Quick trip report BsAs-Paraguay-Brazil
 

Here is a summary of my experience after 10 weeks and 7000km in South America:

Good news: Zero problems so far!

1. Trip across the Atlantic with Grimaldi: see here

2. Insurance in Buenos Aires for Arg/Ur/Cl/Py/Bra/Bol: see here

3. Border crossings and paperwork at the land borders:

a) Arg/Py (Encarnacion): less than 1/2 hour

b) Py/Brazil (Ponta Pora): more than 1 hour. No prober border check point in Brazil. Federal Police downtown stamps your passport, customs is not far from the highway and is very busy with Brazilian shoppers. After waiting in line it takes a while till they have all the forms and copies of passport and bike papers made.

c) Brazil/Py (Foz do Iguacu/CDE): Extremely busy border. Chaos on the Brazilian side, they are just not prepared for overseas licence plates. After waiting 1 hour in vain for an officer to look at my bike and stamp it out of the country I just dropped my customs documents on some customs receptionist's desk and left :-) not sure if I will have problems if I ever reenter Brazil. Getting into Paraguay was no problem, less than 1/2 hour.

4. Police: I got stopped in Argentina and Paraguay about 15 times at roadblocks. Never had to pay anything at these regular checkpoints. Officers wantend to see bike papers, drivers licence (only showed the European one, was never asked for intl. dl) and - in Arg. only - bike insurance green card. The officers generally seemed to be more interested in my bike and a chat about my trip, than in the papers ;-)
Once, in Paraguay I was stopped for crossing a yellow line while passing some trucks. The fine was payed on the spot without reciept - less than US$ 10. That I was definitely much faster than the 80 km/h allowed was not an issue.

5. Roads in all three countries are better than expected. All highways paved and in acceptable, if not very good condition. Speeds of more than 150 km/h were often safely possible, even on the Trans-Chaco-Highway in Paraguay between Asuncion and Filadelfia.

6. Most fun so far: Riding in southern Brazil, the mountain roads around Blumenau and around Sao Joaquim National Park. And of course beaches in Florianopolis.

7. Safety: No problem so far. Always found a hotel to park the bike safely and the big BMW seems to attract positive attention only. No problems walking the streets at night in the cities.

8. Found new tires in Asuncion, Paraguay, see here

I'll head to Cordoba next, then to Uruguay, should be in Viedma for the HU-Meeting in December. Hope to see you there!

Cheers, Frank

Thanks for the informative trip report
 

Mekongfrank, your trip report provided much needed information for our upcoming tour through Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil thank you for the informative, well organized, pertinent and easy to understand data. Elisa and I look forward to your future posts.

Let's get together if you touch down in Buenos Aires again. Otherwise I hope we meet on the road.

xfiltrate

Eat, Drink and Be Careful

Update: Border Asuncion/Argentina
 

Crossed that border yesterday. Same thing like when leaving Brazil for Paraguay. Very busy with buses, but especially the Arg. officers were very helpful. About 45 minutes total. Never handed in my Paraguayan customs papers for the bike as I would have needed to go back a km to the customs where they handle the trucks. So the BMW might still be in the Paraguayan customs computers. I hope I won't have a problem when I get back to Paraguay next year June.

BTW: here are my pics of the trip so far:
1.Hamburg to Buenos Aires by ship
2. BsAs-Paraguay-southern Brazil

They will still have the plate number in the computers, prepare a 100 USD bribe.

Do you know for sure (i.e. 1st or 2nd hand experience) or are you just guessing?

I m staying 20 km away from the border of Clorinda at puente Remanso (the one you cross to go to Asuncion). I spent two times 500,000 guaranis to "renew" my vehicule admission of 3 month each while i was away in Europe (i m supposed to go myself and not leave without the motorcycle).

My bet is that the price will be the same.

You can always cross the border on a small boat east of Clorinda, but you ll still have to bribe the custom officer.

Thanks for the info Vorteks. I'll see what happens next June.

Had that situation once in Chile and once in Paraguay. As I want to enter again they can see the bike has left the country so it is their (colleague´s ) mistake....Never had to pay.

20.000 km service at BMW Auto Munich in Cordoba, Argentina
 

Right, Auto Munich didn't respond to my email, but when I showed up this morning they went right to work and the 20.000 km service on my R1200GSA was done in a couple of hours.

Cost in Arg. Pesos (US$ 1 = P$ 4):

Oil Filter 82.70
Air Filter 192.47
4 litres Oil 197.00
2 Spark Plugs 155.55
Kardan Oil 131,05
Labour 365.94

Totoal 1125.72 or about US$ 280
(20% cheaper than the 10.000 km service in Germany)

Extremely friendly guys at BMW Auto Munich in Cordoba!
2010d_BsAs_Paraguay_Brazil_Uruguay :: BMW AutoMunich picture by frankinasia - Photobucket

Hi Frank! What a surprise!!!
 

Hi Frank,

It is me - Jens from the German HU Meeting! I am at the moment in Esquel, Argentina! Going South to Ushuaia with a group of people...

Would be nice to see you on the road, but we are quite fast... In 2 weeks we will be down there...

If not I will see you one day at our HU Meetings in Germany, okay?

The Meeting 2 weeks ago was great!

Stay safe - Jens:D

Hi Jens, too bad - I won't catch up with you. I'll do a loop through the Sierra de Cordoba today, then 2 weeks in Uruguay before heading south to Viedma for the HU-meeting in Viedma. Will be a few years before I'm back in Germany.
Have a good trip!

Argentina-Uruguay-Argentina
 

Border Crossings

1. Colon-Paysandu and
2. Fray Bentos-Gualeguaychu

Both less than an hour, no problems whatsoever.
Note:
1. There is a motorcycle tunnel/bridge toll that can be payed in either currency.
2. Fray Bentos border was closed several years but is open now.

I had planned to spend about 10 days in Uruguay but cut that short to 4 days. I ran into heavy rain and lots of wind along the Atlantic coast. Sitting it out was not an option because hotel standars are very poor and prices much higher than in Argentina. (e.g. prices like in Brazil, but lower standard)

In Guayleguaychu I can recommend Hotel Alemán, Calle Bolivar 535. Safe parking, fast wifi, comfy patio, good room, Ar$ 100, 3 blocks from the plaza and 5 blocks from the river. Probably the best place I found in the last 2 months considering price/quality.

That's it from me for this threat. I'll be in Argentina for the next 2 months. I hope to see some of you at the HU-meeting in Viedma Dec 10 and around New Years in Ushuaia.

Don t miss the Hash Run this week end in Buenos Aires ;o)

That's why I'm in town now.
OnOn!
Shaky Spear
p.s. Although I think I'll join the cripples and walk. Too many steaks recently :-))

No Problem re-entering Paraguay
 

When I went back to Paraguay 6 weeks ago I did not have any problems despite not having my temporary import papers handed back to Aduana last year.

Same thing with Brazil which I re-entered from Bolivia. It appears that my bike wasn't in the Aduana computer system. Anyway, this time I checked out orderly from both countries. :scooter:
Greetings from Sucre, Bolivia