Wandering in Asuncion
Date of Travel: November 26th to 30th 2015
Date of Writing: Hostel Peter Pan, Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, December 2nd 2015
Asuncion is Paraguay’s capital and Paraguay is among the least visited countries in South America, probably due to it’s prohibitive visa costs for nations not in south america or Europe, as well as it’s lack of big name attraction since 1982 when a damn destroyed a set of waterfalls on par with Iguazu. Damn Dams. Still it’s a country I enjoyed in my brief time there, and one I’ll certainly come back to. It might not seem like I love Paraguay looking at my actions, since I left after just 5 days, but that had nothing to do with Paraguay and everything to do with the draw of Iguazu falls, which will fill the next few entries.
To get to Asuncion I came in a straight shot (with one bus change) from Tarija Bolivia, a roughly 29 hour journey in all crossing the burning hot flat lands of the Parguayan Chaco which fills most of the west of the country. Only tiny settlements are there and there’s not much to do so I didn’t feel all that bad bypassing it.
Though of course the bus was horribly uncomfortable and the immigration stops were countless and quite long, so I suppose in a way I did feel bad. Either way getting into Asuncion near midnight I checked into a cheap and run down hotel opposite the terminal to spend the night before bussing in to El Jardin Hostel in the centre of Paraguay the next morning. I can’t imagine a better place to stay in the big city, right at the edge of centre and a great place to cool off with air conditioning, a small pool, and very friendly owners. It’s a little pricey (55000 Guarani 12.75 CAD for 8 bed dorm) but any decent in lodging in Asuncion seems to be.
Much like in Tarija, there was no single big activity I did in Asuncion, in fact the few few days it was too hot to do much more than short wanders at 40 Degrees. Still this gave me a few brief views of a city that must once have been incredibly grand,full of amazing colonial architecture and beautiful street art. But the buildings are now often crumbling, while newer high rises are occasionally built along side these old beauties. There’s definitely regeneration happening in Paraguay, but it seems to focus on new buildings and leaves the city full of strange combinations, glass towers and crumbling colonial lying side by side.
I also enjoy some of the best of Paraguayan cuisine, which much like Argentina is famous for it’s meats. I eat a few fancy lunches at Lo De Osvaldo enjoying the famed Bife de Chorizo (sirloin steak). I then follow in the footsteps of Anthony Bourdain, a Tv show host who I love watching travel the world, (For those who don’t know him check out parts unknown on CNN or online) and he has never led me wrong before. I find myself in Lido bar enjoying beef empanadas that are packed almost to the point of overflowing (10,000 Guarani 2.50 CAD) and at countless street meat stands enjoying delicious and Greasy Lomito’s, (10,000 Guarani 2.50 CAD) a steak sandwich with cheese, ham, a fried egg, along with sauces and veggies of your choice. Your Paraguay isn’t complete with out eating too many of these things late at night!
Of course those north American’s yearning for home style food are in luck, Asuncion boasts several Macdonald’s and Burger King restaurants, as well as a hard rock Cafe and TGI Fridays. Strange how quickly American culture spreads these days, I mean even the churro street vendors have caught on to Black Fiiday.
Finally I decide that if it’s too hot for me to do anything significant during the day, I’ll just head out at night, so after a quick empanada at Lido Cafe I head further towards the centre and find the Presidential Palace, now the presidential offices, lit up like a christmas tree.
From there I walk through the dark streets, sure I’ve read somewhere that Asuncion is South America’s safest capital as I pass a shanty town set up in a plaza and find a huge church letting out from a late Mass.
I head back to El Jardin and the comforts of strong air conditioning, thrilled to find when I wake up that its been raining and the temperatures have suddenly become tolerable, think mid 20’s instead of low 40’s. I choose to take advantage of it with a long walk through town where I see so much more impressive architecture, not to mention the palace during the daylight.
I also get a stunning view of some of Asuncion’s finest graffiti which is peppered lightly around the entire city, but it’s some of the most impressive work I’ve seen since Valparaiso in Chile, and Bogota back in Colombia at the start of my South American adventure.
After wandering through the centre of town I head down towards what I hope is the river, where I find some of the most impressive graffiti above, and also the incredible Costanera (riverside promenade) Perhaps the greatest sign of Asuncion’s recent rejuvenation. It’s a beautiful place to walk and as I go the sun comes out from behind the clouds, starting to warm the air, though the riverside wind mitigates the effect.
