Paraguay

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From Buenos Aires there was another early 6am start as we headed north towards Paraguay. It was another arduous 14 hour travel day through flat farming country (notably beef and mate plantations) before we freecamped once again under the stars by a petrol station.

The border crossing proved to be an interesting diversion. Firstly, a local Paraguayan tv crew decided to interview us on our travel experiences (well the very few of us who could hold a conversation in Spanish) and which countries were the most welcoming to foreigners. Incidently, none of us got to see the piece as it meant leaving the comfort of the swimming pool / bar area and finding a tv. The other interesting incident was observing the Paraguayan border control procedure where a middle aged man sat on a wooden chair constantly sipping his mate tea who would look up long enough to make the cars slow down but would then let them all proceed without any checks. We spent an enjoyable ten minutes or so to see if he would question anyone, however briefly, but he never did and just simply nodded them through.

The landscape seemed to instantly change as we crossed into Paraguay - flat farming country was replaced by rolling green fields, forests, red brick and red tile houses and dusty clay coloured streets. We headed to Trinidad and the site of some of the best preserved Jesuit ruins in South America. The Jesuits played a big role in the development of the country before their expulsion in 1767 - they founded settlements as utopias or an idillic way of living where the local population was introduced to European culture and protected them from slave traders. The remains in Trinidad dated from around 1750 and were pretty impressive - the overall layout remained in tact as well as some detailed carvings, particularly in the church.

We stayed a couple of nights in a decent campsite that importantly had all the facilities we needed - swimming pool (it was still pretty hot), bar and sports facilities like volleyball and table tennis. The first night we celebrated the birthday of our driver, Luke, in typical style - having plenty of home made caipirinhas (the national drink of Brazil, a cocktail made using sugarcane) and dunking his face in his birthday cake. Unfortunately, this descended into a food fight that brought out an irate owner waving a carving knife that he proceeded to use to slash all our balloons and to wave threatingly in our direction. He then proceeded to hurl chairs around and swear quite colourfully at us (I believe we were characterised as bastard sons of whores but it´s not always possible to get an accurate translation).

Both parties kept out of each others way the next day and we spent it just lounging around. We then headed to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. It was a strange place to visit as it just didn´t have the feel of a major city. You arrive through slums with buildings made out of corrigated iron roofs and shacks built back to back creating very crowded side streets. But then the town centre is eerily quiet with some pleasant colonial buildings but generally it has a rundown appearance. It was curious that it looked much better at night than during the day when a number of buildings were well lit up. It was also very hard to go out at night as it seriously has more pharmacies than bars and so you had to wander to find somewhere to drink. Asuncion is also definitely not as wealthy as some of the other cities in South America, as demonstrated by the fact that the shantytowns reach right up to the city centre. The highlights of our stay including the Panteon de los Heros, which celebrates Paraguays military heroes (even though they´re not a military power it is a real source of national pride) and the Casa de la Independencia, which is where independence was declared in 1811 and is now a museum.

Overall, we only had four days in Paraguay and we didn´t get to see the best of the country - areas like the pantenal or the national parks in the north. It was also hard to get a sense of what the Paraguayans are like themselves. The ones who spoke to us on the street, having found out we were English, would all shout "ah, Roque Sante Cruz" who plays for Blackburn Rovers. We did get to try their per kilo restaurants for a birthday meal where your plates are weighed, which determines the price (it´s a great way of proving who are the fat b*@tards amongst the group - I wasn´t the worst!). The other noticable observation is that they all seem to be big tea drinkers and carry their special cups around with them all the time with large flasks of water from which they regularly top up.

Next stop Brazil and the Rio carnival.

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