iguacu falls - brazilian side & paraguay shopping
December 19, 2006
after a huge nightbus journey we arrived at foz do iguacu yesterday early morning. after a breakfast we took a private minivan to get us to the brazilian side of the falls - not the closest view but the best overview over all the area.
unfortunately it was extremely hot, doing walks in over 40° is not fun, but i survived somehow. the view was great - since it is only the beginning of rainy season the falls are not carrying that much water but it keeps you a bit dryer walking on the walkways over the falls.
as we are no longer in bolivia, everything is nicely prepared for the tourists and prices in the numerous souvenir and food shops are way over what they should be; all the brazilian towns & sites so far looked perfectly tidy and organized... welcome to the first world; time to buy some brazilian emerging market shares - they seem to know what they are doing
which is a good bridge to our shopping trip in paraguay; after brazil and argentina the third country around the iguacu falls... as paraguay is kind of one big black market outlet in the world there are lots of cheap (kinda) original brands to buy, especially electronics... and since there are tons of tourists around the falls, ciudad del este, the border city is not only a smuggler's heaven but also the place to buy the cheapest electronics in south america
so we went to this uberdodgy city but the pricest were not low enough for some last minute bargains and i returned with empty bags... but this city is such a huge ugly mess, that is was fun to go there anyway.. especially seeing the smugglers throwing packs of cigarettes in the border-river to brazil... during the day
unfortunately it was extremely hot, doing walks in over 40° is not fun, but i survived somehow. the view was great - since it is only the beginning of rainy season the falls are not carrying that much water but it keeps you a bit dryer walking on the walkways over the falls.
as we are no longer in bolivia, everything is nicely prepared for the tourists and prices in the numerous souvenir and food shops are way over what they should be; all the brazilian towns & sites so far looked perfectly tidy and organized... welcome to the first world; time to buy some brazilian emerging market shares - they seem to know what they are doing
which is a good bridge to our shopping trip in paraguay; after brazil and argentina the third country around the iguacu falls... as paraguay is kind of one big black market outlet in the world there are lots of cheap (kinda) original brands to buy, especially electronics... and since there are tons of tourists around the falls, ciudad del este, the border city is not only a smuggler's heaven but also the place to buy the cheapest electronics in south america
so we went to this uberdodgy city but the pricest were not low enough for some last minute bargains and i returned with empty bags... but this city is such a huge ugly mess, that is was fun to go there anyway.. especially seeing the smugglers throwing packs of cigarettes in the border-river to brazil... during the day
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