Normally I book a hostel using Hostelworld the night before arrival in the city, but they had no listings in Asunción. The only hotels shown on the bookings.com website were near the airport.
Street Side Parrilla
I decided to look around the bus station for accommodations. I checked into the Hotel Lujuan. It was comfortable and even had HBO in English, but the shower was cold. One night of that was enough for me.
On the road across from the Bus station, there were several parrilla cafes so I had dinner there both nights I was in Asunción. You tell them you want vaca—beef, credo—pork ribs, pollo—chicken, or chorizo—sausage. Immediately you are served with a big hunk of meat along with bread and yucca washed down with a big cerveza. The cost for dinner each night was 40,000PYGs —about $5.
The places seem popular mostly with working guys and over-aged “working girls”.
In the morning I took a taxi to El Centro some 8 miles away which took over 45 minutes to get to because of the heavy traffic. I wanted to take the bus, but you had to buy a bus card and then load it up with the money. With all of that, I figured taxis would be easiest, the trip only cost less than $6 USD each way.
I first stopped at the Plaza Uruguay and then continued along to the Plaza de los Heroes, Plaza Constitution, and Plaza de Armas.
The Pantheon Delos Heroes were guarded by centuries in white uniforms near the Plaza de los Heroes. It contained the remains of several political and military heroes and a poet.
I visited some of the other landmarks in the area including the Palacio Lopez which was closed for renovations.
After lunch at the Bar Irtubi which consisted of pork along with something called Rusa salad which was potato salad with beets, I then caught another taxi back to the bus station to find another bus terminal area hotel and found the Hotel Ysaya.
The room was simple and the shower water was hot, unlike the other hotel. I suspect that this doubles as a hot-sheet hotel. I enjoyed sitting in the jasmine-filled courtyard and watching “couples” checking out throughout the day and early evening.
I had to exchange Argentina pesos for the Paraguay Guaranis to pay for breakfast just before catching the first of two buses to Salta, Argentina. The cost of this breakfast at the bus station was just 19,000 Guaranis—$2.71.
These elections officials told me that they had these voting machines where citizens could vote using these machines that were at most bus stations and government offices throughout Paraguay regardless of where they lived. You would just log on to what location you lived in, put in your ID, and vote for the candidates and issues relevant to the place that was your residence. Pretty simple and straightforward compared to what we have in many parts of the US.
The first bus was to Resistancia, and I arrived just before 5 PM so I had time for dinner before catching the night bus to Salta, Argentina at 6:30 PM with an arrival at 7AM on the 13th of November.
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads. I have also added other travel videos that are shorter.
That link is https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold
If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.
Thanks for this post on Paraguay. Do we know the themes of US/Paraguay foreign relations?
ReplyDelete