Why does no one write about Paraguay and Uruguay?

Patagonia is too cold, wet and windy.
Chaco is too hot.

That's a not a pretender, there.
Thanks for the pic.

Hey Guys, Uruguay was the best country in my trip last Feb 2010, the people are very happy all the time, they gave you a lot information without you ask, smile all the time and say hello for your bike when you cross them in the roads.. the roads are very good, no tools, no bridges, very easy to located there ... see the maps and routes I did:
http://www.pisteiros.com.br/photo?page=24

Important:
- People are very nice
- Old cars in the routes and citys (very nice to see)
- They have very good infra for Campings (special in Punta Del Este)
- Best Sunset and Sunrise in Punta Del Este (that I saw in all the trip)
- Wifi in all gas station.
- Good Food

You must visit:
- Punta Del Este (I recomend 4 days there)
- Colonia Del Sacramento (4 days there too)

See in Pictures (Page 20 to 25):
http://www.pisteiros.com.br/photo?page=20 (Cellphone pics)

Widescreen Pics (Page 10 to 22):
http://www.e-studios7.com.br/efotos2/main.php/v/Travel/dalben/Chile_2010/?g2_page=10


See my detail about Uruguay (unfortunately are in Portuguese, I will open soon RR in ADV to post all the in English).

http://www.pisteiros.com.br/profiles/blogs/expedicao-chile-segunda-etapa
http://www.pisteiros.com.br/profiles/blogs/expedicao-chile-segunda-etapa

Regards

FOX (ADV from Brazil and Pisteiros.com.br)

SOLD! Thank you. I hope to be there early May.

Thank you for all the great information!

Mag,

No doubt Uruguay is a must country. Mainly because of the people, nice, culture. Uruguay had in the 60's the best years, being a small country and PIB income coming from meat exporting and was considered the richest of S.A.
The Swiss of SA. What happens then, a huge pension plan system killed the economy and then subsequent crisis lived in the 70's by all SA south countries. Military governments etc...
However, Uruguay is an educated society, blanketed by Argentina a little, but for me is a society is more local, humanized than Argentinan.
(I love argentina anyway)
I 've been there (Uruguay) 3 times and had wonderful moments. Uruguayans are first class people, friendly meaning friendly.Friends forever.
I think, if you planning to head that way, it should be in your way to Argentina from Brazil . The southern part of Brazil is the best, heading to Florianapolis, Curitiba area. Unforgettable I think. You won't regret nothing .

From Cusco, I will go toward Bolivia, S. Brazil , Uruguay and Argentina (BsAs). With all that you'll ended having a wide vision of S.A. . Chile and Patagonia could wait for another time in SUMMER.

Ok.
Now the subjective point of view of an Argentinean rider.
Sorry to the brothers Uruguayos, but this is my point of view.

Uruguay its self are two different countries.
One Uruguay (the wealthy, rich, with highways, tolls, bridges, good pavement, etc) its in the coast (Both Atlantic, and La Plata river coasts).
Another Uruguay (the "poor one" by occidental standards, for my standards is the richest one) is in the interior. Roads are crappy, infraestructure is crappy, hotel and communications are crappy. Both Uruguays are highly suggested. Although I preffer the "real deal" and the people of the interior.
So my suggestion is not ride the wealthy "Montecarlo" Style Uruguay from Colonia City to the Chui and the run to Brasil. The best trip is do the before mentioned route, and then start riding the deep Uruguay, where the land and people who live from the land, lives.


Paraguay.
First of all. AVOID the Triple Border (Argentina/Paraguay/Brasil) in Ciudad del Este. That is an extremely dangerous city, even for our South American standards, so if you dont know the lenguage and you are not used to an extremely highly level of delincuency (at all levels), dont go there.
Anyway, in Ciudad del este there is nothing to see, its a City that lives from counterfeits goods, and tax evasion fromn Argentina and Brasil.
If you still want to feel the experience, you will be probably staying in a nice hotel in Puerto Iguazu (Argentina), because Argentina is cheapper than Brasil and Paraguay, so ask for a Remis (is a taxi) that will take you to ciudad del este, leave you at a garage and wait for you to come back.
In that case, with your bike securely parked in Puerto Iguazu, you will have the time to walk in Ciudad del Este with no problems. Just dont show money, dont use or take digital cameras, and try to not speak english in the open roads.

