My Journey Round The World

Paraguay… I finally only cross it and stopped at Ciudad Del Este to visit the Parque Nacional Iguazú - first on the Brasilian side and the next day on the Argentinian one – after reading on the Lonely Planet guide book: “Paraguay is a country of fascinating contrasts. It’s rustic and sophisticated. It’s extremely poor and obscenely wealthy.” I just didn’t want to experience the same shock as the one I had in Bolivia – even if now I was aware of it…

After more than 20 hours drive on a flat land without asphalt road with a short break in Asunción, I had enough of bus ride – even if we had an unexpected breakfast and lunch! – Plus I urgently needed to do a full washing… So I arrived at 5am at the bus station and after saying goodbye to Danny – a Peruvian working in Brasil on the road for 4 days to reach Brasil! – I  immediatly look for the closest hotel I could find – of course the one I had in mind was fully booked… - I found another one and after a short nap I brought my clothes to the laundery before heading to Iguazú Cataratas in Brasil – crossing the border without any checking! (bus driver told me it wasn’t necessary) I had enough check on the road accross Paraguay! Crasy to be stopped so often for nothing…

When coming back to pick up my laundry, I had a nice chat with the lady Bethina, really friendly women! It was a nice feeling to wave goodbye to her when I saw her in the morning while going to pick up the bus for Argentina. Ciudad Del Este is at the 3 borders between Brasil, Paraguay and Argentina – a bit like Aachen betwenn Belgium, Holland and Germany I already know the feeling… – But here you’re suppose to make your passport stamp before you cross – actually for a day in Brasil to Iguazú, this is fine – however I skipped the exit stamp of Paraguay when leaving that morning… – I didn’t understand where you have to do it! – Luckily I didn’t had any problem while entering Argentina… So far!