Uruguay travel blog by Mark Berman -
March 2008
I came to Rivera from Montevideo which takes 6hrs by bus. The reason I came here is because I drew a straight line from Montevideo to Puerto Iguazu
in Argentina during my very first trip to South America and decided to go for this direct route approach. I arrived here at
about midnight, got in a taxi and asked the man to take me to Hotel el Cheapo (a budget hotel) where I had a shower and some
slumber. Free Flowing
Rivera is a combined border town with Brazil's
Santana do Livramento. The residents can
flow freely across the border between the 2 cities. That's not a bad deal because Rivera is full of duty free shops. I was
well off the beaten track and I was the only gringo in town (seriously). I didn't do a lot in Rivera apart from eat
breakfast, get a haircut for 35 cents and see a statue of Artigas (the National Hero) in the plaza while walking around the
streets. The surrounding region is known for its cattle ranches and the growing of crops such as corn, rice, fruit and
potatoes.
Braziluguay Border Crossing
I walked up the road towards Brazil where on the border there are 2 big flags, one for each country.
I did the obligational jump from one country to the other and then stood on the line, which must have been the country of
Braziluguay. There's no customs, no border control, no fence, no police, no nothing, just hotdog stands, street vendors and
markets. I didn't get a stamp on my passport and had some explaining to do when I tried to cross from Brazil back into Argentina
a few days later. I had to bring out my map and show them where I had crossed into Brazil. The Argentinian border police also
wanted to know and I also showed my map to them. Apparently I was supposed to go and find the passport stampers in their office in Rivera! I didn't know about this at the time, it was my first trip to South America.
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