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Buenas Dias!

We have just spent 5 very full days in Asuncion. From the brevity of the Paraguay section in our travel book one would think there isn´t much to this place, but thats definitely not true... We have been livin it up in the city for sure. We are staying at the resonably priced Pension Da Silva, run by a very cute and friendly old lady. The place is centrally located, right off Plaza Uruguay. Its clean and perfectly comfortable but without frills. The city itself is actually really low-key. By about 7 pm almost everything (save restaurants and clubs) shuts down for the night. Incidentally this fits right in with my 10-11-hours-of-sleep-per-night plan, so its is great by me.

It rained bananas for the first 2 days we were here, but that didn´t stop us from taking the book´s recommended walking tour during which we got yelled at for going too close to the governmental helicopter pad (sheesh, excuuuse us!) We hit a few cool museums, most notably the insanely cool Museu Del Barro (pick up bus number 30 at Oliva). Its well worth the visit, and apparently free on Wednesdays but only opens at 3-30. Oh yes, we also both had a haircut and Stephen had a shave at this salon in the burbs. Stephen finally got shaggy enough to where he was getting a few sideways glances, so we knew it was time. By the way- to our happy surprise, a hair washing came complete with 15 minute neck and scalp massage- viva la Paraguay!

And, of course we ate really well. Two of the stand-out places we hit were Bar San Roque which is situated very close to our hotel. Nothing too interesting in terms of the food, but their traditional Paraguayan dishes are done very well. So if you are in Asuncion and happen to have about 140,000 guarani kickin around (roughly 30 US dollars) you can go nuts at Bar San Roque, OR you can take a 20 minute bus ride to Paulista Grille and have a ridiculous FEAST for the same amount. We did this yesterday and both during the meal and after, Stephen was so happy he couldn´t stop grinning like a fool. Post meal I might have uttered the words ¨I just have to lay down¨a few dozen times. Paulista is a Brazilian style steak house, where you pay a fixed price and you get to visit the mother of all salad and sides buffets as many times as you want. I´m not talking quanity-no-quality either, like most buffets we are used to. In addition to the the buffet, there were roughly 12 different kinds of grilled meats, ranging from steaks to sausages, to ribs, to skewered chicken hearts even. This meat comes in waves, presented tableside by men in suit jackets. You give them the word (si ususally, but grunt and nod will suffice if chewing), they brandish a large knife and slice you off a piece of heaven. And they just keep coming and coming. We visited a place like this in Brazil once, but Stephen was a veggie at that time and didn´t really get to appreciate it as we did yesterday. And appreicate it we did, I can report that between the two of us we consumed an altogether unreasonable quantity of meat.

Last night, we had tickets for this music concert thing at the Teatro Municipal in downtown Asuncion. There were 2 groups, one was a quartet of Saxphonists called Cuatro Vientos (or Four Winds). They were a class act, so amazingly good at what they so and so much fun to watch. (http://www.cuatrovientos.com.ar/). As they play they are constantly moving around the stage, dancing and interacting with each other. If you can find a video its worth seeing. The other group was an orchestra comprised of kids who play instruments made from recycled materials, ie. a cello made of an empty olive oil vat, etc. We were both really stoked to have seen these groups perform- which leads me to say, if you are traveling in any city, definitely go by the local theater and see what they have going on. You never know what you´ll find.

Lastly and Stephen would say most importantly: as part of Stephen´s continued quest to visit every national soccer stadium in every country we go to, we did see the stadium in Asuncion this morning. We took a bus there and ran into an armed guard who was kind enough to get us into the stadium even though it is closed for the season. We were walking though when all of a sudden we realized he was taking us through the part where the players run up the stairs and out onto the field. Stephen was over the moon, and I admit, it was pretty cool standing on the very grass where Brazil played Paraguay only a few days ago.

Anyway, we are leaving today, off to our biggest splurge of this trip so far: We are going to stay at a nearby working ranch for three nights! I have a feeling its more like a resort than a rustic ranch, but I´m sure it will be fun. We´ll let you all know soon enough.

Paz,

S&S

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