Little-visited, little-known Paraguay lies in the heart of the continent South America. I spend a week in Paraguay on my way between north Argentina and Bolivia. They speak Guarani in Paraguay, but Spanish is also widely spoken. Ciudad del Este is a duty free shopping heaven and many shoppers from Brazil try to find here their bargain.
Always a nice surprise when you only have 2 pages left in your passport. The bus stopped at the border of Paraguay, I showed my bag for inspection and waited in line for my stamp.
After a half hour I got my stamp! But the bus already leftβ¦. So I started walking into unknown Paraguay. The road which starts at the border is a lively marketplace. It looked more like a garbage dump. It was extremely hot, dirty and smelly. There were stacks of rubbish everywhere and I passed by heaps of homeless people. The poorness of Paraguay hits you right in the face. I wandered around the back streets of Ciudad del Este and started to get lost.
All of a sudden I heard a lot of barking and 2 not so friendly dogs started to ran towards me with a face like they rather see me as their dinner for tonight. I stood still and acted like a statue. Well that only gives you 1 extra day in order to run to your nearest hospital; better to avoid and head back to where I came from.
When I started to walk back I heard gunshots! Where am I?! I ran back to the safe garbage dump and walked into the first hotel I saw. Thanks for the advice! A man was preparing chicken on his bbq next to my hotel. I ordered a few wings, sat down on a plastic chair besides the road and waited for my chicken. Two minutes later an old car with high speed came around the corner.
