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I believe Paraguay might be the most mysterious Spanish speaking country in the world. I have a relative idea of what neighboring countries, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia might be like but Paraguay, I just can't imagine.
For those of you familiar with this tiny country, I'd like to know a few things.
What is the Spanish there like? Similar to rioplatense?
How is asuncion as a capital city ?
The demographics of Paraguay, are they mainly mestizo, white or indigenous?
I believe Paraguay might be the most mysterious Spanish speaking country in the world. I have a relative idea of what neighboring countries, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia might be like but Paraguay, I just can't imagine.
For those of you familiar with this tiny country, I'd like to know a few things.
What is the Spanish there like? Similar to rioplatense?
How is asuncion as a capital city ?
The demographics of Paraguay, are they mainly mestizo, white or indigenous?
As you are talking about language in Paraguay, you must first understand this:
Paraguay is a fully bilingual country. Roughly 87-92% of the population speaks Spanish. However, 90-98% of the population speaks Guarani. This is unique in that Paraguay is a country where an indigenous language is widely spoken among the indigenous, mestizo, and white populations.
They don't pronounce their "y" and "ll" the same way Argentinians do, and they don't sound as "sing songy" (like Italians) as Argentinians. I think Argentinians mumble a lot, but Paraguayans speak more slowly and a lot more clearly. I would compare it to the Colombian or Costa Rican accent. The Paraguayan accent isn't as pretty as the Argentinian, but it's a lot easier to understand.
Also, every Paraguayan I met appeared to be a mixture of indigenous and white (except one of Chinese decent). I didn't meet any who looked purely one or the other.
I would have loved to go there. It's a shame I didn't get to while I was in Argentina.
Its way off the beaten path, no real reason to go according to a good friend who does travel writing and heads to places like Paraguay. He called Asuncion hot and boring, sort of like a poor replica of Montevideo, but with ugly water and worse weather.
I believe Paraguay might be the most mysterious Spanish speaking country in the world. I have a relative idea of what neighboring countries, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia might be like but Paraguay, I just can't imagine.
For those of you familiar with this tiny country, I'd like to know a few things.
What is the Spanish there like? Similar to rioplatense?
How is asuncion as a capital city ?
The demographics of Paraguay, are they mainly mestizo, white or indigenous?
This is coming from the perspective of a geography major. I'm no native, but this is what I know.n
Technically, Paraguay is a bilingual nation. Spanish is spoken in Paraguay, but so is Guarani. Rioplantense Spanish is mostly spoken in Uruguay and Argentina. Rather, Paraguayan Spanish influences the Argentinian provinces of Misiones, Corrientes, and Formosa. Paraguayan Spanish also has some Guarani influences. It is thought to share some resemblance to Rioplantense Spanish, but it is different from it. However, there are other languages spoken, such as German and Italian. Many Italian immigrants have made their home in Paraguay, as well as some German Mennonites.
Asuncion is basically the cultural, economic, and government center for Paraguay. It is basically a primate city for Paraguay.
Demographically, Paraguay is majority Mestizo, with a small indigenous population, and sizeable populations of people who are the descendants of immigrants, mainly from Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia, Middle East, Ukraine, Japan, Korea, China, and there have been people from Argentina and Brazil who have made their homes in Paraguay. Paraguay's Afro-Paraguayan population numbers around 63,000.
The first time I visited Paraguay was about 31 years ago. At that time, the country was ruled by a military dictatorship headed by Alfredo Stroessner. I took a bus from Curitiba (Brazil) to Foz do Iguazu (Brazil) to visit Iguazu Falls on the Parana River. Paraguay and Argentina are on the opposite sides of the Parana from Foz do Iguazu, so after visiting the falls I decided to walk over the bridge to Paraguay to Puerto Presidente Stroessner (now called Ciudad del Este).
Three decades ago, Ciudad del Este was a flourishing smuggling capital for goods going into or out of Brazil. It still is. It is a city where a very large percentage of the population is Asian or Middle Eastern heritage and it has a seedy, spy novel, film noir type of street vibe. Ciudad del Este has a bad rap for personal safety, but I didn't have any problems. At that time, everything was incredibly inexpensive and I never had trouble finding some real good food. After a couple of days in Ciudad del Este, I bought a bus ticket to Asuncion.
Asuncion is a relatively small city compared with the mega sized capitol cities in the Americas like Mexico DF, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima etc. It is mostly a grid layout and pretty easy to navigate, and mostly flat. I found a place to rent a bicycle and pedaled around many parts of town. Luckily I was visiting in October (early Spring) just before the summer heat set in. Asuncion in summer (Dec-April) is similar to the hot and humid climate of the southeastern USA in summer. The rest of the year is typically mild and pleasant sub-tropical climate.
Like others mentioned before, there is a higher percentage of recent immigrants from many corners of the world in Paraguay. The other thing that sets it apart, also mentioned above, is the Guarani influence in society. Even the currency is called Guarani. I liked the music, the food and most of the people that I met. Paraguay is a futbol (soccer) superpower for such a small population. The downside is that the corruption from decades of military dictatorship left Paraguay so far back and with such a bad rap that they have not made as much economic progress as their neighbors. However, they have part ownership (with Brazil) in one of the world's largest hydroelectric power stations on the planet so at least something is in their favor. They are still struggling with political things - their president was just impeached and it's not clear who is really running the place right now, but hey at least things are peaceful.
Paraguay is not a place that I would make a specific destination trip to visit from afar, but if I was in one of the neighboring countries and not in the peak summer heat season, it would be worth a side trip.
I lived in Paraguay for a while and loved it. Asuncion is a very livable city, as capitals go, fairly small, no real barrios to speak of, easy to get around in. I lived in a little town about 50 miles out of Asuncion, that was friendly and peaceful, with clean orderly streets, nice gardens, a pleasant market. And very, very cheap -- I rented a little house on a shady lot with electricity and running water and mature grapefruit trees in the back yard for about $30 a month.
Nearly everyone in cities and towns are largely of European descent, even though they speak an Indian language on a daily basis.
If you're looking for an exciting lifestyle with lots of nightlife and beaches and skiing and mountain vistas, Paraguay is not the place for you. But you just want a friendly, peaceful place with a healthy temperate climate and decent standard of living, it's one of the best countries in the world.
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