The Iguassu Falls Area - Tips and so on

I really enjoyed this photograph

2011-09-30T08:55:00.004-03:00

This phtograph has won the 5th place in a contest that chose the 10 best photos depicting non professional photographers' feelings about living near or around the world-famous and sacred Iguassu falls. Winner is from Marechal Cândido Rondon, a city of about 40.000 located on the coasts of Itaipu Lake (Reservoir). I later learnt that the model and dancer above is Marlene Haboski de Amorim part of the Raízes (Roots) German Dance Group from Marechal C Rondon. I wrote a lot about the momnet the camera captured when Marlene poses like an egret as if gettng ready to fly. This gesture is very normal and at the same time very personal. It is as if the Iguassu Falls' creative mists transmits a knd of lightness that is felt by people from all over the world when in contact with Mother Nature and Mother Falls. Marlene told me that she readied the camera and gave to a friend nearby who went on and clicked the moment into eternity.

Magda Goebbels and Daughter in Brazil? That's what a new book is about

2011-08-18T23:50:00.002-03:00

- (From the Editor's YouTube Book Trailer) A lady that called herself a Countess and lived in misery in Foz do Iguaçu for over 30 years may be the answer to many hidden facts about the Nazis that fled Germany after World War II. L. Franco and C. Pererira (names withheld) two MDs that live in the city that houses Iguassu falls have written a book about the story (Watch book trailer). Their conclusion is that Countess von Kirschberg as she was known in town was on board a KLM’s plane that flew from Schiphol to Rio de Janeiro via Zurich, Lisbon, Dakar and Natal in 1947. According to the story told by the Countess, the plane landed in Rio de Janeiro. From there the Countess, her Mother called Nora Friz, her father were then flown to Campo Grande, also Brazil, en route to Asuncion Paraguay. The last leg of the trip was overland on a 13-hour stretch to Encarnación, Paraguay.

The family was connected to high rank Nazis and the doctors learned after four years of interviewing and one year of hands on caring for the aging countess that her name and title were both fake – just the creation of a ‘persona’ that she had to live throughout her post war life. After the countess’s father died, Countess Mother and Countess Daughter embarked on an 18-year long trip that ended up bringing them to Foz do Iguaçu in 1972. For years there has been suspicion that Mother and Daughter were in fact Eva Braun and a Hitler's daughter.

Gerald Paine an American that might also answer for another name and nationality spent years chasing them while he tried to convince authorities about the duo's identity. Local newspaper articles from the 80s have vented the possibility. "They were nearly right - Franco and Christiane say - they just were a little bit off the track". The child would-be countess was really Hitler's daughter but not with Eva Braun. Likewise, the woman that the spies chased was not Eva Braun. The doctors discovered that the lady was in fact Magda Goebbles.

Brazil’s Editora Schoba’s 4-book collection is now available (Portuguese) rich in details, drawings and facts that show how the family left Europe, what the plan was; how a fake identity and a fake family were created in order to escape persecution. The Mother Countess supposedly died in 1978 in an accidental fire in the family shack. The Daughter Countess died in 2006.

L.Franco is an ophthalmologist and also has a bachelor degree in journalism. C.Pereira is a Gynecologist and was the Countess's doctor in a public health post in the area the countess lived. In the last years of life the countess accepted to tell much of what she knew and also gave the doctors a trunkful of papers, documents and drawings. Even the countess's cat Mieze was delivered to the MDs for protection.
Most of the book’s material came from home-made, bound drawing books and diaries kept by the daughter Countess; One of the drawings show the KLM airplane that flew them across the Atlantic to what could be a safe and quiet place in South America. Click here for Portuguese-language site.

Book suggests that Hitler's daughter may have lived and died in Foz do Iguaçu,Brazil

2011-07-13T03:02:00.004-03:00

Is it possible that Magda Goebbels may have escaped from Germany alive? Is it possible that she may have come to a country like Brazil? The answer to writers L.M.Franco and C.L.Pereira is yes. The story will be made public by the end of this month when the book K.B.K Biografia e saga de Holdine Kathrim e sua mãe Magda Goebbels, na América do Sul após a Segunda Guerra Mundial (K.B.K. the Biography and Saga of Holdine Kathrim and her mother Magda Goebbels in South America after World War II) Unfortunately there is no English translation to the work that will reach bookshops befor August 1st. Mother and daughter spent a lifetime of suffering in the Brazilian border town. I will leave a link to the Publisher's Blog and to the book's website just in case you want to either order one or be in touch with the writers. I will be back to this subject.

2011's First Invitations in the Iguassu Falls Area

2011-01-06T10:36:00.004-03:00

This is invitation number one: the Iguassu National Park (INP), Brazilian side of the Falls will be 72 years old on Monday, January 10. In previous years visitors and local have beem received by music and even invited to a piece of birthday cake. It was back on Januray 10, 1939 that then Brazilian president Getulio Vargas, signed a decree that created the Iguassu National Park, Brazil's second NP. The first was Itatiaia National Park in Rio de Janeiro (State, not the city)signed into being in 1937.

Invitation Number Two

There is going to be a cocktail party on Sunday, January 16. Where? At the Infraero Lounge on the second floor of the Foz Iguaçu-Cataratas International Airport. What for? To celebrate and welcome LAN Airlines' first Lima - Iguaçu (IGU) non-stop flight. LAN's Lima-Iguaçu flight will be IGU's third international flight. The first two are Pluna's and BQB's Montevideo, Uruguay non-stop flights. In previous flight dedications, airplanes have been baptized on the the runway. The cocktail will be served to tourism and aviation authorities, entepreneurs and the press (+ bloggers) of the TriBorder Area.

Changes on the Foz do Iguaçu Local Bus Transportation System

2011-01-03T11:31:00.004-03:00

Dear readers and visitors: this blog has dedicated a lot of effort to bring to you information on how to use the local bus transportation system in the Iguassu Falls Area. One of our pioneering posts was exactly on "how to bus around in the Iguassu Falls Area" and secondly "how to bus around in Curitiba". Well this is to say that all we have said about how to bus around in Foz do Iguaçu (Iguassu Falls Area Photo) will be of little value. The physical integration system based on the TTU - Urban Transport terminal is over. In its place a far more complicated card-based integration has been created. As of now, I am lost and I will have to go back to work in order to bring useful information. Right now I can say that we are living a ridiculous situation where we have two prices being practiced in the market. Those who have the new card pays R$ 2.20 for a bus fare. Those without a card, like me and you, are paying R$ 2.40. The new system will be effective from January 14,this year. I will be back to this subject and I also promise to give more attention to this blog. There is alot to be done. Jackson Lima (limajac@gmail.com)

Uruguay's Pluna Air Lines to fly to Iguassu Falls

2009-10-19T23:46:00.000-03:00

2009-10-16T14:26:00.002-03:00

This is a place where the West Paraná Cachaça Producing Cooperative bottles and sells Brazilian Sugar Cane Firewater or simply Brazilian Cacahaça or Brazilian Pinga. I am seen here talking to Cooperative leader Mr. Enio Mendes da Rocha as he explains the whole production process, fro the sugar cane plating, to harvesting, processing it and how it is brought here rest before bottling and selling. I am postng this here because most people coming to the Iguassu Falls Area have no idea about this possibility. Most people, eve Brazilians, will never associate South Brazil to cachaça making. Whenever the drink comes to mind, people will think of Northeast Brazil or rural Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. What is not known here is the fact that German, Italians, Ukrainians and other Europeans adapted to the sugar cane culture and became very good in producing sugar cane products: like sugar and cachaça. So this may be a good opportunity to get to know the area's cachaça.

A political, cultural, economic, ethnical and social Chronology of the Triple Border

2009-09-30T00:12:00.009-03:00

This is a tentative list. Research goes on. If you have something to ask or sugest please feel free to do so. Data from several sources. Still far from what I want to help limajac@gmail.com

1554 Irala arrives to the Lands of the Guayrá
1609 Brazil-based Portuguese ‘Bandeiras’ to guarantee possession of Western Lands
1609 Jesuit priests start catechization of Guarani-Mbya Indians
1620 The Alto Paraná (Py)is an important yerba mate producing region under Jesuits
1638 Portuguese ‘bandeirantes’ invade the Guarani Jesuit Missions of Guayra
1638 Bandeirantes take yerba mate to São Paulo
1765 Count Oyera Pombal asks for permission to found a Military outpost with Py.
1813 Paraguayan Dr. Francia, forbids export of yerba mate.
1853 The State of Paraná becomes autonomous from São Paulo
1865 - 1870 Triple Aliance War (Argentina,Brazil and Uruguay against Paraguay)
1869 Export of yerba mate is authorized in Paraguay
1876 The Serra Graciosa Road is open.Curitiba becomes a yerba mate export center
1879 Particio Escobar y Cia (& Co) granted permission to explore yerba mate in Alto Paraná for 10 years (Py)
1820 French botanist Saint-Hilaire classifies the yerba mate
1880
1881 Severo Fernandez and Ernesto Arnadey buys 50 square leagues of Paraná and Iguazu River land from Corrientes.
1881 Lands are sold to Rafael Gallino who sell them to Gregorio Lezama.
1881 Misiones is separated from Corrientes
1881 Federalization of Misiones
1881 Yerba mate exploit begins in Misiones
1882 Rudecindo Roca sworn in as Misiones first governor
1882 The Mate Laranjeiras Co starts exploiting yerba mate in Mato Grosso
1883 The Alto Paraná Company is born. Patrício Escobar's Concession dies.
1885 Paraguayan Government sells forests and 'yerbales'
1886 The Industrial Paraguaya S.A. is born (Paraguay's 1st huge real estate)
1887 Swiss-born Bertoni arrives to what is now Puerto Bertoni
1888 The Paraná Strategic Comission founded
1888 The popuation of the Mouth of the Iguassu River: 324
1888 Gregorio Lezama sells Iguazu Lands to Martín Erracaborde $ Co.
1889 November, 15, Brazilian Empire dies. Republic proclaimed
1889 The Iguassu Military Colony established
1890
1892 Military Colony is taken off the Strategic Commission
1897 Cap. Edmundo de Barros surveys the Iguassu Falls (BR) and projects a park
1897 Alberto Mugica é designado Juiz de Paz de Iguazu
1900
1901 Misiones Governor Lanusse goes to Buenos Aires to convince the Mihanovich Shipping Co to travel to Iguassu Falls
1901, The first tourist excursion comes to Iguazu on a Mihanovich boat
1902 Carlos Thays surveys the Iguassu Falls AR)and offers Plans for a Nat'l Park
1902 September, 3, the Olmedo Law is passed reserving the Iguassu Falls area to federal administration - thanks to Gov. Lanusse's efforts.
1903 The Brazilian and Argetninean Three-Frontier Landmark dedicated
1905 The Federal Tax Office installed in Iguaçu to be headed by Silveira Netto
1905 The Mate Laranjeira Co. creates a village called Monjoli, today's Guaíra
1906 Police District and Telegraph lines opened in Foz do Iguassu
1907 The Iguazu lands divided and sold at an auction. Domingo Arrayagaray bought the North part and Martin Errecaborde secured the Southern portion .
1907 The Gibaja y Nuñez MIning Co. builds the first hotel in Iguazú.
1912 Military Colony is dismantled. Powers handed over to the State of Paraná
1913 Governent buildings in Puerto Iguazu: Police, Subprefectura, School
1914 World War II begins
1914 June, 10, Foz do Iguaçu is born as Villa Iguassu
1916 First Notary Public opens in Puerto Aguirre
1916 April 24, Brazilian Air Hero Santos Dumont visits Puerto Aguirre (Puerto Iguazu's former name). He was coming from a PanAmerican Aviation Congress held in Santiago, Chile. He visited Buenos Aires and embarked on a tour to the Falls.
1916 Aviator and Santos Dumont crosses the river and visits the Falls from the Brazilian side and stay at a Hotel on Avenioda Brasil (Foz's first) and sleeps a night at shelter by the Falls.
1916 Santos Dumont learns that the Falls were privately owned and promisses to travel to Curitiba and talk to the State President and sugest the creation of a Park. He eventually goes meets the president. Three months later the state starts the process o acquire the 1.008 hectares of land around the Iguassu Falls (Br)
1916 The Government of the State of Paraná declares the land around Iguassu Falls as of Public Interest based on a 1912 law. The owner, a Sapniard named Jesus Val takes government to court.
1919 Jesus Val accepts a deal to sell the land to the State of Paraná
1923 German-born Catholic Father Guilherme Maria Thiletzek, Foz's first, arrives in town.
1924 Whole population of Villa Iguassu seek refuge in Puerto Aguirre runnning from the Revolutionary Advance Column led by Isidoro Dias Lopes. Invaders were kicked out by Marshal Cândido Rondon
1928 Argentina buys the lands of Arrayagaray in order to create a National Park and Military Zone.
1929 Puerto Franco, Paraguay is founded as the seat of an Obraje
1932 The Brazilian Military returns to Foz do Iguaçu (guassu Falls). This time a 152-soldier strong Army Isolated Company was formed. The Army's return to the border!
1932 – 1935 The Chaco War. Paraguay and Bolivia goes to war over the Chaco Region.
1934 Army's Headquarters inaugurated.
1935 Law 12.103 (AR) creates the Parque Nacional Iguazú (Iguazu Nat'l Park -AR)
1935 Iguassu Falls' First Airfield opens. Lt.Aroldo Rodrigues flew the forst plane in.
1937 Brazilian Federal Government builds a large wooden Cataratas Hotel. On May,2,the building is lost to fire. It is said that someone tryed to incinerate a beehive.
1938 The Municipality of Tacurupucu (PY) is created as a 3rd Category Municipality
1939 World War II Begins
1939 Brazil Presidente Getulio Vargas signs a Decree creating the Parque Nacional do Iguassu (Iguassu National Park).
1941 Limits for the Iguazu (Argentina) National and the city are agreed upon
1941 Foz do Iguaçu Airport Building opens by the the 1935 airstrip. Official name: Aeroporto do Parque Nacional do Iguassu (Iguassu national Park Airport).
1943 Federal Government creates the Iguassu Federal Territory. The capital was to be (but never was) the city by the same name. That was a bite of Paraná State Lands.
1943 The 1st Border Battalion created.
1944 The First Government Delegation on the Paraguayan side opens at Itakyry
1946 The Iguassu Federal Territory is dismantled. The Getulio Vargas dictatorship fell one year before.
1950 First Lebanese immigrant comes to Foz do Iguaçu
1954 Stroessner comes to power after a coup he called "revolution"
1955 Brazil-Paraguay commission to build "the road" conectoing the two countries
1956 Maio 26, Agreement to build an International Bridge signed
1956 June,10, COnstruction Act is signed
1957 Florida Hassan El Nassr,first child of Arab descent is born in Foz do Iguaçu.
1958 Syrian-Brazilian Cultural Associatons created
1959 February, 3, Aeroporto Alejo Garcia Inaugurated in Paraguay
1960
1962 First Arab marriage in Foz do Iguaçu.
1961 Jan 26, Inauguration of the Paraguayan Three-Frontier Mark
1965
1966
1977 1st FARTAL
1980 Arab-Palestine-Brazilian Society created
1981 The Foz do Iguaçu Islamic Beneficent Society is founded
1981 The Foz do Iguaçu Islamic Beneficent Cutural Center is founded
1981 Corner Stone for the Omar Ibn El Khatab is laid down
1982 Brazilian Arab School innaugurated using dependencies of the Mosenhor Guilherme State School
1983
1985 Universidad Nacional del Este (Paraguay) brings first University Course to Eastern Paraguay
1986 The first FERNATEC Fair is launched
1988 The President Stroessner (Ciudad del Este) Bus Staion Rodoviária CDE
1989 The Estadio Tres de Febrero (Februry 3rd Stadium) innaugurated.
1992 Lady Di, Helmut Kohl and other dignitiaries visited Foz do Iguaçu
1992 First Department governors dedicated aaccording to new 1992 Paraguay Constitution
1993 ABAV (Brazilian Association of Travel Agents)congress hed in Foz do Iguaçu
1994 The Druze Brazilian Home of Foz do Iguaçu opens
1996 Arab Brazilan School opens
1998 The Arab Brazil Beneficent Assocation opens
1999 Copa América (America Soccer Cup) held in C.del Este.
1999 Arab Brazilian Evangelical Church founded
2001 Lebanese Brazilian School first to introduce Arabic as curriculum language
2009 Oct,18, Foundation stone for the Foz do Iguaçu Druze Brazilian Home laid down.
2009 November, Arab Brazilian School's First High School Class graduates.

Andes Airlines Flight connects Iguazu to Salta

2009-07-06T13:10:00.004-03:00

This is just to let you know that ANDES Airlines has been sucessfully flying out of the Iguazu Falls (Puerto Iguazu) Airport to Salta on the Argentine Northwest (NOA) region. The flight leaves Iguazu at 3:30 pm and ther flight only takes 1h40 minutes. I just been there and back and have fallen in love with the area. I am happy that the flight is here. I will be glad to tell a little more about my tour to Salta and Jujuy!

Shamanic Ceremony and Music presentation at Iguassu Falls Area

2009-06-09T00:35:00.005-03:00

The photo and video above have been made on Saturday, June 6th, at the deck of Porto Caonas Restaurant and Cultural Area overlooking Iguassu Falls. The occasion was a musical presentation by the Degraded Sons of Eve Choir and Band made up by members of the Portal do Sol (Sun's Door) Shamanic Studies Center. Also, later on, same day, there was a beautiful and hard-to-describe shamanic ceremony geared at opening the Iguassu Falls Peace Portal and set the Creative Mist for Peace and abundance to the rest of the Planet. Iguassu Falls is revered as a Sacred Place and as a powerful Earth Chacra.

