From Asunción I will leave Paraguay and travel straight to the Iguazu waterfalls. They are located in Argentina and in Brazil close to the triple border point with Paraguay, which makes the journey tedious but interesting.

The city on the Paraguayan border side is called Ciudad del Este and is best known as 'South America's shopping mall', because all Brazilians and Argentinians go there to buy cheap goods. And it's actually true: at the bus stations I see tonnes of people carrying huge bags with clothes, electronics, toys, blankets and other cheap stuff that they're bringing to their homes in either of the two neighboring countries. From Ciudad del Este I have to take a shuttle bus that will bring me to Puerto Iguazu, the town in Argentina from where I'll visit the falls. The shuttle bus crosses the bridge into Brazil but won't stop there, meaning we won't have to get Brazilian stamps. Although this saves us a little time the short journey still takes us about two hours due to all the border crossings and all formalities due there. Puerto Iguazu is a well-maintained but very touristic town. The next days I visit the falls and they are just astonishing. Words cannot describe the incredible awe that fulfills people when seeing the falls, so I won't even try. What I cán do is quote a famous American named Roosevelt: 'Poor Niagara is nothing compared to Iguazu'.

The park is very touristic: it's like walking through an amusement park. The second day I visit the Brazilian side. From the Brazilian park I can look across the river and see Argentine people and visitors staring at us. It's kind of intriguing and bewildering at the same time: such a magnificent piece of nature with people staring at it. Moreover, they're standing in different countries, which fascinates me and distracts me a bit. Where a borderlline runs on the map I see plain water and where the powers that be rule their respective territories all I see is a peaceful united marvel of nature. It seems to justify my belief that borders are only a spin of the human mind. Nature doesn't respect them and the birds can just freely cross the border. These birds remind me of the Dutch lyrics in 'Over de Muur' about the Berlin Wall:

En alleen de vogels vliegen van oost naar west Berlijn,

Worden niet teruggefloten, ook niet neergeschoten.

Over de muur, over het ijzeren gordijn.

Omdat ze soms in het westen, soms ook in het oosten willen zijn

(Only birds fly from east to west Berlin

Are neither called back nor shot

Across the wall, across the iron curtain

Because now and then they prefer either west or east)

When visiting Iguazu it was exactly 50 years ago that the Soviets put up the wall that physically split the continent into two parts. Germany now celebrates its reunion and together with the rest of Europe they take pride in the free and open European Community as we know it today.

However, at the same time, in many parts of the world borders still dó exist. I think of the people from Cuba whose government doesn't allow them to leave their island. I think of the Colombians that are hardly given any opportunities abroad justbecause they are Colombians. I think of the people from Venezuela that have a set budget for traveling each year.I think ofEurope, where borders are open for natives, but whichproves an unaccessible 'fortress' for non-residents.I realize that the borders between which you are born determine your nationality and your nationality determines your life.

Leaving the waterfalls I go back to Argentina. With my Dutch / EU passport the little journey across the border takes me about two hours. Staring out of the window I see the birds flying. Without any passport they accomplish their journey in two minutes. Spreading their wings they vanish into the distance.