Blogs from Paraguay, South America - page 11

Dear Friends, I have spent one week in Paraguay, very fruitful for my future, and I think I can do with 1 post only. Well, the 1st 2 things you think of about Paraguay are: - Corruption and criminals paradise (not only the nazis) - Larissa Riquelme, the paraguyan model who got super famous at the last World Cup. Remember the phone ? So, From Rio de Janeiro I flew to Benuos Aires on the 16th, then to Asuncion in the evening. Basically I decided to go to Paraguay because we (Tonio and me) met some german guys in Bahia who talked about the business they conduct here. Funny story, the guys went for dinner @ Toni Pizza. When they realized Tonio speaks german, and the pizzas are very good, they came back twice the following ... read more

Dnes sme sa rozhodli navstivit asi najznamejsiu stavbu v Paraguaji - priehradu Itaipu leziacu na rieke Parana a vyhlasenu za jeden z modernych divov sveta. Tato elektraren pokryva 80 percet spotreby Paraguaju a asi 30 percet spotreby Brazilie, ktorej patri polovicka Itaipu. V najrychlejsej fazy stavby sa pouzivalo 30 ton betonu kazdych 15 minut, 24 hodin pocas 4 rokov. Pouzite zelezo a ocel by stacili na stavbu 380 Eiffelovych vezi. Navstivit toto dielo sa samozrejme nedalo samostatne a tak sme sa museli prihlasit na recepcii elektrarne, kde nam najprov pustili propagacny film. Napriek uzasnym cislam a statistikam vela ludi povazuje tuto stavbu za ekologicku katastrofu. Vela zvierat stratilo domov alebo zahynulo a boli pri nej tiez zatopene vodopady este vatsie ako Iguazu. Mi sme sa samozrejme dozvedeli len to pozitivne. Prehliadka sa cela konala z autobusu ... read more

Just got back from the museum of Paraguayan Football in the bowels of the national stadium. Quite interesting and also the final resting place of Arsenio Erico - but you can read more about him in my article at the end of the month. Thrown in a few photos in case they interest you! Onto things I've learnt. Old habits die hard (Part1)...almost 8 months of not throwing toilet paper in the toilet and I inexplicably dropped some in there the other day. Instinct. Old habits die hard (Part2)...for the person(s) who put up a "Stroessner" sticker on the lampost near my house. It isn't the former dictator they are supporting (he's dead), or his son (he's dead too), but the grandson of the man who killed and tortured 20,000 Paraguayans. Find it a bit odd, ... read more

At the Northeastern tip of Argentina we had Brazil to the north and Paraguay to our east. Freedom of opportunity took us on a whim to Paraguay for the weekend. We exalted at the possibilities of travel, it's not everyday you get to choose between crossing a number of different borders. Unless, of course, you live in Switzerland. Going to Paraguay for the weekend did involve, however, a twelve hour overnight bus journey from Buenos Aires. Cheap long distance buses were a thing of the past as we battled with our wallets to pay the £90 it took to get us both on board. The deal was made considerably sweeter when we were served beef stew followed by pudding on the journey. Brilliant! This was still the cheapest ticket we could buy. The meal was a ... read more

Pizza and empanadas and ice cream, oh my! And yet, I've never seen as many skinny jeans in my life! I'd better be careful or I'm going to be una chica gorda when I return! Well, El Soberbio was a cute little town with not much besides farming and tourism. But unfortunately for us, the river is running high and therefore fills the ravine where the falls usually,...well...fall! So there WERE no waterfalls for us to see in El Soberbio. We did stay in a cute little hostel with a lovely balcony from which we watched the afternoon rain fall. Here"s what they might have looked like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNzsebGc3mw And then, it was off to Iguazu! The falls are visible from both up close in Argentina and more panoramically (?) from Brazil. We spent several days at ... read more