Travel Journal
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The Iguaçu / Iguazú Falls (Brazil & Argentina): a wonder of nature
The Iguazú Falls are one of the most extraordinary experiences we had during our world tour. We will easily classify them in the top 10 of our trip Part 1 : The Iguaçu falls on the Brazilian side How to get there How we come from Paraguay, we choose to spend a night in the city of Foz do Iguaçu, at the IguassuCentral Bed & Breakfast hotel,which I highly recommend since it is next to all the buses and good restaurants. From the city bus terminal near our hotel, we take the famous bus 120 towards Iguaçu National Park, for 3,75 reals/person. This bus is very busy, both by locals,…
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Ciudad del Este (Paraguay): beyond rumors
The news about Paraguay is frankly not up to date. On blogs, Ciudad del Este is talked about as a dangerous or chaotic city. Even if it has less charm than Encarnacion, Ciudad del Este is neither dangerous nor chaotic. Part 1: Travel Diary Part2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary Day 1 : The route Encarnacion – Ciudad del Este is a total #fail. All this because we let our guard down, we simply asked for information from a salesman at the terminal who showed us another ticket salesman and we ended up at the Sao Juan company. The guy sold us tickets for a 7am departure. And then…
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Encarnacion (Paraguay): carnival & Jesuit ruins of Trinidad
If we are in Paraguay, it is mainly to attend the famous carnival in Encarnacion, a border town with Argentina that has absolutely no border town look. Part 1: Travel Diary Part2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary Day 1 : The trip to Encarnacion is an endless series of #fail. Even if there isn’thing serious, it just shows that we are a little tired of moving all the time, under an overwhelming heat as a bonus, and are less demanding in our choices. We take the bus with NSA from Asuncion at 1:30 pm, for 6 hours. Arriving at the terminal, we take a cab to a hotel reserved…
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Asunción (Paraguay): Travel Diary
Paraguay is a country added to the itinerary, just like that, to the piff. Geographically, this allows us to reach Iguazu in a more or less economical way. Culturally, Paraguay will allow us to attend its superb carnival in Encarnacion, less wow than Rio de Janeiro but just as fun. And then, it’s rare to have the opportunity to visit a country with so little tourism. Part 1: Travel Diary Part2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary We arrive in Asunción last midnight, after taking the plane from Santa Cruz and a 5 hour stopover in Sao Paulo. It is much too late to take a local bus. We withdraw…
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Santa Cruz, Sao Paulo and Asuncion: the clash of languages
To go from Santa Cruz (Bolivia) to Asuncion (Paraguay), we had to make a stopover in Sao Paulo (Brazil). I know, the way isn’t the shortest but it is the cheapest (250$/person).In these 3 cities, I had a little trouble understanding what people were saying.In Santa Cruz, people often “forget” to pronounce the “s” sound and it adds a big difficulty of comprehension. This is the first time in Bolivia that I have so much trouble understanding Spanish. Luckily, my teacher in Sucre warned me that the “s” was missing, so I have to make people repeat it several times. This worries me a little bit because I was told…
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Epic fail in Santa Cruz (Bolivia)
Rarely has a day been so rotten.It starts with a long wait at the airport of Sucre: because of the heavy rain in Santa Cruz, our flight is two hours late. Having a flight to Paraguay the next day, our only wish is to arrive in Santa Cruz on time and not to miss our flight to Asuncion.The landscapes seen from the plane are incredible. I have never seen so many mountains (as far as the eye can see). Unfortunately we also see a lot of dry rivers.Arriving in Santa Cruz we discover a huge city, very very big compared to La Paz or Sucre.On Saturdays, life comes to a…
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Sucre (Bolivia): one week to learn Spanish
Sucre, the white city, is world-renowned for its Spanish courses. Sucre is also home to Bolivia’s best university, which even attracts many Brazilians and Argentines. Sucre is the Bolivian capital but this pretty city is in a cold war with the current government, which prefers La Paz. Compared to La Paz or Santa Cruz, Sucre has a country feel, quiet, traditional, very pleasant to live in and not too polluted. Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary 12 hours from La Paz We take a cama bus (El Dorado) from La Paz at 7pm and arrive in Sucre around 7am. The bus stops near the…
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La Paz (Bolivia): pollution and chaos
This is the second time we are in La Paz. This city still doesn’t manage to seduce us Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary From Puno (Peru), we take two buses: the first one to go to Copacabana. And a second one from Copacabana to La Paz. We were fooled by the name of the bus: Pullman Bus. In Chile, it is a very good bus company, but here, it is a local bus having the external appearance of a tourist bus. We are given the last places of the last row, so that during 5 hours, we feel every irregularity of the road.…
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Puno and Lake Titicaca (Peru): visit of the floating islands Uros & Taquile
This is the second time we visit Lake Titicaca (see our article on the Bolivian side here), but this time we are interested in its Peruvian side. Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary Route Cusco – Puno The day before we bought bus tickets to Puno in a travel agency. This one told us that the tickets would be given to us at 7pm. We had to wait until 8 pm and threatened to cancel our reservation so that they would be delivered to us at 8 pm. Surprise: the bus does not leave at 10:30 pm as we had been told, but at…
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Vinicunca (Peru): Discovering Rainbow Mountain
After Machu Picchu, the discovery of the Rainbow Mountain is the excursion the most put forward by the travel agencies in Cusco The “rainbow mountains” or “montagne arc en ciel” or “montañas de colores” are spectacular mountains that seem to be covered with paintings of 7 different colors. This work is 100% natural and has been made over the millennia. The red results from iron oxide, the green from copper sulfate, the yellow from sulfur, .. Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary The tour is fairly standardized regardless of the agency chosen and includes The pickup at your hotel at 3am Transport to Vinicunca…
