Timing is Everything!

Where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay Meet.

After an incredible day at the falls, I was feeling really good about this trip and how flawless it had been going.  The next morning I slept in a little, gathered my things and decided I would visit the area where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay all meet; they are divided by two rivers that come together.  After spending the afternoon walking and pondering the idea of borders… and the power that those rivers have separating entire countries, I headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready to cross the border into Brazil to catch 
 my bus.  I stayed in Puerto Iguazu, which is in Argentina and my bus left from Foz Iguaçu which is just across the border in Brazil.  My bus was scheduled to leave at 8:00pm so I figured I would give myself 3 hours to get across the border, through immigration, and get to the bus station, leaving time for any problems along the way.  My plan started out great… as soon as I got the bus station in Puerto iguazu the bus was already there, as if it was waiting for me to arrive.  I was soon on my way and waiting in line at immigration just as planned.  

 
 

The way that the border crossing works between argentina and Brazil is they drop you off at immigration, give you a transfer to get on the next bus that comes by so they don’t have to wait for you to go through customs.  After making it through immigration without any issues I went back to the bus stop to wait for the next bus to pass by.  I waited, and waited and waited and waited.  Soon I was getting worried because according to my watch I only had 45 minutes to catch this bus to another bus station to take another bus to a different bus terminal from which my bus was leaving.  At about 7:35 a taxi passed by, so I waved it down and had him take me directly to the terminal so I wouldn’t miss my bus.  I had made it, just in time, with about 7 minutes to spare.  My watch said 7:53 pm!  I thanked my taxi driver and ran into the terminal and went directly to the platform in which my bus was supposed to be leaving, but it wasn’t there.  I thought hey… I even beat the bus, but then I didn’t see anyone else around and started to get worried.  One of the men working in the terminal asked me where I was going and what bus I was waiting for, so I showed him my ticket.  He looked at it and looked at me, then looked at his watch and said, 

‘im really sorry, but your bus left an hour ago.”  

“WHAT?’ I said, extremely confused.  I looked at my watch and said, ‘its only 8:00 I’m right on time.’  

He said, ‘actually here in Brazil its 9:00pm.’  I thought, ‘you have got to be kidding me!”  

I didn’t realize that Argentina and Brazil had an hour difference.  My initial reaction was frustration, then I laughed and thought its all part of traveling right?  Luckily I was able to get my ticket changed to the next day for no charge, but that still meant I had to find somewhere to stay that night.  

Unfortunately this specific bus station was out of the center of town, which meant there was pretty much nothing around it.  There was an expensive hotel or a bunch of hostels… that were incredibly sketchy.  It was like walking down a hallway in an outdoor mall and every shop was a hostel that had a few rooms.  All of the owners were sitting outside smoking and drinking and hanging out.  They were all trying to get me to stay at their place and making offers as I walked by.  Throughout all of my travels so far I haven’t felt as uncomfortable as I did at that moment, so I left.  I went back over to the terminal to try to use the internet café, but they were closed.  Without a map, internet, or any information, I decided I would make my way to the center of the city because surely there had to be a hostel to stay in there.  I made it to the local bus terminal and was able to ask a guy there if there were any hostels close by.  Gracias a Dios there was a hostel about 5 blocks away, so I set out walking.  It was about 10:30pm as I arrived to the hostel soaked with sweat from walking in the humidity with my backpack, but I was greeted with a huge smile by the brasileras!  

After I got to my room and dropped my bag on the floor, I just had to laugh and all my frustration at that point was gone.  Sure I was sad I had to wait another day to see my friends, but its all part of the adventure when traveling.  

So, remember when you are traveling make sure you know what time you are leaving and that you are following the correct time, hahaha.