Candomblé and Umbanda Festivities and holidays

2009-05-31T08:51:00.006-03:00

Photo of artistical rendering of a Preto Velho - Old Negro Slave - taken from the Raiz Cultural (Cultural Roots) Blog

The dates first:

January 20 - Oxóssi
April 23 - Ogum
May 13 - Pretos Velhos (Old Negroes)
June 13 - Xangô
July 26 - Oxum
September 27 - Saints Cosmas and Damian
October 12 - Erê Children's Fest
November 02 - Omulú
November 15 – Umbanda’s Foundation
December 04 - Iansã (Yansan)
December 12 - Iemanjá (Yemanja)
25/12 - Oxalá

Now some words on the dates:

These are not holydays in the sense that shops close, children do not go to school and offices normally do not have to open. These are more internal celebrations or festivities held in Umbanda and Candomblé ‘terreiros’ or centers. These special days are dedicated to one Orisha (Orixá). But two main dates above mark important events inside and outside umbanda. May 13 is the day when Brazilians celebrate Slavery Abolition Day. It is the day when Princess Isabel signed the law setting all slaves free.

The Umbanda tradition celebrates the Preto Velho Day, the Old Negro Slave Day. The second important date for all Brazilians is November 15, the Day the country celebrates the Republic Proclamation Day also known as Dia da Bandeira or Flag Day. The Black Brazilian Umbanda Nation celebrates the Umbanda’s Foundation Day. Last but not least there is a third interesting date. November the second when Christianity with a few exceptions celebrate the Dia dos Finados or Dia de los Muertos or All Souls' Day.

The Afro-Brazilian religion as a religion of the oppressed used these days to protest, tough silently and cunningly, the injustices committed and the nearsighted, single-minded solutions offered like the mainstream society idea that freedom was given by the princess and not fought over bravely and very costly in lives and suffering by the negroes for over 100 years. Nearsighted because the end of slavery was the beginning of a free life of suffering where the only choice available was the choice of which miserable place he or she or the family choose to die? Millions of free negroes took to the streets of a poor country, of city and urban misery. Something similar to the land enclosure measures in England prior and through the industrial revolution.

That mass of homeless migrating people marked the beginning of Brazilian-style ‘favelas’ with dispossessed former slaves climbing the ‘morros’, hill and mountains to hide in their makeshift shacks. In this sense it is interesting to highlight that Brazilian Negro Movements do not accept or celebrate Slavery Abolition Day neither on May 13 or under that name. They celebrate the end of slavery of sorts on November 20, which marks the date of Zumbi's death. Zumbi is the Afro-Brazilian anti-slavery hero who fought Portuguese, French and Dutch for nearly 100 years.

Zumbi was the leader of Quilombo dos Palmares Brazil’s largest and most successful quilombo in what is today the State of Alagoas. It was a community-republic of slaves who fled their owners and got ready to fight back and liberate fellow slaves. The Quilombo was finally subdued by Domingos Jorge Velho a “badeirante” Indian slave raider and gold prospector from São Paulo. The Bandeirantes were also responsible for the destruction of the Jesuit Missions in this region of Southern Brazil, Northeastern Argentina and Southern Paraguay. What a link!

The last date is a good example of religious adaptation when Brazilian slaves took advantage of the holiday not to celebrate the dead according to the Catholic Church but to honor Omulu the orisha responsible for protecting cemiteries and holy fields.

Soon to come:
Plan a visit!
What is an Orisha?

Paraguayan Side Holidays

2009-05-31T08:50:00.017-03:00

January first - New Year's Day
February 3th - Ciudad del Este Anniversary on Saint Blas Day
March 1st - Day of the Heroes (Death of Marshall Lopez)
March - Holy week and Easter
May 1st - Workers' Day
May 15th - Independence Day
May 24th - Anniversary of the Patron Saint of the Province (Maria Auxiliadora)
June 12th - Peace of the Chaco Day
August 15th - Foundation of Assuncion
September 29th - Boquerón Battle Day
December 8th - Our Lady of Caacupé Day
December 25th - Christmas Day

Brazilian Side Holidays

2009-05-31T08:50:00.014-03:00

January 1st - New Year's Day
February or March - Carnival (movable)
April - Holy Week and Easter (movable)
April 21st - Tiradentes Day National Independence Hero
May first - Labor Day
May or June - Corpus Christi
June 10th - Anniversary of Foz do Iguacu (Iguassu Falls City)
June 24th - St John the Baptist's City's Patron Saint
September 7th - Independence Day
October - 12th - Our Lady Aparecida's Day (Brazil's Patron Saint)
November 2th - All Souls' DayThe Day of the Dead
November 15th - Republic Proclamtion Day
December 25th - Cristmas

Argentinean Side holidays

2009-05-31T08:49:00.006-03:00

January first - New Year's Day
March 24 National Day of Memory and Justice
April - Holy Week and Easter
April 2 Malvinas (Falklands') War Day
May first - Workers' Day
May 25th - Country's First Government Day
June 20th - Flag Day
July 9th - Independence Day
August 17th - San Martín Day
September 10th - Anniversary of Puerto Iguazu
October 12th - Day of Razas (Races) Columbus Day
December 8th - Virgin of the Immaculate Conception Day
December 25th - Christmas Day

Buying Values: what to take that is local?

2009-05-28T11:08:00.007-03:00

Foto from Marisa's Con Nuestras Manos Blog
Ñanduti embroidery is a typical good example of a Paraguayan-made handicraft. The word ñanduti means web. It is not native of Ciudad del Este but comes from all over Paraguay mainly from the city of Itaguá. Paraguayan pottery, silver jewelry and wood carving are also great. If you like music a Paraguayan Harp might be a good idea.

I will come back with more

Business hours in the Tri-Fron

2009-05-28T11:07:00.004-03:00

This is serious business. I am working on this information. But I will venture the following:

Foz do Iguaçu

On the Brazilian side shops are open from 8h a.m. to 6h p.m.
Office hours normally from 8h a.m. to 12h and from 1h or 2h p.m. to 6h p.m.
Supermarkets and shops forbidden to open on Sundays. Restaurants downtown mostly close by 2h.

Puerto Iguazu

Shops and offices will open from 8h a.m. to 12h and from 4h p.m. to 08 p.m. Siesta time is a must. Exception major supermarkets, bus station, and vital services police, border patrol though some officer do dose a little. Dining time late (11h p.m. onward to 2 a.m.)

Ciudad del Este
Ciudad del Este's is a bit more complex.
The 'Microcenter' or the 'city heart' visited mostly by Brazilian shoppers has opening hours of its own and does not follow official Paraguayan opening and closing times. Shops and other businesses tending to the Brazilian public opens as early in te mornig as possible. It is not unusual to see shops open at 5 p.m. Closing time for shops in the 'microcenter' starts around 3 p.m. By 4 p.m. street vendors, smalls stands and saller shops will be either closed or closing. This is not true for bigger shops and shoppings catering to five-star type of tourist clients and shoppers. Some of these shops will open up to 10 p.m. But and this is some but, these are special arrangements. Check before going. Outside this microcenter enclave the Ciudad del Este of normal Paraguayans follow the national opening and closing hours which includes making a stop afer lunch and being back around 3h. Paraguayans Siesta time is becoming shorter than the Argentine one.

When to come and what to bring?

2009-05-28T11:00:00.002-03:00

Anytime. I live here year round. If you come in November, December, January and February may be all the way to May be ready to sweat very seriously. Temperatures are high. You may have the feeling that you might be cooked alive. May is the month when our winter comes into place. Thinking mythologically, God (Ñamandu) created the world and himself in the dark night of winter while he sat in the middle of the original winds. Original Winds is nearly synonym of winter. Temperatures drop and there are quite a few rainy days with very cold rains. If you don't mind that's OK.

What to bring?

We only have two very clear seasons: summer and winter. Winter may be cold and rainy. Be prepared for cold weather, hot weather, wet weather all in the same day maily from May through August. In the summer, a hat is needed, light clothes are a good idea. I will come back with more....

I'm working on this

Money and currency literacy in the Tri-Fron

2009-05-28T10:57:00.001-03:00

The Tri-Border Area is pretty literate when it comes to currency. Al most everyone will recognize a US Dollar bill, Euro bills plus the currencies of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay (Pesos, Reais and Guarani). They might also somehow find a way for to use many other currencies (Denmark, Swiss, Japan, don’t be surprises if someone accepts Chinese money). It is advisable that you keep an eye on exchange rates in order to be safe, if possible, from rip offs.

Visas & Documents needed if you plan to come to the Triple Border Area

2009-05-28T10:54:00.003-03:00

There are no special visa rules to this area separate from national laws of the three countries meeting here and forming the Tri-Border, Tri-Country, Three-Nation-area of the Tri-city.. Regulations as to what kind of visa you need will obey the immigration and migration laws of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. To be on the safe side you would need to have the three visas if you plan to go around in the area.

Documents

This sounds like stupidity to repeat that you will need a valid passport to come here. You will need your passport and you will need to check whether your country needs a visa or not. For example, American, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders need visas for Brazil. No passport is needed from Argentineans, Paraguayans and Uruguayans (The founding members of the Mercosul / Mercosur) and now the tendency is that Bolivians, Peruvians, Venezuelans may not need a passport. Things are in a beginning stage though. You know, nnnn’s Law tends to be proven true around here. Chances are that whatever will go wrong will go wrong and a Peruvian may find a Brazilian police who has never heard about this no-passport need. I think that traveling is a risky business and travelers are subject to all kinds of accidents like political… So have your passport with you at all time and never, never outstay your stay permit. Say you are given 90 days, don’t overstay those 90 days. It is serial business.

Revenge and nationalism
Brazil demands visas from visitors from all those countries that demand visas from Brazilians. The principle is called ‘reciprocity’ and I have seen a lot of reciprocity problems. Biblically speaking that’s an eye for an eye policy.

I'm working on this!

The Triple Border Today

2009-05-28T10:54:00.001-03:00

History to the cities of the Triple Border in a Nutshell:

2009-05-28T10:53:00.012-03:00

Modern history of the Three-Country Area starts in the early 1800s with Argentine businessmen pioneering the setting up of yerba mate (Illex paraguayensis or Ilex paraguariensis) production camps (of a sort) and lumber exploitation. Four words and as many concepts have been shared by the three countries converging here: exploitation and slavery, yerba mate and lumber. In connection with these I would like to add another three: mensú, obraje and obrajero. They send us back to the former four. The Obraje was a huge tract of land measured into the hundreds of square kilometers that were normaly given by the govenments so that groups could exploit lumber, yerba mate, furs, live animals. All that done thanks to special methods of exploiting people. Obrajeros were obraje owners a few of them known to these days thanks to their infamous fame. (Obrajes were not a local invention. There were obrajes all over Latin American mainly in the textile fields*)

Just like what was seen in the rubber baron period in the Amazon, obraje owners used similar methodos to make people work for no pay. One of the trick was to forward money for newly hired workers so that they could acquire the food necessary for a certain period, tools (ax,knives, guns, bullets), tobacco, salt, sugar, kerosene or fat. Whatever the sum to be paid, workers would work for the rest of their lives and never be able to finish payment. Obraje owners had strong men to keep an eye on would-be fugitives and they had no problem at all to kill those who tried. Like the Amazon where the infamous Peruvian Casa Arana's rubber baron killed thousands of Indians, obraje lords used same methods. At a place by the Itaipu Dam there was one such terrible place. Payday, in many places, was normally the worker's last day.

Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil), Puerto Iguazu (Argenina),Hernandarias and Presidente Franco (Paraguay) sprang from different 'obrajes'. Hernadarias was the oldest. It was the seat of Industrial Paraguaya S.A.a jungle holding covering 35% of the land of Estaren Paraguay. Foz do Iguaçu, officially founded as the Iguassu Military Colony in 1889, belonged till the military arrived to British and Argentine concerns the main one being the Fazenda Britania. When the Brazilian Imperial Forces arrived to what is being called today the Triple Border, over 300 people of different nationalities lived on the no man's land. After foundation, the land around the colony was claimed by the military forces and served later as the land to be given over to the Municipality of Villa Iguassu and later Foz do Iguassu (Foz do Iguassu).

On the Paraguayan side, snall Puerto Pesident Franco, today a city, was the home of a 'obraje'. The one that lasted longer than any other obraje on the Paraná River Coast. Being a Tri-National Obraje land, the Tri-Junction area was a specialized slave land where people have behaved like mensús even to this day. Mensu worker comes from "mensual" (monthly) in relation to payment. Workers were promissed monthly payments for their jungle lumber work and later yerba mate collecting, preparing, drying, carrying, packaging work.

The regional Paris of the Paraná River in those days was Posadas. It was there that mensus were hired. Where menus spent their money paying exorbitant prices for drink and sex and as soon as their money finished were returned to the obraje or sent to a new one under a new contract. Quiroga says that Posadas was the Jeruslaem and the Golgotha of their lives.

* Suggested reading on Obrajes
The Cambridge Economic History of Latin America - the Colonial Era and the Short Nineteenth Century. You might want to see my Chronology of the Triple Border.

Genealogy of Foz do Iguaçu and other Paraná State Cities

2009-05-28T10:52:00.000-03:00

Foz do Iguaçu, the Brazilian city in the tri-junction, is the westernmost city in the Southerner state of Paraná. Local people get very nervous when people refer to the city as the end of the line; the place where Brazil ends; Brazil ends here and so on. But it is true. The Iguassu River ends here. The Brazilian Highway (BR) 277 that connects the Atlantic Ocean River Port of Paranaguá ends here. The State of Paraná began in the Port City of Paranaguá. In what today is known to us as the ‘Far East’ of the State. The state’s growth and conquest of the hinterland depended on a Westward March starting from the sea, up the Atlantic Mountain Range through the Araucaria-populated Vast Fields and plateau where Curitiba was founded. From Curitiba the march went on to Ponta Grossa and to Castro and finally to Guarapuava. All these cities sprang from horse and cattle-tending facilities that grew into military outposts and ended as villages. The late 1880s saw a military expedition depart Guarapuava and head West in search of the Foz or Mouth of the Iguassu River. The city of Foz do Iguaçu was born from that expedition. Genealogically speaking Foz do Iguaçu is the daughter of Guarapuava, that was born from Castro, that was born from Ponta Grossa, that was born from Curitiba that came from Paranaguá. Paranaguá, the first Paranaense city got its independence from the Province of São Paulo. In another words: Paranagua fathered Curitiba, Cutitiba fathered Ponta Grossa, who fathered Castro, who fathered Guarapuava who fathered Foz do Iguaçu. All of the 399 cities of the State of Paraná came from these original five.

Paraná State Geography

2009-05-28T10:51:00.006-03:00

Iguassu Falls Area Facts

2009-05-28T10:51:00.003-03:00

Facts At a Glance

Population of the Tri-Fron: 1 million inhabitants. That includes Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil and Puerto Iguazu, Argentina plus the Paraguayan side that will soon be bigger and more populous than the Argentine and Brazilian side together. Cities on the Paraguayan side in Tri-Fron Iguassu Falls Area: Ciudad del Este, Presidente Franco, Hernandarias, Mingá Guazu. Paraguayans are talking of a Ciudad del Este Metropolitan Area

Population of Foz do Iguaçu: 311,000 inhabitants
Population of Paraguayan cities: 600,000 give and take;
Population Argentine side: Puerto Iguazu: 55,000
Languages: Portuguese official in Foz do Iguaçu. Spanish widely understood. English at most hotels. Arabic undesrtood by Arab community; Chinese, Guarani,etc;
Spanish and Guarani in Paraguay; Spanish in Puerto Iguazú with many Guarani speakers

Currency: In Foz do Iguaçu Brazilian Real (R$), official;
Other currencies accepted: Argentine Peso, Paraguayan Guarani, US dollar, Euro.
Peso (P$) in Puerto Iguazu, US Dolars, Reais,Guarani, Euros accepted; Guarani (G$) is the official Paraguayan money. Paraguay's Casas de Cambio will buy and sell and exchange other currencies as well: Canadian, Chilean, Uruguayan, Euro, Krone (etc).

Foz do Iguaçu urban area in square kilometers: 191,46 km2
Rural area 138,17 km2
City area occupied by the Iguassu National Park 138,60 km2
City area occupied by the Itaipu Dam Reservoir 149,10 km2
Acaray Island Area 0,38 km2
Total city area in square kilometers: 617,71 km2
City limits: to the North with Itaipulandia, Southward with Argentina, to the East with Santa Terezinha and São Miguel do Iguaçu, to the West with Paraguay.

Geographical location: 25° 32’45” S, 54° 35’07” W

I will improve this! I'm working on it!

Introduction: Why Guide Blog?

2009-05-28T10:50:00.003-03:00

Guide Site is a kind of an online guide book. I have nearly gone broken and bankrupt by trying to publish newspapers, newsletters and books about places like Iguassu Falls, the Amazon and the Pantanal. I started years ago in the time of the fascinating mimeograph technology.

I have not been successful. It is hard to get the money to pay for expenses involved whatever they are. Money here is scarce and choosy. I have not been chosen by it. The internet as a medium is also my message. To hell with all that delay, bureaucracy, discrimination that come bundled with the attempt of publishing in the physical world.

Thanks to the internet, this material is coming to you nearly free of charge. Nearly, because thousands of people are paying for this mainly providers of free services like Google and Blogger, people who advertise and make such free blogsphere space available and even Mother Earth that also pays the price in the form of more electricity demand, satelites being kicked out into space and all those things necessary to keep our system working.

I am an internet man. This is my way to be present in the human community trying to be useful and to voice local and personal views and opinions. Professionally I am a journalist who likes discourse analysis, semiotics and communication. Often people living in places like the Iguassu Falls have no voice. The Government says that this or that is a model and mainly economical model when what really is a model is the discourse, what is said to deceive people, citizens and visitors alike.

In the process of voicing our thoughts I have changed a few phrases, like when to go. I say when to come - because I am here writing for you. What do I mean by Iguassu Falls Area? Basically I am speaking of the area where the Iguassu River Meets the Paraná River… it also marks the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

It is a two-river-three-country junction, the world-famous Iguassu Falls is the largest and most impressive of hundreds of waterfalls of all sizes - some not much higher that a few feet. Geologically speaking this is Basalt Kingdom responsible for the dark kind of rocks you will see around and also for the red soil (terra roxa, tierra colorada) you will also see in the three-country area.

I will try not to use the term Triple Border (Triple Frontera or Triplice Fronteira) because that is a political construction being imposed on the people of the area. It is part of a political discourse. I will prefer to use Tri-Fron or TriFron, Three-border to be more in accordance with the way local people have seen themselves for many years. This is a little complex matter that I will try to explain in the History Postings.

