Border Crossing – Porto Alegre (Brazil) to Montevideo (Uruguay)

Bus from Porto Alegre (Brazil) to Montevideo (Uruguay)  

 

The weirdest border crossing I ever had was this one, even the euro border crossing which was non-existence was more understandable than this one hell of a ride. 

The bus ride to Uruguay was not too bad and I am starting to see the awesome comfort that everyone is talking about bussing around South America. 

Thou good comfort comes with a price so at 190 BRL about SGD 95 for just 12 hours the bus was superbly nice with working WIFI and hot meals on board.

Crossing the border however was worrisome for me as I knew the stupid tour in Iguazu f*cked up my immigration process. I had no exit and re-entry stamp when I visited the Argentina side of the Falls but I had an entry stamp from Corumba but at an earlier date. 

Boarding the bus at Porto Alegre I had to surrender the passport to the bus attendant (Like an Air Stewardess but on a bus) which she said she will return to me once we reached Uruguay.

It was an overnight bus and I was bewildered that I could just sleep through the border crossing but I made sure to tell her that I must get an exit stamp for Brazil and an entry stamp for Uruguay. 

So the bus depart and everyone went to sleep after late supper was served. The next morning as we were nearing the final destination of Montevideo she started handing back all the passport or for the locals, Identification card.

I got mine back in one piece and checking the passport sure enough I had two stamps,

Exit from Brazil (which was stamp next to the Argentina Visa entry at Iguazu hence I knew the officer was onto me. Interesting way to cross a border …. Where they don’t even bother to see the actual person to process the passport. 

The bus attendant did it for everyone so at least 40 people plus per day and there would be at least 10 buses going that route and coming back another 10. You could say the border crossing was non-existence. 

Risky thing is that if the people make a mistake with your passport you won’t know till you are deep into the country and by then it will a day later and you are seriously in trouble. Oh well … trust the local system and pray nothing goes wrong.

Porto Alegre - Brazil

Porto Alegre a midway stop before heading off to Uruguay. Somehow I got stuck in Porto Alegre longer than I thought. Four whole days I was there doing absolutely nothing other than watching HBO on cable TV in the hostel and playing chess with the hostel owner Marco and receptionist Jue.

Graffiti in Porto Alegre 

How it happen was that there was a chess set layout one fine afternoon and I commented … 'Oh Chess!' …. and they asked if I knew how to play and if I would like a game. 

I ended up trashing them and they would not let me leave. Payback or revenge was on their mind and I played so many games with them while also playing with my computer at the same time till the third day. 

Jue and Marco took turns trying to beat me and another girl Lue which was staying there joined in the foray. Daytime was chess and night time out came the Poker Chips. If I trashed them in Chess, they obliterated me in Poker.

The third day ….. the day I was supposed to leave for Montevideo-Uruguay I packed my bags, checked out and walked to the bus station only to find out all the bus was fully booked and I was stuck in Porto Alegre for another day. 

Back to the same hostel and when I walked in that door they were so happy to see me for one last chance was possible for them to win me. 

Porto Alegre was a lovely town in Brazil. Not to popular but still a nice place to stop for a few days. Most people use it as a gateway into Brazil from Uruguay and Argentina or the other way around. 

Most major bus runs the trunk line and must pass Porto Alegre so even if there was not much to see the town still gets a decent amount of tourist.

Exploring the place thou can be a mysterious wonder. Hidden streets, local markets, and great local food makes up for its lack of singular major attraction. 

The other nice part was it was safe considering how much Brazilian people are paranoid about safety, the place felt more relax and chill compared to Rio or Sao Paolo.

Porto Alegre - Brazil 

The Grand Iguazu Falls & How Brazil Immigration almost F*ck me up

I was not wasting time now that I have about 1 month left in South America. So much things to see and so many place to go and not much time left. 

So I hustle Iguazu Falls like crazy upon touchdown from the bus. Iguazu Falls was located at a three point border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay but you could only view it from the Brazil and Argentina side.

How Brazil Immigration almost Fuck me up.

7 am in the morning I arrived and immediately was sold a day tour ticket to see the falls at the Argentinian side. The bus was to pick me up at 8am and we would reach the falls at 10 am and pick up again at 5pm to be brought back to the Brazil side. 

First thing the tour company did was check if I needed a Visa to enter Argentina and was soon clear I (Malaysian Passport) required none.

