At least it's colorful!
I wasn't interested in buying any melons, sunglasses, brown roots, or ukeleles, so I only spent about 15 minutes in Ciudad del Este, to change some money and catch a bus to the terminal. Maybe that's why the danger I expected didn't hit me, or maybe it's because I successfully projected a look of confidence. The only bothers I encountered were a few taxi offers and a gushing cut on my big toe from a metal thing sticking out from the sidewalk. Let's just chalk that up with the wasp sting (which still has my arm swollen) and see how many battle scars I can earn on this trip.
In the disastrous War of the Triple Alliance (1865-70), Paraguay lost two-thirds of all adult males and much of its territory. It stagnated economically for the next half century. In the Chaco War of 1932-35, large, economically important areas were ... ... read more 
