There are many things that make Paraguay a great place to visit, to stay and to live… (I’m pretty sure that more than one will disagree with me though).

People that visit Paraguay can be classified in two kinds of groups:

1. The kind of person that loves Paraguay and is willing to leave anything behind to move right away, like my Italian friend Giorgio among many others (mostly Germans and some Americans)
2. The kind of person that totally hates it, that gets bored and is mostly unable to find it interesting or pleasant.

Strangely, there isn’t much in between: it’s hard to be indifferent; its mostly a good or bad impression but almost never indifferent.

Anyway, it’s all about expectations, and I will not pretend to find Florence or Tokyo here.

What is great about Paraguay?

Paraguayan people are great, warm and friendly. Another great feature is the simplicity and how people seem so worry free… It’s a very peaceful place that attracts many people who want to escape from war or a hectic life.

Paraguay is calm, relatively small, with a small population and it’s easy to get around. It’s very different from many other south american countries: with 6 million people on a country the size of California, its like a private paradise.

Another great and cheap thing is the food, well, at least for me

What isn’t great about Paraguay?

Like many South American Countries there is corruption all over the place. The government and public institutions are corrupt, there are many poor and jobless people.

The minimum wage is around 200$ but most of the regular workers don’t even make that kind of money. So people have to get creative to “create their own jobs” like cleaning windshields,  “care for parked cars”, “sell gums and candies in buses or on the street”, “private trash recollection”, among many others.

Like any other country Paraguay has pros and cons but I would say it’s all about priorities, perceptions and expectations. There is too much here to be done and too much to look forward to, and personally I think that’s the greatest thing about Paraguay.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 26th, 2006 at 5:32 am and is filed under Paraguay. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.