Asuncion - Capital of a nearly forgotten Country

Sometimes, when you least expect them, they are suddenly there, those rare moments of harmony and total inner calm. And they always appear when something is over, like last night on the bus, like on this wonderful morning in Asuncion.

I'm sitting in a tiny coffee shop, diagonally across from my hotel, the Posada Colonial, in front of me a steaming cup of coffee (in itself a guarantee for positive feelings) and a huge piece of homemade cake. Homemade, of course, by the group of young women who run this establishment together. You just sit there, completely empty, somehow exhausted, but also full of positive energy, and wish that this moment would never pass.

Paraguay - a new country

So now I'm in Paraguay, the country that I know least of all. I didn't notice much from the night drive from Foz do Iguaçu to Asuncion.

A bit of football (there was a famous goalkeeper named José Luis Chilavert, who was best known as a goal scorer (!)), Something of her former dictator Strössner, not more. But I'm looking forward to a new, unknown country.

But the heat outside the door is breathtaking in the true sense of the word. It crashes on your head like a steam hammer, and when even the people from the hotel complain about the heat - Dios mio, que calor! - then it really must be hot. But that shouldn't stop me from taking a first walk into town.

It quickly becomes apparent that the country is in economic difficulties.

The dependence on its large neighbor Brazil, whose economy has stagnated, has set off a fatal downward spiral. Sometimes the run-down houses remind me of Havana, as does the desolate condition of the streets and sidewalks. It is advisable not to look too far into the distance if you do not want to stumble into a hole or a ditch across the sidewalk.

Smoking buses, the most important means of transport, roar past every second, emitting thick blue clouds of diesel. I follow Calle Hazara, one of the main streets that lead directly into the center, and although it stinks and cracks and roars and sweats, I feel extremely good.

The Old Delhi Syndrome has apparently come to life.

La Muy Noble y Leal Ciudad de Nuestra Senora Santa Maria de la Asuncion

Asuncion is the capital and with 544'000 inhabitants also the largest city of Paraguay. Its full name (Spanish for Ascension) is 'La Muy Noble y Leal Ciudad de Nuestra Senora Santa Maria de la Asuncion'.

Wow, that's a name. Sounds different to some strange Swiss names like Bümplitz or Gunzgen (the worst name ever). However, if you have to enter it as your birthplace, you will inevitably get a cramp in your wrist in addition to the space required ...

La Plaza de los Héroes

The city presents itself modestly with a few beautiful squares (where you can rest on a bench in the shade of leafy trees), the obligatory cathedral (I haven't been to so many churches in years), the even more obligatory statues of the fierce heroes of some past, probably a long forgotten freedom war.

The Plaza de los Héroes is not only a kind of city center, it also represents a first island in the midst of bad air and all-embracing noise.

I am happy and also a bit surprised that I feel so comfortable here.

Perhaps it is the mood, the atmosphere, the friendly faces of the people who, despite the visible poverty, have retained the joy of life. In a word, you feel welcome. This is probably due to the fact that Paraguay is slowly appearing on the map of tourist destinations, but as a tourist you are still a rare species.

This becomes apparent at the latest when you buy a bottle of water in a dark backyard store and the lady provides the innocent customer with a torrent of words which he understands at best only in a rudimentary form, despite having (just) passed his exams at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid ... Dios mio!