Archive for the ‘Ciudad de Este’ tag
Ciudad Del Este – City Or Shopping Mall?
Paraguay is not on the itinerary of most travelers visiting South America. There are many reasons for this, none of which implies that there isn’t much to see. If you are therefore planning a visit to Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay, a side-trip to Paraguay won’t cost much and you will have an amazingly good time.
Many people’s first and last encounter with Paraguay is a visit to Ciudad de Este – the second largest city in the country and also the trading capital. If you are looking for atmospheric old buildings and quiet side streets with cute little shops, rather go to Asuncion.
If you are looking for history and atmosphere, rather go to the capital Asuncion. If you are into shopping though, Ciudad de Este will not disappoint you. This noisy, crowded city is for all intents and purposes a massive shopping mall. If you are a jewelry retails who came here to find a fine jewelry wholesale distributor, you are in luck: there are a number of them in the biggest mall not far from the border post.
If you are into musical instruments, you can buy virtually anything here that you could possibly want. From cheap imported Chinese electronic keyboards, to the latest top quality epiphone electric guitar. Just make sure you know the prices of these items back home – the traders are experts to spot a customer who doesn’t know a rip-off when he sees one.
If you’re a family guy, the city caters for you too. Why not buy the wife a nice ring or a beautiful pendant made from Brazilian quarts? There’s a huge number of toy shops, so you are sure to find something for the kids as well. As far as babies go – there are shops selling everything from baby clothes to the latest European trend, the spa type baby bath. There’s also no shortage of shops selling gifts for the friends and family back home.
A few kilometers outside Ciudad del Este lies one of the lesser known yet spectacular tourist attractions of the country: the massive Itaipu dam. This dam, which belongs to both Paraguay and Brazil, is the biggest hydroelectric scheme in the world. If you would like to see how it was constructed, watch the film shown at regular intervals in the theater near the front entrance.
Afterward you can take a guided tour that actually goes into the dam wall and see the 20 massive turbines, each generating enough electricity to supply a city of 2 million people. If you are lucky, the sluices will be open, which is an amazing sight to see.