Paraguay, worth visiting (Planung)
IVECO Tony 
, Wherever., Freitag, 06. September 2013, 18:29 (vor 3905 Tagen)
It is a slight hassle to get the required visas (Australians need one) and pay the US$130 each to the embassy here in BA so I wondered if anyone on here has any good reasons why I should or shouldn't spend a few weeks driving through the country on the way from the Falls to Bolivia. We are in an Iveco camper so will be independent travellers and our preference is for rural views rather than cityscapes.
We are here for 6 months and will return next year and maybe the next year too, so we won't be pushed for time. We head off in 2 weeks and figured we may as well get the falls out of the way right at the start.
Any comments to help me decide one way or another would be much appreciated.
Paraguay, worth visiting
I m french but have paraguayan residency.
Compared to neighbouring countries, Paraguay is unfortunatly disfortuned regarding touristic wealth and the government doesnt aim to develop it.
It does tho have interesting cultural features. This is the only South American country with an official indigenous language. This is also one of the most corrupt, which as a visitor, might be interesting to observe. The racial hierarchy still gives a taste of former colonial atmosphere. Asuncion, the capital city, gives a strange feeling of laisser aller and modernity, more than anywhere else.
Spring time is nice, not too hot like in summer and trees are blooming everywhere. The menonites colonies in the Chaco might be of interest for those with german culture, for their "platditsh" language and the incredible capacity they showed to adapt to very hostile environment.
Gas tho is much more expensive than in Argentina, Bolivia or Brazil, at european levels, and its getting worse in the Chaco where everything is more expensive (menonites have higher wages than indigenous paraguayans)
If i was on a schedule and wanted to save some cash, i would probably avoid Paraguay.
Paraguay, worth visiting
IVECO Tony , Wherever., Montag, 09. September 2013, 10:30 (vor 3903 Tagen) @ Courcheval
Thanks for that appraisal. Always good to get opinions from someone who has been there, especially when it seems to back up the conclusion I came to from web research. Might leave it until next time.
Thanks
Tony
https://picasaweb.google.com/114611728110254134379
Spotwalla Travels Map
Paraguay, worth visiting
dare2go 
, Mittwoch, 11. September 2013, 07:48 (vor 3901 Tagen) @ IVECO Tony
Bloody hell - did the price for A VISA go up that much? I recall we paid around $45 each right at the border (coming from West Argentina) and had the visas within 2 hours...
We didn't visit the far west of Paraguay on the way to Bolivia, where all the active missions are (wrong season = too hot). This must be the most interesting part in some ways. Overall we enjoyed Paraguay, but as said before: don't expect touristic highlights. The only souvenir from Paraguay we still own is a cheap ASUS EEE netbook, bought in Ciudad Del Este, the duty-free zone on the border with Brazil. Asuncion has a few interesting things to see, and we particularly enjoyed all the European food and excellent German bread one could buy in several shops in Asuncion (we stocked up for weeks).
Well, more about the country on our web site http://www.dare2go.com/SouthAmerica2/paraguay-1.shtml