The Costs of Doing an Around the World Trip

Now, a month after getting home, we have looked at our bank statements and done a thoroughly calculation of absolutely all our expeses on the trip. The following amounts are in Norwegian Krones (NOK), per person and includes everything except flights and insurance which I have added in the conclusion part.

Trans Mongolian Railway (21. feb-10.mar):
Countries visited(and duration): Russia, Mongolia, China (17 days)
Booked in advance: Ruski Huski trip 14 500,-
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 2500,-
Total per day spending: 1000,-






Island hopping in the Pacific (10. mar-25.mar):
Countries visited (and duration): Philippines, Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, USA/Hawaii (15 days)
Booked in advance: Hostels 1500,-
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 8500,-
Total per day spending: 666,-




Traveling independently in Northern South America (25.mar-14.apr):

Countries visited(and duration): Colombia, Ecuador, Peru (20 days)
Booked in advance: Hostels, Macchu Picchu day trip 2750,-
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 5000,-
Total per day spending: 388,-








Traveling through Western South America with G- Adventures:(14.apr-13.may):
Countries visited(and duration): Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay (30 days)
Booked in advance: La Paz to Buenos Aires Adventure 10 000,-
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 5000,-
Total per day spending: 500,-




Traveling through Eastern South America with Dragoman(12.may-1.jun):
Countries visited (and duration): Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil  (19 days)
Booked in advance: Andes & Amazon, Buenos Aires to Rio 8500,-
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 4000,-
Total per day spending: 658,-






Conclusion:
With flights costing 26 000kr per person and insurance costing 3000 per person, the trip ended up with a total around 80 000 krones/ 10 000 euros for 104 days. That is less than 800kr/100 euro per day including flights and absolutely everything except gifts and souveniers. That might sound like a lot, but it is less than double the amount we spend when staying at home and saving up for trip. So, in conclusion, for less than double the money you spend when working and sitting in your couch at home, you can travel the world and have thousand times the fun. 

Downhill Biking in Norway and Sweden

"With its many mountains, Norway has got to be a great place for Downhill biking"

I am not sure if the guy I met in Brazil was telling me this or asking me this, but it was true. During this and last summer I have gotten to try out some of the many tracks you will find in Scandinavia, but with a littlebit of creativity you can also find tracks pretty much anywhere. The many long stairways in Bergen city center is one that I found pretty cool, and I have also seen people cycling down from the summit of Dalsnibben to the sea of the Geirangerfjord.



The summer ski resorts with dedicated tracks for downhill biking that I have tried are the following:




Oppdal Bike Park
Open: From May to October it is open on weekends, thursdays to sundays 11.00-17.00
Number of lifts: One gondola, Hovden, serving 7 slopes. There used to be a chairlift as well, Vangslia, but this was closed last year as new owners took over the resort
Getting there: From Trondheim by bus with "Nettbuss Nordfjord" takes two hours and  costs 188kr for a student and 125kr for a bike. From Trondheim by train with "NSB" takes two hours and costs 152kr for a student and 101kr for a bike.
Lift pass costs: 100kr for one ride with the gondola, 210kr for one day pass, 360 for a two day pass
Comment: Oppdal is a quiet little town where it is easy to pitch a tent where you want in the woods. The lifts are within biking distance of the city center, and are pretty quiet with just a few bikers, some sheeps and some tourists walking the trails. There is also a nice viewpoint on top with a restaurant and luggage storage. The slopes are varied, but some are a bit hard to reach now when the chairlift is not open, then you need to push your bike across to the other side of the mountain. The slope called "Superflytløypa" was definitely my favorite, going through the woods, with a few good jumps.

 


Mount Ulriken, Bergen: 
Open: Open every day, but hours are depending on season: May-Oct 09.00-21.00 and Oct-Apr 09.00-21.00
Number of lifts: One gondola, "Perle&Bruse".
Getting there: Just ride your bike fifteen minutes from Bergen City Center!
Lift pass costs: 90kr for one ride with the gondola, 150kr for round trip or two sepparate trips

Comment:  There is one dedicated downhill bike track, with quite unexpected jumps that can be hard to spot. I quite liked riding down the walking trail to Landås/Nattland, but there were no other cyclists in the tracks and places where carrying the bike was neccessary.