Now, to enter to Paraguay with your bike, If you are coming from Puerto Iguazu (Argentina) there is a small ferry that cross the 3 borders and will leave you at a small harbour in Paraguay about 17km from ciudad del este. From there is only open roads, and you dont need to cross Ciudad del Este with your bike.
Any Brasilean rider who knows the city can tell you that Ciudad del Este is a Hell on Earth...

Now, you have to get used to the high possibility that you are going to be stopped just for bribes. That´s it. Just leave some pocket money ready, and go. Paraguay has no suggested sightseen scenarios, its rather difficult to understand rural area´s people because they speak a mixture of Spanish and Guarani, although Asuncion is a beatifull city, but I suggest you to contact some local MC club member before reaching Asuncion, because a wrong turn in the city can take you to a bad situation...

just my 2 cents

Thanks for the post. For another couple of cents, could you say a bit more about what it is that I should worry about if I ride through Ciudad del Este? Bike jacking? Armed robbery? Roofing nails and drywall screws? I might be riding through in a couple of days.....or not, if you're persuasive enough. But merely calling it "hell on earth" doesn't really convince me.

Thanks much.

Mark

(from Curitiba, where it's 15 degrees cooler and a hundredfold less mosquito-infested than the coast)

Would Ciudad del Este be any more dangerous than riding all over Guatemala City or east and central San Salvador? Is it possible that you will have a gun pointed at your head with some kid screaming "dame tu moto" in the middle of the lunchtime traffic rush?

If the answers are yes, then that is one bad ass place indeed.

no ,just no show welty and you be fine .

the best way the go and ride around Uruguay from paraguay be tru the Iguazu falls, down to Misiones Argentina and cross to uruguay into artigas ,go dwon to salto and spend few days in the termas de arapey(hoot springs ) from there go south to salto city and go east o hwy 26 to tacuarembo ,many indians stuff abouth half way to see and hike ,also stop in the quebrada de los cuevos for a fantastic view,if you like natural zoo ,is a nice small zoo 30 kilometers from tacuarembo city in hwy 26th ,from tacuarembo go south to the rio negro and visit the power plant , keep going south to durazno and visit the town ,theme to florida and montevideo , mercado del puerto has the best barbecues in the world and make sure you try the "PAMPLONA", go to iglesia matrix , go to colonia for sure and also carmelo is a old bull run stadium and next to is a museum with the most large turtle shelf i ever see ,probably 2000 years old or more .
wen you done visit punta del este ,punta ballena and carlos paez vilaro house, from there you can take hwy 10 all the way to jose ignacio and laguna garzon easy dirt road from there to hwy 9 and to rocha ,take hwy 15th south and visit la Paloma (were Im from ) from there take hwy 10 again and visit cabo polonio and monte the ombues, from there to the fortaleza o santa teresa and to brazil.
if you need any help there contact me here .
Last spring barbecue

Thanks for the very helpful posts! I'm stuck in Cuzco at the moment, so everything is up in the air. Thanks for the Ciudad del Este advice...I hate cities anyway! ~MAG

I just got my Paraguay Visa (multi-entry) today here in La Paz...

I'm excited and will form my own opinions.

Thanks All!