First stop was the Brazil side of the Immigration but prior to that the van driver took all the passengers passport and when we got to the immigration he was the only one to get down and disappear for a few minutes before returning and driving us off to the Argentina side of immigration. 

At the Argentina side of immigration the same thing happened and we never saw any immigration officer while crossing the border. 

Arrive at the Argentinian entrance of National Park of Iguazu Falls and the driver gave back our passports. I opened it up and saw the nice new entry stamp into Argentina. 

There was no Brazil exit stamp thou. I asked the driver and he said it was not required. Not thinking too much about it for I have been to countries that do not stamp out such as USA, Australia, New Zealand; but still I had a bad feeling.

Later that day after having a great day at the falls the driver picked us up at 5pm as planned and drove back to Brazil crossing immigration again in the same way. This time I was careful and told the driver to make sure we got exit stamps ….. I was taking no chances. 

We never saw any immigration officer, the same as the first time the driver stopped at the Argentina side getting exit stamps for everyone. Moving on to Brazil side of immigration the driver did not even bother to stop and just drove on entering the country with no immigration crossing. 

A month later I manage to exit Brazil with an exit stamp into Uruguay ….. but that’s another story …..

So if someone would to carefully examine my Passport …. It would look like this: Enter Brazil -> Enter Argentina -> Exit Argentina -> Exit Brazil

I later checked the all wise internet and found out that everyone require an exit stamp from Brazil. That f*cking driver was just lazy. Oh well ….

Iguazu Falls ( Argentina Side )

Iguazu Falls 

Argentina side of the falls brings you up close and personal, really really close and judging by the way they construct the walkway and some ruin bridge parts that was lying about perched on some rocks saved for its brothers that has went over, it was a little scary but at the same time exhilarating to be so close to the edge. 

If you ever love Indiana Jones or lost treasure hunter movies, the falls was just like that. Tall and huge with average of 1000m3 of waters feeding and going over the edge every second, just breath-taking. 

There was three parts of the falls, two of which was like a flat wall of water, spread out so long formed by hundreds of individual waterfalls close to each other and the third was shaped like a horseshoe with a tip protruding like a tongue which they named the devils throat.

Diablo Del Gigante, was the name of the observation deck at the very edge of the falls into the Devil Throat and it was beautiful looking at the tremendous gush of water above just breaks at the edge and fall into oblivion. 

One could not see the bottom of the falls for the sheer volume of water cause sprays and frequently shooting sprays that is higher than the falls itself and this obscure the base of the river. 

Nicely named I guess devils throat for if you fall off that edge there was no way to survive

Argentina side has also the upper circuit track and a lower circuit track which one could hike along designated path to get other views of the falls. 

They go really close and for the lower circuit, so close that you are bound to be soaking wet from the sprays of water. Five hours and that was all I could do running from one view point to another to get different views of the fall. 

One could also take the super drench boat ride as close as the driver dares to the bottom of the falls but at a hefty price.

Iguazu Falls ( Brazil Side ) The next day I went to the Brazilian side on my own taking the local bus. You could not see the whole falls together at the Argentina side ….. the big picture was on the Brazil side. 

Brazil side of the falls however was done in a mere 2 hours for they have only one track leading up to a magnificent view into the mouth of the devils throat. Brazil side I would say is for taking panoramic photos for the falls are seen from a far and a great overview can be seen. 

Morning seem to be a good choice, for rainbows would form everywhere around the falls due to the water mist.

Lovely Falls ….

One thing for sure … it was one of those places where a photo will not do it justice ….

Rainbow at Iguazu Falls 

Iguazu Falls 

The Beautiful City of Rio de Jenario

Copacabana Beach in Rio 

Rio is beautiful as a city with its long white sandy beach, lush tropical jungle in the heart of the city, and marvelous building architecture and not to mention great city planning. 

The city was organized, structured but also speckled with colorful but dangerous favela. A too structured city is a boring city and a too disorganized city is a messy city so to be beautiful it had to have a perfect blend of all things.

Christ The Redeemer - Rio 

One of the 7 modern wonder and the third one I have seen so far. Now the Coliseum and Manchu Pichu was fascinating but I have no idea how a sculpture became one of the new modern wonders. 

Frankly I think Angkor Wat should be one of them instead of this one, no offence to Brazil, still I paid the money and visit it anyway.

More than a week I was in Rio and I could see the Redeemer no more than 2 hours a day. Most times it would be covered in the clouds and for some reason the clouds always forms up at that area even if everywhere else is blue sky. 