Hanguren, Voss: 
Open: From June 7st to August 24th, it is open every day from 12.00-16.00
Number of lifts: One gondola, "Dinglo & Danglo/Hangursbanen", and the chairlift in Bavallen for selected weekends.
Getting there: From Bergen by train with NSB takes 1h 10 mins and costs 138kr for a student
Lift pass costs: 100kr for one ride with the gondola, 210kr for one day pass
Comment: Voss is a town known for its extreme sports, and the slopes are well used by people who know their stuff! You can easily bike from the city center to the gondola or even pitch your tent on top of the lift. 

Åre Bike Park
Open: From June 6th until some time in the late summer
Number of lifts: Up to seven lifts can be open for the summer season. Most of them are open from 10.00-17.00

Getting there: From Trondheim by train with NSB/SJ takes 2h 40 mins and costs 166kr for a student
Lift pass costs: 275kr for one day pass (45,- for the card itself)
Comment: It is Scandinavias biggest and best. The red slopes have lots of jumps, especially "Uffes" and "Shimano" That go from the top. The red trail of "Finbanan" followed by "Kanonrøret" fun park can be run from the lower lifts and have some great jumps, drops and wall rides.



My next downhill adventure will go to..



Oslo Sommerpark Tryvann

Open: August 19th to October 13th, Wednesdays-Thursdays (15-20) / Saturdays and Sundays(10-18)
Number of lifts: 1 chairlift serving 6 slopes
Getting there: Take the number 1 tram from Oslo City Center, get off at Voksenkollen Station (second to last) and walk for ten minutes from there to Tryvann Tower. Ticket price is 20kr if you by it on beforehand or 30kr on board the tram.
Lift pass costs: 65kr for one ride and the day passes costs 235kr on weekdays and 260kr on weekends
Comment: I'll definately bring my bike to Oslo next time I go, as the tracks here look fun!

and hopefully I will get a downhill cycling video up and running sometime soon :)

Skipping the Jet Lag From Long Travels

Catching up on some sleep on overland travels in Brazil

"West is best, and East is a beast!"


.. is a saying commonly used to describe the jet lag you get when traveling by plane over longer distances. And in most cases it really holds true, as you by travelling westward would just experience a longer day than usually, then go to bed a bit earlier and wake up all synced and rested out the next morning. When going East on the other hand, you will travel towards the clock so that you might find yourself wanting to go to bed at noon and waking up at 2am in the morning feeling like it is morning already.

In my case I was going east from Brazil to Norway, and since I had an morning exam and then work the day after I got back, I figured that something had to be done in order not to turn into a real brainless zombie when getting back. And it worked as well, making the transit painless, with absolutely no feeling of being unsyncronized with the new time zone, and by using the steps listed below you should also manage to do so:

1. Set off a days to adapt days at the end of your trip. The app "Entrain" will help you find out how long time you will need in order to fully recover from a jet lag after your travels, depending on your sleeping patterns and the amount of light surriounding you throughout the day. I set my arrival day 72 hours before I was actually going to arrive, so that I would be fully adapted already before getting back.
2. Wake up at appropriate times for the timezone of your destination. "Entrain" will give you a list of times when you should turn on and off your light, and also when you should go to bed and wake up. This is done very gradually in order to make the transaction go as smoothly as possible.
3. Catch an overnight flight. If you are going East, you might have a flight leaving at 10 and landing some time in the morning or around noon, local time. If you manage to sleep through the whole flight you will both save time and also adapt more easily to the new time. Sleeping pills might help, especially if you can get your hands on some melatonin based ones, which are legal in almost every country except Norway.
3. When you arrive, try to get as much direct sunlight as you can. This will help your inner clock adjust naturally to the new time zone.
4. Drink lots of water, and then some more! Hydration is really important and is also why should avoid alcohol and too much coffee while adapting to a new time zone, as this will reverse the effect, making you even more dehydrated.

So these are the tips that really did the trick for me, so if you dont feel like experiencing insomnia, fatigue, diarrhea and confusion (all symptoms of jet lag) from travelling, you should consider trying them too!

A Last Hooray in Rio de Janeiro

We had already been amazed by the beautiful ocean road that we drove from Paraty and Rio de Janeiro, but when we rolled into the city center of  Rio in the early afternoon with the sun shining in our backs and the 30 meter high Jesus statue greeting us for our arrival, we felt great. It was the last ride of our overland tour, the last stop on our around the World trip and a city that we had big expectations of. Our minds were full of images of how we imagined the city to be like with nice beaches where people walked around in small swimsuits, people drinking capirinhas and dancing samba in the clubs and some of the worlds most beautiful sunsets from the many hilltops surrounding the city. After almost a week spent in the city, we concluded that Rio de Janeiro, although a bit too popular among tourists these days, was quite living up to our high expectations and perfect place to end our trip that had already been going on for three and a half months. 

