Paraguay!

A little off the beaten path, or rather the gringo trail, Paraguay is the country stuck inbetween all the others.  Though not often visited by non South Americans I personally enjoyed several aspects of the week there.

We spent 2 nights in the capital Asuncion, which unfortunately wasn't all that and a bag of empanadas. The downtown area consisted of narrow streets with cars that whizzed by without regard to pedestrians or traffic postings. There were a number of public parks and a bunch of craft/souvenir sellers, plus a bunch of bars and restaurants that catered to the weekend shopper... But outside of the core shopping streets the city seemed vacant, void of life and eery.

One area near the government center had hundreds of what looked like makeshift shacks. Tourists are warned that this area is unsafe especially at night, but basically it seems like poor people from a round the country go to live in the capital, and when they can't afford an apartment they set up a shack, maybe pretend to sell something and stay perpetually in sight of the politicians who run the country. - to me this is rather incredible, I can't imagine people being able to do this in the US.

I found Encarnacion to be much more agreeable, aesthetically pleasing and tourist friendly.  The city is built on a massive river but the river front has been remodeled into a beachfront similar to what you'd find on a nice lake or even the ocean. The locals gather and play volleyball and hang out at night when the day has cooled off. 

There wasn't much to see in the city itself, the remnants of the past along the breach front, the church lit up at night, a few public parks with nice gardens. 

The big draw to the area are the ruins of Jesuit missions. These towns were abandoned/destroyed in the mid 1700s after the Jesuits were expelled by the kings of Portugal and later Spain. The towns were fairly wealthy cooperatives in which thousands of Guarani (the local indigenous group) lived, worked, learned and created works of art. The communes  were so successful that they made local plantation owners jealous, this envy lead to the political maneuvering to evict the Jesuits who protected the natives. When the towns were abandoned by the Jesuits, many of the natives were killed or enslaved and the towns fell into ruins. 

We visited the largest of the Jesuit missions in the area, a place called Trinidad. It was easy to picture the beauty  that once was in the ruins, the picturesque surroundings didn't hurt either.

The legacy of the Jesuit missions in Paraguay stands in contrast to Christian missions in other locations which sought to eradicate the local customs, in the Guarani lands the Jesuits promoted education and music in both Spanish and in the Guarani language so it is still spoken by many people today.

The last city we visited in Paraguay was the border town of Ciudad del Este. This is one of three towns that sort of make up a metro area between three different countries. Ciudad del Este (and Paraguay) are the poorest of the three, so many Brazilian and Argentinians cross the border to buy cheap or knock off goods without paying high taxes. The city is considered kind of sketchy and most tourists are told to stay on guard.

We stayed just a little outside of the main down town area in an area that could be an upcoming suburb neighborhood, or maybe is just like much of Paraguay in that they built some nice buildings in an area with little to no infrastructure. 

The hostel we stayed at was like a realy nice mansion, but the electricity went out numerous times while we were there and the road to get there was mostly mud.

Nearby was a nice lake that reminded me of the cities. Malls seem to be the refuge to escape the heat.

In general Ciudad del Este didn't quite meet my expectation for sketchiness, in many ways it is similar to Peru or Bolivian markets, but compared to Argentina, Uruguay or Chile I can understand why people would look at the rough market stalls and be a little wary. 

Outside of ciudad del este is the worlds second largest dam Itaipu, which we visited on a quick bus trip outside the city. The 30 minute tour included one major photo opportunity, but since the dam wasn't at full capacity when we were there the pictures we took didn't look nearly as dramatic as the ones online.  It was a really massive structure and made me really awed at what humans can do! 

This is from one of the official posters. 

Puerto Madryn, The best of Argentina

Sorry about the wait (internet issues) but several weeks ago we were in a small town in Argentine Patagonia called Puerto Madryn. The town and many of the towns in the area were founded by welsh settlers who were invited to Argentina a long time ago and who may have been escaping Wales in order to freely practice their religion. 

The reason most people come to this region is for the wildlife. Because it has been a few weeks I think I will share the pictures and let them speak for themselves.

5 on Argentina

1) Maté

Mate is a tea like drink that Argentines go crazy for.  Though the drink is popular in much of South America, in Argentina every 4th person seems to have a mate in their hands. 

As one local guide told us, it is a symbol of Argentine culture and the value of community and sharing. The guide continued explaining that a mate is shared as a gesture of friendship, the straw end is passed facing the person and you are expected to drink until the cup is empty of tea/water, then return it to the person to pour more water and share it with the next person. 

Custom dictates that turning down a mate is rejecting a person's offer of friendship, and also it is rude to hog the mate for too long so people develop a taste for the boiling hot and bitter tea. 

Here is a picture used without permission of Eduardo (see a previous post) trying to casually drink what she described as a mix of extremely bitter tea mixed with a sort of olive oil flavor... After hearing this description I declined the offer of friendship from our guide.

