Travelogue 3: Asunción, 2025

A stressful arrival

Our arrival in Asunción, Paraguay, was rather eventful. We were in Curitiba, Brazil, so we had to fly to São Paulo and connect from there to Asunción. The first flight departed at 6:53 a.m., which meant arriving at the airport two hours earlier, at 4:53. My inviolable rule—arrive two hours before a domestic flight and three before an international one—had to be broken because Nydia did not want to leave for the airport so early. After negotiating, we agreed to request an Uber from our apartment at five. We reached the airport around 5:30 and had enough time to check our luggage, pass through security and stop at the terminal’s Starbucks. Everything went well until São Paulo Guarulhos. We arrived at Terminal 2, while our next flight departed from Terminal 3. With the flight leaving in an hour, we had roughly thirty minutes to change terminals, clear security again and pass through immigration to register our departure from Brazil. We made it. The problem began when boarding for the São Paulo–Asunción flight. It was delayed, and we learned that instead of a jet bridge we would be taken to the aircraft by bus—but the buses took far too long. When we finally boarded one, we discovered that the plane was all the way over at Terminal 1. Transporting every passenger, along with the luggage that presumably also had to move from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, delayed departure by about forty minutes. We arrived in Asunción somewhat tired at 1:40 p.m. From the moment we landed, I noticed I had no mobile signal: our first problem. I should explain how we obtain data in the countries through which we have been traveling. My carrier, Telcel, belongs to América Móvil, a vast international conglomerate with a presence throughout the Americas and parts of Europe. I subscribed to a plan called “Conecta América,” which allows me to use my usual mobile data—10 GB per month—in any country with an América Móvil network, normally operating in South America under the brand Claro. In each of those countries, my phone simply connects to Claro and I use my data. But on arrival we had no signal. We restarted both phones, to no avail. We needed to request an Uber to our apartment, but fortunately managed to connect to the airport Wi-Fi. Throughout the drive, we remained without service, which seemed very strange. We finally reached the building at 2:30, registered in the lobby and went upstairs, having previously received a code for the door. The surprise was that the apartment was not ready; it was utterly filthy. Not the dirt of somebody who had checked out without the place being cleaned, but the mess left by construction work that, if finished, had never been cleaned up. Everything was covered in cement dust, with lumps of cement on the floor, damaged furniture, rubbish bags, and so forth. We contacted the host through Airbnb, and they said they would send someone. At the same time, Nydia noticed that many items promised in the listing were missing: kitchen utensils, glasses, a sandwich press, coffee maker, pans, water filter and more. We were therefore complaining about all of this to the host—a property management company, not an individual—while also trying to solve the lack of mobile service. The apartment had Wi-Fi, incidentally, which is how we managed to argue with the host and Telcel at once. Three cleaners arrived and left everything clean and orderly. The host promised to bring all the missing items shortly; they did indeed buy everything and deliver it a few hours later. Once the problems were resolved, we found the apartment comfortable, the views from the balcony and bedroom excellent, and the location superb. As for the mobile network, for some reason our phones did not connect automatically to Claro Paraguay. We had to do it manually by following four steps they gave us. Unfortunately, we constantly had to repeat those steps because the phones kept losing the network. I suspect this stems from some characteristic of Claro Paraguay’s service, since in Brazil our phones connected automatically and never had a signal problem.

General impressions

Asunción is a tranquil city. Although its metropolitan area contains more than two million people, it feels very small. Its rhythm is naturally quite unlike that of megacities such as Mexico City or São Paulo, and even differs from large cities like Buenos Aires, Santiago or Rio de Janeiro. It is also extremely green. The view from my ninth-floor balcony was beautiful: everything appeared as a sea of trees and tiled roofs. We stayed in Villa Morra, which I would characterize as an upper-middle-class, predominantly residential neighborhood, but with supermarkets and a shopping center nearby. Every area we explored on foot from our apartment—Villa Morra, Recoleta, Los Laureles, San Cristóbal, Santo Domingo, San Rafael and Mburicao—looked much the same: brick houses with pitched, tiled roofs; a few parks and medians here and there; supermarkets and assorted stores. About half the streets are paved and half cobbled, not with decorative paving stones but purely utilitarian ones. This creates an impression of underdeveloped infrastructure. I do not mean it as criticism, merely an observation, because visiting the city’s shopping centers—Mariscal, Del Sol and Paseo La Galería—makes Asunción appear as developed as cities such as Guadalajara, Curitiba or Medellín. There are all kinds of shops and almost every brand one would expect, along with restaurants and cinemas. I must also say that the supermarkets offer a wider and better selection of products than some in Brazil. Many new residential and commercial buildings are under construction. My impression is that Paraguay, and Asunción in particular, has experienced perhaps a decade of significant economic development, while the government has been unable to advance public infrastructure as quickly as private enterprise has built housing and shopping centers. That surely explains why so many streets remain cobbled and why sidewalks, where they exist, are in less than ideal condition. Overall, however, the city seems pleasant to live in, peaceful and safe. It is beautiful—simple, but beautiful. People are kind and helpful. I sense a warmth in them that even somebody generally cold like me welcomes: not excessive, simply pleasant. As I mentioned in my previous travelogue, Brazilians struck me as indifferent compared with other Latin Americans, and Paraguayans confirmed that impression. As in Colombia and Chile, I felt that the people resemble Mexicans in many ways. The abundance of Brazilian and Argentine products and brands also caught my attention, as did the culinary similarities with Brazil and certain Argentine speech mannerisms. Jokingly, I told Nydia that Asunción, Paraguay, is my favorite Argentine city in Brazil.