L and I took the tourist train up to the peak which was a nice ride through the city ‘tropical jungle reserve’ of Rio and when we got to the top there was a massive amount of people in the small viewing platform. 

Way too many people. I guess it’s popular after all and many people was lying flat on the ground trying to get a good picture of the famous monument. 

If you wanted a picture of only yourself with the Redeemer, good luck. Being up there thou gives a good overview of Rio from above and one could appreciate how beautifully structured the city was. 

Snap snap snap ….. going down

View of one part of Rio from 

Sugar Load Mountain - Rio 

How I got up Sugar Loaf Mountain for free. 

The sugar loaf was a prominent landmark for hundreds of years and Rio decided to build a cable car system for the tourist. 

Two peaks like a sugar loaf and the cable car span from the ground to the first and then second. L told me that we could save some money and hike up the first one and take the cable car to the second one.

The hike was a 45 minute though a semi jungle with well guided post and little trail path. It was a pretty steep hike but not a very long hike. We saw these cutes little monkeys and plenty of mosquitos. 

Soon we were at the first cable car station and was rewarded with stunning view of Rio. The station had a large viewing platform, a helideck for helicopter tours, some souvenir shops and a few food outlet. 

Then we were stuck there. Thinking we could get a ticket when we reach the top of the first station to go to the second one we did not stop to think that tickets were only sold at the bottom of the station. 

What once upon a time was a ticket station on the first stop was no longer operational and the rules were changed.

Rio De Jenario 

We were stuck there and the only way out was hiking down that steep trail. L went on a frenzy with a local tourist helper and even tried to bribe … I mean pay him the ticket fare to let us on board the cable car to the second stop. 

Still amazingly the officer would not accept any of the money but instead told us to wait a moment while he tries to do something. That something was ingenious. 

He went to the trail path and waited for people who was walking downhill instead of taking the cable car and asked them if he could have their unwanted tickets. 

He got us one and was advice that one of us could go downhill, buy a ticket for two people and then come back up to the 1st station and proceed together to the 2nd stop. 

We took the ticket and L pretended to lost the ticket (dropped somewhere) and was eventually let into the cable car heading downwards for free. We ended up with a free ride to the base and never bothered with the second station.

Exploring Rio de Jenario during Carnival week

Carnival. I had no idea what it was or that it even existed in Brazil till a friend from Hong Kong “L” told me about it. L was the reason I was in Rio. 

I was about to skip Brazil entirely, save it and bottle it for a few more years letting it age like good wine so that when I come back to South America one day I could do Brazil entirely. 

L just wanted to see Rio and Carnival and was flying in all the way from Hong Kong for a week and asked me to join him so we could look out for each other’s back since he thinks that Rio is dangerous.

So the major re-route and detour and after taking the Death-train and a 32 hours bus ride from Corumba I finally reach Rio and was kinda excited for Carnival. 

I never got to see the ‘Paid’ carnival for it was really expensive but during the Carnival week in Rio, me and L were hunting down all the street parties that they call Bloco. 

Bloco was on the streets all over Rio where the performers do dry runs and rehearsals and the public party all around them. Some of the Bloco were pure ridicules and some were good but one thing for sure weather good or no good the locals still party like crazy to bad music or even no music at all.

Street Bloco in Rio 

It’s all about crowd. If you have enough people gathering regardless of the event a party will eventually break out. The craziness I mention was not about the crazy parties in the streets but the crazy people that would just gather and waiting for something to happen. 

Wardrobe malfunction seem to be the theme of the Carnival in Rio. Superman, Batman, Cinderella, spandex’s, funny headbands, bowtie of male strippers, and many more weirder stuff I could not describe thronged the streets of Rio. 

If you dress normal or sexy or handsome …. You will stand out ….

L pretended to be a Japanese photographer tourista and snapped way too many shots of Girls on the streets and I would be yelled at to pay them money for getting a photo taken while he walks away pretending not to understand a word. 

Just don’t go snapping pictures of guys or girls with bf that will beat us up I told L.

Sit Down Musician Bloco 

No two bloco was the same as far as I saw. The first was like a karaoke with just one person with a mike on top a huge big truck and lots of people dressed up in front and behind the truck but no performance. 

Just singing (all Portuguese so I can’t understand shit) and everyone around either standing and looking or trying to groove a little. 

