Ovi presents Lukas world bike tour: Paraguay

I am sure many of you have been following the posts our friend Lucas who has been cycling around the world. For those who are new, Lucas is a Finn who has took upon the daunting task to bicycle around the world and has been sending in his stories to ...

I am sure many of you have been following the posts our friend Lucas who has been cycling around the world. For those who are new, Lucas is a Finn who has took upon the daunting task to bicycle around the world and has been sending in his stories to us. He is currently in South America and sent us his latest blog post about Paraguay.

-Surya (@suryasnair)

Exactly 15 200 km stands on my speedometer and exactly 9 months ago I left Finland for my World tour. During this time I’ve biked in 24 different countries (out of which 15 I haven’t seen before), have had 11 flat tires, one broken spoke, two mobile phone virus attacks, two mild diarrhea attacks, one flu, two haircuts and a dog bite. When people ask me in which country I liked the most to cycle, I usually answer Armenia, China, Laos or any country in Western Europe. But now my list got another candidate, when I spent ten days in southern Paraguay.

I was warned not to go to Paraguay. “Why don’t you go around it?” Some queried. These comments made me worried, but I still took a chance and crossed the bridge over river Parana from Brazil to the second-poorest South American country (after Bolivia).

The border city called Ciudad Del Este was full of bill boards, markets and salesmen, but as soon as this shopping heaven ended the true Paraguay begun. It felt great to see those admiring gazes again, and to feel the atmosphere of small towns along the main “ruta”. Traffic was pleasant, paving smooth, landscape interesting and hotels friendly & cheap. One hotel owner let me even camp in the hotel area free of charge.

I really was surprised how warm and hospitable Paraguayans were. I didn’t visit the capital Asuncion, though I don’t think these Guarani speakers and football aficionados are much different there. I found them also super curious, but not in a pushy way. Very politely I was invited for a picture, volleyball match, horse ride or the very popular herb tea “terere”.

After I crossed the river Paraguay over to northern Argentina, I realized how relaxing and rewarding my visit to the heart of South America actually was.

PS: Happy 200th  independence day, Paraguay!

 

 

Source : http://blog.ovi.com/2011/04/12/ovi-presents-lukas-...