Ciudad del Este - South America’s supermarket and the Itaipú Dam

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Ciudad del Este, Paraguay’s second largest city, was a necessary stop-off point in order to cross into Argentina and Brazil for Iguazú waterfalls, though there were a few interesting sights around CDE itself as well. A modern city, built only in 1959 and originally named after South America’s longest serving dictator (and that’s no mean feat!), Ciudad Presidente Stroessner (1954-1989) as it was known, is a sprawling metropolis of ugly and dirty concrete buildings. The city is located only a few kilometres from both the Brazilian border and Argentina, and therefore a large part of the city caters for selling cheap merchandise to visitors from these two more expensive countries. The city centre is almost entirely given over to market stalls, selling mostly counterfeit and poor quality clothes and electronics. The only road in the city centre which isn’t full of market stalls is instead lined with bureaux de change. Everything is more expensive than elsewhere in Paraguay; the cheapest hotel I could find was double the price of Asunción, and in a very dodgy location. Poverty is everywhere here; an alarming number of homeless children wander the streets begging for money. Opposite my hotel, which was near the bus station, was a large open space with a small shanty town, complete with burning rubbish pile. That said, some of the suburbs are quite reasonable, but on the whole the city is not very pleasant - probably the dirtiest city I’ve yet been to. So much rubbish and litter everywhere. The tourist office was a bit of a shambles too (though at least there was one), but it was nigh on impossible to find, and barely worth it.

So are there any redeeming features to this ghastly city? Not really I’m afraid. Its one good characteristic is its location next to two interesting sites - The Monday Waterfall and the Itaipú Dam. The Monday Waterfall (pronounced Mon-da-oo, though I never managed to say it right) was difficult to get to, simply because the tourist office gave me slightly incorrect information about how to get there. And then the bus that was going there broke down in a cloud of black smoke, but fortunately a woman on the bus showed me how to walk there (I really do depend on the kindness of strangers to find my way in most towns in Paraguay, as signs are virtually non-existent). The waterfalls receive so few visitors due to the more famous Iguazú waterfalls just across the border, but they really were worth the visit. Strange how there was no-one there but me though. But the photos should say it all. These are now the tallest waterfalls in Paraguay after the previous tallest waterfalls disappeared with the construction of the Itaipú Dam. Which brings me on to the other nearby site that’s definitely worth visiting.

The dam lies some 20km north of Ciudad del Este, and is probably the main draw for visitors. It is a bi-national project with Brazil, and is situated across the Paraná River which separates the two countries. Work began in 1975 and wasn’t finished until 1991, with the project being embroiled in corruption scandals and ecological controversies (there’s a reason why Paraguay is the most corrupt country in the world outside of Africa). The visit to the dam was very interesting - there is a rather plush visitor centre to cater for the hundreds of visitors that come every day. Everyone is piled on coaches, which then do a tour of the site, stopping at viewing points on both the Paraguayan side and the Brazilian side, passing past the turbines as well as on top of the dam.

Now relegated to only the second largest dam in the word, Itaipu’s turbines still produce more electricity than any other power station on Earth, supplying a staggering 90% of Paraguay’s demand as well as 19% of Brazil’s. For this it was recognised as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The whole tour was free, plus there was also a museum and a zoo 2km up the road (also free), which houses many of the animals rescued from the forests flooded when the dam was constructed, including a rare black panther. All in all, a very interesting visit, and fitting that the last site I visited in Paraguay was probably the most fascinating.

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Photos

Ciudad del Este
The street where the "Tourist Office" was located

The Itaipu Zoo
A Black Jaguar/Panther

Comments

[J.Dakota]

Paraguay Blog
Just followed you virtually through Paraguay and enjoyed your write ups a lot. Having just spent a month in Paraguay very recently, I have been very intrigued to see what other travelers in my demographic think of this very "of the beaten path" destination. Although there are no real attractions to speak of, (except maybe the ruins outside of Encarnation) I came away with a soft spot in my heart for Paraguay. Keep up the great blogs.