Paraguay is far, it’s unknown and it’s CHEAP!! It’s truly an intriguing place.., I think that makes it so interesting. In Paraguay you will find a fantastic nature, (tons of things to do and to see, I will mention a bunch in upcoming entries), awesome people and delicious food.

Apparently, Asuncion is known to be the cheapest city in the world according to a recent survey.

I just went there for vacation (Jun 2006) and stayed for 3 months, and I kind of agree. Although it may not seem very cheap to people working and living there, it certainly is if you carry a stronger currency like US dollars or Euros. Paraguay’s currency is Guarani, and currently 1$ = 5300 guaranies.

What is cheap?

You can buy a Mc Donald’s combo for less than 2$.

Paraguay is very well located, just in the middle of South America, and is known as South America’s heart: “El corazon de America del Sur”. Real Estate prices are dropping and I think it would be an excellent time to invest in it now because it’s obviously a country with a large potential in the coming years.

House rents are also unbelievable cheap: for less than 200$ you can rent a decent 3 bedroom house in the city, you can’t beat that.

Another really cheap thing is food!, yes food… Good food, great food!!  Dining out is extremely cheap: you can eat in a 5 forks restaurant, order a filet mignon for 6 bucks or so. And as we talk about food, I can tell you that my favorite dishes are Sopa Paraguaya, Bife a caballo, Chipa Guazu and of course Empanadas. (I will talk about this in a special “yummy” entry).

Night life is not just super fun but also very cheap… you can enjoy a whole night at different places for a few bucks…there is one place in special I would recommend, and I totally love that place, Britannia Pub. It’s like a British inspired pub (but ran by a great German guy), where you can find local and foreign people. Bars and such usually open until 1 am weekdays and until 3 am on weekends.

Domestic services and Nannies are very inexpensive and easy to find, since many women come from the inner country looking for domestic jobs in Asuncion. The average cost for a housekeeper or a full time nanny is around 100$ a month.

The minimum wage is around 200$ / month, and that can give you an idea of the cost of services.

Souvenirs and handmade silver jewelry are very affordable, beautiful, and so diverse.

The last time I went to Luque (the Paraguayan Jewelry city, where you can see one jewelry store next to the other) I was impressed by the assorted handmade jewelry called filigrana (that’s “filigree” in English). They are thin sterling silver threads twisted and soldered together to make really impressive pieces of “art”.

Beware of the counterfeit goods you find on the streets. For example, you can get a LV “original” bag for less than 50$, and so on, depending on the quality A, B or C of the item. Fake CDs and DVDs are all over the city: you can find CDs filled up with 150 mp3 songs for a buck, isn’t it crazy? Ciudad del Este, which is located at the border with Brazil, is well known for this kind of market.

… and what isn’t really cheap

DSL Internet provided by Copaco costs around 30$, Cable TV around 25$, Electricity is expensive  (ironic, because we own half of Itaipú, one of the biggest dams in the world). There’s something wrong here :-(

Imported goods are expensive or average for what they should cost, but not cheap. Local products are cheap but there isn’t much variety because Paraguay doesn’t have a broad production of goods.

But… clothing is expensive. We carry most American and European brands in our malls or stores at retail prices. Local clothes are very well made but also expensive or at least much more than expected.

Paraguay is definitely cheap, but not so to get there!! That could cost between 1200$ and 1500$ if you come from the US, but I think the trip is worth it!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 28th, 2006 at 4:28 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.