The second was better with percussion drums and dancers in formation practicing their routine. Third was a sit down bloco where amazing musician set up a tent and booth and was playing incredible classical Brazilian style music.

Percussion Drums & Dance Bloco

Then there was the numerous bloco that got cancelled or we were late and it was finish and left a crowd waiting and wondering what we were even doing there. 

Then there is the samba and Froco. I did not manage to catch a samba but a Froco was like traditional music, slow and people danced in pair’s boy and girl grooving with hips attached with the occasional twirl. 

I went all around Rio looking for Bloco finding it interesting never knowing what you gonna see. Sightseeing was along the way but always with an eye lookout for a great bloco. 

The actual Carnival event thou was super-duper expensive going up to nearly few hundred USD dollars and I was not about to spend that much money, Carnival or no Carnival. Bloco thou was free so I keep hunting.

The good part about Carnival was that you could go almost everywhere safely due to the high amount of police deployed to safeguard the humongous volume of tourist that comes just to party. 

Favela areas (Dangerous Drug Lord Slums) were also opened for Bloco event and mass groups of people flood there including the police.

For a week it was safe from the normal crazy people but then again drunk crazy people was everywhere.

Corumba to Rio

Corumba in Feb 2015 was a hellish hot at 37 Degrees during the day it was super burning. I took a long awaited shower after crossing the border and a 18 hours train ride only to be soak and sticky smelly again in 5 minutes out of the shower.

Walking around town looking for that first bank or atm to make sure that my card works in Brazil I got a tan in less than an hour but luckily no sunburn.

BRL 329 for the 30 hours bus ride to Rio. Superbly expensive compared to when I was in Bolivia not long ago. Still there was no other option so I paid the bus ticket and went back to the hostel and locked myself in the air-condition room.

Androniha Bus from Corumba to Rio 

The next day; Bus was late, didn’t show up at 1130 but finally at 1215pm it came and we all rush inside the bus to seek shelter from the heat and air conditioning. 

How I survived a 31 hours bus ride, I still wonder. The bus was good and comfy with toilet, WIFI and power point as well. Still 31 hours of just sitting and doing nothing drags at your mind and soon I was in zombie state. Pit stop, smoke, eat, drink, pee, back on the bus and sleep.

Along the way we had many stops and police checks as well. Totally looking for drugs the bus was pulled over and searched inside and undercarriage as well. 

I was asked questions in Portuguese which I had no idea what they say. One police asked … English ??? I said yes and she signal her buddy and he could speak a bit of English. 

Amazed that a Malaysian that does not know Portuguese was on the bus he asked some standard traveler question and gave me back my passport with safe travels wishes. 

Soon sleep was even too much and I gave up being cautious, taking out the tablet hoping I won’t get robbed or targeted and started reading. 

Soon even that was too much but nothing else I could do but just alternate between sleeping and reading and always checking google map to see where I am and how far I have to go before Rio, the small dot showing where we are never moving faster than I hoped. 

There was no food on the bus even for that price that I paid. Every 6 hours or so the bus would stop at a super large rest area which sold food and a little groceries.

When I thought I was finally going crazy, the bus stopped at Sao Paulo unloading passengers and one cheerful guy glad to be rid of the journey shook our hand with a large grin on his face saying good luck and have fun. 

31 hours exactly plus 1 hours ahead time difference made it 32 hours and I was in Rio. Journey was not ended yet and I was out the station looking for how to get to the hostel. 

Local Omibus and I hopped on for 15 Real to the street near the hostel, hopped off and use the GPS on google maps to walk to the hostel all the while thinking this was bloody dangerous. 

I had no idea if I was in a good neighborhood or bad one and walking around at 10 pm with a phone in hand and full backpack was a stupidly easy target. I had to trust that my friend I was about to meet choose a safe place to stay and thankfully he did.

Got to the hostel and while checking in I saw the friend I was rushing to meet sitting at the table engrossed in his phone …. Mission accomplish. Never again I said to myself …. But long bus ride in South America was just the beginning.

Death Train Bolivia & Border Crossing – Puerto Quijarro (Bolivia) to Corumba (Brazil)

The Death-train in Bolivia is the train that goes from Santa Cruz to Puerto Quijarro a small town at the border of Brazil near the Pantanal region. 

Wondering how dangerous this would be I consulted Wikipedia and apparently it was called the Death-train due to its purpose of transporting yellow fever infected during the early years hence coined the Death-train where people on board were more or less on a journey to death door.

