Paraguay

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Paraguay was never on the list of places that I was due to visit. Most South Americans don't think much of the place. It's the second poorest country in South America, ahead of Bolivia, damn hot (up to 45 degrees C) land locked and a turbulent political past. It's the kind of place you only got to if you know somebody, which I did. Strangely, my dad had found a Paraguayan flag and crest in the loft the previous year, apparently we think my grandfather may have been a delegate to the consulate of Paraguay, or just went on holiday there (although a lot less likely as I'm not sure how you would have got there in the 50's). I was hoping to find out more, however the British Embassy for Paraguay is in BA (Argentina), of course it is...
Its a place where horses and carts pull up next to Mercedes, artisans' workshops next to glitzy shopping centres, Jesuit ruins in rural villages a few km's from colonial towns.

Paraguay is 406,752 sq km (Bigger than Germany and a about the size of Califorrnia)
Popular street food is Chipa (corn bread)
Capital is Asunción
Population, approx 7 million
£1 = approx 7,500 Guarani
Languages spoken include Spanish, Guarani, Plattdeutch, Hochdeutcsch, Lengua, Nivacle & Ache
Famous for Contraband (electrical goods and anything illegal including guns) & corruption.


15th - I got to the bus station in Foz de Iguazu (Brazil) for about 3pm ready for my 3.30pm bus to Ascension in Paraguay. I had to go to the ticket office to speak to the guy. He explained what the process would be. I have to say I was pleased to see that my Spanish was improving enough for me to fully understand everything, saying that he was speaking very slowly and backed everything up with a mime / hand movements indicating stamping of passports etc. I grabbed a quick bite to eat then got in a clapped out fiat panda (taxi) with 2 Paraguayan ladies to the frontera (border). The ladies stayed in the taxi as they don't need to do any stamping in our out. I had to stamp out of Brazil while the taxi waited. We then drove 1km over a bridge where I then had to stamp into Paraguay. I was a little nervous as my bag was still in the boot. I decided to trust the guy. I had paid a little bit extra to buy the bus ticket in Brazil to include the taxi service rather than walking over the bridge or getting a moto taxi in between immigration offices. A wise choice, the place was bedlam. Its known as a place to buy contraband, electrical goods, guns, pretty much anything. It had a real buzz about it. I t is even rumoured to have a strong CIA presence and allegedly harboured Osama Bin Ladden for a while, I can well believe looking at the the lawlessness. I had come to Paraguay after meeting a couple of lovely Paraguayans (Paula and Gorge) in Punta Del Este in Uruguay. One thing I was becoming acutely aware of is that in Paraguay you either have a lot of money or nothing pretty much . (32% living below the poverty line). The taxi waited for me to stamp in to Paraguay and then dropped me at a small bus terminal for us all to board a sort of minibus / coach cross. We then drove to the main terminal to pick up other passengers. On the way in to the station the sheer poverty hit me as we went past a sort of shanty town of tents and sheeting offering some king of shelter from the heat or rain and a sort of no mans land of people lying around. The bus left the station bang on 3.30pm heading to the capital Ascension aprrox 6 hours away. We got 45 mins in before the bus broke down, great. We then had to wait 40 mins or so for another bus to come. Everyone on the bus was really friendly with a few speaking good English. We then loaded the new bus and got moving. The lady from the original taxi was really friendly, offering me here mobile to ring Gorge who was due to pick me up and even bough me a chipa (sort of bagel bread thing) When her phone died another guy lent me a phone to text and call ahead to make arrangements. I think everyone was looking out for me as I don't think the bus station in Ascension is a good place to be hanging around. It was a bit overwhelming how friendly people were, perhaps the friendliest I had encountered on my trip so far. I am pretty sure that I was the first English guy that a lot of the people will have met. Oh dear, what a representation of English people !! One guy even phoned Gorge when we eventually arrived at 9pm and waited until he arrived, Can you imagine somebody waiting at Victoria bus station in London to make sure a Paraguayan guy was ok ? Gorge picked me up in a 4x4 with 3 female friends of his, who were lovely but clearly at the other end of the spectrum. They all spoke perfect English and clearly came from the upper middle to upper class end of society in Paraguay. We then drove to San Ber which is a sort of town about an hour out of Ascension where wealthy Paraguayans have holiday homes. Gorge and I got dropped of at his place and we dropped our stuff off at the house and met some of his family. We then went to the country club while the maid sorted the room out and for us. The country club is situated next to a lake, pretty much the only water in the land locked country. It was a sort of centre parks with football pitches, restaurants, swimming pools, everything ! It was huge and another world. A far cry from going to the caravan in Anglessey like I did back in the day. Saying that I'm sure I had more fun as the kids there seemed so spoilt that nothing would impress them a 10 yr old girl was telling Gorge about her last holiday to Disney world.. We then came back to the house to get changed ready to head out later. The girls picked us up and we went to a club 20 mins sown the road. It was an impressive set up, an outdoors club with lots of bars, lighting tv screens, the full monty. We had a good night. The place was full of pretty people, clearly minted and a little bit full of it. I guess it's not their fault, if that's the life you've been brought up in then you shouldn't apologise for it. We got here for about 2am and left about 7am. I was ready to leave then, having drunk enough and listened to enough Ragaton. The music around South America tends to be a mix of the same 20 songs (The most commonly played being black eyed peas “ I've got a feeling”) or Ragaton, which is hard to describe except for just being awful. We got dropped back at Gorge's place and crashed..

