Blogs from Paraguay, South America - page 15

Few photos from the way to Asuncion. The most interesting was the police check. We had an official control at the customhouse, but this was not enough. We stopped after this three times to be checked by a single police man. A Bolivian guy had a medicament with him bought in Bolivia for personal use, but no receipt of it. He always had to go out and behind the bus with the police mens and pay everytime around $15 as a bribe to allow him to keep the medicament. I was reading in my guide book few minutes before that Paraguay is the most corrupted country in the world :)... read more

My three month anniversary is quickly approaching... very quickly approaching. It is quite a scary feeling in all honesty as it means I have already done a quarter of my time teaching here. I am one quarter of the way through my time in Asunción already, but I feel like I have hardly touched the surface of what I can discover here. This also means I only have two months left, exactly two months today in fact, before I begin my travels around the continent. I should probably get planning... Three months in (almost) and I guess we'd all settled down, become relaxed in our surroundings, were beginning to feel secure, and BAM, we are kicked back into reality by one of my housemates being mugged, at knife point. Now, I am not writing this to ... read more

"paraguay hat den touristen nicht viel zu bieten"! so steht es in den reiseführern. Das wollte ich mit eigenen augen sehen, dass ein Land grösser als Deutschland, nicht viel zu bieten hat. Und was für eine Überraschung, völlig falsch die Aussage. Paraguay ist ein wunderschönes Land und hat neben einer beeindruckenden Natur, sehr freundliche und aufgeschlossene Leute. Die zu unrecht von vielen Reisenden umgangen werden. Ciudad de Este ist ein einziges riesiges Shopping Center, wo die Argentinier einkaufen gehen. Quasi Jestetten einfach ein bisschen grösser und chaotischer :-) In Asuncion bin ich ausversehen in einem "Love Motel" gelandet. Ich hab zum Taxi fahrer gesagt, un hostal por favor pero barrato...tja und aus mangel an Erfahrung mit Rucksack Touris hat er mich dann dahin gebracht. War allerdings ganz witzig mit den schwer verliebten jungen Pärchen ;-) Ansonsten ... read more

Wow, so it has already been over two months since I returned to Paraguay (shame on you if you are one of those people thinking - what Ralph went back to Paraguay?). I thought it is hight time I give you all a quick catch up on what life is like in Paraguay. Rather than be too serious about the whole thing I thought I'd just give you a list of few things I've learnt in Asunción since I got here, I will try and make this a regular thing. Remember while everything is based in truth some things may have been exaggerated to make you laugh... Paraguayan Mental Patients...look a bit like Scottish homeless people. Maybe it was his shaved head, angry look and tartan blanket around his shoulders (in 35c heat?!?!) There is only ... read more

It is exactly two months today since I left home. It feels a lot longer, not because I'm not enjoying things, but because I feel so settled and at home here already. Also, it means I have done one fifth of my teaching here already! Which sounds crazy! So far, (she says touching wood) the 'W' of culture shock has not kicked in... For those who don't know, the 'W' of culture shock is the process people normally go through when moving abroad for some time. When you get to a new place, you feel great, think everything is amazing, but then you start to hate everything, find things annoyingn and miss home, but then you get used to it and everything is great again. Then you go home... and miss the place you were, then ... read more

Day 16-21st September First of all, happy birthday to Claire and Ella! Hope you guys had a great day. xxx Meh, hung over and tired... but intrigued as to what all this Paraguay malarkey is we got up at 06:30 in time for breakfast. We had the usual and hung around for a bit till 08:00 when our cab turned up. It was a rainy day but we decided to go anyway, we are in no particular rush but couldn’t really justify another night in the same hostel, plus a little rain never did anyone any harm and might add to the whole jungle experience. One of the guys working at the hostel called Miguel came along too, partly as an interpreter and guide but mostly because he hadn’t been on the tour yet himself, I ... read more