About ParaguayClimate Around Asuncion there's a mild pleasant climate from May to October with just a few really cold days, and very hot the other 6 months. It's rated as subtropical (humid after rains) to temperate. Click here for weather details of Asuncion. Size 400,000 sqr km. 155,000 sqr miles. 60% of the size of Texas. Economy Pretty stable for a 3rd world country although it could be much better if the government officials would do their job. But that's normal for a latino country. Of course the average income here is too low for foreigners to expect to live off of any salary here although some english teachers do. Inflation is around 10%. Cost of Living It's fairly inexpensive to live here. As in most all latino countries services (medical, mechanic, house worker, etc) are inexpensive and imported goods are more expensive (than in the USA). In my last house I paid $200/mo rent for a huge 3 bedroom house with an enormous lawn and shaded barbecue area and two servant quarters. And I paid $80/mo for my houseworker who worked 54 hours a week. Safety Paraguay is better than many latino countries since only 24 years ago ended the dictatorship of Strousner. During those years everyone was afraid of doing anything wrong since punishment was either torture or death. But still now it's best to take every precaution in order to secure your belongings and to not walk alone at night since there are sufficient numbers of thieves and people desperately poor. Also there are no earthquakes or volcanos and almost never a hurricane (since it has to pass across Brazil first). Water The quality is better than in some latino countries but still I wouldn't recommend you drink the water often. Some Peace Corps workers I spoke to said they drink the water but got a mild intestinal infection from it when they first came here. The lakes and rivers are said to have significant levels of either industrial chemicals or coliform bacteria (from fecal waste from cows). Household water purification systems (such as reverse osmosis) can be bought and installed here. Otherwise it's a good idea to just drink and cook with bottled mineral water. After one year of bathing with city water I started to have a skin itch that was relieved (for 3 day) with a medicine called "Dexacort" (which you can buy without a prescription). So now I take the pill twice a week and all is well but I really want to install a household reverse osmosis system. Air The quality is very good outside of the main cities and not too bad inside the cities. But I love very clean air and so prefer to live on the outskirts of the city (Asuncion). I have yet to see a big factory smokestack pouring smoke into the atmosphere. Internet Internet service here is pretty good on the average although a bit slow. You can chose a phone line connection for $30 a month, or a microwave antenna connection (from CMM) for $100 a month which includes cable TV channels for your TV. The microwave connection is theoretically faster but in reality is only a little faster since all connections share the same satellite uplink. Telephone Service to your home is only around $15 a month if you chose to disconnect the ability to call cellular phones and international calls and any other number (love lines, etc) that begins with 0. I recommend you buy a cellular phone and use it to call other cellulars or international numbers. Electricity It's 220 volts at 50 hertz. Items that normally run on 60 hertz don't have a problem with this slightly different frequency. For using things that run on 120 volts just buy a 220-to-120 volt transformer from Radio Shack here for about $18. Some houses don't have good grounding which can result in an occassional little shock if you are using something with worn out insulation (such as an old refrigerator). Other gringos There aren't many people here from the USA other than the peace corp workers which you can often find at the internet cafes. The most abundant foreigners here are Germans and Asians. But I actually like that because then the local people are more interested to know me since they don't know any other gringos. Fun stuff You can go to the San Bernadino beach (on the lake) and babe watch or ride jet skis, or go to any of 3 malls to eat or watch a movie or play video games or babe watch, or go to discos that have a latin music section and an American music section, or go to a recreational center that has a bowling alley and 20 billiard tables. Or go on nature tours.
Click here for two postcards, and click here to see more pictures of Asuncion, the capital city of Paraguay. In them you can see the type of architecture of the most notable buildings. pictures of Paraguay women Click here so you can see how beautiful many of these Paraguayans are. Assorted costs related to your journey Airfare to Paraguay from USA (~$1500), hotel stay (min $30 a day), meals ($25/day), taxis ($5 each trip) or rentalcar ($300/wk).
Here's the most spectacular tourist spot you could visit. It is bigger than Niagra Falls and is just past the Paraguay border in Brasil.
Click here to read our questions and answers page about living in Paraguay. |
