I had been warned. Many times. People
get robbed there. Assaulted. Killed. Everybody who had been to Ciudad
del Este in Paraguay before seemed to have a different horror story
about it. “I didn't think of anything bad walking down the street
and this guy came up with his gun and I had to give him my wallet.”
“They warned me not to walk down the bridge but I didn't have money
to take a cab so I walked anyway. Next thing I knew, three sketchy
men walk up, point a gun to my head and ask me for my money.
Obviously, I didn't have any, so they robbed my shoes.” So I
imagined a Paraguayan Gotham City crossing the border from Foz de
Iguazú (a lovely city on the Brazilian side of the Iguazú falls) to
Ciudad del Este. The first person I met though was a charming lady at
the tourism office (right next to the migration office) who took her
time explaining to me all the sights of the city, where to go, where
not to, how to get there and how much it would cost. When we were
looking for a public phone to call the couchsurfer we were staying
with, she just let us use her cell phone. That was our first
introduction into Paraguayan hospitality. Friendly, warm, welcoming
and always willing to help out a clueless gringo.
From the migration point it's only a
short walk into the city center, however, unless you might collect
stories like the ones mentioned above, don't walk!! Even if it's just
a street, take a cab! There is all sorts of creatures trying to sell
you electronics, money or drugs (and I am not sure if they aren't
cops in disguise...). But once you manage to get downtown, it's …
well, now here it takes a little bit of extra effort trying to
describe what the hustling and bustling city center of Ciudad del
Este looks like. First off, 90% of the people are Chinese or Korean.
Second, they all try to sell you something, or anything really:
clothes, purses, watches, cell phones, food – you name it. Ciudad
del Este is South America's biggest trading city, since it is tax
free, everything here is cheap (and fake or made in China) so it
became a huge market for especially Koreans and Chinese. Ciudad del
Este is also the only city in South America I have been to so far
where people work Monday to Saturdays (and acutally WORK, not just
sit at their desks, checking their facebook) – because the Asian
bosses make sure nobody is standing still at no time. And then
downtown Ciudad del Este is just a giant Chinese market. Stand after
stand after stand, everybody trying to get through, shoving and
pushing, and – obviously – looking for the best deal. It was a
little bit hard for me to actually understand what the vendors were
saying to ME. Since I don't look Paraguayan, the next best guess is
that I am Brazilian – so most people would say something in
Portuguese to me and be completely amazed when I actually answered in
Spanish! Ciudad del Este is really some sort of free zone, where
nothing seems to be as it is in other Latin American cities. The next
“sight” was a bar we went to. I am not even sure how to call it.
It was a bar, an ice cream parlor, downstairs was a bowling alley,
next to it the cheap disco (free but with no AC – at 40 degrees),
upstairs the VIP disco (pricey but with AC!) and filled
with 15 year olds (note: the teenage men in Ciudad del Este
have adopted a very unique way of walking, I call it the Arnold
Schwarzenegger walk – walk as if you're muscle-packed
and at least 30 cm taller).
One of the most shocking things to me
though was seeing armed men in the streets, and I mean your regular
shopper or family men, not just security guards. I have never seen
armed men like that before (I have not been to Central America before
and I am also not from the US where having a weapon is common) – so
I have to admit that sitting at an internet cafe next to a big fat
gun made me feel somewhat uneasy...
Ciudad del Este is a fascinating place,
very much unlike the rest of Paraguay, but never boring!
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