Para que!? Paraguay!

First hour in Paraguay was not what we expected ahaha. We crossed the border illegally and only noticed it in the bus terminal. We had to go back to the other side of the bridge, ask for a Brazilian stamp and them a Paraguayan stamp. This was done in a completely different environment than Foz do Iguaçu, here: more traffic, more mess, poorer. Economically speaking, Ciudad del Leste is a very important city in Paraguay, mostly because of its trade going on everywhere. Brazilian and Argentineans cross the border seeking for cheap technologic products, clothes or everything that could be bought for a good price when comparing to other countries. Paraguay has very low importation tariffs which turns the city into a Meca of shopping.

We took the bus to Encarnación, a small city that has the Jesuits´ ruins as its main touristic sight. We are so lucky that had the opportunity to see this ruins with local Paraguayans, one law professor and one tourist guide, so we ended up learning a lot from them. These ruins were built in 1706 by indigenous people that served the Jesuits. A lot of people claim they were slaves but others argue that Jesuits helped them to maintain their own culture, meaning that they worked for them but let them keep their language (Guarani – which is together with Spanish an official language and more talked in the streets) and taught them how to adapt/integrate the occidental society that Spanishs were bringing. The Jesuits did not last for long time (about 60 years) because they became a threat for the Spanish as having a lot of influence over the Indigenous.

In Asuncion, we were first surprised by the amount of the private and public security guards carrying big weapons in Plazas and in front of financial institutions. Despite all this we felt very safe walking around the city even though we had the biggest shantytown just behind the hostel where we were staying. The city has countless charming old houses and buildings, most of them decayed or in process of restoration.

Paraguay resulted to be such a different country that is hard to describe it in one post. They were the most developed country until 1864 when Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay financed by England committed a genocide killing about 300.000 Paraguayans in the called War of the Triple Alliance. Paraguay lost 26% of its territory in this war. It turned the country so down that today is considered, after Bolivia, the second poorest country in Latin America.

Our stay there was quick but we could see a very rural country, full of beautiful green sights that seem to be very natural and explored (the región of the Chacos up to the north still has indigenous tribes and a non-touristic Pantanal). However, we felt something weird there, unlike its neighbors Argentina and Brazil, Paraguayans are less friendly, shy and look less happy. People there are not helpful; it looked like they didn’t know anything about the city, “where is the center? or “ where are the museums?” were two questions that we asked several times without a proper answer. Our impression is that they are still recovering from many years of dictatorship and still a close country, without a tourism industry. Of course there are exceptions, while we were walking in the municipality market we stopped for a quick lunch (with mandioca) and had the opportunity to listen some local folkloric music.

We left the country with mix feelings. Is a country that is worth to be visited because it has history, has a lot of places to go (we missed the Chacos region) and has the indigenous people. But we don’t see ourselves living here.