Any expats here in the group in Paraguay? Care to share your experience? Have been offered a job there by my company and considering the move. For some more info, we’re an Italian couple mid 20’s.
If nobody else pipes up, my brother lived there for three years and I once visited for precisely two weeks which is more than most people can say. What questions do you have?
Thanks! Is there a lot to do (places to go/eat/drink)? Many young people? Also could I get by just with English? Also how was your feeling towards safety while being there?
Ok, my experience is very limited. My brother was in the Peace Corps and he liked it well enough to stay an extra year. It’s a third world country, don’t doubt that. There is plenty of dysfunction and corruption both historically and currently. We had to bribe the police while I was there, it’s simply the expectation. They tend not to see social welfare as something a government might do something about. There are lots of laws but less following of the law. There is for sure not a safety mindset. There are no trains because at one point they pulled up the tracks and sold them for scrap because they needed the money.
The people are wonderful. The land is gorgeous. Food is distinctive but unremarkable. Some really traumatic stuff happened in Paraguay’s history that continues to affect its present. There’s so much that is deeply weird and endlessly fascinating.
You should know Spanish at a minimum and they also speak their own language, Guarani, because Jesuit missionaries allowed them to retain it. Keeping Guarani was very progressive at the time but had the unintended consequence of isolating Paraguay from the rest of South America. You can also live on a German colony or a Japanese colony in Paraguay.
How bad was the smoking in public spaces? Was in South Eastern Europe and literally left a lot earlier than expected because there was no oxygen, only nicotine and it smelled unbearably gross everywhere
I don’t remember anything about smoking at all, one way or the other. The drug of choice in Paraguay is Tereré.
paraguay sounds like a wild mix of experiences. expect some dysfunction and corruption, but the people and the land are great. spanish is a must, and they also speak guarani. definitely a unique place to consider living.