One of the things that made Rio so great, I thought, was that it both had great selection of beaches (Copacabana, Ipanema and Lebron) and lots of hikes and sights close to the city. There was no need to make compromises as we could spend several days relaxing at the beach and then have most of the sights done with a single day tour that we had booked in advance as everything was within such a close distance. In our packed day trip we first set off to see a waterfall, that I must say did not impress a single bit as we had just seen Iguassu Falls and were soon heading back to Norway where big waterfalls are sights as common as the many eucalyptus fields we had spotted while driving here in Brazil.

Next stop was the Corcovado mountain, where shuttlebuses and an elevator took us up to the summit where statue of "Christ the Redeemer", one of the Seven New Wonders of the World, was awaiting us. The platform where the statue was standing had great panoramic views over the city from all angles, but was just increadibly small for the amount of tourists that were there. There was no way of getting a picture with more than your head together with the statue without getting at least ten more people in your picture. The place was quite claustrophobic and we were happy to say "been there, seen that" and leave after just ten- fifteen minutes there.

From there we drove with a beautiful view through our windows, through the hilly neighbourhood of Santa Therese, where all the rich people fled to escape the tubercolosis that was raging downtown in the sixteenth century. After that we stopped sor lunch and a walk through the Selarón Stairway in Lapa, made of random tiles from all over the World. It was quite interesting to see how there were three tiles from Norway, including one saying "God Jul"/ "Merry Christmas", while there were over ten from Khazakstan, including one tile for every letter in the countrys long name. 

When the tour was finished we had the option of getting dropped off at our hostel or at the bottom of the Sugarloaf Mountain, which is the symbol of Rio and a place that really has to be visited for a sunset view. We had heard that walking a path halfway up (took us 30mins) was gonna get us half price on the tickets, but we soon found out that those rhumors were false and that there is no way of escaping the 30 usd that the cable car costs other than bringing your student id which gives you half price on the ride.

After having seen the upper class houses in Sao Paulo just a few days earlier, it was also quite interesting to do a guided trip to Rochina (means little farm) which is the biggest Favela (Brazilian shantytown) in Rio de Janeiro. Here it is said that over 1% of the population do drug dealing, and our friends who had done the same tour a week before got their tour cut short because there was a murder occuring in the favela at the time they were there. When taking pictures in all directions, we caught some people shying away from the cameras and hiding their faces. "Thats just because they are drug dealers", said the guide, but even though the favela was full of crime, really poor, dirty and noisy, a lot of the people we met were smiling friendly at us and kids were happy to pop up in front of our cameras for pictures. 

Now I feel absolutely no need to go to Rio for the Carnival or when the World Cup kick off, as the city is definately both expensive and lively enough already, and I would have guessed double prices and owercrowding could not make a stay here better. Go see some samba in the clubs, hike the summits, visit the stadiums for a football game or just relax on one of the many beaches and I am sure you will also love Rio as much as we did.

Just some travel tips you should consider when traveling to Rio:
Brazil is pretty expensive, and Rio even more so! Expect to pay around 30 dollars for a dorm bed if you want to stay near the beach (eg. the one we stayed at). 

If you are on a budget, you should consider eating at the many "por kilo" houses where you weigh the food you choose from a buffet and order drinks from the waitors. The tap water in Rio is also the best I have tasted in South America and drinking that instead of bottled water can save you some money.

The Hippie Market in Ipanema is huge, runs every Sunday and should be visited if you can. Because we were tired from turning our clocks around we did not go, but we got to visit the night markets that open at 6pm on weekdays which we found great for shopping, and we were told that the Hippie Market was even better!

If you decide to visit the favela you should really go with a guide in order not to get lost and go to the wrong places, but the rest of Rio (and Sao Paulo) felt really safe and clean and prepared for the World Cup starting here in two weeks.

The Portuguese Colonial City of Paraty

Paraty is a small town on the coast of Brazil, between Sao Paulo (six hours) and Rio de Janeiro (four hours). Beautiful, old and calm are the words best describing the city and when going here it is worth staying for a few nights. We had four, which was great for just relaxing and laying on the beach.

The roads in the old center are paved with rocks, but not like the ones you find in old European cities. The city center roads are made up with huge rocks, and although it is beautiful and really old it is a pain to walk and drive on.

