Trip to Iguazu

After some lazy days at the coast close to Montevideo we visited the region around Punta del Este. This area is crowed heavily by tourists in the summer months of December and January "enjoying" the sandy beaches in front of hotel and appartement towers, resorts, restaurants, and bars.

At the moment many of the villages are ghosttowns and this at least gave us the possibiltiy to drive through quickly.

The scenery changed already in Punta del Diablo, close to the border to Brazil, as this is a more alternative, but still a very touristic place in summer. However, the small and colorful houses for rent were much more appealing to us than the hotels seen before.

After crossing the border from Uruquay to Brazil quite easy, with just getting stamps on both border controls and a new "Temporary Import Permit" for the car we went to Hermengildo, a village at the Brazilian beach. Even if this is also a place with a lot of summer houses, one could clearly see the difference between Uruquay and Brazil. The standard of living was much higher at the coast in Uruquay and once again we had to adapt first to the new environment.

Coming in the evening to a completely new country, not knowing about the life style, having in mind some scaring stories about dangers of robery in Brazil, seeing just dusty streets, and like in Uruguay already dogs everywhere, wild camping could be an adventure. But with the help of iOverlander, a great app for travellers indicating e.g. places where former travellers stayed, we found a nice place at the end of the village in front of a private ground.

The next morning we had nice breakfast at the plaza in Hermengildo with a great view to the ocean, seeing sufers, with temperatures around 25° and we got the first impression about the temperatures to come on our way to Iguazu falls.

From Hermengildo we drove 3 days and around 1300 km, stopping more or less just for getting food and sleeping at various gas stations. This is a common and very practical place to stay for the night, as it is safe, toilets and showers are available, and due to the mate drinking culture they provide at most gas stations free hot water Europeans can also make their coffee and tea with.

Also you get an impression for free about truck logistics in Brazil.

We were passing huge areas of soya and crop cultivation and one can discuss lively on such a trip the consequences of Glyphosat (or Roundup) and companies like Monsanto.

Finally, we arrived to the Iguazu falls on the Brazilian side and found a nice place in the estate of a hostel. Seeing the falls first took a second to breathe in the fascination, as everything is build for mass tourism. But after a while the power and impression of nature and its unique scenery is really great.