No suspense here—I walked to Paraguay to buy an international travel plug, but mostly just for the sake of crossing a land border and spending time in a country I have yet to visit properly.

We’re living in a crazy world where borders are closing, immigrants are being deported and free trade is no longer a thing, excuse me for thinking that a world not divided by arbitrary militarized borders would be a better place.

I have the “right” passport (passports, plural in my case) so I can roam around freely in most countries. Meanwhile, many people die trying to cross borders even though they’re not actually likely to rape your job, steal your drugs, pocket your relatives, convert your cat to a suspicious religion not featuring Jesus or something like that, sorry, I just can’t remember the long list of dumb reasons why immigrants are evil.

Phew. I have to stop reading the news. Maybe if I close my eyes and shout “No gods, no masters!” three times, I will wake up from this nightmare?

Meanwhile, I’ll fucking walk to Paraguay because I can.

This was actually an easy option for my last day in Foz do Iguaçu because it only involved a 40-minute walk to the “Ponte da Amizade,” aka the”Puente Internacional de la Amistad” if you’ve always switched to Spanish. No buses, no other backpackers around, just a fairly chaotic town that supplies Brazilians and Argentinians with everything they need but cheaper than at home.

I took my passport but nobody asked for it. Perfect.

Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, reminds me of China in the late 1990s. It’s hot and chaotic; you can buy and sell everything and pay in whatever currency you have. Tiny stalls are stocked with goods fancier than the shop and nobody seems surprised when you announce you’re looking for a knife, a Pokémon, a drone or new bed sheets.

It’s quite entertaining to wander around and try to guess what the huge trucks are carrying, what is in the dozens of giant boxes on the sidewalk and what people are hauling back to Brazil.

I found my international travel plug for 20 reais, thank you for asking.

And I crossed back to Brazil early enough to get ready for the challenge ahead the next day.