Paraguay - Part II

Continuing where I left off last time, along the streets of Asunción... so you've now seen the highlights (nice buildings, etc). At left is a fairly good representation of the old colonial part of town... dating from the 1500s to 1700s, which is REALLY rare since most of it was knocked down by one military dictatorship or another in the past few centuries. An effort to modernize or something - I have no idea what the rationalization was. So let's move along to my "Poverty Tour 2007"...

Returning to the pink congressional building, this was a street that went down towards the river behind it. Onward ho!!! At least that's what the statue seems to be saying. Alas it's a great big shanty town down this street that you're onward ho'ing... leading to a huge "villa misería", as they call it in Spanish. It translates pretty well into English too, methinks.

Anyway, if you walk along the top of the hill (around the Congress building), this photo on the left is LITERALLY what you see down the hill in the "back yard" of the legislative branch. I semi managed to capture the wall dividing the top of the congressional hill from whatever lies below it. Anything below "the white wall" is subject to flooding. Whenever. However. And so on.

Here's a wider shot of the same area, below right. The business towers and strip malls around here are built on stilts, if that gives you an idea of what it's all about. Also, this would be one of those areas I mentioned that I didn't venture into at night. Actually, I didn't venture during the day either... this was close enough. Although I did read a few stories (on the internet) about some 'rocket scientist wannabes' that DID go look around... they usually ended up getting mugged or otherwise robbed.

So, right when you're thinking to yourself "Guess I've seen it all. Paraguay really is poor." No, this is one area that Paraguay can really distinguish itself. Moving right along over to the Plaza Uruguaya, this is what I happened to encounter. I don't quite know what the story is behind it, but when you're looking at the shacks, that's not the poorest area... this tent city is.

And I use the term "tent city" loosely, because really it's just rope tied around the trees with tarps slung over them to act as a tent. Then there's lots of campfires, laundry, and basically just sitting around. The big banner says "Dengue fever can be avoided", which is a mosquito-borne disease that's rampant in the tropics and especially in this country. Having been to both Bolivia and Paraguay now, I think I would have to say that Paraguay appears (to me, anyway) to be the poorest country. Bolivia at least has some hope in scenic wonders/tourist attractions plus natural resources (2nd largest South American producer of natural gas) going for it. Paraguay? Not so much.

But to end on a positive note (too late?), the people I spoke to were really nice and despite what the photos look like here, I never felt insecure/unsafe while there. In fact, you don't really even get harrassed by the street vendors. I plopped down in the middle of the main town square, Plaza Independencia, wondering how long it would take until I would be swarmed by the sunglasses-N-fake-Rolexes salesmen. After a half hour of taking in the afternoon, people watching, & enjoying some winter warmth, the grand total was exactly ZERO annoying salesmen that pestered me. So maybe Paraguay DOES have something going for it.

Up next: the Paraguay/Argentina border and the amazing waterfalls at Iguazú!