"Scrungy Border Town" Paraguay by NedHopkins

Developed as a free port by longtime Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, this border town -- across the river from Foz do Iguasu, Brasil -- was originally named for him.

No visa is needed for visitors from the Brazilian side. (The Argentine border is also close).

Name-brand goods are available in several nice stores; knock-offs of everything from Nike tennis shoes to Patek Philippe watches are hawked in stalls on and near the main street. There's at least one nice hotel; it has a casino (Brazil outlawed casino gambling in the 1940s).

Brazilian buses cross the bridge into Ciudade del Este; it's also possible to walk across the bridge. Brazilian taxi drivers are reluctant to drive into the town. "They steal cars over there," my driver explained.

Paraguay is the only country I've visited with a border sign sponsored by a commercial company (South Korea's Samsung in this case).

The Amizade Bridge

I took a bus from Foz do Iguasu into Ciudade del Este and walked back to the Brazilian side over the Amizade ('friendship') bridge.

Scene

This is the scene from the Amizade Bridge, looking toward the Brazilian town Foz do Iguasu.