The other methods of getting to Puerto Iguazú from practically anywhere in the country is via air travel or the private bus lines. The primary factors distinguishing these two are the cost and the duration of the trip. For example, the air flight where I traveled from was only a couple of hours but is cost over three times more than its 22 hour long bus-riding competitor, so, needless to say, on October 23rd, 2005, my two friends and I hopped on a bus from a small town in Northwestern Argentina called Tucumán and headed towards Puerto Iguazú.

The ride is like any normal 22-hour bus ride. You sit, watch a few movies, stare out the window and enjoy the fact that you are not the one driving. We embarked upon a bus line called AndesMar, the only bus line with service from Tucumán to Iguazú, and left Tucumán at around noon and were scheduled to arrive the next morning around 10:00 am. We did strongly consider taking an airline flight to our destination simply because the bus ride was 22 hours long, however, because one airline ticket was more than the cost of three of us on the bus, we decided to bite the bullet and take the long bus ride.

The service was good. There was a relatively clean bathroom onboard, we watched a few movies, they fed us at least five times and we arrived safe and without the loss of any of our possessions. There were some stops, but this was not a regular bus line that stops at every bus stop. I would guesstimate roughly ten stops or so (however, we slept a lot so I was not able to keep an accurate count). If you like to drink alcohol, I can tell you that there was plenty of it moving around; so although I am not sure if it was legal, it was not discouraged at all by the operators of this bus ride.

The cost of each round-trip bus ticket cost us 268 Argentinean Pesos, which came out to roughly $90 US at the exchange rate of 3:1 at the time. Although this is a great price for us foreigners, for locals, especially now, this is still kind of pricey. Now, what you get in terms of seating on the bus is something they call a “bed-seat.” A bed-seat is an oversized chair that leans back about 60 degrees so that you can kind of lay back. To tell you the truth, it leans back just far enough to get you to slide off your seat if you are not well positioned.

There really was not anything extremely memorable that I can tell you about the ride out to Iguazú aside from the feeling you get as you start seeing the red dirt (similar to the dirt found in Hawaii), that is quite a bit different from the dirt in other parts of the country like Tucumán, and signs stating that you have arrived to Missions, Argentina. I woke up at about 6 am to an absolutely beautiful sunrise. Considering my brain was not quite turned on, it took me a few moments to realize that I should pull out my camera and shoot some video. Unfortunately, just as I was about to take my shot, the person sitting by the window I was looking out of, became irritated by the sun and closed the drape! I considered for a minute waking her and asking her to open it, but I put myself in her position and I realized that it was a little too early to risk a slap in the face. So, needless to say, I do not have any footage of that.

We arrived to the Puerto Iguazú bus terminal at roughly 10:00 am on October 24, 2005. The first thing I noticed, as in most tropical places, was the humidity. I originally thought we were going to get attacked by mosquitoes or flies immediately, which we eventually did, but that was not the case at this moment. It was the humidity that I noticed the most. Try to watch where you step and stand too, even on cement. As we were trying to get coordinated about where to go, I noticed a big bug on my foot (and I was wearing flip-flops!) It was such a weird looking bug that it did not freak me out as much as it does now just thinking about it. I was more curious to know what it was. It looked like a bald, slime-covered, overgrown caterpillar. Anyway, I shook it off my foot and a nearby cleaning person with a hose quickly washed it away

We were told there would be someone at the bus terminal to give us some information about our hotel, but aside from the cleaning person, none of the other stuff was open yet. I decided to walk to the outskirts of the terminal (really only a few steps to some stairs and a walk of a few feet), to get a different look. It was then that I saw our hotel! The hotel St. George was less than a block away from the bus terminal!

Keep an eye out for up-and-coming entries, including "The Hotel St. George," "The Garganta del Diablo," "Wanda Mines," "Güira Oga: The house of birds," "Indigenous peoples tour," "The Port of Iguazú," and the "Triple Frontier between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay". Click here to see "Iguazu Waterfalls ~ Missions, Argentina ~ October 26, 2005 (Video)"