Asuncion, Paraguay

Paraguay!!!

Never in my life did I think i'd ever go to the great country of Paraguay; but when the opportunity fell into my hands I could not be happier to have seized it.  As one of the poorer GDP countries in the western hemisphere, it often gets overlooked by travelers.  Americans and Europeans alike dream of traveling to Buenos Aires, Argentina, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, or Machu Picchu, Peru.  However, we should all think twice before overlooking this great country. (FYI: Americans need a tourist visa to enter.. $65 for single entry, $100 for multiple entry) To a degree, it was what i expected, on the other hand many aspects were a complete surprise.  It is a nation, that without even looking at the facts and figures, has an obscene wealth gap.  We think the gap is getting bad in America, and well, yes, it is; however, Paraguay appears for the most part to be lacking a middle class all together.  The location of the first hotel we stayed in was in the "suburbs", and to be honest it might as well been middle America or Europe.  Expensive cars, beautiful huge homes, and men, women and children dressed in expensive designer clothing.  In the middle of the downtown area is a plaza called "plaza Uruguay"  Around the perimeter of the plaza are expensive cars, wealthy tourists, and shops; however, inside of the plaza a community had started of ultra poor men, women, and children living in makeshift tents comprised of black trash bags.  I saw children bathing in a water fountain.  I make a point not to be as respectful as possible and as good an ambassador to the U.S.A. as possible, therefore I appologize that I do not have any pictures of this.  If I worked for Anderson Cooper i'd have felt better about taking pictures to show the rest of the world, but as a simple tourist I believe such photos would be been tacky and rude.

Shortly after arriving at the hotel, pictures below, we got in a taxi and jetted on down about 20 minutes to the downtown area of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.  There were still Mercedes Benz, Lexus, and BMW automobiles parked/driving around, however we now started to see why the country is labeled as very poor.  Shanty communities surrounded parts of the city, in one place even coming right up within a hundred yards of major government buildings.  The country's dictatorship did not come to an official end until 1989 when General Alfredo Stroessner's reign of power came to and end.  However, the Colorado party which was that of the former dictator, continued in power, and continued similar policies until the unofficial true end of the dictatorship in 2003, when the "New Colorado Party" candidate Oscar Duarte won the election and promised to fight corruption in his party and country.  The Colorado party, if I understand correctly, is no longer associated with the former dictator Stroessner, and the new president has vowed to open Paraguay up to the world.  I mention all this because everywhere we turned in the city were armed military guards gaurding things as important as military buildings to places as mundane as say a flower shop.  There appears to still be a large presence of military law, as well as a large standing army that is no longer needed (hence putting them to work directing traffic and guarding plazas.   Also worth noting is this country's blood history by reading up on "The War of the Triple Alliance", in which Brasil, Argentina, and a Brasilian/Argentinian controlled Uruguay engaged against Paraguay in one of the bloodiest Wars in recorded history (bloody for the Paraguayans, obviously, given the massive odds their were up again)  I'm not going to talk any more about it here but i suggest you good The War of the Triple Alliance to learn more.  More than anywhere we have traveled to date, i felt threatened and nervous at times, but that is not to meant to give the wrong impression of the country.  If you know where to stay away from it is a very safe place to go, and the people are extremely warm and inviting.  One final note, shoplifting must be a huge problem because wherever you go, even if the shop keeper recognizes you from the previous day, they will litteraly walk 2 feet behind you wherever you go in their store.  Sort of felt like Circuit City in the 90's for those who get that reference, only these people weren't hassling you to make a sale, but rather watching your hands and pockets fervently. 

A beautiful stained class ceiling in the hotel

 The courtyard of the hotel! Super relaxing!

 Paraguay 1811-2011.  It was not only Uruguay's bicentennial this year but also Paraguay

 Our Hotel... really aweseome!

 Interesting sculpture inside the hotel

 Chipas! Chipas!  atop this man's head is a basket full of fresh chipas, which are arguably the most common food you will find a Paraguayan eating.  They are made of cassava manioc (corn flour) and Minas cheese.

Each city/town in Paraguay is known as the Captial of ..."fill in the blank, whatever they are best at"  On the way to Encarnation we stopped in the Coronel Bogado: Captial of Chipas! below is one of several we bought and scarfed down.  Definitely the best chipas we ate!

 Downtown Ascuncion

 A cool sculpture in the hotel

 Futbol! game on!  I just love to watch people of all ages in South America playing futbol/soccer.  It truly is a passion for most!

 A big difference from Montevideo, the plazas and really the entire downtown is very clean.  We hardly saw any trash on the street.  No offense to Paraguay but I did not expect this given that it is a country that faces extreme poverty and is one of the, if not the poorest in South America.  It was really great to see how clean and beautiful the city is.

 I was really really excited when I saw that Paraguay had a recycling system!  Go Paraguay!

 I'm sure this means something else to whomever wrote it, but for me and my science buddies in the VCU labs this means reduction/oxidation!  Nerd Alert!!!

 Paraguay is divided very sharply between the well to do and the absolutely poor.  A shanty community ride by the downtown area.  We were kindly warned by an elderly man not to go down into this area.

 A beautiful woman admiring the beauty of nature

 Bolsi Bar:  Great food, great atmosphere, great architecture.  The eating in Ascuncion was excellent.

 Just to the side of a major governmental building you can look across the river, and over a very very poor shanty town.

 Any true diehard Arsenal FC Gunners fan will be drawn towards a giant cannon.

 This Bar/Cafe came highly recommended and did not disspapoint.  Enormous empanadas served with sweet bread, the absolute BEST chicken milenesa (basically chicken pounded ultra thin, batter and fried) that I have had in South America, oh yeah and really Cold Beer!  A must if you ever go to Paraguay