Travel Story «Asuncion»

South America Trip | Paraguay | 1 Comments 20 March 2010 - Last Update 30 March 2010

Day 76 + 77 : Asuncion

“It's hard to get your head around Asuncion. At heart she is beautiful, with a sprinkling of original colonial and beaux-arts buildings, international cuisine, shady plazas and friendly people. Her more recent and modern demeanor boasts new, seemingly endless suburbs, ritzy shopping malls and smart nightclubs.

But her sophisticationhides blemishes: the Rio Paraguay backdrop and its shanty shacks, dengue fever-carrying mosquitoes, dieselspewing buses, stark utilitarian architecture and oppressive heat and humidity.

Like a vain woman hiding her age but succumbing to middle-age spread, Asuncion claims to have 1,2 million people, yet seems to hold many more – her sprawling suburbs have joined with neighboring towns. Despite her flaws, she's well worth getting to know (Lonely Planet)”.

As Sebastian did not turn up for our excursion, I decide to continue my trip to Asuncion. I am waiting especially an hour more in the bus terminal to have a direct line (a bus which is not stopping in each village), but in the end it turns out that this one needs its time as well. At 5.30 PM I am in the terminal, gathering some bus information for the coming days. From there, I need to take another bus to get into town. Luckily, I have a very friendly bus driver who stops very closely to the hotel I am planning to take. The owner of the residencial Itapua is very helpful in explaining where to find the best spots to eat and showing me the main sites on the map. In the meantime, night has fallen and I am off to the closest commercial center for some food and access to internet (as none of the guesthouses offer this service to their guests in Paraguay).

Next morning, I am first looking for the American bakery to buy some typical food for breakfast: mbeju and pajagua. At the other side of the street in a small alley, there is a bar where I can have my breakfast. They do not serve coffee however, so I am off for my second 'cocido' (burnt tea with milk and sugar). I have to cross half of the historical town to find a lavandery, which can do my washes at a descend price. On the way, I am bumping on the post office and have to find out that it will close at 12 AM today, so I am quickly back to the hotel to send out all souvenirs bought (as they are taking too much space and weight in my backpack). At lunchtime, I eat a fish soup (caldo de pescado) in one of the recommended houses and it is really deliciuos. After all this hazzle, I am now finally off for my fotoshoot session in town. I love the social live in the street and the old (some tearing down) houses. There is more action than in Montevideo, but it is in away similar. At the riverside, you 'll find Asuncion's shantytowns and this zone is considered as red zone, so I was not close enough to take some pictures.

I did not go to the glitzy shopping areas, which are to be found in the smarter suburbs in the east of center, although it must be the center of action. What I did see was the Mercado Cuatro, a lively trading lot occupying the wedge formed by the intersection of Av Doctor R de Francia and Pettirossi, stretching several blocks.

During my walk though town, I am very often stopped by locals which are anger to find out what I am doing out of my own and from where I am coming. For me it is a nice opportunity to learn something more about the country and its customs and to get some free drinks. In the end, I do meet a small group of beer drinkers, who invite me for a nice chat, a small drive around and some food. One is accompanying me through town, back to my hotel, but not for having entered a political demonstration of over 30.000 people (left just too quickly to shoot a nice picture of the president as I was before in front of the stage), watch part of the football game at a taxi stand and finishing the night off with another speciality: chipa guazu.

Next morning, I see the awakening of the town, as I am off early to the terminal for a long bus trip to Concepcion.