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Writer's pictureRhonda Cates

Two Worlds Ten Feet Apart

Chris: We went to Puraguay today from Argentina by way of Brazil. So many border crossings, but it's actually kind of fun. We had never really done border crossings other than thru airports until we went to Nicaragua from Costa Rica in February. It kind of feels like an international prisoner exchange, like Brittney Griner should be walking toward you, with just a head down eyes cut towards each other glance. We had to do out of each country emigration then into each country immigration. There is a difference. Emigration is leaving a country, Immigration is entering a country, I didn't know that until Rhonda just told me but she has a PhD so she should know something, I'm not really expected to know anything. We did a total of eight today with two more coming in the morning going to the airport in Brazil. It is kind of fun but it did get a bit old today.


When our driver picked us up from the hotel this morning he asked us why we want to go to Paraguay, we said because it's just right there. We are all about that, we love the passport stamp, we love adding another country, we love to look at each other and say, look at this, we are in Paraguay. It's such a big part of travel for us, it's there, we want to go.

The crossing was chaotic, but it didn't take too long. The traffic got more and more heavy the closer we got to the boarder, and was just insane when we crossed into Paraguay. Some countries we've been to, the traffic lanes, lights and signs are just vague suggestions, in some others it's as if the drivers really don't know what thay are, Paraguay was the latter, look at those pretty red and green lights, I wonder what they are for ?


Rhonda: Chris is truth telling about the driving. And the motorcycles weaving through it all.... lord! Our driver, Artis, was so wonderful today. So patient and kind. He was game to stop anywhere we needed, carry bags when we shopped, walk slow for me, escort us in and out of 8 border crossings, and make sure we always had water and food and a bano. The line of cars and people walking over the border was relatively short when we got there. It was explained that people in Brazil and Argentina go there to buy cheap imports from China to resell. But if one buys more than $500 of products there is a 50 % customs tax. So they buy $499 at a time and either drive it or walk it back and forth across the border. We witnessed people hiring taxis and filling up the cab with goods and paying the cab to drive it across the border.


Once we got into Paraquay it struck us as such a dichotomy. We had been told that there are rich people and poor people, but no middle class in Paraquay. And boy did it stand out to us. This is the street scene :



That pig and wine, and a coke for a bonus, are for sale.


On the other hand, there are malls every bit as nice as Northpark, bragging about all the goods are from China and are authentic. Look at the difference:



So weird, but we are glad we went. We also learned that it's not as dangerous there as it used to be. And we were not afraid.


Chris: We were in Paraguay for just a few hours and it was fascinating and a bit head spinning, we went from third world to upscale in just a few feet. Crazy stuff. We have wanted to get Apple Watches for awhile but we just don't want them bad enough to pay what they cost at home but we thought, let's see what they cost at these malls. We went to two different stores that sold Apple products and looked but they were still expensive and we didn't want to spend that much although it was less than in the US and then we went out on the street and saw a guy selling a pig carcass with two bottles of Coke and a bottle of wine. I love traveling, you really can't make this stuff up.


Then we went to see the Itaipu Dam, it's a hydroelectric dam and the second largest dam in the world but it generates more electricity than any dam in the world. It is on the border of Paraguay Argentina and Brazil where the Iguazú and the Paraná rivers converge.

I had read up on it a lot before we came on this trip and was really excited to see it. Rhonda enjoyed it but it wasn't a must do for her but I was pretty pumped. It was really incredible, it's one of the seven engineering wonders of the world, who decides that I don't know, but it was amazing.

They started construction in 1975 and it was completely finished in 1991 but it was partially in use starting in 1983. That is what they said on the tour, I absolutely do not understand. It seems to me that a dam is a dam, there is a dam or there is not a dam. There is an in between? How do you have a partially useable unfinished dam ?

We rode in an open air double decker bus for the tour and the first stop was at the spillway. The damn has three huge spillway sections and during our tour the gates in one of the sections were open. The amount of water pouring down the spillway into the river was just incredible. It was every bit as impressive as some of the water falls at Iguazú. Next we drove along the base of the damn then across the top, it's just massive. There are twenty turbines and up to eighteen are in use at any one time supplying one hundred percent of Paraguay's power and twenty percent of Brazil's. The amount of water flowing thru the turbines per minute is twice the amount flowing over Iguazu Falls. The damn is truly an engineering marvel and one of the more impressive man made attractions I have seen.


Rhonda: We were happy to have time for a well deserved nap when we got back. We packed for our next destination before dinner. I just wanted to point out one weird thing in our hotel room. What genius would do this?

I don't know about you but I don't want my companion, even my husband of 40 years, being able to surprise peep at me in the shower!


Ok. On to Rio de Janeio where we will stay on Cococabana beach.


Love y'all.

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