During the time we were there, there was a jazz festival called the Bourbon Festival, a free annual even that lasts for three days. All hostels and hotels were full and the city center was packed with mainly Brazilian tourists that had come for the concerts. On our last day on the monday everyone had escaped the city and there were just us and a handful of other tourists to see in the streets, which was great as we were exhausted from the night before and just wanted to relax. Our hostel was located right on Jabaquara beach, which was just a ten minute walk from the city center and a really quiet place to do so. The prices here in Paraty are also a bit more expensive than the other places we have been in Brazil so far, which probably has to with it being really small, but still a very popular destination for tourists. Boat rides over to Ihla Grande are also expensive (85usd) but take just one and a half hour with speed boat. Booze cruises with sail boats are also a popular activity with a much better value for the money (40usd) and everyone in our group did so but us. It is drawing towards the end ouf our trip and our travel budget so the last day here in Paraty we will just use to charge up for our last stop on our journey which is Rio de Janeiro.

Sao Paulo, Home of Both Rich and Poor

Kids getting the city ready for the 2014 World Cup starting in two weeks

Initially we were supposed to stay two nights in Brotas, a small city four hours outside of Sao Paulo known for its outdoor activities such as rafting, canyoing and mountain biking, but instead we after just a night we decided to jump off our organised tour and travel to Sao Paulo by ourself instead.

Mauricio, a Brazilian guy from Sao Paulo that I studied with in the US met us when we arrived and drove us around to show us his city. And in a place with 22 million inhabitants there were one city center for each of the many districs so a car was more or less neccessary to get a good overview of the massive city. On our bus ride on the way into the city we had seen huge areas with settlements of shabby huts known as favelas. It was a bit sad to see that the majority of people in the suburbs were living under poor conditions while the nicer areas in the city housed people with several cars in their garages. Mauricio and his friends were of the latter and for us that had gotten used to roughing it with our overland truck and tents it was great to relax in a nice house with good food and a soft bed.

In the evening we went to a couple of parties of his college friends. Friends who belonged to the few percent of Sao Paulo who are super rich. As a contrast to the upcoming Favela tour in Rio it was a true experience to see their multi floored houses that had swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, gyms and plenty of other rooms, all protected by tall walls with electric fences on top and security guards. They also drove bullet proof cars and had drivers, maids and gardeners to help them in their daily life.

At both house parties that we visited we felt very welcome and people were very interested in hearing about our home country and our journey so far. Everyone also told us that the North of Brazil was the place to go, and since we will fly home in just a week and will not have time to do so, we will definately have to come back some day. And then we we will also make sure to spend some more time with our new gotten friends in Sao Paulo, the biggest city in South America.

One of the houses we visited in Sao Paulo


The huge areas where the poorer people live, these taken from Rio

Shacks and skyscrapers night next to each other

Pantanal, Day 3

On our last day in the Pantanal we finally got to go on a safari game drive in daytime, which we had been looking forward to the most in Pantanal. Like you probably know, game drives can be an all or nothing thing and unfortunately for us we did not see much that day. Luckily we had seen a lot on the night drive and riding safari, so we did not mind as much and left the place around noon with a full stomache and a top impression from the Pantanal.

Should you still be wondering what the Pantanal really is, it is he Worlds Biggest Wetlands in the center of South America stretched between Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. It has more than hundred species of mammals, hundreds of species of birds and thousands of species of plants. To get there you probably would have to book a tour from a travel agency in advance, that would typically include a stay at one of the farms with all food and safaris included. When people look for wildlife experiences in Brazil it is usually the Amazon that gets all the attention, but since the Pantanal probably probably will surprise you with animals that you have not heard of before, and sine these are so easy to spot in the open landscape, you should really consider going to the Pantanal instead.

Pantanal, Day 2

In order to take advantage of the morning hours, when it is less hot than the middle of the day, we got up at 7 o'clock to go cayaking.

Even though we did not see much animals other than hawks and caymans on the river it was still a great paddling trip. The water was as quiet as it could be, and reflected the sun and blue sky that was over us. Halfways we also stopped to try some traditional Brazilian mate tea, which was served ice cold to us while we were listening at stories about the flora and fauna. It was not before noon that we got back, which was perfect as the food had just gotten ready when we arrived at the lodge.

95 percent of Pantanal territory belongs to private owners, and the farm we stayed at, Fazenda San Fransisco was over 15 000 hectares big. For the afternoon we went horseback riding, which like the canoing earlier was within the boundaries of the farm. Just a few minutes riding away from our lodge we saw an armadillo, an ant eater and lots of falcons and other birds. We rode for a couple of hours through fields with cows, wet mud and high grass in the heat and finished with a little cooler sunset.

