4: Asuncion City Tour

Monday was Asuncion city tour day. Downtown Asuncion is small enough to be explored on foot, but avoid driving there if you can.

Sites included:

• The House of Independence, where secret meetings were held to plan emancipation from Spanish rule.

• The Cathedral of Asuncion. This is one of many awe-inspiring churches we’ve visited in South America. 
  

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• Museo del Cabildo, which used to serve as a government building but has been converted into a museum of Paraguayan history. While there is much to appreciate in this museum, the highlight of the visit focused on the “secret stairway”. There is a hidden stairway that goes to the roof of the building, which has a great view of city. Some of the more adventurous members of the group discovered the stairway and went to the roof…until they were ordered back down for security reasons. Congress was in session, and the increased security detail had noticed activity on the roof of the Cabildo, which is right next door.  Thank goodness they didn’t shoot first and ask questions later. 
• From the roof it is possible to see both a good view of the city and one of the more impoverished neighborhoods in Asuncion. Right next door to the Cabido is Plaza de Armas, which includes the “Mother of Cities” monument. Asuncion is one of the oldest cities in South America and was the starting point for many of the expeditions that created other important cities throughout South America. The inscription on the front of the monument reads “Asuncion – Mother of Cities – Cradle of American Freedom”.   

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• The government palace, which serves as offices for the President and other government officials is on the edge of downtown. Security is tight around this building. The group wanted a picture in front of the palace, but had to break into two groups to limit the number of people on that side of the street, even though we were still 100 yards away from the building. Then we had to get permission to walk around the back of the building to get pictures in front of the “Asuncion” sign. We could see the guards getting nervous because we weren’t moving along quickly enough. 

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A recent addition to Asuncion is the beach. Not very popular this time of year as it is the middle of winter.

We had some time in the evening to visit friends of Tracy’s that live in Asuncion. The father, not pictured, had a career as the owner of multiple newspapers in the Asuncion area.  They have suffered the same fate as newspapers everywhere as readers turn to online sources for their news. He refers to me as “Yankee” because the name William is not common in South America, and along with Will is difficult to pronounce. I think it’s hilarious. 

Till next time…Will