Where the river converges (in the photo) you can see the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
Took a trip to Paraguay this morning - not sure why exactly. Ciudad del Este is a big mess but supposedly has the largest shopping centre in Latin America. Everything is dirt cheap especially electrical goods. I was warned it was pretty dangerous to walk around the streets so I ended up stuck in an indoor shopping mall not unlike Wood Green Shopping City for an hour and half until I could get the driver turned up to get me out. Shame it's the only place I went to in Paraguay as it didn`t leave me with an overwhelming desire to return.
One thing I have noticed is that since Iguassu it`s become warm and dry. Thank god for that. I was tired of walking around with crazy-woman (frizzy) hair.
It`s another overnight bus (12 hours) from Puerto Iguassu in Argentina to the Uruguayan border. This time the seats don´t recline as much and there is less leg room which means I wake up with cramp in the middle of the night trying not to scream and alarm everyone. My light doesn`t work either so I can´t read. I would have watched the film had it been slightly appealing but ´Funky Monkey´ I couldn´t face. I do manage to sleep a bit although when I wake up I can only see out of one eye.
Turfed out on the side of the road (in Concordia I believe) a taxi magically appears to whisk me and my travelling buddies across the Uruguayan border. No problems at the border - no one even checks our passport photos.´Good to know border controls are thorough. I keep reminding myself of the first piece of advice I was given on arriving `Don`t worry, this is South America' i.e. don`t expect too much.
Bleary eyed from not too much sleep the taxi delivers me to my hotel in Salto - a charming small town which revolves around a high street originally named ´Uruguay Street`. First stop is breakfast which costs about 20p and then I´m on a mission to find an optician as I´m still half blind. After a couple of abortive attempts I end up at an eye doctor´s house. Well there are certificates on his wall so that`s good enough for me. He assures me all is ok but that I probably slept with one eye half open (freaky), and together with the air conditioning and the dehydration (I avoided drinking water on the bus as I couldn´t face the toilet) my eye dried out. So I was dispatched with drops and the assurance that my vision would soon return to normal. Hoorah for that. Spent the afternoon relaxing at some thermal baths (Termas del Dayman) 8km out of town and treating myself to a massage.
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