By far my biggest concern about going to Paraguay for my LiA was the fact that my grasp of the Spanish language was non-existent. Armed with about a month of Duolingo lessons and an accent that apparently leans more German than Spanish, I landed in Asunción. The first couple of weeks were definitely a bit rough. Very few can speak English and to make it even more confusing, lots of individuals speak the indigenous language of Guaraní or the mix of Spanish and Guaraní called Jopará. However, being thrown off into the deep end helped me much more than I could have imagined. By being fully immersed in Spanish around me, I slowly started to be able to understand the majority of what was being said to me even if my capability of responding with in-depth sentences was relatively lacking. Learning more and more Spanish as the weeks progressed was a highly rewarding experience. I even learned a couple phrases in Guaraní along the way as well!

Just a little bit after I arrived in Asunción, I got to experience the San Juan festival. Taking place over a couple of weekends, this tradition is celebrated in Latin America due to a fusion of ancient pagan solstice festivals and the Catholic birth of Saint John. It involves lots of fire-based activities, plenty of food, and hanging with friends and family. The other interns and I went to various San Juan festivals around the city, both state-sponsored and smaller ones. A key part of San Juan is the Judas Kái, which is when a satirical doll representing a disliked public figure or mischievous character is paraded around and burned. Interestingly, the state-sponsored event had a generic doll to be the Judas Kái while a smaller community one featured the face of the Paraguayan president on it.

In general, though, for being the capital city of a country, Asunción was pretty quiet the majority of the time. It could be a Friday evening and there would just be very few people out on the streets. Coming from London, it was a relatively peaceful place to live in for eight weeks. Despite not being super busy however, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a plethora of activities to do around the city from cool speakeasy bars to gorgeous parks. Paraguay is often relatively overlooked compared to its bigger neighbours like Argentina and Brazil, meaning people were always excited and welcoming to see an outsider like myself present and exploring the city.

By far, however, the highlight of my time in Paraguay was going to visit the Iguazu Falls. Despite being located near the Triple Frontier of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, you unfortunately can’t see the falls from Paraguay’s side. As such, me and the other interns crossed over into Brazil for the weekend. Neither words nor pictures can really do justice for just how stunning the Iguazu Falls actually are in person. Additionally, since we went during the winter in South America there were very few crowds.

Overall, my time in Paraguay was a good blend of both challenges and fun. I went in pretty nervous about the language barrier and instead came away with new friends, great memories, and a stronger sense of self-confidence. I feel it’s fair to say that Paraguay may have some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet, and I’m excited about being able to return someday.

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