Advertisement
Published: June 13th 2009
Edit Blog Post
The supposed Express bus to Ciudad from Asuncion was anything but, it stopped almost every 5 minutes to pick some passengers, that is when we were able to get out of the city proper which took about an hour. The 5 hour trip took 7 hours and we were relieved to arrive finally in Ciudad del Este. We got dropped off at the front of the bus terminal not inside, this we could not understand either, all the small towns we stopped we went to the terminal proper while the main destination is in the outskirt, it was dark and drizzly, we walked where we thought was the terminal but turned out to be the service cenetr for the buses, then we noticed the taxis queued up in the corner, ahh that must be the front, we bargained for a taxi ride but it was metered, we just hoped he does not add any additional night fare as in Asuncion, we found the hotel Munich but we were told it was full so we tried the one next door, Hotel Austria, there is room for us, there were 4 beds in our room and we will pay $30 for the night,
this place is not cheap, just for the night is all right, we complained of the smell in our room, we were told it was the wood that smells, and the window does not lock, no robberies ever happened in their promises, ok so we settled for it also the fact there is no other room available.
We walked in the pissing rain trying to find some dinner, LP said the best Asian food is somewhere downtown so we went , it does not exist anymore but found Gugu restaurant, a good chinese place it looks from the window but at 9:30pm the kitchen is closed so we went back to our hotel, downtown is dead, hardly anyone walking, everything shut like a ghost town. We had a decent meal at the hotel restaurant then off to bed. The next morning it was cloudy and foggy, we have a good viwe of the town from our 3rd floor room, lots of greenery around, nice and lush looking, after breakfast which was included we got ready to see Itaipu, we were told we need to check out cause the room is reserved for the night so we left our backpacks
ITAIPU DAM
Matt squeezing through a hole in the chicken fence to get to itaipu dam complex. with them and went off to find the bus to the dam. Hernandrias is the name of the destination that we need to look for in the bus front, we found a bus in 5 minutes easy, it says directo, hmmm.. I specifically requested to get dropped off at or near the dam complex but 45 minutes later we were still in the bus cruising around the whole town of ·Hernandrias, we knew we missed the stop and were pissed we have to wait, suddenly the bus attendant motioned to us to come forth, he stopped another bus going the other way and we were asked to change bus, annoyed that he forgot our stop but we can do nothing, we hopped on the 2nd bus and got paraded around again for a good 25 minutes more until we got to the main road and got dropped off in the highway.
We have to go into a hole made by locals on a chicken fence to get to the other side of the road into the Itaipu dam office. We checked in at the reception and were told after registering there would be a movie we can watch about
the Itaipu construction, so we waited. After the movie we got bussed into the dam we took photos, there was only 2 of us in the big transport bus, the guide is talking in Spanish and i have to explain to Matt each time, we were shown the panoramic view and the turbines etc. quite cool but we hoped to see the water release from the overflow but did not happen. After 45 minutes or so the tour is over, a bit underwhelming but its free so we cant complain really and after all we get to see the 2nd biggest dam in the world. We got back to town by bus and then walked to the bazaars, whole streets left and right full of vendors selling merchandise from havaianas to guns!! LP was right, they got everything here! After a couple hours walking around we had lunch at the Chinese place Gugu's, good food. Then took our backpack from Hotel Austria and walked to find the bus to Brazil, we got hassled by touts and taxi drivers, Matt got pissed off as the LP map was crap, we walked Ruta 7 and cant find the bus to the frontier
until a young kid pointed to the oncoming bus, we got on and I told the bus driver to get us off at the Paraguay immigration for an exit stamp, we crossed the bridge, big traffic then we got stuck at the Brazilian border, full of cars, we got off and we could not find the Paraguay customs, a very nice Brazilian girl working at customs helped us find immigracion,we have been asking people around and been pointed to different places, ah the stress!! Anyway we filled out forms and get in line then realized it was the Brazilian customs, we got stamped in and then Matt and I asked the immigracion dude if it will be a problem since we did not get a Paraguay exit stamp, he just shook his head and said you are already in Brazil, dont worry! A bus was luckily waiting sat idle near the immigracion booth so we hopped in and got off at the local bus terminal at Foz.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.063s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0406s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb