This is a quick one about the journey by bus from Puerto Iguazu to Montevideo. The most common route is to bus it all the way back to Buenos Aires and take a ferry to Colonia or Montevideo. It seemed silly to go back on ourselves so we did a bit of research and asked in the bus station about getting to Uruguay directly. 

We got on the bus bound for Buenos Aires and after 12 hours got off at Concordia at 7am. The two girls behind us also got off at Concordia and I asked one of them if they were headed to Salto, the Uruguayan town across the border. They were. As no bus was leaving for 4 hours I suggested we get a taxi together. I went in search of a driver and found one who quoted me 450pesos. To make sure the price would be the same for four passengers I asked “quatro personos?” and held up four fingers. He thought I was haggling with him and dropped the price to 400pesos. Great success. I ran off to get the others and when he saw them all he realised what I’d actually meant. I waited until we were safely dropped off at Salto about 40 minutes later after getting through border control swiftly to broach the 400 agreed price but alas he insisted on 450pesos. 

We paid him and enter the bus station at 8.10am. A bus had just left for Montevideo at 8am. The next one wasn’t due to leave until 12.30. Turns out it was a public holiday in Uruguay. We bought our bus tickets and sat down to wait with snacks purchased at the adjacent supermarket. We spent the time getting to know Arleta and Arlena, sisters from Poland, and found a hostel to stay in once we arrived in Montevideo. Finally we boarded the bus and 6 hours later arrived in the Uruguayan capital.  

The journey took us 25 hours but with a bit of research into the bus timetable from Salto you could do it in 20 for sure and it works out cheaper than going via Buenos Aires. The taxi across the border was unnecessary as the bus leaving 4 hours later would have gotten us to Salto in time for our bus to Montevideo.