After our visit to Iguazu Falls, to both the Brazilian and Argentinian side. We popped over the border from where we were staying in Brazil to Paraguay, before later heading back across to Argentina that day to start our travels there.
Paraguay was a crazy experience. The city Ciduad del Este is the nearest one from the Brazilian border and is where Brazillians and probably Argentinians go to stock up on cheap goods.
We drew out half a million Paraguian currency which was about £10. We had a few things we wanted to try find and thought it would be quite fun trying to spend our little bit of currency in the markets…It wasn’t! As soon as we stepped off the bus we were harassed by about 10 guys shouting random places at us to buy a bus ticket to. Even when we went into the bus terminal to try get a cheaper bus ticket to Argentina the people behind the counters from each bus company were shouting to get us to buy from them – very uncomfortable! Safe to say we didn’t bother in the end and just stuck with our original plan of getting the bus straight from Brazil.
The harassment in the bus station was only the start and it got worse! Obviously I stand out as a foreigner anywhere in South America (Kyle just blends in anywhere!) so Paraguay was no different. They smelt money and every stall we walked past people would shout things at us (obviously we didn’t understand) and then they’d follow us down the street!
I made the mistake of taking interest in what a guy was selling and ended up buying a memory card for my GoPro thinking it was an absolute bargain… It was for a fake memory card! No wonder the guy and all his mates ran down the street trying to sell me all sorts of other stuff! Socks seemed to be the most popular thing people were selling. Never seen so many socks (apart from on the floor in Primark maybe)
We didn’t have any passport / police checks when we crossed the border, as they don’t want to turn people away who will be spending money. On the way back out, however, the police came onto the bus and checked how much people had bought. This guy got away though…
An interesting few hours that we will definitely remember! After that it was back to the calm in Brazil and then to Argentina to start our travels there.
Our Big Fat North America Travel Adventure! 