Day 118 Ciudad del Este: Briefly in Brazil and into Paraguay

February 17, 2000

We are up at 7am, eat our last "tropical breakfast" and carry our belongings down the stairs. Our bikes are still where Patrick left them, minus the air in Rachel's rear tire. It seems that some of the instant patches Patrick used do not hold very well in extreme heat. Patrick pumps up the tire, and reloaded we set off on a short ride today, hopefully the tire will last and keeping air.

Getting out of Puerto Iguazu is a bit confusing the roads curve and there are many dead-end streets. But finally, after bumping over some terrible surfaced back streets we get on the smooth asphalt to Brazil.

The Iguazu River forms the border here; all immigration formalities are done in Brazil. So, we cross the river, take a picture of the "welcome to Brazil" sign and head for the immigration building.

There we first receive an Argentinian exit stamp and then a Brazilian entry. Rachel needs a visa which we already bought in Buenos Aires. All this for a 10km ride through this country.

After the paperwork, Rachel's rear tube, is deflated again and needs replacing. We ride into Foz del Iguazu and follow the signs for Paraguay. Even though we will not spend much time here, we have some formalities to do. First, we stop at a car junkyard where Patrick asks for a license plate. The guy takes Patrick out back, gives him a screwdriver and leaves it Patrick to remove. The plates are not for sale, but they give this one to Patrick.

A mile down the road we stop at a gas station where Patrick buys some gum in an attempt to get some Brazilian coins in change. Since the value of the Real is only about 35 cents, and they have bills for that, they do not usually use coins here. If you are due smaller change than one Real, you are given the change in a small package of gum or toffees. After some explaining in Patrick's excellent Portuguese (pantomime) the girl gets his drift and supplies him with all the different coins.

With all the tasks behind us, we head for the bridge over de Rio Parana and get our exit stamps at the Brazilian side and throw ourselves into the mad queue of cars and people across to Ciudad del Este.

The bridge is wall to wall cars. The walkway is pretty full of pedestrians too. We decide to stay on the road even though at times we don't move, or we push the bikes with one foot on the ground, Flintstone style. But we edge across through the chaos. Midway across the bridge posts are painted red, white and blue. Paraguay's flag looks like Holland's flag except with an emblem in the middle of the white section. At least it's not got "open" across the white section.

We go through immigration/customs one by one instead of together so one of us can watch the bikes at all times. Our destination is Hotel Munich, through a couple of round abouts then a few blocks over. The streets are a sight!! Garbage everywhere!! Carts with merchandise, carts with fruits and vegetables, Row after row of small stalls with variety of stuff to sell. For a km before we turn off the main road, we sail into the driveway of the Hotel and are quickly out of sight. The hotel is German Run and the room very clean and air conditioned!

We explore the streets, find the ACA (auto club) to see about a Paraguay map, but no luck. Ciudad del Este is a city of contraband-name brand stuff and electronics. The Argentinians and Brazilians come here to shop. There is also an Oriental influence, and we find an oriental Restautant and have Carne Chop Suey and rice and eggrolls. Nice change from all the meat and potatoes in Argentina.

On the way back to the hotel we wander through the side streets, the stalls on the sidewalks continue on and on and then there are department stores to walk through connecting the streets. It's really incredible!! Each business has their own security guards with weapons.

For supper we return to the same restaurant for Polo Chop Suey! This is really a treat. We do some grocery shopping on the way back to the Hotel. We ask the Hotel to boil some eggs for us. We really don't know what to expect along the road to Asuncion.

Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles)
Total: 3,769 km (2,341 miles)

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