This is a land of nice, simple people who have been abandoned by the three goverments in question. Jobs are scarce. Education is faulty. People are on their own. It seems to me that Governments have bet on smuggling as a way for people to alliviate their poverty. But crime, mainly organized crime is quick to find its ways into misery areas. That is why I can not understand how, we have ended up with no access to the riverfront, we have no riverfront drive despite being in the middle of two rivers and bask in the sun or sun bathe. We can't kayak down or fish around. The river waters are at the service of crime and smuggling. But things are changing and Government control is beginning to be felt on the three sides of the border.

To learn more about this process I suggest these two older postings:
Border Mathematics and Sea of Buses

Wanna eat something different? Try a Paraguayan soup

2009-05-01T14:57:00.006-03:00

Thing to remember: Paraguayan soup is not a soup - it is more like a salty cake and thus more appropriately called 'Paraguayan Cheese Cornbread'. I personally like Paraguayan Cornbread flavored with cheese and onions. In Paraguay it is served along with real soups, grilled meats and so on. But it ca be eaten anytime as a snack, at breakfast with coffee or brunch. I found this recipe at Recipe Zaar by Olga Drozd.

Ingredients

8 tablespoons butter
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
1 cup farmer cheese or cottage cheese
1 cup grated muenster cheese or other mild cheese
2 cups cornmeal
2 cups corn kernels, grated or 1 (16 ounce) can cream-style corn
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
6 eggs, separated

Directions

1. Heat half the butter in a skillet and cook the onions over moderate heat until tender but not brown.

2. Set aside.

3. Combine the remaining butter with the farmer's or cottage cheese and mix until thoroughly combined.

4. Add the Muenster, onions, cornmeal, corn, salt, milk, egg yolks, and mix thoroughly.

5. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and fold them into the batter.

6. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 10 inch by 13 inch (25 cm x 30 cm) baking pan and bake in a preheated 400F (200C) oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Eating out in Foz do Iguaçu: Tips and Ideas

2009-05-01T14:55:00.006-03:00

Foz do Iguaçu restaurants in the Rua (Street)Marechal Deodoro eatery zone!

Every single hotel in Foz do Iguaçu has a restaurant. From the five-star all the way down to the no-star-at-all. But I am not talking about hotel restaurants in this post. What I have in mind here are the restaurants in town - mainly downtown.

The photographs above show two downtown restaurants. One Italian, Bello Piatto - see the colors? The other one, in this cute little house built in the 30s,historical or old by Iguaçu staandards is called Armazém (Warehouse). The food here is beef and meat-based. Once a week there is shrimp extravaganza. The Armazém belongs to a guy who came from a city called White Duck (Pato Branco) and seems to has been here forever.

This guy started out with a restaurant called Trapiche - specializing in seafood. He runs both nice places on Rua Marechal Deodoro. All these restaurants are close by and they seem to form a restaurant alley. None were made with the tourist in mind but everybody is welcome. Local people flock to these places. It is about more than eating. It is about seing and being seen. Good place to show off (for them). Another good and traditional place (I've known it for over 20 years) is the Tempero da Bahia, two blocks down from the Trapiche, the owner is from Bahia and tempero means "spice" and can have nice seafood, shrimps, caiprinha and music.

Other restaurants on the same street include the Hokka Sushi (japanese,Chinese) and across from the Hokka Sushi is the Verdão (Big Green) nickname for the Bier Garten where German mostly and English are understood. These two places are on the corner of Marechal Deodoro Street and Avenida Jorge Schimmpfeng - Jorge who? was the city's first mayor in 1914. If you can't get the Schimmlpfeng sound straight try this tip by using my helpful Chinese pronunciation transliterarion: Xim Me lü pu Feng or (Japanese Shi-meru-pu-fen-gu).

Three of the four corners in this point are occupied by restaurants.
One of them is the local MacDonald's outlet. There are bus stops near the MacDonald's going into town, to the Urban Bus Terminal (TTU), Rodoviária (Bus Terminal) and Paraguay. Across from MacDonald's there is a bus stop for buses going to the Falls, to Argentina, the Airport and good for those styaing in all hotels along the Avenida Cataratas (Bourbon,Mabu, Carimã, Gran Via, Viale Bristol) and the Paudimar Hostel. Taxis are readily available along the Rua Marechal. So there is no excuse for you to stay in the hotel wishing you were having fun sonewhere else.
Buses till midnight- after that it's a question of miracle and suffering, beware!

Other "cuisine" ideas in town (hold on for links)

Arab
Shawarma places
More Chinese
Churrascarias
Low income youth hangouts
University hangouts
Classy
Other

Poor Niagara! Has Eleanor Roosevelt ever been to Iguassu Falls?

2009-05-01T11:12:00.002-03:00

Photo from the US Embassy Brazil's FLICKR Gallery showing Eleanor Roosevelt, with Natal's Bishop Marcolino Dantas and General Gomes (in uniform) possibly translating.

Upon seeing Iguassu Falls, Eleanor Roosevelt is reported to have said: Poor Niagara! You will find that in Spanish, Portuguese, French and possibly other languages. Everyone, when trying to learn about Iguassu Falls, will hear this Poor Niagara – Iguassu Story. What is happening hear now is that I have launched a campaign, through several of my blogs trying to find out whether this is true or false and what is the context in which the first lady said that.

US First lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited Brazil in March 14-17 in 1944. She flew from the US over the Caribbean, made stops at some islands and for sure visited Trinidad and Tobago. From TT the First lady flew to Brazil entering the country through Belem – at the mouth of the Amazon River. Eleanor Roosevelt’s Belem visit has been well documented in Brazil. Ukraine-born Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector that was visiting Belem on leave from her Rio de Janeiro newspaper job reported the first lady’s visit to the A NOITE newspaper. From Belem a USAF / Navy Base during WWII, she visited two other US Bases in Brazil: Natal and Recife. Reading Eleanor Roosevelt’s My Day columns on the web, thanks to GWU’s brilliant MY DAY PROJECT work, I have seen and read the first lady’s comments on this special trip and I have had the impression that it was basically intended to support the war effort, boost troops’ morale and to report back home what she felt about the whole process.

My question here is if Eleanor Roosevelt did not visit Iguassu Falls in this 1944 visit, does anybody know whether she ever made a second trip to Brazil? Has there been a second visit? When? And, supposing there has never been a second visit, when, then, did she utter the famous statement comparing the two world-known waterfalls? Did it happen over an official meeting when someone showed a photograph of Iguassu Falls and she said that? Is it a rumor? It would be really good to be able to learn the truth about this.

The Three-Border Stone Mark in 1976

2009-04-14T12:22:00.008-03:00

The Three-Border Stone Mark from 1903 to 1976 or All about the Three Border Mark

2009-04-14T12:22:00.007-03:00

The Three-Border Marks on the Brazilian and Argentine sides belong to the same family and time. It was the time when Argentina and Brazil were able to solve a border conflict that had beeen lingering on for over 50 years. US President Groover Cleveland had to interfere and help solve the problem. As a result the border marks in the former area of conflict were built out of stones and had the shape and form of the Three Border Mark in Foz do Iguaçu and Puerto Iguazu. In the 70s, the border marks in the Iguassu Falls area were painted with the national colors - something that was not foreseen in the original idea. In the second photo, the Border-Mark on the Brazilian side is seen in its original form. No paint. The gentleman on the photo still lives in the Three-Border Mark area and runs the little souvenir shop there. His sizeable family has lived here since he arrived in the area from Rio de Janeiro as an employee to the now extinct Brazilian Port Authority (Portobrás). There is rumor that soon there will be a CN Tower-like structure at the Three Border mark in Brazil. I have posted an even older photo that shows the Mark with no structure at all. Finally, what may seem to be the first photograph, a Border Mark between Argentina and Brazil along the 25-kilometer, dry-border stretch between the head waters of the San Antonio River (that flows into the Iguaçu River) and the Peperi Guaçu River that will flow into the Uruguay river.

These photos have been given me by the people appearing in them, Dionisio and Brigido (first from bottom), the Family that runs the Souvenir Shop Recando das Três Fronteiras and the Government of Santa Catarina and Paraná Sates.
Other postings on the Marks

Last of the Jaguars dies in the Iguacu National park

2009-03-30T13:37:00.004-03:00

It is hard to know whether this particular spotted jaguar was the last one to freely roam the jungles of the Iguacu National Park. The Carnivore Project created to promote research and studies of the population of felines and other carnivores has been either abandoned or put at stand by. The fact is that this jaguar has been killed sometime during the night of March 28 on the road that connects the National park Entrance and the Cataratas Hotel now under the Orient Express flag. An all-out war has began between Park authorities and leaders of the tourism trade. The question seems to be who is to be blamed for the death of the Last of the Mohicans of the feline race. The National Park's Visitors facilities have been privatized since 2000 and according to the Park's General Management Plan no private cars were supposed to be allowed into the Park. The Management Plan only recognizes the official bus services belonging to concession holders. The problem is that the Iguassu falls area tourism is heavily dependent on holiday-based mass tourism like Easter and national holidays in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. In those days gates are open and tourist buses are allowed in. As for night traffick a limited amount of vehicles is allowed. Hotel's cars? Tourism cars? Who killed the jaguar? The war is just beginning!

Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) International Bus Terminal: Buses in and out of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay

2009-02-26T12:54:00.004-03:00

A list follows, more to come

La Paraguaya
Cometa del Amambay (Pedro Juan Caballero)
Sol del Paraguay (Bue,La Plata,S.Paulo,Rio de Janeiro)
La Carapegueña (Carapeguá, Villa Rica, Tebicuary)
Salto Cristal (Villa Rica, Iturbe, Ybycui)
Yacyretá (Bue,La Plata,Corrientes,Santa Cruz)
Garcia (Pedro Juan Caballero, Concepción, Curuguaty)
TransBolipar (Sta Cruz de la Sierra)
RYSA (ASU,Caazapá,Coronel Oviedo, P.J.Caballero)
San Luis (ASU)
Rapido Caaguazú (ASU, 21 horários diarios)
Crucero del Norte (Bue,Sao, Rio)
Guaireña (Villa Rica, Santa Rita, Naranjal, Salto del Guairá)
Pluma (São Paulo, Rio, Florianópolis...)
Beato Roque Gonzalez de Santa Cruz (Encarnación)
Crucero del Este (ASU)
Empresa Río Paraná (BUE)
Expreso Brújula (São Paulo)
Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion (ASU, São Paulo)
PYCASU (Bue,Iquique, Encarnación,ASU)
Crucero del Sur (Encarnación)
El Tigre (Encarnación)
Stel Turismo (Asunção com conexão para Loma Plata e Filadelfia)

Yes, there's Carnival in the Iguassu Falls Area

2009-02-23T18:57:00.003-03:00

Magic and Splendor is the name of one of the Samba Schools to have taken out to the streets on Sunday. The photo by friend Chris Rizzi show the Queen of Carnival Lívia Costa Santos, 1st Princes Regina Aparecida Leopoldo and 2nd Princes Deise de Oliveira Freitas. The Momo King is Walmor Maciel.

The Foz do Iguaçu International Bus Terminal: buses into and out of the Iguassu Falls Foz do Iguaçu Area

2009-02-20T12:42:00.007-03:00

Foz do Iguaçu International Bus Terminal (Rodoviária)'s photo has been taken from their site (link below)

The Foz do Iguaçu International Bus Terminal serves over 130 destinations throughout Brazil and into Argentina and Paraguay. Buses leaving Foz do Iguaçu travel to major cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Curitiba but also to far way capitals of Northeastern states like Maceió (Alagoas State), Aracaju (Sergipe), Salvador (Bahia) and Recife (Pernambuco) and hundreds of cities in between. Foz do Iguaçu's ties with North Brazil is also expressive. There are bus lines leaving Foz as the city is lovingly (and not so lovingly) called or reffered to, heading for Campo Grande (gateway to the South Pantanal), Cuiabá (doorway to the Northern Pantanal) as well as the Chapada Guimarães Plateau Area and locations in the Amazonian state of Pará. Lines to central Brazil are also plentiful: Brasilia and Goiania are at the top of the list.

Buses travelling South will include those going to the State of Rio Grande do Sul, mainly to Porto Alegre but serving different destinations between the two cities. If you are heading for Porto Alegre try the as-direct-as-possible UNESUL Bus (link below). Curitiba the capital of Paraná the State where Iguassu Falls are is served by a company called Catarinense - there are several buses a day, mainly, a night.

Here is list of link to bus companies presently operating in and out of FOZ:
Cattani Sul (PR)
Princesa dos Campos (PR,SP)
Catarinense Curitiba, SC
Gontijo (MG)
Expresso Maringá (PR,SP)
Reunidas (SC)
Viação Medianeira(MS,MT,PA)
São Geraldo (AL,PE,SE)
Nova Integração / Eucatur TO,RO,AC
Itapemirim PE,BA
Pluma (SP,RJ,SC,PY,ARG)
Nacional Expresso (DF,BSB)
Helios (SC,RS,)
Unesul (SC,RS - Unica ligação c/ P.Alegre)
Eucatur Amazônia
Viação Garcia (SP)
Expresso Kaiowa (SP,RJ,MG)
Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (ASU)
Crucero del Norte BUE,
Rapido Yguazu S.A. (RYSA) (ASU)

Services at the Rodoviaria (Bus terminal). Here is the official site of the Rodoviária Internacional de Foz do Iguaçu Foz do Iguaçu International Bus Terminal

Snack bar /restaurant
bathrooms (R$ 50¢)
Shower (R$ 6.00)
Locker (R$ 2.00 per bag)
Bus into town (R$ 2.10)
Magazine Shop (Mostly Portuguese, newsweek etc, nothing Spanish)
Internet ( )
Telephone, fax booth
Bus ticket sales outlets (15 give and take)
Travel Agency (1)*
Exhibit room (1)
City Guard
Tourist Info (Official)

* The EcoFoz Turismo Travel Agency at the Bus Terminal sells tickets to those desiring to go further into Argentina mainly to Corrientes, Resistencia,Santiago del estero, Tucumán, Salta, Córdoba, Santa Fé, Rosario and Buenos Aires Terminal (Retiro) with the FlechaBus (ArrowBus) company.

Warning!

All buses leaving Foz do Iguaçu are subject to be invited to go first to the Receita Federal (Federal Revenue Services)for inspection. Don't worry if you are clean (no drugs, please). The FRS is after smugglers - mostly Brazilians buying things in Paraguay to sell back in Brazil. There have been a considerable increase in the number of people arrested with drugs of all types, weapons and ammonitions.

Bus companies travelling into and out of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay

2009-02-18T20:02:00.003-03:00

What I have posted here is just a list (for now) of bus companies travelling to and out of the Ciudad del Este International Bus Terminal. Links to sites will be given as soon as I discover them. If you know of a new site and want to share, please go ahead!

La Paraguaya
La Yuteña
Cometa del Amambay (Pedro Juan Caballero)
Sol del Paraguay (Bue,La Plata,S.Paulo,Rio de Janeiro)
La Carapegueña (Carapeguá, Villa Rica, Tebicuary)
Salto Cristal (Villa Rica, Iturbe, Ybycui)
Yacyretá (Bue,La Plata,Corrientes,Santa Cruz)
Garcia (Pedro Juan Caballero, Concepción, Curuguaty)
TransBolipar (Sta Cruz de la Sierra)
RYSA (ASU,Caazapá,Coronel Oviedo, P.J.Caballero)
San Luis (ASU)
Rapido Caaguazú (ASU, 21 horários diarios)
Crucero del Norte (Bue,Sao, Rio)
Guaireña (Villa Rica, Santa Rita, Naranjal, Salto del Guairá)
Pluma (São Paulo, Rio, Florianópolis...)
Beato Roque Gonzalez de Santa Cruz (Encarnación)
Crucero del Este (ASU)
Empresa Río Paraná (BUE)
Expreso Brújula (São Paulo)
Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion (ASU, São Paulo)
PYCASU (Bue,Iquique, Encarnación,ASU)
Crucero del Sur (Encarnación)
El Tigre (Encarnación)
Stel Turismo (Asunción and linking to Loma Plata and Filadelfia)

Cities within the Department of Alto Paraná served by buses leaving the Ciudad del Este International Bus Terminal:

Juan León Mallorquín, Domingo Martínez de Irala, Hernandarias, Iruña, Itakyry,Juan Emilio O'Leary, Los Cedrales, Iruña, Mbaracayú, Minga Guazú, Minga Porá, Puerto Indio, Ñacunday, Naranjal, Naranjito, Presidente Franco, San Alberto, San Cristóbal, Santa Rosa del Monday, Santa Rita, Yguazú, Santa Fe del Paraná.

This is good!
Local urban international buses leave the Ciudad del Este Bus Terminal for:
Foz do Iguaçu

These were the pathways to see Iguassu Falls - The Iguassu Falls Memory Poject

2009-02-14T19:26:00.002-03:00

Cognopolis - Iguaçu, Iguassu Falls Area newest neighborhood

2009-02-14T17:52:00.006-03:00

Waldo Viera, in white, with white beard and me (Jackson Lima) also with a white beard in the Holotheque, CEAEC, Cognopolis, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil

If you have been following my articles and postings about the Administrative regions of Foz do Iguaçu, you will have noticed that I have been writing about several of the city's barrios and their regions. Today I want to bring to your attention a very special neighborhood called COGNOPOLIS - Greek for "Knowledge City". It seems, from what I have gathered that the City Government has already approved most plans and for the new barrio of town to get its "Birth Certicate" all that is needed is for the City Council or Counsel to pass the law creating the barrio or neighborhood. Officially it is going to be part of the RURAL AREA SOUTH in Region 12.

The word Cognopolis has began to be used rather openly in correspondences, snail mail packages and postmen and postwomen, pizza delivery personnel and other people who specialize in address-finding are beginning to be acquainted with this "something new" happening in town.

Back in 1995, I met the gentleman dressed in white, with a white beard when he first moved to Foz do Iguaçu and said that the area had been chosen for a big investment and he said that the investment would be into the 13 million USD mark. At the time a little symbolic foundation stone was laid down. Soon small buildings began to show up. Among them several laboratories for self-experimentation in fields that might seem strange for you like: projectiology (out of body projection), mulidimensional assistenciality (some of these appeared in my list of what-to-do for the Iguassu Falls Tri-National Area).

