Corrupción con Corazón

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Queridos Amigos, did you have a kick start into 2009, or are u still heavily afflicted with severe hangover syndroms since new years eve ? Certainly not, I guess business as usual is dominating our lifes all over already again. Same for us, well not really, let's put in the famous 'same same but different' phrase. We corssed the border to Paraguay on the last day of 2008 and stranded in one of the unpretentious cities of the world, called Encanarcion. While being there we took the unique chance to celebrate the most unsensational new years eve EVER !
The expression 'celebrate' might be a little displaced to really express what happened, or should I say, what didn't happen. But ... (as usual there's always a but), we found amusement and looked positively into a brighhht future. Ok, let's continue, Adelante ... we rushed on to Concepcion via Ciudad del Este (the most corrupt city in the world, even more than Duesseldorf) and Oviedo to Concepcion where we had the opportunity to dive deep deep into paragyuan lifestyle. Hmm.. some short history if u don't mind .. Pre-Columbian civilization in the fertile, wooded region that is now Paraguay consisted of numerous seminomadic, Guarani-speaking tribes. In 1537, the capital Asuncion eventually became the center of a Spanish colonial province. Paraguay declared its independence by overthrowing the local Spanish authorities in May 1811. Wars against Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Bolivia rocked the country and decimated population and landmass heavily. Then after, in the 1930s and 1940s, Paraguayan politics were defined dictatorships, and periods of extreme political instability. Although a democratic system of government exists since 1992, it's extremely obvious that country, structures and certainly people have to cope with massive corruption on a daily bases.
We try not to take part or contribute too much, we came with pacific intentions and meet the people with open hearts and minds.
However, after enjoying Asuncion for a couple of days it's time again to leave it all behind. Before we touch Bolivean ground we'll have to make acquaintance with the Gran Chaco, extremly sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin. People urged us to bring gallons of water (or Mate). Piece of cake for us, by the time we became tough like desert camels.
Hope to see you soon, Besitos and Suerte from Speedy iri Gonzales and Tony Roadrunner, aka 'The Coyote'.

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Photos

Surprise
We felt a little peeved when we arrived in Concepcion and it turned out that our pre-booked rental car came in the shape of this slightly old-dated vehicle.

Do you eat meat mate ?
Another bad country for vegetarians. In case you are, you better throw away your principles.

Let's go for a walk
There's not much more one can do in the Siesta time. Shift gears down, pull all handbrakes and let the sun do all the rest.

Goin' shopping
.. or shooting ? Anyway you better prepare yourself before dawn.

Our 2 star hotel in Asuncion
Nice rooms, breakfast was so so. Nooo, we're kidding, this was a 3 star hotel of course :)

Comments

[Mahe]

Invitation to Mukesh`s Wedding !
Ola ! Nice to hear from you two .. glad to see that there is still a lot of fuel left in you folks and you are not chirping ... but in fact ROARING with energy ...the picture with the donkeys was very nice and it some how reminds me of a place i may have been long ago ..any ways this is a formal invite to mukesh's wedding its on the 15th Feb .. you still have three weeks to decide you can take a flt and head to Bangalore straight .. if you want to witness another crazy Indian wedding ;-)...we long to talk to you i understand we have major time difference ..but if you can tell me your mobile number we can call you ....any ways you both take care and keep taking pictures .. luv,hugs-n-kisses, mahe