The streets of Paraguay

There are places that you will rarely receive a postcard from. Paraguay is one of them. Tucked between louder neighbors with flashier attractions, this landlocked backwater doesn’t scream for attention.

Paraguay has had its share of attention in modern times, just not the good kind. A war broke out in 1870, as the neighboring countries Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay decided to attack Paraguay, resulting in the bloodiest war ever fought in South America. When the dust settled, Paraguay had lost an estimated two thirds of its population, with almost all of the men gone.

Nice knife. Mick Dundee would approve.

The border town Ciudad del Este is infamous for high crime rate, robberies and other mischief. Borderland bootlegs, back-alley deals, counterfeit everything. I walk along the dusty streets, where serious men are guarding the car tire shops in full Kevlar armor, while holding a sawed-off shotgun with a finger on the trigger. I guess you don’t want to steal a tire here.

I continue along an endless road, up the hills, down the hills, and everywhere I look there are two things: shops selling tires and the heavily armed guards in front of them. There must be a vast market for tires in Paraguay. Finally I find a trace of civilization and promptly order something vague looking like chicken.

Street market in Ciudad del Este.

I’m not sure what I expected to find. Perhaps a glimpse into a forgotten chapter of South America. Perhaps nothing at all. But that is ok. Not every city has to be entertaining. Just point that shotgun somewhere else.

“I robbed a bank full of dinero
A great big mountain of dough
So it was goodbye companero
I couldn’t stay and face the music
So many reasons why
I won’t be sending postcards From Paraguay”
— Mark Knopfler, Postcards From Paraguay (2004)