Simon.Speaks.Paraguay

98km from Asunción and 4km outside the town of Caraguatay is the Paraguayan naval museam at Vapor Cue. It is final resting place for the remains of the Paraguayan fleet abandoned at the end of the War of the Triple Alliance in the late 19th century. Although Paraguay lies far from the sea the size of it's rivers are such that there were a number of naval confrontations during the war. On the whole these were between the fleets of Paraguay and Brazil. The technology avalible to the Brazilians was far superior to that of the Paraguayans. With modern iron clad vessels facing the wooden barques of Paraguay. However as with the rest of the war this was to be no easy onesided affair as their opponents were fighting for the very existence of their homeland. As with the rest of the war though the Paraguayan forces were slowly worn down by their opponents and by mid 1869 following the loss of Asunción the fleet was like the rest of the army on the retreat heading deeper and deeper i...

Sitting on the outskirts of the town of Paraguari is the old abandoned train station. It was not always out on the edge of town but after being closed for more than 100 years the town has had ample time to shift it's focus from rail to road. The railways of Paraguay were amongst the very first to be built in South America. The aim was for a line from Asunción to Encarnación in the south which lay just across the river from Argentina. From there goods and people could travel onwards to Buenos Aires and the world. Work on the railway began in 1861 in Asunción with initially a short 4km stretch to the town of Trinidad. The materials and managers were on the whole supplied by the English firm Blyth. Work then continued southwards along the line reaching Paraguari in 1864. The construction of the station was overseen by the English engineer Alonso Taylor. Later that same year the station building was completed and opened. The timing unfortunatly though was very bad as the very...

Situated 66km from Asunción stands the market town of Paraguari. In addition to serving as a retail and business hub for the surrounding districts it is also the county town of the department also named Paraguari. Sitting on the main road to Asunción it is idealy placed for the transport of it's goods to market there. The town itself sits on the flat lowland savanna lands at the base of nearby hill country. The town is surrounded by hills with such names as Santo Tomás, Hu and M'batovi. Within the town it the large chuch of St Thomas which is unusual in having twin bell towers sitting apart from the main chuch building. The chuch sits in the center of a large well kept grassy plaza. Reflecting however the main focus of the town it does not lie in it's center. This place is taken instead by another plaza much more heavily planted with trees and with a far more hectic mercantile atmosphere. This plaza is circled all day long by a steady stream of traffic and constantly ...

Sitting in the hill country 54km from Asunción is Caacupe the religious center of the country. It is the country town of the department of Cordillera and so in addition to its religious duties it is also a business and shopping hub for the surrounding countryside The town is the home of the Virgen of Caacupe and hence it's religious importance to the country. This idol is the most revered in Paraguay and it's story known off by heart by every school child. It began when an indian named Jose was hiding in the woods from his enemies. When he was about to be discovered a light from above concealed him. This light was the Virgin Mary giving him protection. At that moment Jose was converted to Christianity and promised to carve he likeness in thanks. This he did and very soon the rest of his people also converted and built a church for the idol with the help of Spanish priests. All was then well for a while until a great storm washed away everything and the Virgin was believed...

Sitting in the hills about 80km from Asunción is the small town of Piribebuy. The town was founded in 1640 and has as it center piece on a grassy plaza a fine old church dating from the foundation of the town. Surrounding the plaza there still remain several properties from the colonial era giving an idea of how a Paraguayan town would have looked at the time. The town also holds an important place in the history as during the 19th century War of the Triple Aliance following the loss of Asunción Mariscal López, the Paraguayan leader retreated across the country and while doing so for a while made Piribebuy the capital of Paraguay whilst his court camped there. This was bought to a violent end with the arrival of the Brazilian army and the Battle of Piribebuy. The Brazilians had overwelming numbers so the result was never in doubt but such was the fury of the attackers that whilst Mariscal López and his followers escaped to retreat further into the interior the battle in town en...

Sitting on the east bank of the Rio Paraguay stands Asunción, the capital of Paraguay and by far it's largest city. The city was founded in 1537 when a more peaceful unriver sight was saught following native attacks on the recently founded Buenos Aires. Travelling 1000km up stream a suitable site was found in the form of a large calm bay on the Rio Paraguay. As an added bonus the natives proved far less war like than those in the vicinity of Buenos Aires and agreements were soon reached between the two peoples leading to the foundation of Asunción. This through out the colonial period remained due it's river connections the only settlement of any size in the area. In 1811 the newly independant status of Paraguay was declared in Asunción as it became the capital of the new state. As cites go it is far from the largest with the historic core facing onto Asunción Bay and speading out organicly from there slowly swallowing up satellite communities as it grows. This unplan...

