The Smartphone Duty Free City of the East but located in the West.

Paraguay’s Ciudad del Este, or translated from Spanish “City of the East”, is in the West to most Europeans as it is located on the great South American Paraná River that cuts a frontier between Mercosur’s tri-border area of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.

The City of the East is indeed a Latin equivalent of the famous Far Eastern shopping havens of Bangkok and Hong Kong, with electrical products and gadgets the lifeblood of this city’s retail bonanza. Strolling the main street after negotiating the precarious Friendship Bridge from Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil, there are shops, mini malls and stalls selling every conceivable electrical appliance at prices far cheaper than in the adjacent and modernising Brazil, just across the river.

C de E is supposed to be threatening, but during the hustle and bustle of the day and the midday autumn heat rising to 35 degrees, the only risk encountered would be buying too many pairs of socks. Likewise, why is every foreign tourist named “taxi”, whenever they travel to such locations?

Goods are sold at Duty Free, Tax Free or low-tax discounted prices. The city is a (Duty Free) Special Freezone, created to capitalise on the border crossing traffic coming from Brazil’s industrial and economic heartland cities of São Paulo, Londrina, Curitiba and Campinas, encompassing a population rising to 20 million or more.

Mobile phones are the in-demand item, especially the Apple iPhone and iPad, which can be bought for around 40 per cent less than in Brazil and without a service contract. A multitude of other cell phones are also available as are spares, cables, batteries and accessories for all makes of mobile. A replacement battery for the iconic Nokia 6310 or 6230 costs USD$1 per unit and to date charging well, unlike a similar version bought at Bangkok’s MBK.

Paraguay has the infamous reputation of being the copy capital of the Americas, but there was zero evidence of fake products in the plush stores operated by Mannah’s “La Petisquera”, “Macedonia” or the largest department store “Monalisa”.

The latter provides a very good early morning coffee and a live pianist giving you Sammy Cahn’s best. Not, the three Paraguayan Indians on the harp one expects.

Yes, some of the mini malls are a little unkempt, but when did you last find a similar arcade in Europe that can fix your camera or phone in an hour, rather than negotiate a sophisticated westernised customer service system equivalent to a maze?

At the arrival or departure border crossing and right next to the Customs control is the stylish “Shopping del Este” Centre, a quality Mall that would grace any European city, with air conditioning that works to the full and easily entices you in from the Middle Eastern like, dry heat.

In fact, the heat is not the only Arabic similarity as many of the traders who run the commerce in the city have Lebanese or Gulf roots and it is strange to hear Bukra, Insha'allah and Tamam mixed with Buenos Dias, Gracias and Tudo Bem.

The final hurdle is to return to Brazil over the bridge, by bus, taxi or on foot and passing the nonchalant Paraguayan Customs and Immigration Officials. When asked what the duty free allowances are for arriving into Paraguay, the Customs Officer needed some convincing to find the exact exemptions. His bemusement as to why anyone would want to bring goods into Paraguay was somewhat justifiable if you consider that everything in Brazil is more expensive.

With all the hearsay Paraguayan threats avoided, the biggest danger is the miniscule guard rail protecting you from the mighty Paraná, 200 hundred metres below.

And the Brazilian taxi driver who takes you home.

Clearly, they hadn’t yet been to Ciudad del Este to get their counting gadgets working properly!

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