Polka lessons

MANY visitors to Paraguay never get beyond Ciudad del Este, the second-largest city. Brazilian day-trippers cross the Paraná river on the Friendship Bridge, shop in grungy malls and return laden with cheap electronics, Chinese-made blankets and Armani jeans, some of them genuine. The law limits the bargain-hunters to $300-worth of duty-free goods a month; they, and the border guards, ignore it.

Brazil’s recession has dented this tacky trade. “Normally, you couldn’t pass through here because of the crowds,” sighs a taxi driver on Monseñor Rodríguez, the main thoroughfare. Sales at SAX, the city’s swankiest mall, fell 90% last year. Other sources of export earnings are also suffering; the price of soyabeans has halved since 2012. Only electricity, powered by the massive Itaipu dam near Ciudad del Este and sold to Brazil, is doing well.