Paraguay

Preparations
South America
North America
Asia
Africa
Europe
Returning home

Pictures
Route
1 Arrival in Asunción
2 Asunción
3 Bus trip to Encarnacion
4 Trinidad Mission
5 Back to Asunción
6 The Golden Route
7 Up to Filadelfia
8 Chaco war ruins
9 Back to Asunción

Our route is shown in red (click map for a more detailed version)

•	Asunción, from Montevideo via Buenos Aires
•	Encarnación (Jesuit Missions)
•	Asunción
•	Circuito de Oro (daytrip)
•	Filadelfia (Mennonite Colonies)
•	Asunción
•	And on to Perú...

Paraguay

Why Paraguay? It's one of those countries that doesn't appear on anyone's lists of anything, and that's enough reason to go there, i.e. because hardly anyone else does.

Pub quizzers would be able to tell you that it has had one of the longest lasting dictatorships anywhere. Not exactly a reputation that recommends a country to tourists! They'd also tell you that its the only country whose national flag is different on both sides. Charlie, from Yacutinga Lodge in Argentina, used to run some kind of eco-thing in the Gran Chaco, the big wilderness that covers most of western Paraguay.

Finding out anything about Paraguay proved tricky. There are no dedicated guidebooks, the only coverage consists of a 60 page section in Lonely Planet's Argentina guide, which starts with the line:

"Paraguay is South America's 'empty quarter,' poorly known even to its neighbours"

When we asked about material on Paraguay at Stanfords they pointed out a new book entitled At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig which turned out to be a sensationalist but amusing and certainly page-turning travelogue that almost seems to parody the country's history. The author, John Gimlette, is now understandably persona non grata in Paraguay and appears to have done more harm than good with his book. Still, it added to the sense of strangeness that seems to surround Paraguay. We can't wait to see it for ourselves!

Update 14 Jun 2005: Many thanks to Oscar from the Asunción Tourist Information Office for providing us with all sorts of useful tips and information about buses and boats! Thanks also to José Acosta at Intertours for travel advice and suggestions.

Update 19 Jun 2005: Paraguay is no longer a mystery to us. We had planned to spend three weeks here but in the end only stayed about nine days. Why? As Lonely Planet says, it is South America's empty quarter.

We're both glad we came to see what's here but are also glad to be going. There are some sights but they are small, particularly compared to what we're used to in Europe. We simply felt bored here and wanted to save time to use it more effectively in places where there's lots going on.

Would I come back? Not from choice. The people were friendly enough but they lacked the warmth and hospitality that we'd experienced in Uruguay. The country is really still in transition, I suppose in a similar way to eastern Europe. It has only been dictator free for around 15 years and the change to democracy is hard. We were told a few times that life under a dictator was better than life in a democracy.

Should you go? If you want to yes but really pick and choose what you go to see. It is not the easiest of places to fly to or from as you have to hub via BA or Sao Paulo so you're better off trying to fit it in with other things. If you're in Brazil or Argentina to see the Iguazú falls, hop across the border to see the Jesuit missions and the Itaipú dam (which we didn't see). The Chaco - wait until there's a bit more of a tourist infrastructure unless you have loads of time to play with and are happy to travel in what sounds like pretty basic (or expensive 5 star) conditions. You can probably get a sense of the Mennonite colonies from books and websites just as easily as you can by going there. Again, for these and the Chaco a hop across from Brazil could be an option. Asuncion - small city that you can do in a day or two but as it is a bit of a pain to get to and away from I would spend your time elsewhere.

Diary

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Jun	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Jun

Books, Films, Music, Links, etc.

•	I the Supreme, by Augusto Roa Bastos. Very complex and heavy, and I gave up after only twenty pages, but it was the only Paraguayan author that I could find and this book does draw on the career of the man who was "elected" as Supreme Dictator for Life in Paraguay in 1814. Suck it and see.
•	At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig, by John Gimlette. His web site is www.johngimlette.com. I now regret reading this book before coming to Paraguay - it gave such an unbalanced and sensationalist perspective.
•	Secretaría Nacional de Turismo: www.senatur.gov.py Check out the music!
•	TAP Guia Paraguay: www.paraguay-aktuell.de Quirky amateurish site (in a mixture of English, Spanish and German) advertising the only guidebook on Paraguay. Apparently the guide is more a novelty souvenir than of much practical use.
•	Intertours: www.intertours.com.py Paraguayan tour operator, recommended to us by Yacutinga. We visited while in Asunción and would like to thank Mr. José Acosta for providing us with a lot of useful tips and information about travel around Paraguay. We also hope to travel into the Gran Chaco with a bit of their help.
•	Turismo Paraguayo: www.turismo.com.py. General Paraguayan tourism web site, but most links either don't work or the site hangs...
•	Gua'i: www.gua-i.com.py. Not sure what this is, but planning to go back and check out the forum to contact people in Paraguay. I think the site is focused on the city of Villarrica.
•	Thowra: www.thowra.com A rarity in that it has a first-hand account of travelling and living in Asunción. Her short description of Asunción's grubby streets really jumps off the page.

For more references, check the links section.

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