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"Downtown in Paraguay" ©2001 Elroy Christenson
Just across the river from
Foz do Iguaçu, the town, in southern Brazil lies this
small bordertown Ciudad del Este of Paraguay. This is
not really an ideal spot for tourists. It's a hub of a
number of illegal activities which include smuggling
cigarettes, selling stolen cars or chopping them into
resellable parts and, of course, dealing drugs. In front
of many shops are armed guards with sawed off shot guns,
machine guns, or other heavy fire power. I could buy
virtually any gun at a street vendor's stand. It has
quite a wild west feel and we were always looking for
the speeding car and awaiting the sound of passing
bullets. You can buy anything here, and very cheap, -
cheap CD's, leather goods, imported perfume as well as
imported and indigenous clothing. This makes it a real
destination for the Brazilians and Argentinians.
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