Today was my first day to wake up in Paraguay! It’s hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago we were at Dulles airport about to start our journey. After more than 12 hours on the plane and a couple of more hours spent in the Asunción airport getting visas, we finally arrived at our hotel at almost 2am. So on this first morning, Monday, even though I am really tired, I forgot how sleepy I was and I enjoyed my walk in the city of Asunción, exploring downtown and historical sites.
We saw the President’s house, a big, pink building in downtown. The White House in Washington, D.C., is protected by a large gate and a lot of security, but this President’s house only had a few guards watching it.
We kept walking and saw that the windows of the Legislative building were burned and broken from a recent protest. I was surprised by the destruction and wondered how the people who burned this building felt. Why would they do this?
Our final stop was the Casa de Independencia, which showed us how Paraguay got its independence. It was a fancy building restored to how it looked back in the day.
While walking around Asunción, I noticed that it was similar, but different, to Washington, D.C. In both cities, the streets are busy, the buildings are tall and there is construction to build new buildings and make old ones nicer. In Asunción, the sidewalks are narrow and broken and a lot of people were selling stuff, like clothes, purses, bags, food, toys, etc., in the streets. Also, there are no stop signs in downtown Asunción so cars keep going and don’t stop and wait for people to cross the streets.
My first day in Paraguay was an adventure. I can’t wait to see what we do next!