Just about get enough sleep. Up and try to finish whatever food we have left, as we always buy slightly too much at the market and I can't be bothered carrying it around from hostel to hostel. Breakfast today consists of hot dog toasties, coffee, watermelon, bananas, and more coffee. We empty the fridge, pack, pay our bill (which somehow doesn't include the previous night's beers, which we don't mention, being on a budget and all) and get a lift to the bus station. Brazil, thank you and goodnight.
Mention to the bus driver that we need to jump out at the border. Would have been fine if he hadn't driven fifty feet down the road and switched with another guy. Ah well. Its R$4 from bus station into Paraguay, and you get issued little pieces of paper that get you back onto another bus at immigration.
Bus is now rammed with folk, none of whom look like they need to stop at border control. Eyes peeled for what we think is our stop, Sarah marginally freaking out thinking that we won't be allowed into Paraguay, or even out of Brazil at all.
This looks like the stop, as lanes converge and it all gets messy. We pull the rope and managed to escape the bus. Into a queue at migration... wait... and fifteen minutes later we are stamped out of Brazil. First bit done.
Universal advice is to get the bus across the bridge, and not walk under any circumstances, so we hang around a minute and another bus shows up. Over the bridge we go, across the Rio Paraná, stateless, and jump out at the imposing offices of Paraguayan Immigration Control. In the door, over to the counter, stamped and out again in about two minutes. Couldn't have been easier.
Wish we could say the same for our hostel. On this occasion I learn that towns tend to have two bus stations, a long distance (Omnibus) station, and a local (Urban) terminal. We think about walking but take a taxi. Ciudad Del Este looks crazy from the moment you arrive. Enormous shopping palaces and fuss and pruck everywhere. Not to mention all the people living in bin-bag houses near the bus terminal. Thankfully the station has an ATM which chooses to oblige us. The Paraguayan Guaraní trades at 7,500 to the £1 (or P$G10,000 is £1.35).
Hummingbird Hostel is half-home, half-motel; we hadn't realised we had a private room, and are mighty grateful for it. The heat in Paraguay is something else, for no clear reason whatsoever. A quick email and out the door; we need food and drink quickly. Drift pass a McDonald's (still need to call in and see what local specialities they serve) and get to the enormous Supermercado. You could put a mega-Tesco inside it, no problem. The prices are bonkers. Buckets of pick-n-mix pasta sit beside mountains of fruit and veg, all at half the price (at most) that we pay in Norn Iron. A tub of saffron has a huge scoop in it and trades at P$G163,000 a kilo. A KILO. Thats about £23.
Usual rules apply - if it's imported its more expensive, if its made here its rock bottom cheap. Local beer is 30p a tin. Cider from Argentina is £1 a litre. Little local pineapples are 50p each. There is a much greater variety of produce in the shops here than in Brazil. You can also buy Paraguayan wine, which will shock everyone. Its also about a £1 a litre (albeit in a box).
The Paraguayans don't want for much, if this place is anything to go by. Big TVs, nice glassware, miles of groceries, and we haven't even eaten yet. Little jars of hot sauce were £1.25 in Brazil. Here, they're 40p. We go to the pay-by-the-kilo buffet for lunch and eat ourselves sick. Not a massive variation from Brazil, but once again a better selection, and also little passion fruit and mango desserts. I say little, I mean enormous.
We take a bus back towards the centre on a bus that finally fulfils a few of our expectations of Latin America. The whole vehicle seems built out of one single sheet of carefully folded steel. An older gentleman asks us where we are headed to, and points out some directions. Paraguayans are very helpful and friendly too. Spend a while just walking around the town trying to get an idea of it, and truth be told, Ciudad Del Este is more pleasant than I could ever have thought. Any source of info I had encountered made it sound like a gigantic retail park hiving with sleaze. That it is mostly parkland, features a nice lake, and the hardcore of the shopping area is confined to a single stretch of road, is enough of a reason to come back sometime and actually spend a couple of days here.
Sarah has acquired mosquito repellant and anti-histamine bite cream. She has been plagued by insects since we first set foot in Latin America, and some of the bites are pretty nasty, swelling up into enormous bruises. Diabetics are tasty, it seems. The pharmacist asks us for £3 for what at home would be serious prescription drugs. I love Paraguay even more.
We walk but don't find much, its still a Sunday after all, and we grab some groceries and head home to a quiet night catching up with family.
