|
  | |  |
Asunción
Entry 9 of 37 | show all | print this entry |
Asunción is a fun, green, quirky little city located well off the South American backpacker trail. I´ve been here for two days after taking a 17-hour bus from Salta. A young guy sitting next to me on the collectivo from the border helped me get a bus to my hotel at the heart of the city on Plaza Uruguaya.
One of the first things that I learned upon getting here is that this small isolated city, of all the cities I´ve visited in South America, has the best selection of vegetarian restaurants! Not health food restaurants or places with some options, but full-blown, pay-by-weight buffets loaded with steaming hot dumplings, spring rolls, rich curries of tofu and fake meats, deep-fried breaded eggplant, etc! So I decided to spend an extra day here. ;)
I´ve just missed the July/August flowering of the pink lapacho trees that reside here, but here and there there are still some going, as well as all kinds of other tropical-looking foliage. There´s a lot of green space, and everywhere people are drinking yerba mate, a very Paraguayan tradition. You take an animal horn, a small gourd, or a special wooden or metal cup, possibly covered in leather, and you mix in it some of the yerba mate leaf and cold water (there´s also a hot variation). Then you drink the concoction with a special metal straw which at its bottom end has a bulb of metal with many small holes which prevent the leaves from getting sucked up.
Yesterday I took a local bus to the long-distance bus station to buy my ticket to Iguazu Falls. On the return trip, when we were about a third of the way to the city center, the driver stopped the bus, which seemed to have no mechanical problems. He announced something in Spanish which I didn´t understand, and then everyone shook their heads and got off the bus right there. As he drove off, we waited for the next bus.
Some other things about the buses ... they´ve erected full-on metal turnstiles at the entrance (front) and exit (rear) of each bus, so you´re forced to go through and be counted. Some buses even seem to have further metal bars to keep you from going around. Yet I saw a number of kids go out of their way to climb under the turnstile, and a couple of teenage boys scaled the bars and lowered themselves over the turnstiles as though there was some sort of curse associated with going through! The drivers don´t seem to care. At almost every corner when the bus stops at a light, vendors jump on and hawk their wares. For example, at one light we had two salespeople: the first had talcum powder and the second was selling candy bars.
Another thing I did yesterday was to find the Mennonite Central Committee building just southeast of the center. My mom spent some time there when she lived in the city as a child, and I relaxed there for a little while doing some reading. I found the mango tree she used to climb. My parents visited Asunción just recently and mom tells me the tree has grown prodigiously since she was young.
Today at a restaurant I met a woman from the U.S. who teaches in the American school here, and am going to meet up with her and her Paraguayan boyfriend tonight. Tomorrow morning is the bus to Iguazu, where Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil meet at a spectacular series of waterfalls!
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Paraguay or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
14 votes 