2) Argentine Spanish 

The Spanish spoken here is hilarious. Due to the massive Italian immigration the people sound Italian, they have that rhythmic inflection, the enthusiasm and hand gestures but as a local guide pointed out -every Argentine thinks he speaks Italian even though they don't know a single word.  

The Spanish is also different in that they use a slightly different grammar than the rest of South America (or Spain for that matter) and pronounce a number of sounds differently depending on the region. Eduardo and I have been laughing at the lovely Porteño' pronunciation of words like vanilla - which in typical Spanish is more similar to English without the L sound "van-E-ya" but in Argentine it's "vanisha" the double L is always a ssshhh sound. It's kind of hilarious because they correct you when you pronounce it any other way, or sometimes don't understand normal Spanish.  

3) The Economy and Currency

I've already mentioned this but it has been one of the biggest impacts on my time in Argentina and weighs on the minds of the Argentinian people every day so i think it is important to explain. All of this information comes from helpful tour guides and other Argentine sources.

So basically Argentina is for all intents and purposes an educated, middle class society of mostly white people(I will describe a bit more in numbers 4 and 5). That being said, like all of South America, Argentina has had it's fair share of bad governments and difficulties creating a stable economy. They've got the people and the resources, but they don't have the stability, and that instability has created low confidence in their economy and currency both at home and abroad.

International banks don't trust Argentina to pay their bills(inflated by bad deals). Locals don't trust the government's decisions and have faced hyperinflation in the past so they are reluctant to trust the currency. The government furthers this distrust by ignoring the inflation that does exist and artificially pricing the Argentine peso at a lower rate to the US dollar than supply and demand would dictate. Basically the people will pay anywhere between 12-14 pesos for each US Dollar(called the blue dolar rate) because they trust the dollar more to hold it's value where as the peso loses to inflation each year(partially because no one trusts it). The government wants people to stop using dollars and trust the peso so they say the dollar is only worth 8.50 pesos. 

The demand for US Dollars is high because businesses need to make overseas purchases in them, and families and individuals use them to maintain their savings. But due to the government interference you can't get them at banks, so people use the blue market. Tourists and people who've recently crossed the borders exchange their fresh Bills for pesos offsetting the high Argentine prices and making it a relatively cheap tourist destination. The locals like it because tourists then spend freely, and the shops can get American dollars to save their money or pay their bills.

When asked if this is illegal, most Argentines will scoff but say reluctantly "yes" - normally though they will follow up implying that it won't ever be punished because the police and government officials all take their cut in the market. One tour guide explained "Go to the finance minister or the Vice President and ask them to exchange dollars and they would do it without a second thought."

So what does it look like to exchange? 

In Mendoza I exchanged money with a guy in a car. That felt a little sketchy, but it was basically because the hostel who arranged the transactions didn't want outsiders to start coming to them for exchanges. 

Later while exchanging Chilean money at an actual money changing business I saw an American tourist welcomed into a back room where he received the blue dolar rate rather than the posted official rate. 

While in Buenos Aires we've exchanged money numerous times on one of the main commercials avenues. This comical experience never gets old as hundreds of people selling fake tour posters, handing out fliers or pretending to sell products approach passerbys with not so subtle offers usually along the lines of "tango show? Tour package? Cambio?"  Some get even more explicit just mumbling cambio?(change?) over and over until someone makes eye contact. 

After quickly negotiating a rate (that is almost never different than the next guy- usually around half a peso lower than the official blue dolar rate posted online), you are taken into an actual or fake business. An office where a guy will hand you stacks of a 10 hundred peso notes to the equivalent of however many American one hundred notes you have.

One time it was a clothing store, another a magazine kiosk, another an office with fake zoo posters on the wall, the exchange always feels a little shady but in a few weeks of this we have never gotten ripped off, and that is part of the deal. Everyone wins if no one gets ripped off because the dollars flow, the bribes flow, the people save, the tourists come, the cycle repeats.  

My companion pointed out -look what currency is on the cover of the book...

4) Buenos Aires!

I've never heard a bad word about this city, so I was expecting a lot and my expectations have been met plus more.

First a little about the city (from books and tour guides). 

Though founded more than 400 years ago the big city of Argentina was not that big of a deal till about 130 years or so ago. At this time it became the major port and industrial center of Argentina as well as the home to thousands of immigrants from Italy and Spain. It was also around this time that the wealthy families of Argentina began to redesign the city to look and feel like the capitals of Western Europe replacing (read outright destroying) any resemblance to colonial cities of South America.  Drop a person in BA without telling them where they are and they will assume Western Europe.

large avenues, modern buildings mixed with artistic European designs...

fashionable white people who speak, eat and drink like Italians... big English or French style parks, Italian gelato, pet dogs without leashes and dog shit everywhere (only differentiated from the rest of South America by the fact they are pets).

Oh plus a large and easy subway system that gets you pretty much anywhere you want to go.

The subway stations have lots of murals.

