After getting well and truly soaked beneath the Iguazu waterfall in a small boat (definitely one of the most fun experiences of the 14 month trip), we decided it was time to head to Montevideo.
Whilst most backpackers use Iguazu as a stop off, on their way to Brazil, we wanted to end our trip in Uruguay on a secluded sandy beach.
Getting to Montevideo from Iguazu was a two bus adventure.
We took a 490 peso Fecha bus from Puerto Iguazu. This left at 5.45pm. Whilst it goes all the way to Buenos Aires, we got off at an earlier stop called Concordia at 7am. From there, as it was Sunday there were no buses to Salto in Uruguay. Fortunately, taxi’s are always available. We walked outside the bus terminal, and the driver quoted us 350 Argentine pesos all the way to the bus terminal in Salto. I have no idea if that was good value, but between the two of us, we were happy.
We jumped in and after a very pleasant 20 minute taxi drive, we were at the border. This was quick and painless, even after some confusion as to whether we had to pay an exit fee or not (we didn’t) we were officially in our final country of the trip: Uruguay.
On the other side, the surroundings were lush green and another 20 minutes later, we were in Salto. From the bus terminal, there was a bus leaving at 12:30pm with seats available so we booked in (746 Uruguayan peso) and waited it out on the wifi (that’s where I am now typing this!).
The bus from Salto to Montevideo takes 6 hours, more or less. In all the journey from Iguazu to Montevideo will have taken us about 19 hours on buses, along with a few hours waiting in between.
We’ve been on some fairly horrible Central and South American bus journeys and I would say this is one of the better ones.
Here’s a picture of the Iguazu waterfall: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andikam/13191368063/
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