The laboratories were followed by a larger building that seems to snake along the terrain on the banks of the Tamanduazinho (Little Anteater) Creek. This waving and snaking kind of building received the name of Holocycle to house a Holotheque or a "thek" (collection) of "everything" (holos -in Greek). The Holotheque has a collection of thousands of dictionaries (language dictionaries, thematic dictionaries, special dictionaries) plus, books of all kinds on many subjects. There is one of the largest privately owned collection of comic books in Brazil. The holotheque is really worth a visit.

Back to the Cognopolis - the Holocycle is going to be just a litttle píece of Cognopolis. There are, as of this posting eight gated horizontal coomunities to house more than 600 people who have com from Brazil, Argentina and from as far as the US, Europe and China. The upper photo shows the newest project to be carried on in Cognopolis. It will be called Villa Conscientia and will be divided into a residential and a comercial sector. The commercial sector will have shops but also culture complex. It will include a Theater, the City's first ever and - remember the Holotheque? It will come to Villa Conscientia - since the Holocycle has become too small for what is done there (The Conscientiology Encyclopedia, for instance).

The upper photo shows an artistic rendering of the area. The project brings to mind Lucio Costa's concept of a City with wings like a plane and like Brasilia where those business and residential sectors will be located on the plane's North or South Wings. It is interesting that the project for the theater and buildings in the commercial sector have been drawn by Brazil's best known architect and living legend Oscar Niemayer - remember Brasilia again? The new projects will cost another 20 million USD. "The money will show up" says Waldo Vieira "in the same way that the 13 million I announced that day".

The hostels of Remanso Grande, Iguassu Falls

2009-02-13T19:31:00.007-03:00

Photo 1: Ipelandia's swimmingpool area. Photo 2: bus stop serving the hostel areas across from Peace Square (Praça da Paz).

On the Brazilian Highway (BR) 469 or Avenida das Cataratas (Cataratas Avenue - Brazil's shortest BR Highway), there is a barrio (neighborhood) called Remanso Grande. Remanso is the name of those pool-like, calm areas that are commons to some river bends. In this case it is also the name of the neighborhood. Unfortunately there is no easy contact with the Iguaçu River below at the end of Remanso Grande main street. But what I want to call your attention to here is to the fact that this region of the city is beginning to be the Foz do Iguaçu Rural Hostel Area. The picture above is from the Bus Stop that serves three hostels but was mainly made by the Paudimar Campestre Hostel owned by an Argentina-born friend of mines called Miguel Allou. I have also learnt that there is a new Natura Hostel owned by a Palestina-born person whom I have not met yet (but I will). Thirdly and still in the make is the new hostel to be called Ipelandia (Ipêland) Park Golf owned by Naobuo Saito a Japanese friend of mine. Park Golf as I undesrtood is a kind of small bonsai-like golf course. Ipê is a tree that salutes you with yellow or pinkish-purple flowers.

The Greater Tres Lagoas Area of Foz do Iguaçu

2009-02-13T02:52:00.008-03:00

Photos: Tres Lagoas' Saint Peter's Parrish (Paróquia São Pedro) and Bairro (neighborhood) pioneer Edmundo Roberto Kinner

The city of Foz do Iguaçu is divided into 12 regions or areas - for administration purposes. Each region is identified by a number (R-01) or the name of the most prominent bairro in the region or area. For instance, R-01 or Region One is known as the Greater Tres Lagoas Area. The main neighborhood in this case is called Três Lagoas which started out with somebody selling smaller land parcels mostly chunks taken off a small agricultural property and sold to Class E, wage earners to be paid in soft and nearly never-ending 100-installment plans. Some of the bairros in this and in other city areas were the result of invasions or occupations (the choice of either word will denounce political or ideological preference). There are over 9.000 basic education students (from ages 2 to 9) enrolled at 9 city schools.

Touristically speaking the area owns some of the city's smaller attractions like the Itaipu Dam Beach Area, some clubs, ultralight aircrafts owners' association of a sort, a newly-built katamaram boat for sunset cruises and so on.

Also, sadly and infamously, the Três Lagoas Area of town also owns the city's correctional district with a hell-on-earth type of horrible jail - that will soon be closed off for good. A new top security State Pennitentiary has been built and as of lately also a State Prison for people awaiting judgement. There will soon be a Female Pennitentiary and I also heard about somnthing like a Teenage Jail for adolescent "offenders". The Jail Sector of the Tres Lagoas Area is called Três Fronteiras Residential Park - and this is the kind of real estate enterprise that didn't prosper. Thanks to the abundance of jailhouses around prices, for land and houses around are going down.

Also what is going down is the once-flourishing city red light district. This district prospered during the Itaipu Dam Construction Days when 48.000 Paraguayan and Brazilian male hands joined to build the world's largest dam.

List of the 12 Regions of Foz do Iguaçu - may be good to someone, who knows? Numbers following region's name are about number of barrios in the region.

Region 01 - Três Lagoas Area (38)
Region 02 - Via "C" Area (27)
Region 03 - San Francisco Area (21)
Region 04 - The Porto Meira Area (31)
Region 05 - Jardim San Paulo Area (22)
Region 06 - Jardim America Area (19)
Region 07 - Imperatriz Park Area (22)
Region 08 - Vila "A" - AKLP Area (24)
Region 09 - City Center and Vila Yolanda Area (20)
Region 10 - Campos do Iguaçu - Fields of the Iguaçu Area (29)
Region 11 - The Carimã Area (10)
Region 12 - Rural Area

The purpose of dissecting the city like this is to make a point about the importance of barrios (neighborhoods) for local economies. IN the same extant that we live in the "city" and not in the Republic; as far as cities are cncerned, our lives happen in neighborhoods. Most of the attractions people see belong at first to the neighborhood where they are. Sometimes you may stay in top five-star hotel located in a neighborhood that the tourist will never learn about. Some times it is bad for business.

There is a Rural Area North and a Rural Area South
In the case of Foz do Iguaçu, here is a list of the possession of the Rural Area South:
a) The Foz do Iguaçu-Cataratas International Airport (Yes, hyphenated)
b) Over 106 hectares of land within the Iguassu National park
c) Park's Visitor Center
d) The Cataratas Hotel
e) The World famous Iguassu Falls
f) The Conscienciology Research Center
g) The Cognopolis Neighborhood - comprising
h) City's fishing and leisure farms

The Iguaçu National Park-Brazil: a model to the world ?

2009-02-05T16:41:00.003-03:00

Last year an English journalist who had already interviewed me before, so I can call friend, sent an e-mail asking me about the Iguaçu National Park and how I felt, how the local community felt to live near or around a Park that is a model to the world. A model to the world? - I thought. It can not even be a model for the rest of Brazilian National Parks. I don't know how this model idea has spread out, but a I hear this being repeated so much that I am affraid it might become the truth, you know the only truth. So let me tell what I remember about "our" Parks that also happens to be a World Heritage Sites.

Since January, 1st, 2000, the Iguassu Falls Visitation Area (VA)on the Brazilian side, and its counterpart on the Argentine side one year before, were handed over as concessions to privately-owned, especially-created companies for that specific purpose. That is the purpose of administering the new or improved infrastructures to cater to tourists needs. These have included: New Visitors Center, Alternative Transportation Within the National Parks, food and catering, restaurants, bathrooms ans similar services.

Before the aforementioned dates the tourism-related activities in the Visitation Area were the responsibility of the Administración de Parques Nacionales (National Parks Administration) in Argentina and of Ibama* (Brazilian Institute for the Environment) on the Brazilian side. This means that Park authorities had to be concerned with such wordly things as collecting entrance fees, making arrangements with travel agents and making sure that toilets were clean (they never were) and that toilet paper was not missing (they were always missing). In those days, Government concessions were nearly synonym of "free concessions" or very low, symbolically-priced permissions for friends or political allies to operate. There were big money concessions running for as little as 500 USD a year.

In the 90s Governments changed. Presidents Fernando Collor in Brazil and Carlos Saul Menem in Argentina were ellected and both announced that privatization was the way out of financial squeeze and was, as well, the passport to a First World Society. Argentina went ahead and sold everything from airports to water companies, from oil companies to road and the mail. Brazil also sold large companies in the mining and telecommunication fields among others. The environment was the next target and those money-making National Parks were the models to play and experiment with. The Iguassu Tri-Nation Area is seen as a Laboratory for the Mercosul countries (In tourism, police work, international conventions on crime, smuggling and integration). If it works here, should work anywhere else. In addition, both Parks, the Iguaçu (Brazil) / Iguazú (Argentina) National parks receive a million visitors a year (it may be that visitors are the same and not two million according to the 2 + 2 = 4 formula) and that means good money.

Next postings
Different prices and entrance fees
Parks' revenue increase
The local communities losses: Brazilian story / Argentinean story
Other parks to go
Alternative Transportation Brazilian and Argentine Versions
Ibama makes way to Chico Mendes Institute
And more

Bus companies into and out of Puerto Iguazu

2009-02-02T13:31:00.009-03:00

Roomy Crucero del Norte Bus pictured somewhere in Brazil Source of photo

Puerto Iguazu is pretty well served by bus lines. The city is connected to most Argetninean capitals. I am working on an extensive list on bus travels to and from Puerto Iguazu - right across from Foz do Iguaçu where I live. In the list that follows, you find the city's name or destination and the bus companies serving. With the excepetion of Bariloche, all are capital cities. Company names appear within brackets and with links.

Rosario (Río Uruguay)
Córdoba (Rio Uruguay, Crucero del Norte, Merco Bus, Singer and Andesmar),
La Plata (Crucero del Norte, Singer and Tigre Iguazú),
Buenos Aires (Río Uruguay, Tigre Iguazú, Singer, Crucero del Norte and Vía Bariloche),
Salta (Andesmar),
Mendoza (Andesmar),
Corrientes (Río Uruguay and Singer),
Chaco (Río Uruguay and Singer),
Tucumán (Andesmar),
La Rioja (Andesmar),
Catamarca (Andesmar),
Jujuy (Andesmar),
Santiago del Estero (Andesmar),
Santa Fe (Río Uruguay),
Entre Ríos (Río Uruguay),
Formosa (Río Uruguay),
Bariloche (Crucero del Norte, Via Bariloche)

Barge connection between Argentina and Paraguay

2008-12-30T11:57:00.002-03:00

Photos: Welcome to President Franco sign on the limit with Ciudad del Este; the barge on the Iguazu River

A barge connecting what to what? Well, Puerto Iguazú, the gateway to tthe Iguassu Falls, headquarters of the Iguazú National Park and the owner of the Puerto Iguazu international Airport or IGR, in international airline ticketing language, is pretty well known. Puerto or Port Iguazu sits lazily on the left bank of the Iguassu River, right on the place where the Iguazu binational river (people down here like this binational thing as Itaipu Binational etc)ends its earthly course and from here on will travel as part of the Paraná River.

Across from Puerto Iguazu is Foz do Iguaçu where I sit writing this. Across the Paraná is Paraguay - and don't think about Ciudad del Este - Ciudad del Este is way upstream from the Rivers Convergence Point. The city we are talking Presidente Franco for short. The whole name is Ciudad Presidente Dr. Manuel Franco. The barge I am talking about is the one on the photograph that leaves Port Iguazú to Presidente Franco everyday. The first balsa (barge) leaves Puerto Iguazu at 08:00 a.m. The last barges leaves Puerto Iguazu at 05:30 p.m. The first barge to leave Franco is at 08h30and the last leaves Franco at 05:45. Each barge will tale people. cars, buses, trucks, vans and so on. The operation is official. On the Argentine side people and cars will get on and off the barge under the scrutiny of Immigration, Customs and Pefectura Naval (Similar to Coast Guard). On the Paraguayan side reception and bye-bye procedures are followed by National Police who also tale care of migration matters, customs and the Armada similar to the Argentine Prefectura Naval.

A word about Franco: the city thinks of itself as the mother of Ciudad del Este and several other Paraguayan cities located in the Alto Paraná or 10th Department of the Republic. Ciudad del Este former Ciudad Presidente Stroessner was founded on February, 3, 1957. You will see many things in town evoking the date like the 3 de Febrero Stadium where the America Cup 1999 was fought and won (by Brazil). I remember that Ronaldo Gaucho was shown to the world as part of the Brazilian Football
Team here.

Franco was founded in 1929 though there has never been an official foundation date since the place grew out of an "obrage" - an enterprize dedicated to the collection of 'mate herb'leaves deep in the then exisiting jungle and transportation to the river bank for shipping to processing and marketing somewhere else. People working for obrage enterprises were called mensú which practically and technically was slave labor. Besides dealing with herb mate the obrage capitalists has side businesses in lumber and forest products (you can read here trees and animal hide and meat). Each obrage had a man who served as "head". The head of this obrage was Vicente Antonio Matiauda related to President Stroessner from the president's mother family. The resident' whole name was Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda. This obrage gave rise to a little pueblo given the name of President Franco, who was Paraguay's president in 1929.

Before Ciudad del Este exisited, Franco was the full representative of Paraguay on the border. When people talked of Tres Fronteras (Three Frontiers, thre Borders) they were talking about thre cities meeting where the two rivers and three countries converge. "To be honest Ciudad del Este is ot part of the historical Three Frontiers" an angered Paraguayan newspaper writer told me a few days ago. His name is Luis Cataldi Viedma.

So before the International Frindship Bridge between Paraguay and Brazil (between Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad President Stroessner - today's Ciudad del Este, the whole of the traffic between Brazil and Paragauay was through Franco and most importantly by Franco's barges. A bus travelling from São Paulo to Asunción would travel from Sao Paulo to Foz do IGuaçu, go to the old days-Porto Oficial of Foz do Iguaçu, get on the barge, navigate downriver as far as the Port of Franco, crwal up the rather steep riverbank and continue on to Asunción through the International Road already under construction.

Likewise all traffic from Argentina was made through this barge. After the bridges, both the Frindship Bridge with Paraguay and Fraternity Bridge with Argentina, the barges were put out of service and the neighborhoods died out. This is what happened to Ciudad President Franco that became just a dorm city for Ciudad del Este and this is what also happened on the Brazilian side to the entire area called Porto Meira where the Three Borders Marks are located.

Not long ago the services between Puerto Iguazú and Ciudad President Franco were officialy reinitiated bringing some life back to an area that had seen better days. That is why I include the barge on my list of things to do. If you are in Puerto Iguazú ( and if you have a visa for Paraguay, in case you need one), that is a good idea to go to Franco by barge. You can visit once there both the Monday Falls and the Moses Bertoni Museum.

There is a project for a new bridge connecting Brazil to Paraguay - a second bridge. The new bridge will be between Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad Presidente Franco. I am almost sure that whenever this bridge is finished, the barge will die again.

I will come back with more on how to actually get around in Franco and so on

Homage to the dead in the Falklands Malvinas' war

2008-12-17T15:25:00.005-03:00

This spot is as far from the Malvinas or Falkland Islands as can be. It is the Three-Border-Mark at Puerto Iguazú in Northeastern Argentina. An organization of Argentine Malvinas War Veterans built this monument on the banks overlooking the Paraná River - straight ahead - to pay homage to those who died in the Falklands-Malvinas War. The land across the riover is Brazil. The roof you can see is on the Brazilian side across the Iguazú River and it is called the Espaço das Americas (Espacio de las Americas - Spanish) or Space for the Americas - a place created by former Paraná State Governor and former mayor of Curitiba, Jaime Lerner. The land to the left is Paraguay.

The New Iguazú Bus Terminal

2008-12-15T16:24:00.003-03:00

Paraguayan Public Phone

2008-11-18T17:46:00.001-03:00

This public phone is strategically located at the entrance-exit to the Monday Falls. You can try to call home just for the fun of calling from ... where?

WELCOME TO MONDAY FALLS

2008-11-18T16:46:00.004-03:00

When I got to the Monday Falls Municipal Park - the Park that the Falls under satisfactory conditions is maintained by the Municipality of President franco, I heard someone speaking in Portuguese say that he considered such a behavior a lack of respect and reciprocity. I heard someone say then, what behavior? This, that the Paraguayans have a welcome sign in English, Spanish and Chinese. Then I asked permission to get involved and to say that the language he had the privilege to see before his eyes was Japanese. Whatever, he said. It is the same and continued saying that it was a lack of consideration.

It was then that I saw that the kind of oversized outdoor welcome sign is just a part of a larger project aimed at improving conditions at Monday Falls being financed by JICA - the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. I told the people that I knew about projects led by JICA to improve tourism not only in Paraguay but also for the rest of the Mercosul - Mercosur countries. "Jica is paying the bill", I said so they have the right to include Japan's language in the outdoor. Feel better? UHm, I think OK!

Monday River and Monday Falls

2008-11-18T16:37:00.006-03:00

This posting is dedicated to all things Monday in Paraguay. There is the Monday Falls, the Monday River and even a Paraguayan Navy (Armada Paraguaya) Outpost by the Monday River all shown above. I have written before about the Monday things located just a mere 40 kilometers by car from Foz do Iguaçu. The Monday Falls are located in the City of Presidente Franco - for short. I made this short video:

All the colors of the World

2008-11-18T14:38:00.002-03:00

I finally have been able to post this photograph here. It is the official publicity photograph for an exhibit that travelled to several cities in Paraná - the Brazilian state where the Iguassu Falls area located. The photographer who had the idea of doing this wonderful job is a friend of mine. Her name is Aurea Cunha (Koonya). In fact I studied two or three semesters with her at the Journalism School. Her idea was to show the faces of 41 women who have been born in several different countries, into different languages, religions and cultures and who have ended up living in Foz do Iguaçu - Iguassu Falls area. By clicking here you will go to a site that has the same picture - but with a difference - the picture is clickable - so you can click your way around and see the faces up close. The site is run by friends too. The site is called H2Foz.

No Dengue Mosquito Campaign

2008-11-18T10:54:00.004-03:00

A few days ago, I was walking, literally, across a neighborhood in Foz do Iguaçu when, just short of a magnificent and typical downpour, I past by a small house that called my attention because of a huge iron dengue fever mosquito on the roof top. I took the picture and posted it.