Sign says Welcome to La Boca (neighborhood)

It's a beautifully designed city. Perhaps not currently facing the best of times, but still feels energizing, proud, creative and productive. 

The city has almost everything you could want (minus the situation with needing to exchange American dollars).

Tango dancers in the streets... and some lady's hand ruining my pictures.

Street performers, art galleries, beautiful parks, cheap ice cream, good food, easy access to anything... It's sort of a traveled paradise.

5) Different and yet not... But still different... Yet not... But wait...

So Argentina is great right? Yes yes yes... But at the same time it's a little too much like home, too many easy conveniences, too many Starbucks and McDonalds, too many people who speak English. I found the same in Uruguay and Chile. These countries are western, modern, examples of neoliberalism and globalization... They are convenient and pleasant but where is the thrill if everything is so similar?

And then you run into this:

This is an Argentinian brand that uses American imagery inappropriately to convey that "modern western rebel" style. I'm sure the people who buy the hats and shirts have no idea what it stands for, just that it's American.  

It's the little things like this, the mistranslated signs or directions, the weird cultural appropriations, the merging of American culture with Argentine. These things are usually subtle but once you catch them they are hard to miss and they keep it fun. 

Anyway you may have to take my word for it. 

One more post about Argentina then Paraguay and Brazil! 

Uruguay

In my fantasies I pictured Uruguay as the progressive hip neighbor to Argentina's high fashion European style and Brazil's eclectic high energy fusion... It turned out to be neither.  I hoped for a chill unpretentious place, with cheap and beautiful beach towns that I could one day retire in, but well...

Our journey to Uruguay had two purposes: 

First, we were out of money in Argentina and needed to cross the border to get American dollars *see posts on Argentina.

Second, I was hoping to discover the fantasy I had imagined by traveling to the three hot spots mentioned in all the guide books.

Colonia del Sacramento 

This one time pirate port is now a sort of upscale day trip from Buenos Aires. Tourists and Argentines make the ferry crossing from BA to Colonia across the Rio de la Plata- "River of Silver" the joke is that it is neither a river nor silver colored- instead it's an hour long trip on big ocean waves that when rough can leave you quite seasick. 

The view from inside the boat of Buenos Aires

The above pictures were taken on our return trip which was much smoother than on the way.

Colonia is really just a small town with two basic sections, the tourist area which consists of fancy restaurants, gift shops, he historical port and a few museums, and the regular side of town which looks like any small Midwestern town in the US. 

It rained every day we were in  Uruguay so I have less pictures to share, but these were a few from our last night there.

My impressions of Colonia and Uruguay in general were probably marred by the rain, but Colonia didn't seem to offer much, the restaurants all seemed too expensive and the tourist sites didn't seem to be anything new... I think many Porteños (people from BA) use it as a day trip to get away from the big city, maybe just to relax and have a glass of wine. 

Montevideo

I hoped the big capital city if Uruguay would offer what Colonia hadn't, and I can't say that the city didn't try.  There are pedestrian walkways with arts and craft sellers, beaches, malls, public parks and lots of museums, but the culture of Uruguay is just too similar to Argentina and one can't help but compare the two capital cities when they are just a ferry ride apart(this comparison leaves Montevideo seeming like a deprived younger cousin that just can't keep up).

They even had a lot of buildings and public spaces designed by the same architects... But overall Montevideo just seems less exciting.

This building was designed by the same architect as a building in BA *see next post

The cathedral looks like a lot of other South American Churches...

Awesome painting shows Montevideo many years ago, notice the cathedral...

One museum I did appreciate quite a lot (and not just because it included an espresso in the ticket price) was the carnaval museum. The museum includes history about the mixing of the different cultures which created the South American carnaval and distinguishes it from Venetian or Spanish celebrations.

 It also highlighted some of the characters and costumes one can see at the festival.

The last place I wanted to check out in Uruguay before heading back to BA was one of the famous beach towns that Uruguay is most famous for. I think in hindsight it might have been better to go to one of the less famous ones, because everything in Punta del Este is in the words of a local expat about double the price of any other town near by... 

But we got to see the giant hand!

Punta del Este

The tourist area of Punta had two beach fronts, one super windy(where the hand warns of danger), the other fairly calm(where the port is). Both sides lived up to their reputation, while walking along the coast I saw 10-12 foot waves crashing into the rocks along the windy side:

This photo is blurry because it was so windy I couldn't take a proper picture.

The other side:

The town itself didn't have much to offer, I mostly tried to find cheap food and took pictures of anything that wasn't a fancy store or restaurant.

Other than that our time in Uruguay was spent cooking food, journaling and watercoloring... All of which I'd been meaning to do more often -so not a terrible time, but still not what I had anticipated.

We returned to BA with pockets full of American dollars to exchange and no real need to set foot in Uruguay again... Which is kind of sad because now where will I retire?

This is my favorite photo from the Uruguay expedition...