Wouw, the weather has changed. Itīs beautifully warm again - Good stuff!
Paraguay, a small, landlocked country rigtht in the middle of South America. I think it a nice place. The country has only been freed of the 35 year dictatorship of General Stroessner in 1989, and is slowely recovering. Compared to other south american countries it's extremely clean! I only spent a week here but this was enough to give me a good impression.

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Before flying into Asuncion from Bolivia I met three guys from Estonia (Estland), Rivo, Ann & Sulev. Once in Asuncion we decided to rent a car together to discover the "Chaco", the most northern part of Paraguay. In Filadelfia and Neu Halbstad you find many, many Germans & Russians living off the land. They came to Paraguay in the 1930's, fleeing their own governments, to establish farming comunities in Paraguay. These colonies are called the Mennonites. Most people still speak German here and farm the same way as 50 years ago (good cheese & meat!!) When driving up there you hear nothing but great Danny Christian Slager songs on the radio (yeah!!)

Asuncion is a small city. Only 15% of the 5,2 million inhabitants of Paraguay live here. It is now allowed to make pictures of the presidential palace, as where under dictator Stroessner you would have been shot (even today, donīt come too close to it!!) The city lies on the River Paraguay; swim accross it and youīre in Argentina. For the rest thereīs not much special here (a burnt out car in the middle of the square from last march riots).

Encarnacion, in the east of the country is close to beautifull old Jesuit ruins. At the end of the 18th century they were expelled from the country but the ruins still stand (as ruins..). Enough for now - let's get back to Argentina for a couple of days! Floris