16th - Got up late, went to the country club for a swim and a lazy afternoon. In the evening Gorge's family had an asado (BBQ). A lot of his family and a few of his parents friends came round. It was really nice to see what a typical Paraguayan BBQ is like, as you can imagine a lot of meat and a fair bit of booze. Lots of Q's for me to answer clearly being from out of town. Paula arrived from Asunción about 1am and took us to a friend of Gorge's for pre club drinks. The house was lovely, clearly upper middle class. The weather turned with thunder and lightening. We drove to the club and decided after seeing the lines of people to give it a miss. Most of the clubs are set up for the outdoors, so when it rains you're snookered. We then drove back to Ascension to stay at Paula's apartment.

17th - Checked into a hotel in Asunción, met up with Morgan (America) and Chris (Australia) who we had met in Punta Del Este and Montevideo. Went to another all you can eat buffet which cost 80,000 pesos (approx £11) including a lot of food and a couple of drinks. Went back to the hotel to lie down before heading out for drinks in the evening (11pm !) Went to Kilkenny's Irish bar for a few beers for Gorge's last night before he flies back to the States to study.

18th - Up late. Headed down town for a wander around, Had lunch, went to the tourist office to find out about a possible boat trip, which we subsequently decided against doing. Had a wander round the plaza, went to the supermarket to buy some food and booze for the hotel room..Got to be said looking back the funniest thing happened on the way out of town. We realised that we had missed our stop so quickly pressed the buzzer, Morgan I jumped off, the bus started moving just as I landed on the pavement. Chris just kind of followed and miss judged the speed that the bus was accelerating at. Basically his feet went from under him and he skidded towards a big ditch, stopping just short of falling in, but banging his knee in the process. Morgan and I watched it happen in kind of slow motion. We checked he was ok, then starting laughing (a lot). A lovely old chap came down the road from his shop and offered to clean Chris's cut leg. We sat and had a chat and a beer with him while he got his medical kit out and cleaned his leg up. Then the guy got his jeep and gave us a lift back to the hotel. What a lovely guy, not convinced that would happen back home. In the evening we went to TGI's yes TGI's the tacky American style diner. It was happy hour, 2 strong cocktails for 25,000 (£.3.50) why not. Paula's friend dropped us at the hotel in a very nice Mercedes about 2am ish.

19th - Up late, about 1pm, went to Paulita's for an all you can eat buffet again, utter class. Staggered back to the hotel for a lie down before getting up to watch the Carling cup nonsense against Man City and getting started on the beer. In the evening, we were chatting to the sister of Miss Paraguay strangely enough, who we went with to meet some of her friends before heading to a Brazilian themed bar near the Carmalitos block. Drank 3 jugs of sangria stopped off for a lomito ( a sort of steak in a bun with egg, tomato, lettuce etc) It cost 10,000 (£1.30). Much needed..

20th - Up in time for breakfast. Lazy day staying out of the 43 degree heat. The American and Australian guys went into town to apply for visas for Brazil, supposedly it takes 28 hours. Thankfully The good old English passport is enough to get me into every country so far, including Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil (& even Argentina recently )where the Americans have to dig deep.
Up to $140 a go I think., due to American strict entry policy. I guess they're entitled to return the favour and make some cash. Either way, didn't affect me..

21st - Had breakfast, packed the old rucksack and got a taxi to the bus station for about 12.40pm. Bought a ticket for the bus to Floreanopolis in Brazil for 350,000 Gurani (just under £50). The bus was leaving at 1pm and was due to take 20 hours including border crossing (actually took 23 hours).
Said goodbye to Morgan and Chris, got some food and drink for the bus and off I went on what was hopefully going to be the last bus journey over 10 hours, on this trip anyway.

Paraguay was a difficult country to make any conclusions or summaries about. I am really glad I went and had great time, however that mainly down to the hospitality of Jorge and Paula and their family and in addition having a laugh with Chris and Morgan. I can't help thinking that I didn't see a lot of the other side of Paraguay. You either have a lot or nothing and with limited Spanish and not much time it was always going to be difficult to see much apart from Asunción, San Ber and Cuidad Del Este at the border crossing. I can understand why a lot of travellers miss Paraguay out, I'm glad I didn't though...

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Photos

San Bernito
Country club

At the country club
By the pool

Stunt Man Chris
with the lovely old fella

Asuncion
lots of Sangria

Carmelitas
Couldn't resist

San Ber
night out

San Ber
Gorge in front of the summer house.