Death Train - Bolivia 

I got on the 2nd most expensive train the Oriental Express, more due to timing (Different Days different train service) rather than choice. 

It was 100 Bolivianos about 20 SGD for an 18 hours ride throughout the night which had air conditioning in the train and good reclining seats. 

Food however was a challenge for they would stop at one station near to dinner time and local kids would board the train selling all kinds of cooked food to the passengers before hopping off just before the train moved again. 

Some of those food look like it was hunted in the nearby forest and cooked to taste like chicken.

Border Crossing – Puerto Quijarro (Bolivia) to Corumba (Brazil)

Puerto Quijarro 

The train arrived in Puerto Quijarro in the morning on time at 6 am and there were taxi waiting to shuttle people where they wanted to go. 

I took a stroll along the dead town, maybe because it was too early in the morning but it was really small and uneventful. Eventually I hailed a cab and got to the border which is a short ride but not so short if you are walking. It cost me 5 Boliviano ….

Border Control at Puerto Quijarro - Bolivia 

Everyone was queuing up waiting for the Bolivia border control to open. You could walk into Brazil and no one would stop you. 

Some money exchange shops were nearby and I dumped all my Bolivianos for Brazilian Reals. Exchange rate was fair and good. (The immediate vicinity of the Brazilian border control has no shop whatsoever).

The border control finally opened at 730am and the slow processing of clearing one at the time dragged on for 2 hours before it was my turn at the counter. 

The officer did not ask me anything other than my passport. As far as I could tell he was viciously keying in every form of permutation he can think of my name, passport number, nationality, identity card number but the computer return nothing to his efforts. 

I understood that he was trying to find my entry on the registry and he was failing at it. I was a ghost in Bolivia apparently.
I had all the right stamps and all the Visa plus the paper slip so the officer and I knew I would leave eventually but he just needed to get that data entry done. 

Take a seat and wait was what I understood after 10 minutes of trying and my passport was passed on to the next office. Stuck for another hours waiting.

While I was waiting I saw a sign (written on paper) on the counter which I translate as : Exit Tax

Nationals of Bolivia - 15 Bol
Foreigners – 100 Bol 

Sitting down just waiting all things went through my mind for I had dumped most of my Bolivian money for Brazilian Real and had only 40 Bol left in my pocket …. …. 

Dammit I should have change after getting the exit stamp. I clearly remembered there was no such fees when I checked on the internet so what was this all about ?? 

Was it an open bribe ?? No way to know till I got my passport and imagination ran wild during the 1 hour of waiting

Finally a lady came back with my passport and passed it back to the same officer. I was called to the front and he processed the exit with a stamp and passed me back the passport and waved me away. 

I did not need to pay anything apparently (Thou everyone was paying for some reason) and quickly left before they change their mind.

Border Control Corumba - Brazil

4 Hours now approximately and moving on to the Brazilian side of border control. 5 minute walk and back in the queue line. 

Another hour of queue and during that hour I got to see the Brazilian police in action where during one of their random checks of cars passing through they found one with drugs in it. 

All guns was in the hands pointed at the one man and one woman while they were slowly being removed from the car and put in handcuffed.

My turn up the counter and the Officer looked at my passport and immediately turn around and started conversing with his other colleague. 

Why am I not surprise. A question came in Portuguese and I was lost. His English was also non-existence and I had to fumble my way through with Spanish instead. 

He asked me if I needed a Visa for Brazil and I said no while he double checked it with a file. The officer also asked how long I was traveling in Brazil and my standard one month answer came up and he nicely only gave me exactly 30 days. I need to start learning how to say 90 days ….

Important :

Lookout at the entry stamp and make sure the number on the right side is an Odd number which means entry into Brazil. If the Officer weather on purpose or accidentally give you an even number then you have just entered Brazil with an exit stamp which would make leaving the country very tricky. 

Into Brazil, No Visa for Malaysian passport holders, no bribes and no customs just immigration which if wanted one could skip all together and enter illegally since no one checks … but crossing a rural border with a Malaysian passport took me 6 hours in total.

At Brazilian side of border control there is no stalls or shops whatsoever, just a bus stand, a taxi stand and a motor taxi stand. I was so tired I jumped on the motor taxi …. 

An actual motorbike with my backpack behind me and he took me to the hostel for as little as 15 Reals …. I miss Bolivia already … and dreaded how expensive Brazil is going to be compared to Bolivia.

Welcome to Brazil …