In it you see a mosquito made out of recycled beer can, different metals and different nets. On one side you see a home-painted, hand-made sign where we can read sonething like "no dengue fever mosquito here". Days later I came back to the house. My purpose was to learn about the story behind this sculpture and to find out who was behind the idea. Now I can tell you what I found out:

First, the house is not just a little house. It is also the seat of the Gremio Desportivo e Cultural Mocidade Independente do São Francisco (The São Francisco Area Independent Youth Sport and Cultural Center - also known by the name of the São Francisco Samba School). San Francisco here has nothing to do with the San Francisco (Bay) Area of its more affluent namesake in California. San Francisco here refers to one of the 10 regions in which Foz do Iguaçu has been divided in order to make administration easier - of sorts.

It includes a nunber of "bairros" mostly sharing the same humble beginnings back in the 1970s when the Itaipu Binational then under construction began to give signs that many people would laid off some day. In the house I met Sergio Pereira, a Rio de Janeiro-born, "carnavalesco" (carnaval author, song composer, writer designer).

Roofs of Foz do Iguaçu

2008-11-08T11:15:00.001-03:00

Secret corners

2008-11-08T11:14:00.000-03:00

Foz do Iguaçu Skyline

2008-11-08T11:10:00.000-03:00

A river between countries

2008-11-08T11:06:00.003-03:00

The Paraná River runs between Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este. This place is about 10 kilometers from the Two-Nation Dam of Itaipu. The water takes on a greenish hue after the dam. The dam holds back most of the nutrients, silt and debris that normally make the river have a darker ou muddier color. I was on the Pedro Basso building downtown. Unfortunatelt there is no access for people, tourists ou locals in this area. Only place to see the river is on the Cataratas Iate Clube restaurant.

Peace Square Foz do Iguaçu

2008-11-08T11:04:00.001-03:00

A Garden of Cacti not far from Iguassu Falls

2008-11-01T16:57:00.003-03:00

I will be right back to write about this litle corner in Foz do Iguaçu where Mrs. Marlene Parzewski the wife of a retired judge idealized and built this little charming corner a few miles from Iguassu Falls.

My side is more beuatiful ...

2008-10-30T19:06:00.005-03:00

This video is part of the Vote Iguassu Falls as one of the New Seven Wonder campaign launched by the Swiss-based New 7Wonders company's campaign. The video shows an Argentinean and Brazilian who accidentally met at the world-famous Falls. The Brazilian, the shorter guy, greets the Argentinean, the taller guy in a blue T-shirt: How beautiful, isn't it? The Argentinean says, yes it is.... but it is more beautiful on my side of the falls. The discussion continues until the Argentinean invites the Brazilian to his side of the waterfalls. The Brazilian agrees that the Argentinean side is more beatiful but complains that it is it is noisy. What do you mean noisy? Then an Argentinean girl shows up.. and both seem to agree that all is well until the Brazilian says that "they are more beautiful on my side". It is too much for the Argentinean. The video was produced by VisionArt, a local Iguassu Falls Publicity and Independent TV Production company. The video was uploaded to YouTube by the H2Foz local news and tourism portal.

This is the Cabocla Jurema

2008-10-10T14:59:00.005-03:00

A few days ago I was walking my way to work when I found by the roadside this very old-style painting of Cabocla Jurema - a spirit guide belonging to the Mixed-Indian-non-Indian breed of Brazil in the Afro-Brazilian religious tradition of Umbanda and Candomble. I saw the picture and imediately I decided to take it home. But there were two problems. First, the picture was soaked wet. There been a downpour minutes before, Second, it was 3 p.m. and there were people "looking" on. Anyway I stopped by and took tthe picture above. The I decided that I could not take the picture since I was agoing to work. Maybe on the way back.
Ai 8 p.m it was time to go back home. I was at the bus stop when I remembered the picture. I imagined it lying there waiting to be soaked again by the next downpour. Then, all of a sudden I said to myself: Walk, I will walk. And I did start walking the nearly five kilometers that separated me from the picture. FInally I was there. I saw people near the picture. I thought that it might be one of the thousands of Iguassuans who take to the streets at night to hunt fot beer cans, copper, iron, alluminum, plastic and whatever they can get their hands to sell the next day. Thousands of people eke out a living from that. I thought that the picture was going that way.

Then I noticed that the people left the area. I dedided to go there and give it a try. I got there and the picture was at the same place I left. Let's go home - I said. And so we did. The next day I was again strolling around and saw a Umbanda temple - just a house that "housed" a umbanda temple. I talked to the "priestess" called Mãe Jô (Mother Jô). I told her about the story of the picture of Cabocla Jurema. She said it was a sign. I told her that for the last few days I was contacting all kinds of religious communities in the Iguassu Falls area in order to create a pan-religious community something like a branch of URI (United Religions Initiative).

I will come back with more. But right now I will start a list of Umbanda and Candomblé Terreiros (temples) in Foz do Iguaçu since the city may the only Brazil many travellers will see. I will start with Mother JÔ temple. Soon I will offer links to more on the spiritual guides in the Indian and African lines of both faiths.

1) Mother Jô's Oxum's Temple - Templo de Oxum da Mãe Jô
Rua Guarani, 760, Jardim Panorama, Foz do Iguaçu, Phone (45) 3525 6489

2) Templo Caboclo Boiadeiro Sete Laços - Seven Lassoes Caboclo Boiadeiro
Priestess (mãe-de-santo) Ialorisá Tunirê Marina, Rua Batatais 412, Morumbi II, Near the CAIC - Centro Convivência Escoa Bairro, Foz do Iguaçu, (45) 525 1751

Open house events at this temple:

Ogun's feijoada or next Saturday from date. When? June 6.
Erê's Fest honoring children. When? October 12.
Caboclos Boaidaeiro Feast: November 15 (More on this temple soon)

3) Templo de Iansã (45) 3574 5850

Other centers waiting for info:
4) Carmem
5) João Carlos
6) Amanda's
7) Edna
8) Juracema
9) Cabocla Jurema

The future is theirs

2008-10-10T14:13:00.000-03:00

Black birds off a pinetree

2008-10-10T14:12:00.000-03:00

Three-Border Mark on the Paraguayan side

2008-09-15T18:17:00.003-03:00

The best view of the tiny little corners of the three countries and two rivers that converge at this place, traditionally called "Three-Frontiers" and as of lately infamously called "Triple Border", is from the Paraguayan side of the three borders. I took this photo in August during a special visit by participants of URI's Latin American Assembly. URI stands for United Religions Initiative.

How to say Iguassu Falls in 30 languages (up to now)

2008-08-20T19:35:00.006-03:00

1.Cataratas do Iguaçu (Portuguese*
2.Cataratas del Iguazú (Spanish)
3.Cataratas do Iguazú (Galician)
4.伊瓜苏瀑布 (Chinese - Iguasu Pú Bú)
5.Cascades de l'Iguaçú (Catalan)
6.이과수 폭포 (Korean)
7.イグアスの滝 (Japanese - Iguasu no taki)
8.Iguassu Falls (English)
9.Chororo Yguazu (Guarani)*
اگوازو آبشار.10(Farsi)**
11.Chutes d'Iguaçu (French)
12.(Arabic - Shallalat Iguasu)** شلالات ايغواسو
13.Водопады Игуасу (Russian - Vadopadi Iguasu)
14.Thác Iguazu (Vietnamese)
اگوازو آبشار.15(Urdu)**
16.Водоспад Іґуасу (Vadaspad Iguasu - Ukrainian)
17.น้ำตกอีกวาซู (Thai)
18.இகுவாசு அருவி (Tamil)
19.Iguassufallen (Swedish)
20.Iguassun putoukset (Finnish)
21.Slapovi Iguazú (Sloven)
22.Wodospad Iguaçu (Polish)
23.Iguaçu-fossene (Norwegian)
24.Igvasu krioklys (Lithuanian)
מפלי איגואסו.25 (Hebrew - Mapalim Iguasu)**
26.Cascate dell'Iguazú (Italian)
27.Air terjun Iguazu (Bahasa indonesian)
28.Iguaçuwatervallen (Dutch)
29.Iguassu-Wasserfälle (German)
30.Iguazu ur-jauziak (Vasque - Euskara)
31.Akvofalo Igŭacuo (Esperanto)
32.Rhaeadrau Iguazú (Cymraeg - Welsh)
33.Cascate dell'Iguazu
34.Catadupas do Iguaçu (portuguese)

Note: you can help increase the list by letting me know how to say and write Iguassu Falls in your language or a language you know. By the way help is needed for Tamil, and Thai.

The road to the Falls

2008-08-13T13:14:00.002-03:00

I will soon comment on this old photo that shows the first road that connected the village of (Foz do) Iguaçu to Iguaçu Falls, Can you picture yourself on that tour wagon? Source for this material.

The Three-Border Mark

2008-05-12T17:01:00.002-03:00

The Marco das Tres Fronteiras (Portuguese)
The Hito de las Tres Fronteras (Spanish)

This is one of the most interesting places to see in the so called Triple Border Area. Triple Border because three countries converge here. In this corner of the world, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet. Argentina is on the left bank of the Iguassu. Brazil is on the right. The iguassu flows between the two. Paraguay, if you are floating down the Iguassu River is straight ahead on another river, on the Paraná River. The Iguassu is about to end its journey. The exact border is when the Iguaçu River bed meets the bed of the Paraná. This is the real border for the three countries. If you are at that point, Paraguay will be ahead of you, Brazil will be on your back to the right side and Argentina will remain on your left side.

The Three-Border Mark is a rundown park-like thing. Now and then Foz do Iguaçu-based Brazilians announce some big, macho project. The world's largest cassino. A Theme park. The Cabeza de Vaca Monument and Park. As of lately the newest announcement has been the construction of a 150-meter tower, a would-be replica of the CN Tower or any other such saxonic towers scattered from Ontario to Chicago, from Auckland to Sydney. There will be a gyrating restaurant. There will be shops and parking facilities. Construction will start soon and wil begin by charging a parking fee. From the tower top visitors will have a glimpse of the universe, the Iguassu Falls at a distance, cities and villages on the Argentine and Paraguayan side too.

All that would be unnecessary for me. What we have there today is a little shop kept by the same family for over 50 years. They will be kicked out since someone else has won the bid. There is also a snack bar. You can climb to the roof of the snack bar and look around. The "Mark" proper is a pyramid-shaped, stone monument painted green and yellow - the national colors of Brazil. The mark is official but symbolical and celebrates the closing of the Border Commission's work in 1933. It is not a "stone border marker". The real border here is in the rivers downthere. And it is not easy or necessary to plant stone markers in the water.

Brazil has 16.886 kilometers of borders shared with nine South American Nations and France (French Guiana). Out of these, 9.523 kilometers are borders defined by rivers, lakes and other water bodies. The rest, 7.363 is dry, land borders. As of today there are 5.932 stone markers defining borders in the dry land border areas. Brazil and Paraguay share 437 kilometers of dry land borders defined by 910 stone markers. None of these to be seen in the Triple Border Area since it is a water-dominated border area. Another example of the use of markers is with Argentina. Just 25 kilometers out of 1.261 kilometers of borders with Argentina, is on dry land. It is the stretch between Santo Antônio do Sudoeste (BR) / San Antonio (AR) and Barracão (BR)-Dionisio Crequeira (BR) and Bernardo Yrigoyen (AR). There are 310 such markers along these 25 kilometers. They have been placed at every 80 meters to such a degree that they are intervisible by any one and so that a clear idea of the border line is possible.

Two more things
First, I call the place Three-Border Mark and I will cling to Three-Border Mark wherever I write. There are many other ways to address the area: Three Borders Mark, Three Frontiers Mark and Mark of the Three Frontiers. For diplomats including the Itamaraty – the Brazilian Foreign Relations Ministry, the place where three countries meet is called a “Tri-Junction” so I suppose we could talk of a Tri-Junction Mark. There are several Tri-Junctions spots in Brazil but this is by far the most populated one.

Second, the The Tri-Junction area is also a favorite of holistic, ecumenical, religious, transreligious, peace workers, universalists of all kinds. A testimony to this fact is seen in the few but important messages left by Bahá’is, Rosecrucians and other groups.

Field visit to Yryapu Mbya Guarani Village

2008-05-09T14:06:00.005-03:00

Martin Travel, a local travel agency invited me long ago to talk about Guarani Spirituality a couple of days ago. My talk was part of a refresher course for guides and staff on the Guarni Indians and on how to sell the Indian Village according to the new rules for vistors to the village a few miles from Iguassu Falls. The Yryapu Village seems to be a model among Argentine and Brazilian Guarani villages as far as visits are concerned. The Indians are in control of the visit. Thanks to a project called MATE funded by the Canadian Government, with the participations of many oher stakeholders and donnors including the Niagara College, the Rotary, Caritas and the ITEC, native mgya Guaranis have been trained to be "interpreters" of their own cultural and environmental heritage. The photos above show Claudio Salvador from ITEC / MATE talhing to guides and staff of Martin Travel and also Elvio Barreto the local cultural and environmental interpreter who serves as gatekeeper both opening and closing the gate as far as information related to the village is concerned. The third (horrible) photo on the bottom that shows a little fence-like structure that has not been put there for the tourists. The structure is used by toddlers that can hold to it as they learn how to trust the world.

Astronomy Class

2008-05-09T14:05:00.000-03:00

A sinkhole called Macaws' Hole

2008-05-02T17:32:00.005-03:00

The two photos above were taken by Vanete Brambatti, a friend of mine who has just returned from the Bonito, Jardim and Guia Lopes da Fronteira Area of Mato Grosso do Sul State. The state is mostly known for being the place that houses the Southern Pantanal in Brazil in constrast to the Northern Pantanal in the State of Mato Grosso, whose capital is Cuiabá. The Capital of Mato Grosso do Sul is Campo Grande also called the Cidade Morena or the Brunette City. The photos shows the Macaw's Hole or Buraco das Araras in the area of influence of the Bodoquena Mountains. An area rich in pristine crystal-clear water, caves and underwater rivers. The Buraco das Araras or Macaws' Hole is a sinkhole - a hole in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water causing cave roofs to fall. Sinkholes may vary in size from less than a meter to several hundred meters both in diameter and depth. This sinkhole in the Mato Grosso do Sul State is at least 65 meters wide. The nice thing about this sinkhole as the name denounces is the presence of macaws who come to the hole to sleep and also to nest. It brings to my mind the macaws of Peru that flock to a certain place in the area to lick clay. A friend of mine, a Colombian called Max Olderburg has told me that many in the area also lick the local clay iin order to get some important nutrients.

The reason for my posting this right now is very personal. I used to live and dream in the Pantanal area downstream from the Serra da Bodoquena Area. At the time one of my goal was to go to the Macaws's Hole and see how it realy was. I never made to the hole for two reasons: it was hard to get to and secondly it was dangerous. The hole was a place where gunmen and killers dumped bodies of victims in the old Far Western-Style colonization days. Today the area is an organized tourism destination out of Bonito and even rappelling has been kept to discret second place. Visitors are kept in small numbers - not over nine persons per time. Guides told Vanete Brambatti and son Arturo that in the beginning, rappellers were attracting small clouds that sent the macaws flying away for shelter. But where to find shelter in this world of ours? Fortunately the macauwas are back as the photo shows. If there is place left in the world that still might ressurect the desire to to go somewhere, this place is the Sinkholes of Macaws in the (Southern) Mato Grosso do Sul State of Brazil.

Brazilian Yellow Fever Map

2008-04-23T15:54:00.001-03:00

I will come back with more. In the meantime I just want to translate what the colors above mean: green for very risky; red for risky; yellow for low risk area and blue no risk at all. As far as this blog is concerned our area of interest, the Iguassu Falls and neighboring border areas are considered risky for the wide type yellow fever. The urban type yellow fever has been under control for years. The photo above has been scanned from official material distributed by the following Brazilian Government agencies and ministries: Brazil Tourism (Embratur)Sanitary Authority, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health.

The Aché of the Mbaracayu Forest Reserve in Paraguay

2008-03-31T11:31:00.003-03:00

I was born in Northeastern Brazil, in the State of Alagoas to be exact and stayed there till I was 20. Then after having spent some months in São Paulo and worked in odd jobs, including digging holes to install telephone and electricity lines in a multinational Swedish factory, I decidied I had had it and then moved on to Paraguay. My purpose when I arrived in this landlocked, South American neighboring country was to serve God - or then I thought - where the need for workers was greater. So I saw myself living with a nice Paraguayan family in the outskirts of Asunción and listening to Paraguayan stories and history.

It was then that I learned about the existence of the Guayaki Indians a word modern-day Paraguayans pronounced with a mix of admiration, hatred and fear. Admiration because the Guayaki were somehow envied for their fierceness and warring spirit. They were seen as the undisputed owners of the Eastern Paraguayan then dense jungles. Hatred because, as they said, the Guayakies were said to kill Paraguayans indiscriminately and for that same reason they were spoken about with fear as if they might jump up from nowhere and slit our throats open.

The year was 1975 / 1976. Paraguayans lived under a brutal dictatorship that I, thanks to the comfort of my ignorance hardly ever noticed, at the time. During the time I was in Asunción, Paraguay found itself in one of its greatest national mission, the march Eastward in order to conquer the empty spaces between Asunción and the International Friendship Bridge that linked Paraguay to Brazil and the Seaport city of Paranaguá. The vast expanse of dense jungle was empty except for trees, swamps, mosquitoes and the Guayaki Indians.

What I did not know was that the Guayakies were beeing killed, wiped out, exterminated, hunted, imprisioned, detained, enslaved and survivors were being separated from their families in order to be taught "integration". As late as 1975, Guayaki Indians were being mudered and bodies were left to float in jungle creeks and rivers. The land taken from the Guayaki was immediately awarded to Paraguayan and foreign speculators who organized huge land companies and sold the land to foreigners mostly Brazilian Gauchos, and Paraná State farmers both big and small including, how-could-I-know, the man who would be my father-in-law as early as 1977.

The brave Guayakies were swept out of their land in order to open Paraguay up for "Progress" in the form of huge land properties soon to be dedicated to cash crops like mint, corn, cotton, violence and as of lately soy beans. The Guayakies saw their land beeing taken away by a people now being called "Braziguayans".

