Monday, June 15, 2009

expat shuffle II

my tourist visa is about to expire. last time i left the country (to uruguay) was almost 3 months ago.

this past friday i planned on going to 'migraciones' (the immigration office) but after more research i decided it wasn't the route i wanted to take to renew my visa. if i were to go to 'migraciones' i would have had to arrive very early to stand in a line, take a ticket, wait, than hope that the window i walk up to the person likes me and they're in a good mood. if they're not in a good mood they'll likely demand a document that i don't have. (these are the rumors anyway). next, 'migraciones' raised their rates from 100 pesos to 300 pesos. (i found this out through another persons blog; thanks sallycat).

my next option i looked into was going to Colonia Uruguay for the day. I think Colonia is a charming town, but I've already been there twice, it's cold now, i didn't want to go alone and it's 200 pesos.

third option is to rent a car for the day and drive up to Colón Argentina. not too long ago a friend did this boarder crossing. it's definitely cheaper to take a bus (100 pesos) as opposed to the estimate cost of a car for the day (250 pesos). sure, the car is almost as much as 'migraciones' but it's way way more fun AND there are hot spring baths in Colón!

next weekend = road trip

4 comments:

Nancy said...

Yay for roadtrips!

Sallycat said...

Hi Yillabean!

I went to Colòn for the weekend with mi amor and enjoyed the thermal pools... it was a really gentle place - though on the summer holiday weekend we chose, absolutely packed! I didn't try the visa run there though. What a good idea!

Have a super trip! SC

Michele Harvey said...

How do you renew your visa through Colon if it's still in Argentina? Please explain?

Thanks,
Michele

yillabean said...

michele, i didn't renew my visa in Colon Argentina but rather Paysandu Uruguay. The two towns are very close and there is a bridge connecting them.

you can either take a bus from Colon to Paysandu or you can take a rental car across (check first before taking a rental car into another country, there may be restrictions)