Brazil #5 Puerto Iguazu, Argentina 🇦🇷

 

August 4

It's our last day in the Foz do Iguacu area. With Argentina so close (just on the other side of the Iguacu River) we really wanted to go get another passport stamp. It didn't exactly go as planned. 

We aren't allowed to take our rental car across the border so Jim made arrangements through our hotel to hire a taxi for the day, for about $60. We start off but quickly discovered we need a "carta verde" to enter Argentina, and return to the hotel to get it sorted out.

Construction zone was a great opportunity to see this area of Brazil's red dirt.

Approaching the border

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina 

Off again, we tell the cabbie we want to go shopping. He says "no shopping." Basically the only thing to do in Puerto Iguacu, Argentina is to see the Falls from the other side. But it's raining. We settle for comida, dining at a restaurant the cabbie recommends. Oh, was it good!

Cow tongue appetizer

Beef loin, quality of a filet mignon

Olivia's Peppercorn Chorizo steak

Fish called Surubi. Magnificently flavorful and cooked to perfection.

On the way back to Brail we stop at the duty free mall between the borders to discover chocolate from around the world, wildly overpriced toys, and that we didn't tell our bank we were going to Argentina and it declined the card due to fraud alert. All that and we walk out with nothing! On the bright side, the bank saved us some money.

To top it off, they don't stamp passports when entering Argentina by car. I suppose we can save the Carte Verde paperwork to prove the trip ever happened. 

Next we pack up and on to the next chapter of our adventure, a flight to Manaus, the gateway to the Jungle.