Guayaki is bad word. That is what the modern-day Paraguayans called them and it is a word closely related to garbage. The Guayaki call themselves "Aché" that means "man". The photograph above shows Achés living in the Mbaracayu Forest Reserve in Eastern Paraguay. I also posted the picture of the Norther reaches of Guayaki land, savanna-type land that brings to my mind the Guairá - which is far more that the name of a State (department in Paraguay), but of a lifestyle lone gone that culminated on the Guairá Falls now also long flooded thanks to Brazilian Progress in the form of the Itaipu Dam.

Photo credit to Martin Travel Staff

Martin Travels' Sea Kayaks and Bikes in the Iguassu Falls Area

2008-03-26T16:24:00.002-03:00

On a bicycle trail at the Iguazu National Park Argentina

2008-03-26T16:19:00.004-03:00

This trail in the Iguazu National Park is normally closed for normal tourism. It is used mostly by researchers, scientists and ornitholgists with the possibility of allowing small birdwatching groups and at rare occasins to allow selected mountain bikers to travel the trail. The two photographs above show two bikers during one of this trail-checking exercise. As far as identification is concerned, the black guy on the yellow bike is me. The other biker is travel agent Ruth Sanchez. As you can see, we took binoculars and as birdwatchers did part of our obligation of reporting our sightings and letting park authorities of whatever irregularities we found.

Bicycling in the Iguassu Falls extended area

2008-03-20T10:20:00.008-03:00

Surely Brazil's most International Kingdom Hall

2008-03-20T02:37:00.006-03:00

I am sure that there is no better location for a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses than this in Foz do Iguaçu / Iguassu Falls Brazil. The Kingdom Hall - that is how Jehovah's Witnesses call their meeting and worship place - is located on Cataratas Avenue, on the way between the Aiport and downtown Foz do Iguaçu, "Foz" for short. Meetings are held here on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. There are, in addition, weekly meetings in LIBRAS - the Brazilian Sign Language. The Kingdom Hall is known as the International Congregation of JWs in Foz. The place's identification signs are seen in Portuguese (Salão do Reino das Testemunhas de Jeová), Spanish (Salón del Reino de los Testigos de Jehová) and English.

I think that three different congregations share the Kingdom Hall above. The Vila Yolanda Congregation with meetings on Tuesday 8:00 pm, Thursday 7:30 pm and Sunday 7:00 pm. The Central Congregation with meetings held on Tuesday, Friday 7:30 and Sunday 8:30 am. And the Brazilian Sign Language / Libras Congregation meeting on Monday 7:30 pm, Wednesday 7:30 and Saturday 7:00 pm.

Bertoni's deathbed was here

2008-03-20T02:36:00.003-03:00

Mosé Giacomo Bertoni (Moises Santiago Bertoni) was born 1857 in the Valley of Blenio, Ticino, Switzerland. He died in Foz do Iguaçu in 1929, in the house shown in the picture. Bertoni, a complex man, was a coloniser a scientist a political figure. As he researched on plants and wildlife he also learned Guarani and wrote about the language. I like his book: Guarani-Latin glosaary of Plants, where he compared the native Guarani and the scientific name-giving methods. He also studided the Guarani people and even wrote a book called the Guarani Civilization. He is known all over Paraguay as "Bertoni, the wise". When he died, Foz do Iguaçu declared a holiday, the bishop of Foz do Iguaçu, Monsignore Guilherme Maria Thiletzek went to Porto Bertoni by boat to say mass. The Brazilian Riverport Authority sent a river boat to take the people and Bertoni's body downriver to his last dwelling. A man had died, a myth had been born. More to come!!!!

2008-03-20T02:28:00.000-03:00

Who was or is Gauchito Gil?

2008-03-20T02:27:00.001-03:00

The picture above is of man named Antonio Mamerto de la Cruz Gil Núñez. Little Gaucho Gil is what Gauchito Gil stands for. Gauchito Gil was killed by the Police of the Province of Corrientes, Argentina, in the last years of the 19th century or sometime in the early years of the 20th century. For police forces of Corrientes and other provinces Gil was a bandit, a normal outlaw, thief, hooligan.

Today, Gil is a seen as a saint, a heroe and as a kind of neotropical Robin Hood who stole from the rich farmers and landowners and gave to the poor. Gil spent years fleeing and miraculously avoidng being caught by authorities. But one day, there was no escape. Gil fell victim of a bullets shot by a police man. As he fell, the legend goes, he looked his killer straighit in the eye and said that the officer's son whom the father had left dying at home, would be at the door to receive him. Then Gil died.

The policeman did his job, carried Gil's body to the police headquarters and went home. The foirst person he saw at the door, was his son that had been waiting for death for a long time. Itn is needless to say that the police officer was the first to believe that Gil was a saint. Today, under the name of Little Gaucho Gil or Gauchito Gil, he is venerated by 200,000 people every year who descend on the city of Mercedes in November to pay for graces received, to search for new graces and above all to thank the Heroe of Corrientes.

But devotion to the Little Gaucho popular saint is not limited to the pilgrimage to Mercedes. Throughout the year travelers along Argentina's national, provincial and country roads will see small and big red shrines, decorated with red flags, honoring the memory of Gauchito Gil. If Puerto Iguazu, by Iguassu Falls, is all you are going to see of Argentina, you can see a little Gauchito Gil shrine on the left side road the leads to the Falls. It is near the ITEC - Iguazu Technical Institute, a school associated with the Canadian Niagara College.

Buying or eyeing Rhodochrosite in Puerto Iguazú

2008-03-20T02:25:00.001-03:00

Found in Argentina only in Capillitas, Province of Catamarca, the rhodochrosite has been consacrated as Argentina's National Stone and Mineral. It is also known as the Rosa del Inca - The Inca's Rose. There is a national industry of Rhodochrosite jewels, carving, arts and handicraft. IN Puerto Iguazu the national stone of Argentina can be found nealry everywhere from top notch tourist traps to de luxe hotels. But also by smaller outfits found in not so commonly visited areas of town and mainly hardly visited by international tourists. Two places that I have in mind right now are the Joyeria Artesenal on Avenida Costanera (Avenue) and Tres Fronteras and mainly a place called Piedras Nativas on the Tres Fronteras Avenue. I will be going back to to Puerto Iguazú these days and will see whether things changed. See you soon!

Garden of Hummingbirds in Puerto Iguazú

2008-03-20T02:24:00.000-03:00

I will be back later today for more on this

My blog on the Iguassu River

2008-02-05T20:20:00.000-03:00

Hi, friends of the "Iguassu Falls Area" Tips. This is just to announce that I have released a new blog on all things pertaining to the Iguassu River (Rio Iguaçu) in the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina (Brazil) and the Province of Misiones, Argentina. The 1.300-kilometer long Iguassu River is known solely thanks to its Iguassu Falls in the final stretch of its journey. The blog explores the river from its (troubled) headwaters, through large cities, industrial areas, and neighborhoods. Part of the exloration has been carried out in 2007. The rest of it is still underway. If you have an interest in the Iguassu Rivers beyond but not excluding tourism and may worry about its environmental health, its people, problems, landscapes, geology. geography, and so on, I feel the blog has been made with you in mind. The blog canalso be seen in Portuguese and Spanish.

Index to Bussing Around in the Triple Border Area

2007-12-13T08:58:00.000-03:00

Index to postings

Secrets to Bus in the Triple Border - TTU
Bus to Três Lagoas via Rodoviária
Bus Rodoviaria via INSS, IML and Police Quarter
Bus to Brazil-Paraguay Amizade Bridge
The Universitária Line
Bus to Morumbi and Greater S.Francisco Area
Theme-Street Bairros – Portal da Foz and Morumbi
Bus to the Iguaçu National Park (INP)
Bus to INP / Argentina Intersection
Bus to INP Brazil’s Shortest Highway – BR 469
Bus to INP Price Democracy or Discriminatory Mess?
Bus to the Vilas of Itaipu
Bus to Três Bandeiras, Libra and Lote Grande
Bus to Vila “A” skipping the INSS-IML
Bus to Vila “C” and Bela Vista Biological Refuge
Bus to the Three Border Stone Mark (Wait for this)
Non-Integrated Local Bus - Interbairros City Tour
Non-Integrated Metro Bus – Bus to Santa Terezinha
Non-Integrated Metro Bus – Bus to S. Miguel
Non-Integrated Metro Buses – Tips on a trend
Non-integrated Intl Metro Bus/ to Puerto Iguazu
Non-integrated Intl Metro Bus / to Paraguayan cities
Non-Integrat’d Intl Metro Bus–Puerto Iguazu to Paraguay
Non-Integrat’d Intl Metro Bus to Puerto Franco, Paraguay
Bus Puerto Iguazu to Falls, Argentina
Bus Puerto Iguazú – Bernardo Irigoyen (Special Line)

Public Bus in the Triple Border Intro

2007-12-13T08:40:00.001-03:00

Sign on JK Avenue telling pedestrians not to get into the TTU through here (Author's photo)

Moving around by public bus in the Triple Border Area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay

The secret of moving around by bus in Foz do Iguaçu is to understand how the – Pedro Antonio de Nadai Urban Transport Terminal or just TTU works. The TTU occupies a sizeable area in downtown Foz do Iguaçu between Avenida Juscelino Kubitscheck (JK) – running roughly South-North, and the Rua Tarobá where the Bosque Guarani Municipal Zoo is located. On an East-West course, the TTU is squeezed between the Travessa Luiz Gama and the Rua (Street) Mem de Sá.

If you remember that millions of Brazilians survive on a minimal monthly misery wage that only now, after hundreds of years of struggle, has just bordered on the USD 150 mark, paying R$ 2.00 for a bus ride in town to be taken to and from work, twice a day, is a lot of money (some people say it is a theft). The TTU has been created as a way to cut down part of that spending. Thanks to the TTU’s Transporte Integrado (Integrated Transportation) concept you can take a bus from the Airport in Foz do Iguaçu, get off at the TTU and board a second bus “free” to another area of the city. Integrated buses are identified by either a white-lettered sign on the bus’ “forehead” or on a small black or white-lettered , handpainted (emergency) small sign located somewhere easy to see in the bus anatomy – preferrably the front of the vehicle.

As I have already mentioned, the official and only entrance to the TTU is on the JK Avenue. The back of the TTU is located strategically across from the entrance to the Park Guarani City Zoo (in case you want to visit).

The sides of the TTU are limited by the Rua Mém de Sá (Street) to the North and by Travessa Luiz Gama to the South. The TTU’s neighbor on its front side is the Fortified and electrified wall of the 34th Motorized Infantry Batallion – 34th BIMTZ, for short. The TTU lies between Foz do Iguaçu’s center proper and the Vila Paraguaia – a little Paraguayan enclave dating back from the glorious days of General Stroessner’s dictatorship (1954 – 1988). Guarani is understood by most of the older people and Spanish is (hopefully) understood by all. Also nearby on the JK Avenue is the Muffato Supermarket – strategically explored by backpackers from the whole world. Backpackers go their for mineral water and food. Something that is very interesting is that the 34th BIMTZ is called The Batalhão Republica do Paraguai (Battalion Republic of Paraguay) and is located on the Avenida República Argentina.

On more than half a dozen special days, the BIMTZ receives authorities from both Argentina and Paraguay. I dare to say that if you want to hear the Paraguayan or Argentine national anthems well sung with voices that hold the right tune from beginning to end you should listen to them as they are sung by Brazilian soldiers accompanied by the BIMTZ’s military band. Well I don’t think I will be beheaded because of this remark. Will I? Now let me go back to safer ground and concentrate on the TTU.

Bus to Três Lagoas via Rodoviária

2007-12-13T08:39:00.001-03:00

PLATAFORM ONE / SIDE ONE
Bus to Três Lagoas via Rodoviária

The TTU has three driveways and four plataforms. The platform on the Rua Mem de Sá is the one with the greatest amount of bus services offered – some of them of interest to the international public. Starting from the stop closest to the JK Avenue, there are buses that serve the regions of Tres Lagoas (Three Lagoons), Gleba Guarani and Jardim Dourado. At least two of these buses will either stop at the Rodoviaria Internacional de Foz do Iguaçu (International Bus Station)or stop pretty close to it. These are bus lines used by the population of these highly populous “bairros” or neighborhoods of Foz do Iguaçu. But besides the local population, these busses are very popular with backpackers of all kinds (Australians, New Zealanders, Israelis, Germans, Canadians, Americans, Japanese).

They are also popular with Brazilian tourists, Argentineans and Paraguayans returning from Brazilian beaches and many more. Since these buses have been meant for the local population they can be overcrowded with workers between 7 and 8 o’clock in the morning (in the neighborhood – city center direction), and 4 to 6 pm in the city center - neighborhood direction.

I have seen groups of Israelis or Europeans with huge back-breaking backpacks boarding these buses in these critical hours. I have never seen local people spitting on tourists or raising hell because of the confusion created by the rather educational and culturally enriching act of seeing huge backpacks made to fit a crowded bus. This is something positive about the people in Foz do Iguaçu. I really like to see how local people try to talk to travelers, teach them how to negotiate the turnstiles and how much the ticket costs besides trying to tell them where the bus stop is when the time to get off has come. I am sure that the situation would not be the same if those involved were middle class Brazilians, those who never ride on buses – including most of the people in town made richer and richer by tourism. The city has a rather serious problem with violence, thefts, robbery and murders – but I am very thankful to the local bandit and criminal community for leaving tourists out of our mess. Thank you all!

The buses going to Três Lagoas and Gleba Guarani besides making a stop at the Rodoviaria (Bus Station) they also will drive by and stop at or near several good hotels in town: Best Western Falls Galli, Recanto Park, Rafain Palace and Muffato Plaza Hotel (the same Muffato as the Supermarket).

The Rafain Palace Hotel has what may be the city’s largest convention and congress area and many of these events bring a lot of people to town and many guests are generated for hotels all over the city. So it is not difficult to see convention and congress participants using the local bus transportation service between the Rafain and their hotels and vice-versa. One note though: buses serving the rodoviaria (bus station) are of two kinds. Those going to the actual rodoviaria building and those passing near the rodoviaria along the Avenida Costa e Silva – an avenue I sometimes refer to as the Motel Avenue or Avenue of Motels. Prefer those buses with a sign saying that the bus will take the Avenida Paraná – INSS route.

Bus to the Amizade Bridge

2007-12-13T08:36:00.005-03:00

Bus to Brazil-Paraguay Friendship Bridge

Back to the living world of the TTU, following this platform you will see signs announcing buses that will go to the Ponte da Amizade (Puente de la Amistad or Friendship Bridge), Jardim America and Jardim Itaipu. There are a few numbered lines: 110/ 125/ 130/ 325/ 355. Where will they go? Mostly to neighborhoods that you may not have the time or interest to see – right now. Buses going to the Ponte da Amizade (Bridge) are very important to the city. They are the physical conection between Foz do Iguaçu (Brazilian) and Ciudad del Este (Paraguayan). They are also the link between the Brazilian State of Paraná and the Paraguayan Departamento (Department like the French) of Alto Paraná. Needless to say that he Bridge is above all a bridge between Brazil and Paraguay. Most of the buses stopping at this “Bus Stop” come from areas like Porto Meira (that is where the Three Borders’ Landmark, Jardim das Flores (Flower fo Gardens) and Profilurb, all in the Greater Porto Meira Area. Up to now thousands of Brazilian (Iguassuan) wage earners have to cross the border to work as for Paraguayan shops in all kinds of jobs and in varying degrees of informality or formality. A sad reality!

INSS, IML and Police Quarter

2007-12-13T08:36:00.003-03:00

INSS, IML and Police Quarter
Foto of IML / INSS

As far as buses to Três Lagoas are concerned there is still one going to the Praias (Beaches). Beaches? Sure, artificial beaches created by man on the shores of the Itaipu Lake (Reservoir). The bus going to the “Praias” or “Prainha” (little Beach) will also go to the Rodoviaria if there is a sign saying that the route is via Rodoviaria and the INSS. If you are not Brazilian it’s possible that you will have a hard time trying to translate what INSS stands for. It’s simple: Instituto Nacional de Seguridade Social (Social Security National Institute). In this case INSS is a bulding where poor and weary iguassuans spend long hours on never-ending lines, waiting. People line up for retirement papers, to get different benefits, pregnancy benefits, death benefits, to see an INSS doctor, to get certifiicates of all kinds besides getting various precious stamps. The INSS has another special characteristic: it is always on strike. I don’t know how social security works in your place, but I know that I am very thankful for the fact that you will nor need the INSS – unless you have migrated to Brazil and accepted to share our crosses and burdens and yokes.

The area where the INSS building is located is a very busy bus stop. People get off here to go the City’s main Health Post and Hospital. Hundreds of people also have to visit the Brazilan Receita Federal (Internal Revenue, Customs and Tax all together) Office mostly trying to reclaim goods mostly caught or confiscated by Customs at the International (Paraguay-Brazil)Friendship Bridge. Also served by the same bus stops there, is the IML and the 6th Subdivison of the State Civil Police both under the umbrella of the Paraná State Secretary of Security.

The Civil Police is called civil because it is not organized in the military way. No corporal, sargeant, colonel, no uniform. Today’s governor Roberto Requião has tried to impose neckties on civil police man. He said that it is for them look good. I think it is not fair to make healthy men wear neckties in Foz do Iguaçu in January. Besides neckties are suspicious, here. Unless he is in court, in a conference or in a Mormon chapel, someone wearing a necktie is propably doing something wrong. Watch Out!

Unfortunately, you may need the Civil Police. It is the police office that you will have to go to in order to register a complaint about something (bad) that has happaned to you. Example: your backpack has been stolen. Passport stolen. Money. Whatever crime has been commited against you, you will have to come to the Civil Police. It is the first step of the ladder to access the Judiciary System. If someone is going to go jail this is where it all begins. The exception is for federal crimes and those crimes regulated by international conventions: drug smuggling, transporting of drugs, explosives, terrorism (wherever it is) and the smuggling and trafficking of people across international borders. Like that?

