Luke Reynolds

Denouement Dashboard - Paraguay 🇵🇾

Luke Reynolds -

This is the place I will cover the stats of each country as we go.

As usual, follow along at:

Anyway, let's get into it:

Paraguay: 20-23/3/23

Tracks:

Planes:

  • None - we took the bus in, unfortunately

Automobiles:

  • Bus - Salta --> Clorinda = 1093 km 
  • Taxi - Border in to Asuncion = 43 km
  • Then probably only about 50 km of Ubers and taxis while we were there

Boats:

  • No boats

Walking:

  • 26.1 km

Total = 1,212.1 km

Expenses:

Rough rules: I will count the flight (or bus) TO that country as an expense IN that country.

Will make up other rules along the way.

Total expense: $1,627.53 AUD

Total Days: 4 Days inclusive

Expense per day = $406.88 AUD/Day

Expenses Breakdown (mathematical, not emotional):

With the biggest change here in that 'Entertainment' made up such a large chunk of spending. This was due to spontaneous ticket purchase for 'Asuncionico' where we saw 'The 1975', 'Lil Nas X', 'Tame Imapala' and '21 Pilots'. Was good.

Travel Bingo:

I think Paraguay is just not touristic enough to get 'Tik-Tok Dweebs' and 'Karens'. And there are no mountains for the 'Khaki Queens'.

Culinary Corner by a Non-Foodie:

  • The food is well priced.
  • And the steaks are pretty good.
  • Coffee is still weird and watery and hotter than Mordor - but probably better than Argentina.

Tips and Tricks:

  • Uber is extremely cheap and accessible.
  • If tall white people are getting looked at, it's probably just because you are both wearing shorts/dress (not jacket, parka and jeans) in the 35 degree weather - Paraguay is still quite conservative. Don't worry. There is no issue with this, the people are still lovely. You are just a tall white guy showing off some leg...
  • TravelSpend - get the app, document your expenses. What gets measured gets managed
  • Google Maps - download offline maps for wherever you are heading
  • Use Kayak to search for flights - it is almost an aggregator of aggregators
  • Then download whichever sub-aggregator like Mytrip or Kiwi.com you purchased the tickets through to get your boarding passes
  • Yes, I realise this is not that efficient, but agregators like Kayak are the best way to find the best flights for the best price
  • Use Rome2Rio and BusBud to search for bus travel - buses do actually work pretty well in South America - but, as above, fly in to Asuncion, don't take a bus if you don't have to
  • Use AirBnB and Booking.com for accomodation - Booking.com is growing in this space and encroaching on AirBnB's turf - with less ridiculous "clean the whole house prior to checkout" obligations
  • The Visa/Mastercard/American express network works here just fine - we did not get much cash out at all.

Recommendations:

  • Paraguay is small and, to be honest, doesn't have a huge list of tourist attractions. So Asuncion is the place you will go.
  • Go for a couple of days - the place is not built around tourism, don't be suprised if you have a quite day, get a coffee and read a book.
  • Take a flight, the bus ride in from Argentina sucked.
  • Stay here, which is NOT the 'old town', rather the place between new developments and shopping centres:
  • Book a place with a pool - it's hot.

Summary:

  • Paraguay is a tiny little place built around Asuncion.
  • Tourism has not kicked off here properly yet.
  • There is little English spoken outside that cirled area above.
  • It is actually quite conservative - the laws and social norms for LGBTQI+++++alphabet people are not particularly progressive just yet.
  • The place is growing - there is churning rapid construction of high rise apartments and high-end shopping precincts - luxury cars are on the roads next to dudes chilling in the back of a ute.
  • Side note: There is a nice tax situation for anyone savvy enough to take advantage of it - no tax on foreign earned income and 10%ish for income earned in Paraguay. And the path to Permanent residency is not too difficult.

Thanks for reading along.

The next country update will come... after the next country.

Weekly updates will come...weekly.

Luke.