Brazil Again

We crossed into Brazil about 6 pm Friday after a three hour struggle to drive across the Paraná River from Paraguay.

We left the campground Friday morning with some reluctance but we had a pair of tickets see some cataracts in Brazil so we had to get going. It was hot driving the freeway across Paraguay…100 degrees all morning. 

It turns out Ciudad Del Este (East City) has much lower prices for appliances than neighboring Brazil and there is a huge glut of traffic between the two countries.  It turns out especially on weekends and we discovered too late, Friday afternoon is part of the weekend. 

Once we got to Brazil the same billboards as this one advised Brazilians to shop hearty at the Mona Lisa in Paraguay. Judging by the number of flat screen TVs and air fryers we saw on the move they did just that. Check the pedestrians below carrying their loot to Brazil on the Friendship Bridge. 

But to get to that bridge we had to struggle through a city completely choked by traffic.

Photos don’t do the chaos justice to the mess but even  motorcycles struggled to get through the streets that were choked tight with idling stuck cars. There were people trying to make a living selling useless stuff as well which just added to the stress and chaos. I hate that these countries can’t provide enough work for their people and I hate myself for getting irritated by the incessant begging.

The wonder is that we three kept our heads and worked our way calmly through the mess. Rusty the wonder dog sat up front and never once complained. We were pretty sure no one would ask about his papers and so it proved but we kept him aboard GANNET2 and drew no attention to him. 

He sits up front when we leave him aboard alone so he isn’t ever ready to hide but I am sure he also keeps burglars away when we park on the street. We have his vaccination papers but had decided not to pay for a health certificate and it worked out fine.

We found a spot to park when eventually we got to the Paraguayan border offices. There is free travel for members of the South American Economic Community (Mercosur in Spanish and Mercosul in Portuguese). Brazil Argentina and Paraguay are members among other states but the US is not…

So we parked to get stamped out of Paraguay and to turn in our Temporary Import Permit for GANNET2. The immigration was easy but customs found a snag on our TIP. 

The customs officer said we had declared our plan upon entry to the country, that we would leave by way of Asunción  not here.

I’d forgotten all about that but he had to ask his boss what to do.

I talked fast…mere tourists…thought we could see the falls from Paraguay…very sorry…and we were okay. Thankyouthsnkyouthanyou and like a courtier I backed away and Layne stood in traffic blocking it so we could pull out and cross the bridge  to Brazil. Slowly slowly.

I was surprised how blue the mighty Paraná River was underneath the bridge. 

The Brazilian side was more chaos with cars and motorcycles and buses streaming through the checkpoint. Not being locals we had to stop and a police officer directed me to a parking spot out of the flow.

The officials here were helpful and speedy but we still got tripped up at immigration. The lady checked our history and said we’d spent a lot of time in Brazil…I apologized in my ghastly Portuguese and she said her neighbors don’t even try to speak her language as we laughed together and we got 61 days. Thsbkyouthsnkyouthankyou. Then the customs guy wanted to look at GANNET2 and I figured he was going to bust Rusty but we walked toward the van and he said fine and peeled off back to his office before I got my keys out. Layne stood in traffic again like a pillar of righteousness and we got into the stream and left this ghastly place behind three hours after we first got stuck in traffic.

We were free. 

However the road to Iguazu Falls, an hour away was garbage. It was an old cobbled road lightly covered with a thin layer of tarmac. We bounced mercilessly on it. 

It seemed like a really crappy highway to a world class tourist site. 

It seems the authorities have figured it out and are getting with the program. 

Sometime soon there will be a proper highest to drive. Not soon enough for us. 

We got there, set up camp and had dinner. And set our alarms for three am. 

Villarrica

Today, Friday we are driving to Brazil as we have a 4am appointment with a tour to watch the sun come up over the Iguazu Falls on Saturday.

It was hot as blazes yesterday but we left the cool shady grassy campground to do a little exploration of nearby Villarica. 

By Paraguayan standards it’s a tourist town so they sell dust catchers along the highway. 

The town itself is a pleasant enough market town and it does have a central square so we stopped there and walked around a bit. 

There is apparently a resident homeless guy living in the park. I had to dissuade Rusty from visiting his shelter which my dog found fascinating. 

There wasn’t much to do but Layne did manage to print out some documents for our tax returns and I bought a tube of silicone sealant and Rusty had a good long explore so we deemed the day a success and retreated 30 minutes back to our leafy grotto at the campsite…

…and went for a swim. 

In reply to a question about our solar output I can say with 860 watts on the roof we can live, in sunny weather, very well including running the roof top Dometic RTX 2000 all night which makes sleeping very comfortable. The a/c unit is 6,000 BTU which is half the power of our old Coleman 110 volt unit but it is better for us as this one blows a constant stream of cool air over our bed. The front of the van gets much less cooling but with a fan it’s quite comfortable as the a/c removes the humidity. We are very happy with the change.

Guns? Urban wear?

And so it is time to move on and leave Paraguay and its eccentricities behind. But we will be back. 

We really enjoyed staying at Attilio’s place:

He even brought us delicious fresh baked ham rolls for breakfast.