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Published: March 19th 2010
Despite being the least attractive capital city we have ever been in, Asunción has been surprisingly pleasant and we have had no problem falling into a comfortable, lazy state. It has actually been nice to settle for a short period of time without constantly repacking our backpacks, hopping buses and changing hostels. It has also been nice to sleep in and just hang out without feeling the need to rush around and see everything, especially since there isn´t that much to see here.
We arrived in Asunción in the late afternoon on the 10th and checked into the ´Plaza Hotel´. It was nice but expensive at 175.000Gs/2ppl/night ($37.25 USD) so we decided to only stay one night. We ended up moving to ´Hotel Atlantic´ which was really dirty (Braeden spent 45 minutes washing the bed sheet and changing the garbage as the room had not been cleaned) which probably explains why we were the only ones staying at the hotel the whole 4 nights we were there. Although dirty and slightly uncomfortable, it only cost us 70.000Gs/2ppl/night ($14.90 USD) so I guess it was worth it (I did not handle the situation as well as Braeden did - some places
Asunción
Panteon Nacional de los Heroes.just creep me out and this was one of them). After 4 nights we decided to move to 'Hotel Miami' which was very clean and spacious with TV for only 80.000Gs/2ppl/night (it´s really too bad we didn´t find this place on arrival) and that is where we spent our last 5 nights in Asunción.
During our time here, we have done a lot of walking around checking out different areas of the city - there are actually some pretty nice houses tucked away in quiet areas. There are also the really poor areas mixed in which often seem out of place like the whole slum division set up on the water front of Asunción Bay right behind the presidential palace in the city´s center square. There are a lot of embassies here and the US one is absolutely huge, covering several city blocks (Canada only has a consulate). We toured the Recoleta (cemetery) which was nice but not well kept like the one in Buenos Aires, as well as the rail museum which was really neat to see as it is the old train station. It´s really too bad trains aren´t used as a main mode of transportation anymore
Asunción
Palacio de los López (presidential palace). as the cars were really nice and it must have been a sweet way to travel. Other than that, we have enjoyed doing not much of anything. We found a good pub (Britannia) which we ate at several times as it has good food, prices and atmosphere (there aren´t too many like it around here) as well as a pub across the street called ´Colder´ with cheap drinks and a nice owner who speaks English quite well, but it´s only open Thurs-Sat. We´ve also done a bit of shopping along the streets where people lay out their hand-made crafts, etc. as well as at a few malls which has served as a nice escape from both the heat and the rain depending on the day.
I´ve said it before and I´ll say it again...Paraguay is HOT! The other day it reached 38 degrees by 11am. Perhaps the heat has been another reason why we have found it so easy to be lazy - it is impossible to get motivated when all you do is sweat. The couple days it rained were a nice break but the rain didn´t last long and only brought out the mosquitoes. I can´t imagine
Asunción
A Catholic church. being here during their ¨hot¨ season when temperatures reach an average of mid to high 40s on a daily basis.
We were going to leave for Villa Florida on the 17th but decided to stay another day, which turned out to be a fortunate decision as Braeden realized at about 1pm that he had forgotten his billfold of money and traveler´s cheques at the last hotel - 2 days prior. Since we stay in very dodgy places at times, we often have to get creative with hiding our valuables and in the shuffle this time, he overlooked some of the important stuff. Fortunately, when he returned to ´Hotel Atlantic´, the woman had his billfold but it was short $300 in traveler´s cheques, all the Uruguayan money, and some of the Argentinian, Chilean, Paraguayan and USD he had saved; his yellow fever card was also gone. Although it was too bad that money had been taken, we figure he was just lucky that some of it was actually returned and that his passport wasn´t in the mix. With the traveler´s cheques reported lost, we are now just hoping that he doesn´t get asked to produce his yellow fever card in
Venezuela (we haven´t been asked for it yet so hopefully that´s how it will remain). Overall, shitty mistake with a much better outcome than the passport theft of 2007. I guess it´s really good we were lazy and decided to stay another day 😊
And that day turned into another day, but tomorrow we are actually leaving. We are heading to Villa Florida then to ´Estancia Santa Clara: Turismo Rural´, a cattle and tourist ranch located 141kms outside of Asunción which offers accommodation and all sorts of activities including horseback riding, swimming, walking tours, photographic safaris, ranching activities, and even the milking of cows - sounds like an interesting way to spend a couple days.
I can´t believe we have less than 20 days left...
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