Normally after people are heard by Civil Police authorities they are sent to a State Jail called “Cadeião” that has the reputation to be very bad, overcrowded and highly dangerous. It is the greatest violation of the laws of physics that states that two bodies can not occupy the same space. At the the Cadeião built for 300 souls, more than 800 bodies pay for their sins of their owners in this purgatory called Cadeia Estadual de Três Lagoas (Three Lagoons State Jail). People are suposed to remain here until judgement. But many have been forgotten there. Human Rights activists should take a tour of the Tres Lagoas Jail as a side tour of the Iguassu Falls trip.

Very close to the Policia Civil’s 6th Subdivision there is yet another state organization called IML that stands for Legal Medical Institute (Instituto Médico Legal). By Legal Medicine we are saying Forensic Medicine which means that the IML houses the “Morgue”, forensic investigators and scientific criminal investigation experts. Don’t be scared if I say that there is a possibility that living people may need the services of the IML. The Forensic Institute is also used to officially attest that torture, physical aggression, physical violence like rape or even the loss of virginity and so on has happened to someone. This procedure is called “exame de corpo delito” roughly an examination to attest the truth or not of a claim related to violence of any kind to someone's body. So the IML is not for the dead alone even though a coroner may do the testing. If you find yourself in some situation when someone titled coroner comes to check you, don’t doubt the fact that you are alive and not dead in hell or paradise.

The Universitária Line

2007-12-13T08:34:00.003-03:00

The University Line

Another interesting bus line created by the former Foz do Iguaçu’s mayor, Samis da Silva, the son of ex-mayor and today’s state congressman Dobrandino Gustavo da Silva, is the “Universitária Line”. This proposal is interesting. This bus will drive by and stop at or near schools, high schools and colleges in and across town. From the TTU the bus will go to what is called the "University Zone" or District in the area of influence of Itaipu Binational.

Side by side are the Foz do Iguaçu Campus of the Unioeste (Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná - West Paraná State University) – Foz do Iguaçu’s alma mater par excellence and the – privately owned Universidade União das Américas - Uniamérica, responsible for bringing courses in the medical area on the Brazilian side (the Paraguayan side has pioneered medical courses in several areas – including medicine proper). This is the final stop and you will have to get off the bus which means that the “integrated” ticket is over. You will have to pay a new ticket. If you are a tourist, that is, a perambulator, you might consider visiting these universities, sitting at the students bar, talking to people. Who knows? Nobody has done that! So why not start? The Unioeste Foz do Iguaçu Campus' (there are other campi in the region) main building has been built to bring to mind the Jesuit Architecture of which now there are only ruins. The return bus will keep the universitária promisse, it will pass by the Fafig / Cesufoz College Complex on the Avenida Paraná and blocks down the avenue it will turn left and head to the UDC – União Dinâmica de Faculdades Cataratas (I got my Bachellor Degree in Communication / Journalism, here). The name of this school is kind of a challenge to translate. Something like the Dinâmica Union of Cataratas Colleges. Colegio Educação Dinâmica (Dynamic) is the name of a privately-owned school that has been taking care of pre-school, basic, middle and higher education in town. The pre-school departament runs by the name of Xodó da Vovó (Grandma’s Xodó where xodó may mean anything from joy, to pride, jewel). It is not hard to see whole families studying at the Dinâmica Educational Complex. After the UDC stop the bus will head to the Bartolomeu Mitre State School – a traditional state school fitting the every-one-in-town-has studied-here-someday category (I also did) - and will head to the TTU Terminal on its way back to the University Zone.

To Morumbi & Greater São Francisco

2007-12-13T08:33:00.002-03:00

On to Morumbi and the Greater São Francisco Area

The last bus stop at this platform offers transportation to neighborhoods like Morumbi, Primeiro de Maio (First of May) and Portal da Foz (Doorway to Foz). Suppose you would tell your guide that you would like to see the Morumbi, he woud probably tell you to be very careful or to skip that idea. He may be both right and partly prejudiced. These are areas “under construction” and of humble beginnings. This complex of neighborhoods is referred to as the Greater São (San) Francisco Area and its population descend from the workers that helped build Itaipu – the Largest Hydroelectrical Project in the world and bla-bla-bla. The truth is that these areas are a living reminder of the debt Itaipu still has with this people despite all that talk of social responsibility and so on.

These are not tourist attractions in the sense that this word is used (somehow and very often linked to a lot of stupidity). But people looking to see the real Foz should try to get away from the thing everybody sees. Avenida República Argentina that connects downtown Foz do Iguaçu to the Morumbi area is slowly becoming a place for bars, restaurants, pizzerias, live music hot dog stands, beiju (mbeiyú in Guarani) and tapioca. Life is moving here. For beiju and tapioca check the Praça da Bíblia (Bible Square) where frequent gospel and evangelical shows are held. It is said that night life in the Avenida is begining to be the best in town. My suggestion is that you get organized and check it out. To go to the real Morumbi I would recommend you to go with someone from Foz, a guide, a friend etc. BUses coming this way are Morumbi, Primeiro de Maio,Interbairros (see Interborough bus).

Themed streets of Foz do Iguaçu

2007-12-13T08:32:00.001-03:00

Theme Streets

The neighborhood of Portal da Foz (Doorway to Foz), once very violent mainly because of a small favela is also undergoing changes. What I find interesting about the Portal is that all of its streets have been named after a bird of the Braziian fauna – or at least as Brazilian as possible. Main street is called Beija-Flor (hummingbird) and it has intersections with the Sanhaço (Sayaca) Street, Pica-pau (Woodpecker) Street, Thrush (Sabiá) and even Swann Street among others. I used to live in the Pica-pau (Woodpecker) street a few years ago and I did bring people from several nationalities to my house there. One of my enjoyments was to show my guests that, at the time (maybe today), we coud see real woodpeckers mainly flickers in the Woodpecker street. The Hummingbird street will run into the Morumbi that also happens to be a theme-street neighborhood. But unlike the Portal da Foz, the subject in the Morumbi is football called soccer by Americans and caccio by Italians.

Exemples are: Rua Mané Garrincha,Palestra (Gymn) Itália (in honor to the Gymn of the Palmeiras football team created by Italians in São Paulo), Rei (King) Pelé, Pacaembu (Stadium in São Paulo), Fonte Nova (Stadium in Salvador), Nivaldo Amaral and São Jorge (Saint George). I hadn't known that Saint George used to play football!

There are other areas in town with themed-streets: rocks and crystals, fish, trees, rivers, Indian tribes etc. The Bus "Portal da Foz" leaves from the TTU. You can use ths Portal da Foz bus to come from city center to Recanto Palace Hotel. My sugestion isthat you should be with someone local to visit the "bairro".

The Iguaçu National Park Bus

2007-12-13T08:31:00.014-03:00

PLATFORM ONE / SIDE TWO

Photos >
Park's Entrance Complex
You will get off here > Iguacu National Park's Visitor's Center
The Iguaçu International Park Bus

The first stop on Side Two of Plataform One is possibly Brazil’s best internationally known local bus service and even though there is no statistic about it, it is curious to think that people from most of the world’s countries have used this simple, common, important service. It is one of the few lines in Brazil where you can board and pay in US dollars, Brazilian Reais (plural of Real (R$), Argentine Pesos (AP$)or Paraguayan Guaranies (G$), though it is possibly illegal. It is the bus that connects the TTU to the Iguassu National Park’s Visitor’s Center via the Foz do Iguaçu-Cataratas International Airport (I have a story about this Aiport's name). The line departs the TTU, travels along the Avenida JK, into Avenida Jorge Schimmelpfeng and past the intersection of Avenida Jorge Schimmelpfeng and Avenida Paraná. From this point onward the Avenida Jorde Schimmelpfeng will be called Avenida das Cataratas (Cataratas or Falls’ Avenue).

Before entering the tourist area proper, the Avenida das Cataratas that start right past the Mufatto Boici Super Market (Buoyseeh in the Brazilian Portuguese transliteration and Mboicy in the original Guarani) in the area known as Boici / Mboicy, and crosses the neighborhood of Vila Iolanda or Yolanda – close to what can be called “traditional” in 89-year-old Foz do Iguaçu. Streets are shaded by older trees, houses are mostly one storeyed, there is still an ambiance of peace, though three-storey, four-storey buildings are creeping in and mushrooming around. I wrote once a nice poem to|Vila Iolanda – I lost it, may have burnt it. When you see the Restaurante China (oldest Chinese foodplace in town since the days of Mao Tse Tung), you are leaving the Vila Yolanda Area and entering the touristic area. Signs that you are in the “Tourism Corridor” are more restaurants, the traditional Churrascaria Rafain (and showplace) and hotels. The first to be seen is a budget hotel called Monalisa on the right side of the road. On the left you will see the Bourbon Hotel Tower and Convention Center – Hotel Bourbon, for short, in the five-star range; then there is the Dom Pedro I – ranking lower in the starred universe, again followed by the Mabu Hotel and Resort etc offering five-star accomodation plus a thermal pool and spa, green vistas and so on. Across from the Hotel Bourbon there is the GranVía – a budget hotel that was able to somehow settle in the big guys’ nesting area.

Between the Bourbon and Mabu travelers will find the Danceteria Crystal and Show Place. It is an interesting place because it ranges from a “Boîte”, Discotheque and Show House with girls that can be available and for that some people prefer to add “whorehouse” to the list of specifities. The place is expensive and as far as Latins are concerned this is a place for men. That is made pretty clear when you learn that the entrance fee to the shows is R$ 33.00 for men and R$ 66 for women. But I have heard anyway of European groups made up of couples who have gone there to see how things works. Even though I said that some peole add whorehouse to the list of nouns related to the house, there are no rooms to rent. The city is well served as far as “Motels” are concerned. Motels rent room by the hour for those who may end up with a Cristal Beauty for the night. Pleasen don’t anyone tell me that I am selling sexual tourism. I am just telling you what is available. (I wrote a few words about motels here)

I would like to protest here for the recent introduction of condominiums or gated communities in the Avenida das Cataratas. Landowners have seen the possibility of selling land for gated communities thanks to the increase of urban violence. They are taking advantage of two things. First, gated communities are exploding worldwide mainly in India, Russia, Florida (that is close to the United States) and so on. Second, the problem of Brazilian failing or hard-to-find security policies. You will see two of these developments (rich ghettos) on the right side of Avenida das Cataratas. I don’t like them but if you want to check their sites here are the links for Rich Ghetto One and Rich Ghetto Two.

Argentina's Intersection

2007-12-13T08:31:00.013-03:00

Trevo da Argentina or Argentina’s Intersection

Right ahead of this rather active and short area of the city-controlled part of the Avenida das Cataratas, there is a road intersection with traffic going separate ways. If you go right, at the intersection, you will go to Avenida Mercosul (Avenue) and to Argentina. The Federal Police, Customs, Animal and Plant Sanitary Control Complex is right ahead. Beyond that will come the International Tancredo Neves Bridge (Fraternity Bridge) over the Iguassu (Iguaçu / Iguazú) River between Brazil and Argentina or Foz do Iguaçu and Puerto Iguazú. Across the Bridge, all passengers will have to go through the Argentine Migration. Customs, Animal and Plant Health Control Complex – called simply Aduana Argentina (by now far tougher than its Brazilian counterpart, fortunately and gracias Argentina!).
Backpackers do a few exercises at this intersection.

Operation One: coming from the Iguaçu National Park (Brazil) stop at this intersection in order to catch bus to see the Falls from the Argentine Side. Or getting off here to catch the bus to Puerto Iguazu in order to stay there or to continue trip.

Operation Two: people coming from Puerto Iguazú, who were staying or are staying at Argentine Side, get off the Puerto Iguazu-Foz do Iguaçu Bus at this point in order to go and see the Falls from the Brzilian Side.

Brazil’s shortest Highway

2007-12-13T08:30:00.003-03:00

Brazil’s shortest Highway – BR 469

If you go straight past the Intersection you will continue on the Avenidas das Cataratas but something has changed. From the Intersection onward you will be driving or riding on Brazil’s shortest Federal Highway (BR) 469. The highway is federally controlled – not the houses and the neighborhoods, though. The Hotel Carimã now Bristol Carimã and Convention, (a place where I used to work a long time ago) is right after the intersection. The BR 469 will go all the way to the Iguassu Falls. There are quite a few hotels on this stretch of the road and there normally is a bus stop across from every hotel including the Paudimar Youth Hostel that shares a bus stop with the San Juan Hotel (there are two San Juan hotels in town). There is feeder bus between the BR 469 here and the somewhat and still somehow rural community of Remanso Grande. The driver of the Freeder bus will automatically stop at the bus stop serving the Paudimar Youth Hostel if you have a backpacker or look like a gringo. The feeder bus is free – no ticekt. (Note: in Brazil everyone is gringo. Not only US gringoes. Uruguayans, Argentines, Arabs, Israelis, Japanese, Papuan-New Guineans, Ghanaians (Black gringoes), germans and so on. If you are not Brazilian, and don’t speak Portuguese your are gringo. In the South Brazilian states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, Gringoes is used to people of Italian descent mainly if he lives in the country).

The Parque Nacional Bus will go only as far as the Iguassu National Park’s Visitor’s Center. From here all “passengers” must board a special bus owned by Cataratas S.A. the Company that administers under concession, the Tourist and Visitation Area of the Iguassu National Park.

Buse are double deck, glassless windows on the top deck, that allow for a better sight of the Park. Along the 12 kilometer-road passengers will be notified by a recorded message in the bus sound system about stops for all other attractins between the National Park Gate and the Iguassu Falls. Sadly, information on and interpretation of what you see is very poor.

Price Democracy or Discriminatory Mess

2007-12-13T08:29:00.000-03:00

Price Democracy or Discriminatory Mess

As of today the bus fare from the TTU to the Visitor’s Center costs R$ 2.00 for everyone – black, rich, poor, ugly, handsome, famous and the anonymous. Inside the Park things are more modern and discriminatory. There are different prices for those residing in Foz do Iguaçu and other 15 little cities bordering on the Iguassu National Park. There is a price for Brazilian from the rest of Brazil. Prices for the citizens of Mercosul countries excluding Brazil (What?). There are also prices for Brazilian Children, Mercosul Children, Mercosul Senior Citizens, Brazilian Seniors, no Price for European, American or Other Seniors. That is something you have to check with a travel agent because they have the patience that I do not have to deal with this kind of thing. All I can say is that such varied discriminantion is not foreseeable by the Brazilian Constitution and this kind of things only continues because no one has taken this case to Court. The Iguaçu National Park people have been learning this “normal tendency” in their frequent travels to National Parks in the US, mainly. I wil soon post a translation on a text that I wrote called “What is wrong with the Iguaçu National Park”? You can see it in Portuguese in the meantime.

To the Vilas of Itaipu

2007-12-13T08:28:00.004-03:00

Bus To Vila "C" Via Rodoviária (Intl. Bus Terminal)
Top photo show a typical arched,tin-roofed,warehouselike dwelling now turned into neighborhood business offering narbecue on weekends

Still Platform One / Side Two
The Vilas of Itaipu

The second bus stop on Platform One / Side Two is also interesting for the international traveler. It is the stop for the buses going to Vila “C”. Vila is not in the sense you know like an Italian Villa in Tuscany etc. Vila is nearly the same is “bairro”, a neighborhood. Vila “C” was one of three “Vilas” built to house Itaipu Construction workers. The others were Vila “B” and Vila “A”. Vila “B” was built for the white-collared administrators, engineers and skilled professionals, mostly called Doctors. Each house in vila “B” is a little mansion. Vila “A” was built for the blue-collared worker, administration clerk and bureaucrats. The Vila “A” neighborhood can be easily seen today, streets are tree-shaded and spacious, there are plenty of children parks with toys, thickets and remains of original forest were left and houses are nice and comfortable.

The Vila “C” was something else. The jungle was cleared, the red soil exposed and I saw a conglomarate of arched, tin-roofed warehouse-type buildings be sown over the then seemingly far away hard-to-live-in expanse of red-soiled nothingness. Each warehouse was meant to house four families. So the inside of the warehouse was subdivided and turned into four houses. People had to do what they could in order to come up with ideas to make brickwalls and wooden ceilings become sound proof so that families and mainly couples could have privacy in the extremely hot summer nights of Foz do Iguaçu.

Little by little after the Dam was finished, creativity and effort transformed the old warehouse-like buildings into separate houses. Today it takes a good pair of observing eyes to still see the tin-rooffed wareghouses here and there. Thse bus laving from this stop and going to Vila “C” will also go to the Bus Station (rodoviária). This can be a good option for the buses going to Tres Lagoas – Gleba Guarani Area – in case they are crowded. From this stop you can board buses also going to the Vila “A”, via Avenida Paraná – remember the INSS, IML note?

Today all of the three Itaipu’s “Vilas” (A, B & C) have been surrounded by “bairros” that have grown ever since thanks to the entrepreneurial zeal of land developpers and why not? Speculators. Newer neighborhoods that sprung from this entrepreneurial zeal include the conglomerate known as AKLB short for the neighborhoods of Aporã, Karla, Lancaster and Barbara and the area known as the Ipê Gardens (Jardim, not actually gardens) I & II. The Vila “A” mainly along its main street, Silvio Americo Sasdelli, tends to have a considerable family nightlife with places for icecream, pizzas, snacks and so on. Beware: buses in the night tend to be far apart or even chaotic. If you have a way to go there and return, this is a good place to see Iguaçuenses (Iguaçuans) at home.

To Três Bandeiras, Libra & Lote Garnde

2007-12-13T08:27:00.000-03:00

Still Platform One / Side Two
Três Bandeiras (Three Flags), Libra and Lote Grande

The next bus stops on this side of Platform One will go to the bairros of Três Bandeiras, Conjunto Libra and Lote Grande. Três Bandeiras is part of the Greater Três Lgoas area of Foz do Iguaçu. It is a populous area that also originated from the rising housing demand after the Dam was finished. Access to the Três Bandeiras area is via (Brazilian Highway) BR 277, after the Rafain Palace and Hotel Muffato. So this bus can be used by guests of these two hotels.