By mid 2004 the teaching project had come to an end and after a bit of sightseeing around South America I headed back to England. There was not much of a plan as to what to do next other than not returning to the bank. Back in England it was good to catch up with all the friends and family I had not seen for quite a while. In the days before smartphones and easy internet access keeping in touch was a more complicated and occasional affair. It was good to be back in England but being away for so long had cut many of the connections I felt to the place and just as before I left I could see little there for me to do. So inevitably after a few months, and a trip to South Africa I was drawn back to Paraguay. This time to see if it would be possible to live there and treat the place as my home. When I returned I lived for a while as a guest of the family upon whos land the school had been. Living in one of their spare rooms whist I looked around for somewhere more suitable to call ...

Once I had arrived in Paraguay I could get to grips with what I had come here to do, teaching children English. From the capital once everyone had caught their breaths we relocated 80km into the interior where the project was to be set up. The chosen location was the small country town of Piribebuy. This like most towns in Paraguay has districts spreading out into the surrounding countryside. The one where we were to base ourselves is called Naranjo and lies 15km from the town center. Far enough to be truely rural but still close enough to town for the nessecities such as shopping. Through family connections we were given the use of a large field connected to a local house and a couple of out buildings for the school. Word very soon spread through the community that some foreigners had arrived seeking to teach the children English and that they were not requiring any money to do so. Very soon there were enough children attending for there to be various class both morning and ...

Relocating from England to Paraguay is probably neither the most common nor obvious way of moving abroad so it would help if I explained a little of how it came about. Back in the later part of the last century there I was filling the days working in an English bank. All very well while there was thinking and maths involved but as the new century dawned things requiring a bit of thought became centralised and the place slowly turned into a shop. All very well for some people, but not for me. I spent a while looking for something else in the UK but could see nothing that looked any better than where I already was. So getting away from jobs and the UK began looking better and better. At first my thoughts were to take a year out and go travelling the world. My problem with that though was that I felt I would be forever travelling through without ever getting more than the most superficial insights into anywhere and would never really get the chance to meet the local population any...

Rather than an indepth history lesson this will be for now a quick overview of the history of Paraguay. In Pre Columbian times Paraguay was in common with Brazil and other forested areas of South America thinly populated with by various indgenous groups living the hunter gatherer lifestyle with a small amount of basic agriculture. Life changed when the Spanish arrived in Asunción bay looking for somewhere to plant a settlement where there were more placid indians after having trouble with the natives in the vicinity of Buenos Aires. From then on Paraguay became a part of Spanish South America eventualy becoming part of the provience of the Rio de la Plata. The land although lacking mineral wealth and therefore becoming something of a back water did contain peaceful natives and so prospered. The natives also attracted the attention of the Jesuits who noticing their talents for music and ability to learn craftmanship collected natives from the jungle to build and live in planne...

Paraguay sits landlocked in the middle of South America. It is bordered on the east by Southern Brazil, on the north by Bolivia and on the south and west by Northern Argentina. Landlocked as it is there is no coast or direct access to the sea but its connection to the Paraná river system means the even large ocean going vessels can reach Asunción which sits 1000km from the sea and is considered a deep water port. The frontiers on the whole follow natural features with the rivers Paraná and Paraguay hemming it in from the east and west before joining together at the south east corner of the country where after joining they flow onto Argentina and the River Plate.  Only in the north was any human creativity required to draw a border. There it runs across the sparsly populated and once disputed Chaco Desert. The effect of these large rivers and the thorn bush scrub of the Chaco has been to develop in Paraguay a sense of isolation and seperation from all that surrounds it. Th...

Paraguay. That's somewhere well and truely off the tourists trail. Not a place whos name tends to appear in the travel section of the local bookshop too often. I have often been asked that question and even occasionally had unhelpful suggestions such as "is it in Africa?". The truth though is that it is hidden in plain sight in the middle of South America bordered by Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia, all of which seem far more able to catch the passing tourists as they travel around South America. That is not bad thing as it means the place does not need to adapt to the wants of a transient tourist population and gives it a certain air of mystery. The country itself is contained on all but it's northern border within the large Paraguay and Parana river systems which mark very clear boundries. Then across the north it is seperated from Boliva by the vastness of the Chaco desert.  All this gives the country a sense of individuality and isolation. It is a warm count...