Hey Apocalipsis, I think you are exagerating way too much!!!
Not to say you are rigth in some sore of cases. Ciudad del Este is a town that received lots of tourist coming to buy electronic every day, and under no condition you will be killed for the heck of it. Because so much bussines is going on, everybody is like crazy buying things, like enywhere else in the world. It is a great place to buy GPS, cameras, tires, etc, but of course they will try to nail you when they notice you are a tourist, again, like everywhere in the world.
I would like to point, rather, why to come to Paraguay. First, the two languages. Paraguay is the only country in the world that has an indian language as an official language, and spanish, NOT BOTH SPEAKING AT THE SAME TIME!!!.
Inside the country, because border cities are almost the same everywhere, you will find lot of places to go to. In the Oriental region, I would recomend Colonia Independencia and Villarrica in the central part of the country, and if you go there, let me know as I live in a sugar mill 26 km off Villarrica by the longest river of Paraguay. We may ride together, and show you around with no problem, promise to take to a 80 mts waterfall with a fascinating walk to get there. As you go south, to Misiones, San Juan Bautista, you can see the Jesuitic ruins discovering what in the movie THE MISSION was all about. Pilar is a quiet town with lot of history as well. Up in the north, there is Concepción. The city is an oldish town and the Tagatyja river is a see through river, where you can see fishes from distance because of the calciun formation on the floor.
Now, the CHACO is a whole wonderful world of cattle and three ecosystem, teh wettland, the central - agricultural and more dense area, and teh dunes.
I thinks Asunción is as beutifull as Montevideo, bigger city but not like Buenos Aires o Sao Paolo, about 1 millon people live there.
If you decide to come here, let me know, as I will be happy to guide or give you tips for places to go to, and of course, you can stay in my house at no cost. COUNT ON A FRIEND

I read that Uruguay was a forgotten gem and I was told that the people of Paraguay were so welcoming that most travellers stay with locals while visiting because the residents are so happy that someone decided to take the time to visit. Alas, overland travel in Argentina via Ruta 14 from Buenos Aires is direct to Igazu Falls and a finger of Argentinian land splits between Uruguay and Paraguay. If you left your own country without a map you'll find that its extremely difficult to find one down here. Thus entering Paraguay is a great unknown, that being said I probably missed out on a great country.

From Falls Igazu, entering Brasil, Bonito is a popular destination for snorkleing in crystal clear rivers teeming with fish and a convienient place to depart towards to the Pantanal via a 70 km dirt road that pops you out on a highway that leads to Bolivia. The Pantanal is a swamp area of 275,000sq/km full of wildlife. I toured the Pantanal with Lorna Hotel situated right in the Pantanal.

If you've ridden through Central America and most of South America excluding Uruguay, Paraguay, and the Guyana's your passport is close to full. Thus a decision must me made either to order a new passport, (easily done if you want to stay put for a while and visit your countries consulate) or skip the others and ride the direct route back up through CA.

From Canada its 20 countries and some require full pages in your passport just for visas and import stamps. ie, Brasil, Guatemala, Venezuela...all eat up a full page for either impot stamp or Visa.

Have a look at my site:

www.toquesonmoto./blogspot.com

Greg George
geologygeorge@hotmail.com

Hi folks,

Just an update to let you know I entered Paraguay "officially" today...spent the night last night in the hamaca next to the bike in the middle of the Chaco due to consistent poor advice and mis-statemnt of mileages. oh well. ´

The sounds of the Chaco are incredible if you stop and listen (as I did all night). I swear I´ve seen more birds here along the road than I id in all of Central America...

People are mighty friendly so far, although I partly feel like I have entered the twilight zone with all the german-alikes that speak fluent spanish. Evidently my germanic genes shine through here because everywone starts out speaking to me in German.

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Grey, thanks for the onward (post Paraguay) advice! I got extra pages added to my passport in La Paz, altho I opted NOT to get a Brazil visa. looks like my plan now is to head through Paraguay and uruguay and then to BA for a mid-May flight back to the States.

I´ll be sure to put all the updates on my blog and RR.

Thanks everyone!

Please post any embarassing photos you might have of Rick and/or Justin. I'm lacking entertainment recently.

Enjoy Paraguay....and be sure to find some way to see Iguacu, even without your Brazil visa. It's entirely worthwhile.

Mark