Paraguay's pleasant surprises

When I worked in Latam between 1996 and 2013, nobody ever gave a thought about investing in Paraguay. A poor land locked country with a poor outlook. Those assessments were right at the time, but in the last 10-15 years, the country, especially the capital Asunción, has enjoyed rapid growth and modernisation.

That's pretty much the reason we came here, because without that, our acquaintances from Geneva wouldn't have moved here, and hence they wouldn't have invited us.

I chose the word aquaintences advisedly, since we only know Ivan from a handful of 5 minute chats, and we had never met his wife Julia. What's missing in this framing is that their daughter Ayana and our Lola were and are best friends. They were part of a group of girl besties at the scouts.l

Quite something to be invited for 5 days on the basis of a thirteen years old's friendship. What could possibly go wrong? Well, at least from our perspective, nothing at all went wrong. It all went swimmingly. (Minor exception, I spent day 2 in bed, with stomach cramps, after going totally OTT on chilli 🌶).

Ivan and Julia were perfect hosts.

Mostly, we enjoyed just chilling out and the children playing, but we did get out and see the city a little bit. The centre is very modern, and the leisure park is gigantic. The housing looks pretty good by South American standards, and the whole place, even at the end of a hot summer, is quite green, and there are lots of trees.

That, alongside the astonishingly low living costs, is probably why Latpats and Europeans are moving here in significant numbers.

(Latpats are highly educated expats, from other Latin American countries)

To give just one idea of costs, we invited all 11 on the last night. Steaks, salads, hamburgers, Caipirinhas, and plenty of beers for $70. In Europe, that probably would have cost $500 or more.Read more