Encounters

I could not believe our luck. Nydia and I were walking home from a supermarket when we heard the loud cries of macaws. We searched the trees, knowing they were close but unable to find them. Suddenly I saw five perched on the branches of a dead tree. We approached to admire their plumage: a beautiful blue on their wings and backs and an intense yellow on their chests and underwings. We watched for a couple of minutes, then continued on our way, joking that we would later discover they were endangered because something similar had happened with monkeys in a Rio jungle. A few blocks later, we heard them again and looked up to see a pair flying directly overhead. They were large; I estimated their wingspan at around eighty centimeters. Research later revealed that this was no ordinary sighting. The species, Ara ararauna, commonly known as the blue-and-yellow macaw or canindé, had become extinct in Paraguay until it was reintroduced near Asunción in 2011, in the Mbaracayú Forest Nature Reserve. Such chance encounters make me extraordinarily happy; they feel like little gifts from fate. It was not our only encounter with blue-and-yellow macaws. On several occasions, we saw them pass our window or in the distance while walking through the area of that first sighting. Their cries are the first thing one hears. Once, while working early in the morning, I heard those distinctive calls and hurried onto the balcony, but could not determine their source. Then the entire flock emerged from behind my building and passed so close to the balcony that I jumped in fright—they are very large birds. They flew directly through the morning sun, displaying their magnificent blue and yellow tones. There were ten that time. On another occasion we were running when we heard cries coming from some trees but could not see the birds. Somebody else had stopped on the sidewalk to look and pointed out the branch where they sat. This time they were not the same macaws, however, but another species: the red-and-green macaw (Ara chloropterus). These birds are a deep red with green and blue wing feathers. We saw two, and they were fighting. After several minutes one gave up and flew away. We also spotted green parakeets in different areas. My research showed that Paraguay has multiple species; judging by their differing sizes and characteristics, those we probably saw included Brotogeris chiriri, Myiopsitta monachus and Amazona aestiva.

San Bernardino

At the end of our month in Asunción, we decided to spend two days in San Bernardino, a small town on the shore of Lake Ypacaraí, roughly an hour away. As far as we knew, it was a weekend destination for Asunción residents. We booked a room in a boutique hotel and went by Uber. It was a peculiar experience. I had never visited such a deserted place. It was as though somebody had built a vacation town and forgotten to tell anyone. The town was empty—not merely devoid of tourists, strange enough in itself, but seemingly without residents. Empty streets, closed businesses, silence. For two hours we walked in several directions around the “tourist” area, but there was nothing. It is difficult to describe, because the reader may assume we accidentally arrived at an abandoned town. We did not: this was supposedly a tourist destination. Our hotel was excellent and attractive, the staff very kind, and the room overlooked the lake… but we were the only guests. Even remaining at the hotel felt strange because the entire staff was there solely to serve us, which I found bizarre. I do not want this to sound like a complaint, because I enjoyed those two days and have nothing against the town, but I was surprised by how little use is made of it. Logically, people ought to vacation there constantly; restaurants, bars and cafés should always have customers; people should walk through the streets among handicraft and souvenir stalls. Yet there is practically nothing.

Conclusion

I enjoyed my stay in Asunción and found its people cordial and friendly. It was a peaceful month—perhaps too peaceful for my lifestyle. It confirmed what I have always thought: I cannot live in a small city. Asunción’s cultural, artistic and entertainment offerings are insufficient for me. I liked the city, will remember it fondly, retain a good impression of Paraguayans and smile at the memory of how they pronounce the letter R, but I do not believe returning to Asunción lies in my future.