As I continue out alongside the riverside promenade the famous Paraguay river beach comes into sight in the distance ahead, not too crowded since today was hardly a hot day by Paraguayan standards.
As I approach the beach I reach a scene illustrating the strange contradiction in Paraguay, something I saw first in India. Asuncion has rich, and it has poor, the middle class is small in number comparatively. Here the rich are very rich, and the poor very poor. I see a family down a short distance from the beach enjoying the water, not wearing much in the way of clothing and looking quite skinny, (though still happy, the little boy paddling around on a section of discarded styrofoam with a stick in hand)
Meanwhile along the boardwalk and at the beach Paraguay’s wealthier citizens lounge under beach umbrella’s and chow down on ice cream while also riding around in rented shared bicycles. (okay not extreme wealth but compared to the poverty it’s significant.
As we move back from the posh luxury of the river side boardwalk, we find one of a few slums in Asuncion, but the only one in the centre, and there it showcases the level of poverty I’ve not seen in a big city since exploring the outskirts of Cartagena Colombia. A local tells me that the city is trying to get rid of the people (I shudder to think of the likely methods though admittedly I know nothing about it.) Still it’s another image of contrast, the grandeur of the palace just a block away from the ramshackle wooden shacks, holding Paraguay’s poor.
The contradictions continue as I head up past the slum and back towards the church and neighbouring shanty town, which is largely just the fabric from garbage bags hung like tents, dirty and torn clothes hanging to dry on the railings of the plaza. Inside is abuzz with activities though and I see plenty of smiles, especially on the faces of children playing a game of soccer in an empty wading pool in the plaza. So little can bring so much joy, and yet we need so much just to avoid crippling depression. Where a strange species us humans.
As I continue walking, not wanting to openly intrude in their lives and not knowing how I can feasibly help I pass the church, again with perfect this time. A wedding is letting out, and everyone there is dressed to the nines in expensive looking clothes. They are beautiful, and each outfit is probably worth more than any single person in the slum has spent in their life. Not that I’m judging, since I’m choosing to spend the majority of my money selfishly on travel. Though i hope to give back with teaching later in life.
I did not mention two things earlier, first, the history of Paraguay is fascinating and horrible, not only was it a Nazi haven after world war two, but it suffered through the rule of two dictators roughly a hundred years ago, one of them declaring war on Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay all at once, sending everyone into the field. The wars that followed left close to 90 percent of Paraguay population wiped off the face of the earth. Read more about Paraguay’s fascinating history here. Second cool experience left out is that back near the slums I found a cat being followed and tormented by a small yellow bird, who seemed to stalk the cat from the air before repeatedly dive bombing it for no reason understand. The poor cat looked absolutely petrified.
At any rate, with the sun sinking low, I head back to El jardin and chill with some of the awesome guests, getting a chance to practice my french with three french girls and a filipino man who is the loudest person I’ve ever met, and I’m no mouse. the man talks non stop, is super friendly and cool, but unfortunately the loudness continues in bed and he snores like nothing I’ve ever heard rom the second he goes to sleep until the moment he wakes up.
My time in Paraguay ends somewhat abruptly as Laura from France suggests heading straight to Iguazu in Argentina and I can’t resist the draw of a place I’ve been aching to visit since landing in South America. The next morning we grab the number 8 bus (3400 Guarani ) to the bus terminal and as we walk up find a comfortable air-conditioned bus pulling out to Ciudad del Este, a border town famous for smuggling and shopping thanks to Paraguay’s lower taxes when compared to Brasil and Argentina. The bus is (60,000 Guarani and takes just over 6 hours)
We get there and find the last bus for Argentina, and the boat which allows you to go without passing through Brazil is done for the day. (I don’t have a Brazilian visa so going for it is sketchy.)
Still Laura and I find a taxi that will take us via the friendship bridge, stopping at Paraguay’s immigration office to get our exit stamps, then speeding past the two brazil border checks and stopping again at Argentina to get our entrance. And thus I became an international criminal. In all honesty even though guidebooks and the internet say doing this is never a problem I was nervous the whole time and though my plan went off without a hitch (so far) I still wouldn’t recommend it. Though of course waking up the next morning in Peter Pan Hostel and spending the entire day at Iguazu Falls was more than worth it. Here’s a tiny preview of what’s to come in the next entry.
