Bridge over the River Parana

Sounds like a good name for a movie don't you think. (darn can't find the question mark on this keyboard)
Today we went to Brazil and Paraguay, and I have the stamp in my passport to prove it, well it proves I was in Brazil anyway. Anyway the story,
We left home around 8 this morning and caught bus which took us acoss the bridge between Argentina and Brazil and had to get off at the border and have our documents sighted and stamped, back onto the bus, next stop down-town Brazil. Iguassu on that side of the river is much bigger than the Iguazu that I'm staying in. We got off the bus and straight away walked over the bridge to Paraguay. THere were'nt too many people about as it was quite early. I guess the bridge is about 3 quarters of a km long and I had two offers of drugs by the time we got to Paraguay. I should really begin by telling you of the preparations last night. We had already changed some pesos into U$A for Paraguay and Reales for Brazil. My wallet was too big (actually it's not at all) to take as it had to fit into my pants pocket without making a large bump that is noticable. No rings, earings, watches, necklaces, phones, cameras anything at all. I had to take my passport so I used the pouch you lent me Mark, it was great. We wandered the streets of Paraguay for several hours, by which time were crowded with people. There are hundreds of stalls with good stuff and heaps and heaps of rubbish. The streets are littered with rubbish too, people openly throw stuff onto the street. If I was going to sell anything, it would be plastic wrap and sellotape, absolutely everyone was using these items. On guy was carrying 5 very large cardboard boxes on his back, another couple had huge green plastic wrapped packages on their backs and one woman was carrying a large basket on her head. The other day here in Iguazu I saw a guy with 5 cartons of wine strapped to the back of his motorbike.
Monica and I made some good purchases, then walked back over the bridge, (more offers of drugs) to Brazil. We saw some men collecting contraband from the side of the river and running up the hill through the vegetation. We stopped at a dingy looking cafe for a drink of Guarana and a Brazilian empanada, which has nothing to do with waxing and everything to do with pastry and dry mince with a smattering of carrot. We then hit the streets again in Brazil this time. We were quite tired as it was really hot today, so after making a few purchases, we decided to call it quits and head home. We will go back another day and finish supporting the ecomomy in Brazil. On the way home we had to stop on the Argentinean side of the river Parana and have our passports\documents stamped again and our bags searched.
As soon as we arrived home I had a shower as we were in some very dirty smelly places
today.
It was a real shame that I couldn't take photos but it is just not safe to be seen with a camera.
Tonight we are going out with a friend of Monica's so that should be fun.
Thanks for all the emails, it's been great reading them.
Till next time
Hasta luego
Viv