within the first 10 mins of entering Paraguay we had our camera stolen. ( more about the benefits of this in pt2) we had been warned about the corrupt police in Paraguay & now we had to visit a police stn on our first day. they checked our documents very carefully but generally treated us well, providing us with our insurance claim document. for the remainder of the 3 wks in Paraguay the police became our best source of information & security , & even escorted us at times in order to find places. young, dashing & imaculately dressed in uniforms they were to be found on about every 3rd street cnr. one morning we counted 50 police in a walk of 10 mins.! talk about a police state!!
Asuncion the capital was abit like Bangcok except that everyone speaks spanish. every day one sees the rich in their mercedes changing wads of bank notes in the streets (bypassing the banking system). then one sees the areas called "miserias" right in the heart of the city where houses are made of cardboard, wood & corrugated iron. shacks little better than fowl houses.
the people from these shacks work the streets during the day as pavement sellers.
they say Asuncion is the cheapest city in the world & the 2nd most corrupt, but it has both an excitement & fear factor about it, making it quite exhilerating to be in. every type of food can be bought at street stalls, people eat stews while watching TV on rigged up electricity supplies, play cards & chess , gamble, wash cars etc all on the pavements.
part 2 coming soon.
john & rose.
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