Pizzahut and poverty in the capital

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Asuncion - 9th to the 12th of June 2009

The bus journey from Villamontes ended up taking 18 long hours, ensuring we had spent 38 out of the previous 48 hours travelling. The bus drove down through the Chaco in Paraguay, the petroleum area which Bolivia and Paraguay had a war over. In between bouts of reading and sleeping, we watched barefooted children run alongside the bus while red dust came in through the windows and settled over our bags and us.

While we had crossed the Peruvian border in the middle of the night and received stamps to say the same, it was a further eight hours before we came to the Paraguayan border control. It was an easy border crossing, though like many South American officials the policeman decided Attracta was too complicated and used my more convenient second name, Mary, instead. I won't hold it against him!

We had bought tickets to a town called Pozo Colardo in the Chaco and from there we had planned to either go to Concepcion or a Chaco town. But the bus never stopped for us and we didn't realise. At 8pm, we arrived in the capital city of Asuncion, far from our original destination. Driving through the outskirts of Asuncion was one of the strangest experiences I've had in South America. Everything looked so Western. Not even Santiago looked like this. There were modern shopping centres, car dealerships selling Mercedes, giant DIY stores, Pizzahut and McDonald's and fancy restaurants. This place looked rich yet Paraguay is the second poorest country in Bolivia and was once the most corrupt country outside of Africa.

I had always been nervous about coming to this part of Paraguay. It's a prime area for dengue fever and after my previous illnesses, I really didn't want to add to my chances of any more hospital trips. However, fate had worked against me so we got a taxi to the city centre, which was really expensive for South America. We later learned that all taxis are expensive in Parguay because of the cost of petrol which is about $1.20 per litre.

The journey from the bus office to the centre of town was very different. Asuncion, at least the historical part, is a colonial city and we passed hundreds of colonial buildings. Some were loved and perfect, others were crumbling messes. In between all of these were high rise building, completely derelict. The contrast between the suburbs and the city centre is massive. The contrast between streets and even buildings is massive.

We stayed in a beautiful colonial building, which combined indoor and outdoor living perfectly. The living room with its TV and sofas was inside and outside all at the same time. Our room ($8 each) was big, airy and clean. The Lonely Planet raved about a restaurant across the road so we went there for dinner which was nice but not amazing.

The next day, after a lie-in, we wandered to the supermarket. On our way, we passed Plaza Uruguay. It's one of the main plazas in the town but instead of being a typically well kept South America plaza, Plaza Uruguay is home to hundreds of people who live in make shift tents. There are portaloos for them and they light fires to keep warm. Their tents are made of sticks and plastic. I've never seen anything like it, especially in a city centre. I still can't believe the contrast between rich and poor Paraguay. It is more visibly pronounced here than any other South America country I've been in.

The rest of our day was spent enjoying our colonial house and eating and we went exploring the centre of the city the next day. There were literally no tourists around - I think we saw two over the whole time we were in Asuncion. Paraguay is still a bit off the beaten track which makes it even more interesting. Even though tourists are rare, we didn't feel uncomfortable. In many places we've been on this trip, we often got strange looks from the locals, especially me with my white white skin, my height and my slimness. But we didn't get these here.

That evening, we went to the supermarket and bought supplies for a steak dinner which we cooked in the hostel, though our senora wasn't that impressed with us doing this! Gas is expensive, you see.

Friday was a national holiday but we hadn't realised. The senora warned us that places would close by 12pm so we checked out fast and went back to the supermarket. I had a bit of a discussion with the manager over a coke bottle. After this we went to a cafe place, where we had one lasagna, a croissant, chocolate cake, a coffee, a tea and four small cakes for $10. Sometimes things really are cheap.

After picking up our bags from the hostel, our next stop was the bus terminal where we finally decided to go to Cuidad Del Este. This time the bus, mercifully, took only five hours.

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