second attempt: I ordered oven baked chicken, and instead received chicken nuggets and stale onion rings. Could have made that at home. On top of that, the weather on both days was strangely overcast, and by the time we went to bed our last night, we’d both begun to feel the pull of home fairly strongly.

Our last morning, we headed out and visited Sugar Loaf Mountain. Taking the gondola ride to the top, we were afforded us a fantastic view of Rio Bay and the city (and at a pretty affordable price, too – only $25). On our last night abroad, we ate at Canton, a Peruvian/Chinese restaurant, which was highly rated and HIGHLY recommended – the food was a perfect way to end the trip, and well worth the walk from the hotel.

DABL’s DECISION:

 Overall, this was an extremely fun trip, with the two biggest highlights being Iguazu Falls and the hike up to Christ the Redeemer. While we might have liked to spend a few more days exploring along the coast line drive into Brazil, ultimately, we found that the 14 days we spent exploring Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina proved just about perfect, timing-wise – had the trip been any shorter, we might have felt like we were missing out on some major sights, and had it been any longer, we almost certainly would have begun to long for home more than we already were by trip’s end. As it stands, 14 days is the perfect amount of time to visit.

So yeah – I would recommend it.