Paraguay is not a famous place at the travelers community and being at the border area is your chance to explore this unknown place.
Ciudad del Este is the first city at the Paraguayan side of the border from Iguaçu. This city os most know for their Free taxes market( the 3º one in the world). Crossing the bridge that connect both countries you see a quiu of brazilian cars and buses that go to paraguay to buy products with a cheaper price, it’s Crazy!!!
After a quick pass by Ciudad del Este we go to another city called Hernandarias, where we visit ITAIPU DAM, the second biggest dam in the world and the world´s biggest hidroeletrical in power production! There we do a panoramic visit, a trip organized by ITAIPU where you know some curiosities about how it was made and how the hidroeletrical power plant works.
There’s one stop near the spillways, with the best view of it. If you are lucky you can see the spillways opened(It only happens at some days at the rainy season). This spillways expels a volume of water 40 times bigger than the volume of water at the waterfalls. It s Crazy to imagine how two non developed countries could start this huge and complex project during the 70´s.
After this we go to the guarani museum, where you can see how was Paraguay before the colonization until the construction of Itaipu. There’s a guide that go with us telling some details about It. It’s really interesting to know how the natives used to live, how was the colonization process and hear more about Itaipu.
There’s a quick stop for lunch and then we go to Puerto Franco city to visit the Monday Falls. Contemple nature’s amazing display provided by the most sought-after waterfalls in Paraguay. Surrounded by well-preserved native forest, there you can do trails among the vegetation to belvederes and walkways from which you are able to view the river’s 40-meter gorge. This attraction is located in the Saltos del Rio Monday City Park, which offers camping and picnic area where you can enjoy a peaceful environment and relax at this beautiful waterfalls almost unknown by visitors that come to the 3 borders.
To finish with this quick trip into Paraguay we pass by Mercado de Abastos, this is a street market full of organic fruits, vegatables, chickens and homemade things that local farmers from the area bring to sell. You can see a lot of the way of living of some paraguayans.
Are you ready to discorver Paraguay?
If you are passing by the 3 border you can not miss this trip!