Mention to the bus driver that we need to jump out at the border. Would have been fine if he hadn't driven fifty feet down the road and switched with another guy. Ah well. Its R$4 from bus station into Paraguay, and you get issued little pieces of paper that get you back onto another bus at immigration.
Bus is now rammed with folk, none of whom look like they need to stop at border control. Eyes peeled for what we think is our stop, Sarah marginally freaking out thinking that we won't be allowed into Paraguay, or even out of Brazil at all.
This looks like the stop, as lanes converge and it all gets messy. We pull the rope and managed to escape the bus. Into a queue at migration... wait... and fifteen minutes later we are stamped out of Brazil. First bit done.
Universal advice is to get the bus across the bridge, and not walk under any circumstances, so we hang around a minute and another bus shows up. Over the bridge we go, across the Rio Paraná, stateless, and jump out at the imposing offices of Paraguayan Immigration Control. In the door, over to the counter, stamped and out again in about two minutes. Couldn't have been easier.
Wish we could say the same for our hostel. On this occasion I learn that towns tend to have two bus stations, a long distance (Omnibus) station, and a local (Urban) terminal. We think about walking but take a taxi. Ciudad Del Este looks crazy from the moment you arrive. Enormous shopping palaces and fuss and pruck everywhere. Not to mention all the people living in bin-bag houses near the bus terminal. Thankfully the station has an ATM which chooses to oblige us. The Paraguayan Guaraní trades at 7,500 to the £1 (or P$G10,000 is £1.35).
Hummingbird Hostel is half-home, half-motel; we hadn't realised we had a private room, and are mighty grateful for it. The heat in Paraguay is something else, for no clear reason whatsoever. A quick email and out the door; we need food and drink quickly. Drift pass a McDonald's (still need to call in and see what local specialities they serve) and get to the enormous Supermercado. You could put a mega-Tesco inside it, no problem. The prices are bonkers. Buckets of pick-n-mix pasta sit beside mountains of fruit and veg, all at half the price (at most) that we pay in Norn Iron. A tub of saffron has a huge scoop in it and trades at P$G163,000 a kilo. A KILO. Thats about £23.
Usual rules apply - if it's imported its more expensive, if its made here its rock bottom cheap. Local beer is 30p a tin. Cider from Argentina is £1 a litre. Little local pineapples are 50p each. There is a much greater variety of produce in the shops here than in Brazil. You can also buy Paraguayan wine, which will shock everyone. Its also about a £1 a litre (albeit in a box).
The Paraguayans don't want for much, if this place is anything to go by. Big TVs, nice glassware, miles of groceries, and we haven't even eaten yet. Little jars of hot sauce were £1.25 in Brazil. Here, they're 40p. We go to the pay-by-the-kilo buffet for lunch and eat ourselves sick. Not a massive variation from Brazil, but once again a better selection, and also little passion fruit and mango desserts. I say little, I mean enormous.
We take a bus back towards the centre on a bus that finally fulfils a few of our expectations of Latin America. The whole vehicle seems built out of one single sheet of carefully folded steel. An older gentleman asks us where we are headed to, and points out some directions. Paraguayans are very helpful and friendly too. Spend a while just walking around the town trying to get an idea of it, and truth be told, Ciudad Del Este is more pleasant than I could ever have thought. Any source of info I had encountered made it sound like a gigantic retail park hiving with sleaze. That it is mostly parkland, features a nice lake, and the hardcore of the shopping area is confined to a single stretch of road, is enough of a reason to come back sometime and actually spend a couple of days here.
Sarah has acquired mosquito repellant and anti-histamine bite cream. She has been plagued by insects since we first set foot in Latin America, and some of the bites are pretty nasty, swelling up into enormous bruises. Diabetics are tasty, it seems. The pharmacist asks us for £3 for what at home would be serious prescription drugs. I love Paraguay even more.
We walk but don't find much, its still a Sunday after all, and we grab some groceries and head home to a quiet night catching up with family.
Sounds good - especially the prices. Yes SAOAS warns to be careful in Ciudad but Asuncion is pretty safe. It's only a real bus experience if the passengers are all grumpy grannies carrying live chickens and the driver is high on khat or coca...
ReplyDeleteWe have found Paraguay to be much like Brazil - keep your head up and your eyes open and you won't stray too far wrong. Haven't been ripped off yet, surprisingly, and happy about it.
ReplyDeleteThe prices are very friendly - even in our hotel here in Asuncion, a fancy burger might set us back a fiver or so. God knows what a small eatery costs, but Im sure its within our budget.
Having said that, we may feel the pinch in Uruguay in a week!