Ciudad del Este

Ciudad del Este is the second city of Paraguay and one of the largest duty-free trading centres in the world, a chaotic grid of electronics arcades and import stalls where Brazilians cross the Friendship Bridge in tens of thousands a day to shop. It is the Paraguayan corner of the triple frontier with Brazil and Argentina, and Iguazú Falls lie half an hour away on the Brazilian side. Monday market days are close to impassable. Outside the trading centre the Acaray river and Lake Itaipú offer beaches. Almost nobody comes here for the city itself, and most cross straight over.