The first place I went to see in Paraguay were the Jesuit missionary ruins along along the Paraná River. In the 1700's the Jesuits were forcibly expelled from South America for promoting progressive ideologies that were not in line with those the Spanish crown. The power and influence the Jesuits had was impressive and the ruins of the Trinidad missionary were a testament to their Presence in Latin America.
From the ruins I traveled northwest towards the capital of Paraguay, Asunción. I stayed in a small town along the way called San Ignacio. It was a pretty town with a great Jesuit museum, friendly people, and relaxed way of life. It was a town where motorcycles and scooters mixed with horse drawn carriages and old school buses. While I was walking around I asked a family how to get to the Jesuit museum and they ended up inviting invited me into their yard to have some beer and special Paraguayan cake called “sopa.” They were celebrating Mother's Day which is celebrated on the 15th of May in Latin America.
From San Ignacio I traveled further north to Asunción where I stayed with another cool guy from Couch Surfing, David. www.couchsurfing.org David was also an ex-Peace Corps volunteer; he had a different life now since he recently moved to Paraguay to work with USAID (United States Agency of International Development). We had a good time hanging out and telling stories and barbecuing on his incredible balcony overlooking Asunción. We also went for a great 10 mile run through the city and to a great park. That was the longest I have run in more than a year!
The city of Asunción wasn't that impressive. It was big and spread out with pockets of wealth and poverty mixed here and there. In the heart of the downtown area it was interesting that there was a slum just along the river right next to a major civic area. I had heard about this part of the city from David but I didn't realize how drastic and centrally located it was. At one point I was taking photos of old buildings and statues of historical figures riding horses then I almost crossed the line into one of the poorest neighborhoods I had ever seen. Where the city dropped off towards the river there was a sea of tin roofs and maze of illegal electrical connections.
As I flirted with walking into the neighborhood a couple of women who were walking into the neighborhood made it very clear that I was passing into dangerous territory and I should watch out for my camera and wallet. I passed back into the protected civic area and asked group of cops if they felt adventurous enough to escort me through part of the neighborhood. They weren't interested and told me not to even think about going into the neighborhood. I wasn't foolish enough to go in but I did hang around the edge long enough for two teenagers to come walking my way. I saw them and knew that they weren't coming up to sight see so I made eye contact, smiled, and even took a photo of them for fun. They blushed a little, looked at the ground and wandered back away. Just then a woman called me over to her as she walked me away from the fringe of the slum telling me that the two teenagers were warming up to rob me. We walked out to the front of the plaza where she and some of the other neighbors went on about how dangerous their neighborhood was.
The rest of what I saw of Asunción was pretty tame. It had some cool sights, but mostly looked like a big city worn around the edges.
From Asunción I traveled 6 hours east by bus to get to Ciudad del Este, at the tri-border area with Brazil and Argentina. I arrived in the evening and the next morning I went to the Brazilian consulate to get a tourist visa to enter Brazil the next day. Brazil has a somewhat fair policy of charging foreigners the same amount to enter Brazil as that person's country charges Brazilians to get into their respective country. Lucky for me I got to pay 140 dollars! After I paid I was given a receipt that basically said “This is what your country charges us so this is what we are charging you; so stick that in your pipe and smoke it, hah” Point taken Brazil, take it easy.
Ciudad del Este has two main claims to fame. For some odd reason it seems to be the unlikely capital of cheap electronics in South America. The other is that it is home to the second largest hydro-electric dam in the world. As for the electronics it was staggering all of the flat scree TVs, laptops, cameras, cell phone, and whatever other electronic goody you can thing of. Ciudad del Este had it all, and it was all dirt cheap. It was a hectic city with the streets full stands selling almost anything you can think of then often smuggled across the borders to Brazil and Argentina.
The Itiapu Dam was also pretty damn impressive... couldn't help it... providing more than 75% of Paraguay's electric power and 25% of Brazil's. It was a cool tour tour visiting both the Paraguayan and Brazilian sides of the mamoth concrete structure that over shot its orginal budget by three times costing more than 25 billon dollars.
Stacks of clay roof tiles
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1 comment:
You forgot to mention our awesome run! Hope Brazil is treating you well.
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