From Bmore to BA

Allright so after the 17 hour bus ride sans-iPod, I made it safe and (relatively) sound. This place is a trip, to say the least…but I do have to say, so far I´m mildly impressed by the city and it´s not nearly as 3rd world as I expected; although, I have been living in South America for half a year so I admit my perception of ¨3rd¨ world is very likely different than yours. As compared to parts of Morocco, though, like Fez, I´d say the ¨modernity award¨ goes to Asuncion…Although perhaps a better comparison would be Asunción - Casablanca, to which I´d have to say it´s a push. I honestly have so much to say I´m getting frustrated just trying to put it all together - my ADD is really doing a number on me this time. I´ve been taking alot of notes though, so eventually I´m hoping to churn out a nice little story on it all.

Just to whet your appetite, some first impressions:

- Outside of the SDT parking lot at the University of Michigan, never in my life have I seen so many German cars. It´s mind-boggling for me to see Mercedes after Mercedes (and late models, too), followed by the occasional X5 roll down the street. I´m dying to know what the deal is - are any of them actually legit, or are they all either 1) stolen, or 2) bought from pilfered government funds? I´m actually going on a private city tour at 3, where I hope in earnest to gain some closure regarding the important questions like these…

- There are only 1,000 Jews in this city, and yet they don´t get along. Talk about U.N.I.T.Y.! Yesterday I actually went to Beit Jabad - cause you know how I like to see how this whole ¨Diaspora¨ thing is playing out - and the rabbi there angrily asserted to me that at the other congregation in the city, they are ¨reform¨ (heathens!) and let ¨goyim¨ into their house of worship. And besides, he asserted, the women ¨don´t even cover themselves up¨ - whereupon I immediately inquired where I could find this place, and he replied that he both ¨didn´t know¨ and ¨didn´t care.¨  Hmph!  Regardless, I´m planning on going there for Shabbat tonight…which is funny because I´ve been to services more in South America in 6 months than probably the previous 6 years combined in the states.

- The prices here are pretty damn absurd. For example, yesterday at a pay-by-weight place I got about a half kilo (a pound) of food, bread, a bottle of water, and bottle of the local soft drink for 11,700 Guaranís - that´s just under $2 USD! I have a fairly nice hotel room with a queen bed and A/C that overlooks one of the plazas downtown, and I pay $12 USD - and I´m really splashing out for the A/C; otherwise it´d only be 45,000 Guaraní´s (about 7.50 US). As it is sweltering hot here though, it´s well worth it.

- ¨OFF!¨ Bugspray is the new CK1. Although I did fair amount of research and I´m pretty certain that malaria and yellow fever aren´t present in Asuncíon, I´m still scared to put on my usual love potion of Axe body spray and deodorant…and, I´m not even washing with soap or shampoo, because I think the aromas attract the little buggers. After I wake up and after I shower I pretty much do a 3-times over with the bottle of bugspray, all over my body. Add to the equation my mangled, unkempt hair, scraggly facial hair, faded jeans and shirt, the $5 Argentine peso digital watch I bought at the Buenos Aires bus station (kept the real one and my treasured silver chain at home), and my Rico Sauve-esque $10 Argentine peso aviator shades, and voilá! I think I´m the closest to shady covert-CIA agent as I´ll ever be…either that or all-out sketchball, which is fine too, as all-out sketchballs are less likely to be robbed.

-Aside from the bugs you can see, I´m trying my damndest not to catch the stomach one…which means no mixed drinks, just beer. Never fear, though - last night I went to this expat watering hole a few blocks from my hotel and got a liter of beer, a bar towel, and a t-shirt, for 38,000 Guaraní - about 6 bucks. Which reminds me - if the whole Turkish thing gets old, Howard Stern can always spice things up with ¨Who wants to be a Paraguayan Millionaire!¨

- This place has a strange appeal to me…I think analogizing it to say, Budapest or some former communist city in Eastern Europe, as compared to London or Barcelona (a wealthy city in Western Europe) is a bit like how I perceive Asunción to be, relative to say, Buenos Aires. It´s a bit decrepit and there´s alot of things just seem to ¨happen,¨ but what it lacks in infrastructure it more than makes up for in personality - and it´s just so real. The real Latin America, no doubt. I saw a Burger King and Pizza-Hut on the way in (no Mickey D´s though), but overall it just isn´t that commercialized. Probably the creepiest thing I´ve seen so far was at border control in northern Argentina, where in the middle of a dusty field, by the side of the road, I saw a rotting row of stores, with a decrepit, rusted sign running down the side of the building advertising services for a ¨dentista.¨

- Yesterday at the internet café I met a Canadian girl whose been living here for 7 months, working with the Canadian government. She invited me to go out with her tonight, so hopefully tonight I´ll get the chance to check out the Asuncíon club scene. Here´s hoping (pleading, rather) that the music is a tad better than what they play in public - i.e., ¨We are a Family,¨ and other such hits that would be right at home on Lite 102. I have to say one of the funniest remarks I´ve heard about Argentina - and it definitely applies here, too - was when this guy I met from D.C. asked me in Bariloche, ¨is Argentina like the country of easy listening, or what?¨ Touché salesman, touché.

That´s all for now. Stay glued to your swivel chairs…

Adam 

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 10th, 2006 at 11:05 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.