A Day in Paraguay

The Iguazu Falls are shared by two countries,Brazil and Argentina, but a third is just over the river, Paraguay. Our new friend, Marcelo, explained many people in the neighboring countries go to Paraguay for shopping. The goods are much cheaper and tax-free. Therefor some will buy large quantities of items to bring back to resell. The governement does not approve. For this reason, police generally search each vehicle leaving the country, so traffic is very slow moving. He advised us to walk across the border instead of taking a car. The three countries have an agreement to allow their residents to freely move across the three borders without stopping at immigration. But foreigners do legally need to be stamped in and out. The good news is that there is basically no wait and they are so used to people coming for the day, they didn't even ask us any questions. 

We were coming from Brazil, so our first stop was Brazil migration to be stamped out. Then we walked over the river on a bridge with a sidewalk that's protected from vehicles. I had read online that theft is a problem in the area, and that sometimes people hang around on the bridge with no security monitoring, so I chose not to bring my camera. Turns out not one person was waiting on the bridge. The few people we encountered were moving quickly to cross the border. 

Looking down over the Brazil side. 

Once across, we stopped in to Paraguay Migration to be stamped in. Just as easy of a process and again, no wait. Ciudad is the border city, known for great shopping. Not only are there tons of stores, but the streets are lined with tiendas and individuals with items for sale. 

We headed straight for the Parque de la República, which Marcelo suggested as a fun place to see some wildlife.

This Park has a large lake with a trail that circles it crossing thru forest, marsh and lakeside habitats.

The kids come up with their own games while waiting as I look at birds. Here they are challenging each other to a bottle flip contest. Looks like Journey is winning.

We spotted a few of these guys, which we initially thought might be a rat of some kind. Turns out these are wild Brazilian Guinea Pigs! Journey, of course, found them adorable.

Interesting habitat here. Hard to tell, but Asher is looking out at a Yacare Caiman that we spotted!

Since I didn't bring my camera, that one was too far out for a photo, but just around the bend, we spotted a second one on the bank near us. This shot is with my cell phone held to my binoculars.

This patch right here on the west side of the lake held so many birds, including a couple lifers and birds not found anywhere else on the lake. Great spot! In hindsight, I think I would have preferred to start here and bird all the way around to end here again. I ended up finding a total of 41 species of birds!

After a few hours of walking around, we were ready for food. There was a mall across the street with a food court, so we gave Mostaza a try. Our Israeli friends say the USA eats a crazy amount of cheese, which I do agree with, however we've been surprised by the level of cheese we've been seeing here in South America. I mean, have you ever seen a cheeseburger covered in cheese before? Not me! 

Check out that bill, 182,000.00 Guaranies! Relax. At an exchange rate of about 7500 to $1USD, this dinner of 5 burgers, 4 fries and 4 drinks cost just $25.10 in USD! You can also see the prices in Brazilian Reales and Argentinian Pesos listed at the bottom. Very helpful.

After dinner, it was time to head back to Brazil, as we wanted to be home before dark. The migration process was just as simple the second time.