Viva Paraguay!

Paraguay is a country that hasn’t yet become fast paced and hectic like the US. This is still a place where people leave work to go home for lunch.

 

The Guarani Indians are the native people of Paraguay. Their language, Guarani, is actually one of the two official languages in Paraguay (the other is Spanish) and many people, even the wealthy, are able to speak it. The country is developing, but it’s better than others, I think. And Paraguayan money is called Guarani...it’s obviously a very popular word in Paraguay. I’m sure I’ll return and I would truly like to get to know Paraguay better.

Quick Tips:

Try chipa. It’s a corn bread, shaped like a donut. It’s not very sweet though; it's a little more salty than sweet and Paraguayans eat it for a snack.

Best Way To Get Around:

The best thing to do is probably rent a car, even though the other drivers are pretty scary.

One afternoon my sister-in-law took us to the Mariscal Lopez Shopping Mall. It is a modern shopping mall, just like in the U.S., but we also found a wonderful little store that sells original art by Paraguayan artists. For less than $500 we brought home two pieces painted by Esperanza Gill, a world famous Paraguayan artist, and three pieces in which tropical flowers and leaves had been carved into wood blocks and painted. Buy artwork in Paraguay;it's beautiful and so cheap to frame compared to in the US.

 

Paraguayan lace is actually pretty famous in South America. I now own a large cream lace table cloth, two different sets of lace place mats, and lace napkins. My husband has a nice lace shirt and so does my mom and many of my friends own lace table runners. My mother-in-law in Nicaragua actually has a very strong business selling Paraguayan lace. We purchased lace shirts at a somewhat high-end store in Asuncion called Catedral, and then we went to an inexpensive market to buy the other pieces of lace.

In Zona Centro (downtown Asuncion) there are street vendors everywhere, as well as Guarani Indians who’ve set up blankets with crafts, such as leather and coconut belts, carved wooden boxes, and beaded jewelry.

The first stop on the itinerary was Ciudad del Este. It’s crazy! I’ve never been to Hong Kong, much less a market in Hong Kong, but from what I’ve seen on TV and in pictures, Ciudad del Este reminded me of what I imagined Hong Kong to be. For a 4- or 5-block radius there is a market in Ciudad del Este that begins right when you enter the city from the east from the Friendship Bridge (the bridge extending between Brazil’s Foz do Iguaçú and Paraguay’s Ciudad del Este). The Friendship Bridge has almost continuous traffic problems since so many people cross it during the day, but once you get to the Paraguayan side, you can buy almost anything. The market sells cheap electronics, weapons, clothes, accessories, soccer jerseys, Paraguayan handicrafts, and anything else you can think of! Also, there are quite a few guards in Ciudad del Este. Why? Because it’s a dangerous city; it generates quite a bit of Paraguay’s income, but it also has a high rate of crime with smugglers going in and out, so be careful. I only spent a few hours in Ciudad del Este, but it’s worth seeing on your visit to Paraguay.

My second stop in Paraguay, at which I arrived by car after my 24 hour I-think-I’m-gonna-die-from-an-exotic-disease sickness, was Ayolas. Fortunately, the main highways are pretty good in Paraguay, so the trip wasn’t too bad. A town with a small population near a rather large hydroelectric dam, we traveled to Ayolas on my husband’s insistence. In the mid-90s my father-in-law worked for the Yacyretá hydroelectric dam, which sits on the border between Paraguay and Argentina, and so he and my husband, who was 14 at the time, lived in Ayolas for one year.

On my visit to Ayolas, we stayed in a nice, little hotel, Hotel Nacional de Turismo, for about $6 per night (breakfast included). The staff of two was great. I was really sick vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, and more, and they brought me bottles of water and tea, crackers, and anything else I needed. Don’t drink tap water in Paraguay…it was the culprit of my disease! I know, I know…I actually knew not to drink the water, but when a family friend brings you a glass of water, you don’t question where it came from…I thought she would know…I’m a Yankee (the Paraguayan term for Americans) and I can’t drink the water from the tap like they can! I’ll never make that mistake again.

Anyway, wandering around the small Ayolas is about the only thing to do, beyond visiting people. After a nice, traditional breakfast of juice, bread, ham, and cheese (although, I wasn’t up to eating yet), we went to visit a friend who "grows" fish and checked out his fish farm. We also went to the main street of Ayolas and met up with another friend, Emilio, at a cell phone store where he works. Honestly, there was not much to see in "downtown" Ayolas, so we went to the city museum, but it was closed for construction (probably back open by now). Soon we went to Yacyretá to check out the dam and that was much more interesting.

Since Ayolas is located on the Parana River, there is great fishing, which is great around lunchtime! Our short trip to Ayolas was mostly spent revisiting old stomping grounds and meeting up with old friends, and then we headed on to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.

When I arrived in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, I honestly didn’t have a great first impression. However, I had been pretty sick and so the smell of the city (mainly car exhaust) bothered me. After a few days, I began to see another side of the city. Asuncion is an old city with Colonial-style buildings, narrow streets, and outdoor markets. There are some very nice architectural sights, like the mansions on Avenida Mariscal Lopez, the Casa de la Independencia (the small white house where Paraguay claimed independence from Spain), Panteon Nacional de los Heroes (a memorial to Paraguay’s fallen soldiers), and the Palacio de Gobierno (Government Palace).

My husband is Paraguayan and hadn’t been back in eight years, so a lot of our trip was spent driving around Asuncion and visiting relatives, his godmother, and friends. We did also attend the Expo Paraguay 2006. The expo was very similar to a state fair here in the US. It showcased many things produced in Paraguay and in conjunction with other Mercosur countries (Mercosur is a trade agreement between many South American countries, including Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay). There were livestock and agriculture, food booths, native dancing, clothing displays, a market selling jewelry, native masks, and other Guarani crafts, and a large display about the Yacyretá hydroelectric dam.

The people of Asuncion are incredibly helpful and friendly. They will always answer questions or help you; however, it always helps to learn simple Spanish phrases since many people do not speak English.