In the evening we had a lecture about the story, geography and biodiversity of the Pantanal which was really interesting before having a late night barbeque at one of the nearby mountains.

Pantanal, Day 1

The drive from Bonito to Pantanal was just a few hours, so we arrived our lodge, San Fransico, in the early afternoon with plenty of time to do some exploring already on the first day.

After filling up on a really good lunch at the Lodge we went on a boat tour on the river where could try our fishing luck with the piranhas, where only a few of us managed to catch some. As there was not enough for dinner, we let our guides use them to show us how quickly the Caymans, Black Hawks and Black Collared Hawks arrived when the piranhas were thrown back into the river again, and lets just say that none of us wanted to fall over board after seeing how quickly the fresh water crocodiles snapped up the fish from the water surface.

After dinner it had become dark and at 6.30 we set off to go on a night safari, to try to spot some of the nocturnal animals that wander around in the wetlands at night, which there were many of. We managed to see some tapirs (the biggest mammal in South America), ocelots (which look like small jaguars), copybaras (worlds biggest rodent), ant eaters (which were much bigger and hairier than I had imagined!) and lots of ouls. Pantanal is filled with all kinds of exciting animals, many which I did not even know existed, and I almost cannot wait until we will get to see it all in daylight on safari drives the next couple of days.

Bonito Means Beautiful in Portuguese, and is a Name Well Deserved

Bonito is a place hard to reach by your own as there are very few buses going there, so when we parked up to our hostel there were just a few Brazilian road trippers there from before and then there came an other overland truck from Tucan travel after a couple of days. Bonito is also mainly known for its crystal clear waters like Rio de Prata and Laguna mysteriosa, which also lays a couple of hours outside of Bonito and when booking a snorkelling or diving tour there you also have to arrange your own taxi which would cost more than 90 us dollars so arranging everything on your own will cost a lot and require a bit more effort than we would have to go through.

After spending the first day cycling around and expoloring Bonito on rental bikes (9usd) we had a snorkelling trip at Rio de Prata booked for our second day. Since everyone were going we also got the overland truck taking us and we got our own guide. As Bonito is really practicing eco-friendly tourism, we were only allowed to go eight in the river at a time and they also told us really strictly that we were not allowed to have sun screen or mosquito repellent on and that we were not allowed to stand in the shallow river or use our legs to kick as this would stir up the sand at the bottom making it less clear for people coming after us.

Before getting into the water, I was imagining it looking a littlebit like Silfra in Iceland, where you can dive and snorkel in between the continental plates separating America from Europe, but I was positively surprised when I saw that the waters were just as clear but had 20 different types of fish that were not at all scared of us when we snorkeled past them. Some were around a meter in size while others were really small swimming around in schools, nibbling on our arms and legs as we swam past them.

Our snorkeling guide did not speak any English, but that was fine. When walking through the jungle he pointed at a cobra and we looked at the cobra, when he whistled at the birds we listened to the birds whistling back and when he smelled a tree we just went and smelled the tree after him.

After the snorkeling we also got a really good included lunch and got to relax a bit in the hammocks while waiting for the people diving in the Mystery Lagoon (Lagoa Mysteriosa) which is in the same place as Rio de Prata. When the divers came up they also told us that the diving also was absolutely magnificent where you at 80 meters debth could look up and see the sun and trees at land. People even have gone down to 270 meters debth in that tiny river and still not reached the bottom, which also has given it its name as no one knows how deep it really is. Bonito means beutiful in Portuguese, a name well deserved as its crystal clear lakes are one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.

 

Photos: Jan Bosker and Elke Dekker

Iguassu Falls on both the Argentinean and Brazilian Side

Iguassu Falls is (one of) the biggest waterfalls in the World and connects Argentina with Paraguay and Brazil. It attracts over a million visitors every year and is one considered as one of the ”New Seven Wonders of the World”. It consists of 170 individual waterfalls together making up the broadest waterfall in the World.

