The contrast was stark. We crossed the border and changed buses. Instead of a truck converted into a bus, with rain leaking through the roof, we had a decent Marcopolo with AC. Instead of a dirt road, there was pavement.

We arrived in Asunción late at night and grabbed a hotel not too far from the bus station. The woman at the front desk treated us like crap. So rude. We were exhausted and honestly didn’t care much, but man, I still remember that lady’s butt face. But then we handed over our burgundy passports.

Her face changed; from what seemed like barely contained rage to instant guilt. “I’m so, so, so sorry, I thought you were Argentinean. I didn’t know.” She showed us the rooms and even had someone help us with our bags.

Seems like the War of the Triple Alliance is still a source of hurt.

We didn’t stay long in Asunción; we took the bus to Iguazú the next morning. The little we saw, we liked. It seemed to be moving in a better direction than La Paz, Bolivia. And while still a bit underdeveloped, it felt like a nice, welcoming city. Unless, of course, you happened to be Argentinean.

Asunción downtown is "incoherent" as the OP said, but one of the factors is that most historic buildings in it are concentrated in the hands of a very few landlords. The buildings, since they are historic, cannot be demolished, and property taxes for downtown are quite high. So, the landlords leave them to rot, building new things after the buildings fall down due to neglect, taking advantage of the fait accompli.

That remark about "con factura or sin factura?" (invoice or no invoice) is not longer a thing. Most businesses now give you a legal invoice as a matter of course.

Anyway, nice to see my hometown featured on HN.

IIRC Paraguay's economy is based in some part on smuggling stuff into other countries, duty free. Whisky in particular.

The long term dictator, Stroessner, is credibly accused of having abducted and raped vast numbers of underage girls. https://www.americasquarterly.org/fulltextarticle/how-paragu...

* Friendly people * Great food (soups like Vori Vori, delicious BBQ) * Decent internet * Cheap rent * Low taxes (no taxes on foreign income) * Timezone alignment with the US * Economic stability

I’ve been here over 10 years and as long as you learn to not rely too much on public services, you’ll be fine.

Housing being used as an investment vehicle is pretty much a global problem and one of the most pernicious consequences of modern capitalism. Be it Argentina->Paraguay or Russia->London or Germany->Spain.

I'm compelled to live there as well, but the factor of living far from anything interesting is quite important in my book, but definitely is better than Brazil (which for me doesn't have any future). I would prefer to move to richer countries but it's been harder and harder these days