The Conjunto Libra is a housing project that started with the construction of State Government-financed houses. Houses then were democratically-made-pidegon-hole-type habitations. Today, with the passing of years the area is growing to occupy its place in the heart of the city’s middle class. The neighborhood is interesting, has churches, restaurants and its mains street is called Pôr do Sol (Sunset). Access to the Conjunto Libra is by the way of the Avenida República Argentina, already mentioned, with its increasing businesses, shops, offices, internet houses, butcher’s shop, bakery, pizza places, bars and so on. The Avenida Por do Sol or as like to call Avenida Sunset (in Portunglish) crosses the Avenida Republica Argentina at the Bible Square (Praça da Bíblia).

The Lote Grande bus goes to the shrinking and receding agricultural area of Foz do Iguaçu. We are also a victim of urban sprawling as the city quickly advances and chews up and devours its green lungs. Bus access to Lote Grande is limited. It is a great experience, though. More on it later.

Bus to Vila “A” skipping the INSS-IML

2007-12-13T08:26:00.001-03:00

PLATFORM TWO / ONLY SIDE
Bus to Vila “A” skipping the INSS-IML

Once more I will start describing the bus stops on Plartform Two beginning with the stop closer to the JK Avenue. Here is the stop for buses going to Vila “A”, one of Itaipu Vilas. Vila “A” has already been mentioned under the Vilas of Itaipu. The difference here is that this bus will go to Vila “A” via the Juscelino Kubitschek Avenue or Avenida JK, for short. The other buses mentioned goes to Vila “A” by way of the INSS and the IML, the Customs-Tax Authority office and even around the corner where the Brazilian Federal Police Headquerters for the entire border area has been built. The Jardim Paraná / 335 Bus, on bus stop two, will also go the area of Vila “A”.
The third bus stop on this platform will go to Vila “C” North. This is the bus that will go to the Bella Vista Biological Refuge of Itaipu – also mentioned under the same before in relation to the normal Vila “C” bus.

Note on the Biological Refuge: As check and rewrite this posting I am not physically in Foz do Iguaçu so I do not know what is the real procedure if you want to visit the Refuge. The problem is that Itaipu has begn to charge for everything: visiting the DAM, visiting the Museum, the Refuge. The Itaipu people have followed the Price Democracy or Discriminatory Mess I mentioned under the Iguaçu National Park. The mess is so big that only God and your travel agent through his local travel associates can figure that out. Where the money goes, what is done to it, who is doing what is a case for Transparency International, Brazil branch.

The Interbairros (Interborough) Bus

2007-12-13T08:25:00.000-03:00

NON-INTEGRATED BUSES
(NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH DESINTEGRATED BUSES)

INTERBAIRROS – As far as I can remember the “Interbairros” line is the only Iguaçuan line that is not part of the integrated system. Bairro means neighborhood and this is a trans-neighborhood or interborough line since it nearly crosses the whole town – with the exception of the “centro”, the city center area. The yellow-white-and black-striped buses belongs to Viação Itaipu (Viação is the name given to bus companies) runs from Vila “C” Norte to Porto Meira – roughly from the Itaipu Dam area to Porto Meira – a short distance from the Marco das Três Fronteiras (Three-Frontiere Mark / Three-Border Mark or Dreiländereckmeilenstein, roughly. I recommend a ride on this line since it is equivalent to a pretty good and cheap City Tour. Whatever Foz do Iguaçu has to show it will show in this tour. (The “interbairros” idea was copied from Curitiba’s Interbairro buses. The idea is that interbairros will connect several city communities without having to come downtown).

If your are in the top North area, in the area known as Vila “C” already mentioned, in the area of influence of the Itaipu Dam, the bus heads South to the Three-Frontiere Mark zigzaging East and West practically crossing the whole city. Leaving the Vila “C” the bus goes further North right to the Gates of Itaipu stopping acrosso from the Itaipu Visitor’s Center. Then it will drive down Avenida Tancredo Neves (a continuation of Avenida JK) and into the Vila “A” “touring the whole of Avenida Américo Sasdelli a nice avenue that also serves as divider between the Itaipu-built residential area and the new communites that sprouted on the opposite side. Here you will find the the house of ecologist and architecture students João Soldatelli, across from the Neighborhood’s Civil Police Station on its way to Avenida Gramado. This is new East-West link that travels to the Grande (Greater) Três Lagoas Area. I like Três Lagoas, a somewhat forgotten portion of town, that could as well be another city, had they a little bit more inhabitants. Remember: Três Lagoas has the city’s artificial beach, the WeekendFly Trike and Ultralight flight School and Tours is located here as well two of the city’s clubs are also based here (The Oeste Paraná Club and the Yacht Club).

From Tres Lagoas the bus will come to a side street by the BR (Brazilian Highway) 277 for less than a kilometer and then will take the BR to go to the Portal da Foz Neighborhood – the area I have already written about and proclaimed it as an ornithological neighborhood. True to the neighborhood’s theme, you will ride the entire length of Beija-flor (Hummingbird) Street till it gives way to Rua Mané Garrincha – in the area that declared football as the theme for its streets. From here the bus will travel along the Avenida Mario Filho, the double-lane avenue with lots of activity, Hospital, the Saint Francis’ statue, bars, restaurants, churches (catholic and protestant) and will finally enter the by now famous Republica Argentina. But will not run the whole length of the Avenida. A little past the Bible Square (Praça da Biblia), the bus will turn to the left and into the Rua (Street) Monsenhor Guilherme crossing the lower middle class area of Jardim São Paulo I and II. The next Avenida in the itinerary is the Felipe Wandscheer. The first stop of the Interbairros on this Avenue is right across the Hotel Suíça – here is another tip in case you plan to stay at this nice hotel. Other bus linea serving the Hotel Suiça and the whole of the Avenida Felipe Wandscheer is the Jardim Copacabana, departing from the TTU. It it may be of interest to know that most people in town are not quite used to the German name of this street. Traditionally this avenida has been known as Estrada Velha de Guarapuava (Old Road to Guarapuava) and an even older name for the road is the Estrada do Telegrapho (Telegraph Road). This is part of the first road built by the military of the Brazilian Empire as they traveled from Guarapuava to discover and claim for the Empire the area where the Iguaçu River says farewell to Brazil and empties into the mightier Paraná River. It is this point, this junction, that the word “Foz” represents. The military founded the Iguaçu Military Colony in 1888 without knowing that the Empire had come to its end and a Republic had been proclaimed.

The bus’ goal now is to reach the Avenida Iguaçu in the area known as Vila Iolanda – the area I already mentioned as being shaded and peaceful. To make a long story shorter, the bus is getting closer to the end of the its long itinerary, so the goal nopw is to get to the Avenida General Meira that wil take finally to the vicinity of its terminal in the area known as Porto Meira. Before the city tour ends, the bus will make stop, if somebody demands, at the Parque Remador – where a small Catholic shrine has been built. The terminal on this end of the Interbairros’ city tour is not a long distance from the The Three-Border Stone Mark, facing the Iguaçu and Paraná Rivers and peeping at Argentina and Paraguay. But, and this is a long but, do not, I repeat, do not be tempted to walk to the Stone Mark area because there are serious possibilities and risk that you might be attacked and robbed. I have heard and have even got involved in the process of intervewing and counseling people who have even been shot at while strolling in the area. I remember an Australian guy who went through this there. So, be smart!

This is the only problem in the interbairros city tour. You have to continue on to Mark by bus. Normally buses coming from the Friendship Bridge doing the Ponte (Bridge) – Porto Meira line, will go to the the Three-Border Stone Mark and Park if there are passengers in the bus. ....

Neo-Metropolitan buses

2007-12-13T08:23:00.004-03:00

Sign with timetable for the Foz do Iguaçu - São Miguel Metropolitan Bus (Author's photo)

METROPOLITAN

Recently the Government of Paraná has been intent on creating metropolitan areas with an eye on improving administration. Foz do Iguaçu is a candidate to be decared a metropolitan are for a number of cities mainly those bordering on the Reservoir of Itaipu. This has been the flag of local politicians. The problem is that the Government saw things otherwise and had planned to put Foz do Iguaçu under the umbrella of Cascavel. How that will end is something to wait and see.
In the practical side of life what has alredy been seen is the formation of a network of metropolitan bus lines. The neo-metropolitan bus lines when compared to old experiments like the STI bus line.

You can take metropolitan buses to San Miguel do Iguaçu and Santa Helena from the stop at Rua Mem de Sá, by the TTU Terminal in Foz do Iguaçu. Again these buses are not integrated so they do not enter the TTU. But they can be taken from Men de Sá Street by the Restaurant Corujão. It is possibe to board them also from the Rodoiária (Bus Station on the platform used by local buses)

The difference between these buses and the long distance intermunicipal buses is that these have common, non-reclinable seats, the ticket is paid in the bus, and they stop whenever someones signals at or think of signalaing at them along the BRs (Federal Highways) and PRs (Paraná State Roads).

Between Foz do Iguaçu and Santa Helena (on the shores of the Reservoir of Itaipu) the bus will drive through Santa Terezinha de Itaipu, São Miguel do Iguaçu, Itaipulândia and Missal. The first leg of the trip is Foz do Iguaçu - São Miguel.

To Santa Terezinha de Itaipu

2007-12-13T08:23:00.002-03:00

SANTA TEREZINHA DE ITAIPU – Santa Terezinha de Itaipu (Terezinha pronounced as Tahy-rahy-zeen’ nyah) is a free, autonomous, independent and young city of 25,000 souls liberated from or gotten rid of Foz do Iguaçu in 1984. So STI, for short, is a city that share the same history, aspirations and cultural profile as Foz do Iguaçu. The main difference is that while Foz do Iguaçu tend to be into the third sector and services, STI is actively an agricultural land with some factories, business and, I think, three hotels (Hotel Tamburi, Hotel Praia Sol and Hotel Mucuri). All the hotels of STI face the BR (Brazilian Highway) 277. The city has what they call Tourism Terminal which is made up of the City’s artificial beach (far better kept than the one in Foz do Iguaçu) with bikini-clad beauties (also men), camping area, barbecue area, resuarnt bar, activities mainly in the summer months when the Government of Paraná offers programs like Viver Verão (live Summer) and so on. STI is also a dormitory city for many people who work either in Ciudad del Este or Foz do Iguaçu. It means that people need transportation. The Foz do Iguaçu – Santa Terezinha de Itaipu bus has been in existence for as long as I can remember – at least back to 1977 – when the area seemed to me to be a group of houses separated by very red, muddy streets with giant quicksand-like potholes where the buses of Viação Itaipu seemed to have a habit of being sucked in. Passengers had to get off and help push the bus out of the slippery mud pools. It is very different today except for the Viação Itaipu that still covers the line connecting the two cities. The bus line has been called metropolitan since the time when metropolitan was both little understood and hardly applicable to Foz do Iguaçu. The price is R$ 2.00 with no discrimination as to nationality, social class or whatever.
If you have the time, Santa Terezinha may be a good idea. Night time bus frequency is bad. Be ready to return by taxi. The STI metropolitan does not departs from the TTU Terminal. It leaves from the Travessa Luiz Gama, outside the terminal. If you would like to see the Praia (beach) of Santa Terezinha take the bus Santa Terezinha witk a sign that reads “Prainha”.
Santa Terezinha de Itaipu lies outside the Iguaçu / Iguazu International Tourism Pole (IITP) – a Mercosul designated special area that when applicable will make the life of tourists easier as far as visas are concerned. If you have been officially and legally admitted to one of the three countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay), you would not need visas to roam freely the area within the limits of the IITP. In the case of Santa Terezinha you will need a visa since it is outside the IITP. The limits of Foz do Iguaçu, Puerto Iguazu and the Aiport of Ciudad del Este (mingá Gazú, actually) are roughly the limits of the Pole. As of today only Argentina is close to atttaining the control necessary for the IITP. Brazil is getting closer with investments in the border structure. Paraguay still has a long way. In the meantime, you wait!

Bus to Puerto Iguazu - Argentina

2007-12-13T08:21:00.004-03:00

TO PUERTO IGUAZÚ – ARGENTINA

The terminal for buses coming from Puerto Iguazú (to Foz do Iguaçu) is around the area of the International Friendship Bridge. When they leave the Bridge Area they stop and can be boarded at any of the bus stops along the Avenida JK. Important for people in hotels along the avenue like the Lider Palace Hotel. The bus stops by the TTU on Rua Mem de Sá right beside the Lanchonete Corujão (Big Owl). Do not forget that to go to Puerto Iguazu you will need to carry your passport and have the right visas in case citizens of your country needs visa. If you are Brazilian, only official documents are accepted, i.e. RG (Carteira de Identidade) or Passport. No other. No kind of professional document like Lawyers’ (OAB) ID, Military Papers, Politicians’ Identification. Nothing. Just RG or Passport.

I have seen Argentina’s Migration Agents turning down Brazilian Ministers, Deputados (Congresmen), and even the Paraná State Secretary of Segurança (Security) was sent back to his hotel to get his Brazilian (RG) ID. Brazil will soon have to start to tighten things up. Paraguay too.

Buses to Argentina are part of the International Urban Transportation. If you have trouble understanding something that is “International Urban” you are not alone. This concept is older than the International Metropolitan. Two Argentine bus companies operate the Puerto Iguazú – Foz do Iguaçu – Puerto Iguazú line. They are the locally-owned Transportes Tres Fronteras and the Posadas-owned Crucero del Norte ( Crucero also travels to São Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, La Plata, Bariloche and Santiago)

There are also two Brazilian companies operating on the same stretch: Viação Itaipu and Celeste (part of Pluma bus) What I am going to say now is a secret and understandably some people don’t like it. Crucero del Norte charges R$ 2.00 or $ 2.00(Argentine pesos). The remaining trio Itaipu, Celeste and Tres Fronteras charge R$ 3.00 or $ 3.00 pesos. Crucero del Norte’s bus tend to be better, wider, easier to move around with luggage. Itaipu sometimes use a micro bus with doors too narrow for people to get in with the added problem that the turnstile is right by the door. This is the worst for the handicapped. Definitely impossible for wheelchairs. None of the international buses offers accessibility for wheelchairs users. What is the message?

You have to get off at the Brazilian Federal Police Immigration Control. Buses normally will not wait. So, the driver will give you a small piece of paper, a ticket, that you can use in the next bus. But tickets are not interchangeable. They have to be used in buses of the same company. Remember the R$ 3.00 – R$ 2.00 deal? This is revenge time!

It is possible that you will lose the bus again on the Argentine Immigration Control area. The same will be done. A ticket so that you can board the next bus. All buses will go to the International Bus Terminal of Puerto Iguazu.

On the Puerto Iguazú – Foz do Iguaçu stretch, buses depart from the International Bus Terminal. Remember that you have to go through immigration and stamp your passport out.

Be careful when you enter Brazil. Situation in Brazil is more laid back, relaxed and that is bad. It is possible that you will not see a police man and some drivers will drive slowly but straight through the control area. It means that you are illegal. Some people may stay illegally during their whole stay in the Border and only be awaken to reality when they try to leave Brazil from Rio, São Paulo. Some drivers are very good in trying to guide passengers in the right direction. Also remember that if there is a long line it is better to get off the bus with your gear and take the next bus.

METROPOLITAN BUSES TIPS ON A TREND

2007-12-13T08:21:00.002-03:00

METROPOLITAN BUSES TIPS ON A TREND

Knowing how to use the Metropolitan Buses it is possible to travel a lot and ow a lot of those out-of-the-track places. The area is increasingly being covered by metropolitan buses. Cascavel has lines fanning into many cities allowing those who want to have a glimpse of life in the West of Paraná in places like Capitão Leônidas Marques (Eucatur), Medianeira, Toledo etc. More on this soon!!

Bus to Paraguayan border cities from Foz do Iguaçu

2007-12-13T08:20:00.003-03:00

BUS TO PARAGUAY

Three Paraguayan cities are served by the International Urban Transportation system: Ciudad del Este, Hernandárias and Ciudad Presidente Franco. The companies involved are Celeste and Irmãos Rafagnin from Foz do Iguaçu, Rápido Yguazu S.A. (RYSA) and Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (NSA),Chaco Boreal and Trans Paranaense (From Paraguay).

The first four travel between Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este (CDE) and basically cross the downtown area of both cities including the business/shopping area.

The Ciudad del Este – Foz do Iguaçu - Ciudad del Este line offers two different routes. The first links the CDE’s International Bus Terminal to the Foz do Iguaçu International Bus Terminal. The second links the CDE’s Bus Terminal to the Vila Iolanda area of Foz do Iguaçu near the Restaurant China, Churrascaria Rafain and the like.

Chaco Boreal only goes to Hernadarias (the seat of Itaipu Dam, Paraguayan side) and the Trans Paranaense goes to Ciudad President Manuel Franco. Franco for short, is where the Monday Falls are located. Besides it houses the Moisés Bertoni Scientific Monument (a category in the Paraguayan National Park System). The Paraguayan Three-Border Stone Mark is also located here. Few tourists or no tourists at all visit Franco. So do not expect much in the way of comfort. Also, it is good to remember not to go alone to the Monday Falls or the Paraguayan Three-Border Stone Mark.

On the Brazilian side, bus stops for these lines are found along Avenidas Cataratas, Costa e Silva, República Argentina, Jorge Schimmelpfeng (Avenues), Rua Almirante Barroso and JK near the TTU), on the sidewalk of the 34th BI MTZ and the Rodoviária.

The International Bus Terminal of Ciudad del Este offers buses to the whole of Paraguay, as well Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. More on this later.

Bus to Paraguay from Puerto Iguazu

2007-12-13T08:19:00.002-03:00

BUS TO PARAGUAY FROM PUERTO IGUAZU

An Argentine company called Transporte El Rapido travels from Puerto Iguazú to Ciudad del Este via Foz do Iguaçu. If you have that illusion of three countries in one morning idea, this is the bus line to take. This is the true International Circular Urban Transport bus. The El Rapido bus leaves the International Bus Terminal of Puerto Iguazú (Argentina) to the International Bus Teminal of Ciudad del Este (Paraguay). The problem connected to this dream is the nightmare that triple-border-two-bridge-six-checkpoint crossing may mean. That is why the line is not popular with tourists. Can be tried though.
This bus can not pick up or leave passengers anywhere in Foz do Iguaçu.