"Foz - the other sid ..." a Foz do Iguaçu Travel Page by realde14

Foz is on the Brazilian side of the river Parana, which separates Brazil from Paraguay and on the Brazilian side of the Iguazu river, separating it from Argentina. The tri-border area is notorious for drug-trafficking, contra-band, and shady caracters. This is obviously not the reason why people come here. It is the spectacular Iguazu falls that attract the tourists, and they are well worth a visit.

I arrived in Foz after I spent couple of weeks working in the megacities of Sao Paulo and Rio. I had to get used to the provincial life and slow pace first, but really started to enjoy it soon.

Foz is nothing pretty and as said, it just serves as a gateway to the Iguazu Falls, the Itaipu dam as well as a crossing over to Paraguay's Ciudad del Este, to which Foz is connected to by the Ponte de Amizade, the friendship bridge. It should be more aptly called the contraband bridge, where cheap electronics and other contraband can be acquired on the paraguauyan side of the Parana river.

It is pretty provincial here, but there are some nightlife options like Bamba, where you can listen to typical Southern Brazilian country music. A lot of dancing, beer drinking and steamy atmospere.

There is a bit of a frontier feeling with lots of recent immigrants from Arabic countries mainly, which seem to control most of the commerce on Avenida Brasil, sort of the main shopping street in Foz
More to come!