Our overland group had decided that instead of staying one night in Port Iguazu in Argentina and then pack our tents to move on to Foz de Iguazu in Brazil, we should go straight to Brazil and spend all three nights there instead. As we got there late in the evening there was not much to do other than staying in at our hoste, Hotel Paudimar, do some cooking and afterwards having some drinks at the bar to use the rest of our Argentinean Pesos and celebrate that two days of straight driving was over. Since we only had two full days at the national park, we had decided that it would not be other than fair to spend one day on the Brazilian side and the other taking a shuttle over to the Argentinean side to fully explore the waterfall and make up our own minds about which side was the prettiest. Some short facts about each of the sides:

The Brazilian side:

-       The city on the Brazilian side is called ”Foz de Iguazu” or just ”Foz”

-       Entrance fee to the national park costs 23 us dollars which includes a shuttlebus going from the park entrance up to the ”Devils Throat”, which is the biggest waterfall and the highlight for many when visiting the falls

-       Our highlights on the Brazilian side was to first see the whole waterfall from a distance to see how huge it really was and afterwards walking to walk towards it until we were standing right at the very bottom of the Devils Troat.

-       The absolute minimum time to explore the falls from this side is three hours, where the rest of the day can be spent going to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay or to the Itaipu dam which is the second biggest dam in the World.

-       Best tip: instead of taking the panoramic elevator up beside the Devils Throat, take the walk instead and be alone for a while. The national park on both side is really crowded so I am sure you will appreciate it!

The Argentinean side:

-       The city on the Argentinean side is called ”Puerto Iguasu”

-       Entrance costs 17 usd and includes unlimited rides with the train between the viewpoints

-       Highlights being walking through jungle and along the roaring falls where we saw ”coies”, fresh water aligators, tucans and gigantic catfish

-       The minimum time to explore the park from this side I would say is a full day

-       Best tip: walk the 2 hour blue path beside and down to the falls and try a boat ride at the bottom (20usd). It takes you under and through the falls, which gives you both a cheap adrenaline rush and beautiful view from the bottom.

It is absolutely worth going to both falls and spending a whole day in each, but if you had a gun pointed to your head or a really tight budget I would say that you should choose the Argentinean side over the Brazilian, as it is cheaper and also much cheaper. The national park was really touristy, somewhere between Victoria Falls and Niagara Falls but that is also for a reason. Iguassu Falls is absolutely awesome and a must see when traveling in South America.

Ciudad del Este, Paraguay

Ciudad del Este is a small border town in Paraguay, located exactly at the end of the friendship bridge from Brazil. The city is mainly made up of shopping centers and street markets, as loads of Brazilians and other tourists seeing the Iguazu Falls go over to do some cheap shopping as the level of income and shopping prices are way lower in Paraguay than Brazil and Argentina. Just like other border towns (e.g Tijuana on the US - mexican border), the city has a really bad reputation with loads of cases of corruptied police, scams and muggings. We went over to test these rhumors, and our very low expectations of the city might actually have helped us have a much better time there than we had expeted.

As our campsite at Hotel Paudimar, was located about 12 kilometers out of Foz de Iguacu (the city on the Brazilian side) we thought it would be best to do the trip from the Iguassu Falls National Park, as the overland truck would bring the whole group there on one of the days. From the falls there were buses market "Parque Nacional-Aeropuerto-Foz) leaving about every hour from the main entrance of the falls. The bus was just a local one, costing one dollar and taking 30 minutes since it was stopping along the road to pick up passengers. From the end station, which was the bus station we just had to walk accross the road and jump on one of the buses saying "Foz-Ciudad del Este", which was leaving every ten minutes in both directions. The price was around two dollars per person where we got a ticket that could be used for a new bus on each side of the border where we got our passport stamped.

Once at the other side of the bridge it felt like we had stepped into an other World. All the streets were filled with trash, there were cars honking everywhere and people trying to sell you things everywhere. A guy at one of the corners told that he could get us special deals on cameras, so we followed him into a building, down a hallway guarded with two policemen with shotguns and and down a cellar where they sold stolen goods. The unsecure feeling we had down in that cellar stuck with us even on the street markets where we were offered opium and in the many shopping centers where people were smoking inside and people were selling all kinds of things that were either illegal (lots of fake stuff!) on the other side of the border or just much cheaper as it is a duty free zone. The prices and all the fake stuff reminded us actually a lot about China and the crazy traffic and chaotic streets about India. It is weird with borders which sometimes can feel like portals into other worlds, and the friendship bridge really is one of those. You can get some really good deals and some shopping centers are not as bad, like the one ten meters behind the Paraguayan immigration office, but the city is really shabby and there will be lots of people trying to rip you off, so weather you should bother visit the border town really depents on what you are after. Lots of Brazilians go over for some good bargains and if that is what you are looking for then maybe you should also do to. If not then I would much rather stick to Iguassu Falls which have several days worth of sights.