From Scotland to Paraguay

From Scotland to Paraguay

Hi All, and welcome to my first post since arriving in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, where I shall be for the next few weeks. Having left the snow and frost of Surrey on Tuesday, my arrival here was something of a contrast as temperatures are up in the mid to high 30’s! Even though I’ve been 5 times before, it still takes me by surprise and my first few days are generally spent under the blast of the air conditioner in my bedroom, as I can’t face being outside under the blazing sun. Now, as this is a ‘garage’ blog, there has to be a motoring theme, as I’m sure there’s plenty of travel blogs about Paraguay and its neighbouring countries in South America. Fortunately, there’s so much to say about cars, bikes and motoring in general here, that I’m sure I won’t be running out of things to post for a while!

Firstly, having driven around here for a few days in my Rav 4, I have come to appreciate the organisation and relative order of the UK. Here, there seem to be NO rules of the road, apart from the fact that the largest (and most-battered) vehicles have right of way at all times. This usually means the ancient 1960’s and 70’s Mercedes buses that belch acrid black smoke and have a straight-through pipe for an exhaust system. The noise when you’re alongside one of these monsters is deafening, and they seem to be able to out-accelerate most things (much like a Mercedes Sprinter van does on the M4!).  All major intersections in the rush hour are usually blocked by a huge bus, and the drivers just don’t care about how they get across the road, or who they hit in doing so. Amazingly enough, I’ve actually witnessed very few accidents at all, compared to the UK where I see at least one most days. The roads here are absolutely terrible, and the potholes are more like craters. The technique when driving is to try and dodge the holes in the road, whilst simultaneously trying to avoid hitting the buses that stop suddenly in front of you, the pedestrians jumping on and off the moving buses, and the entire families of 4 wobbling around at 25mph on an old Vespa. Once you’ve trained your eyes and brain to constantly be on the alert, and honed your aggressive instincts to force your way out at a junction, you’ll begin to enjoy driving here.

Another fascinating thing here is the diverse variety of cars that are here, many of them never seen in Europe. Apart from loads of Chinese cars with strange names like Wang Sum (or something similar, it was a long way away!), there’s a few long-extinct models, resurrected for the South American market that are now made in Brazil. To many people in the UK, the country of Brazil is known only for producing some very good (and expensive) footballers, having some famous beaches, some decent coffee, and for being the home of an inncocent electrician that our police ‘accidently’ mistook for a suicide bomber and therefore shot him dead at Stockwell tube station.  For the rest of the world, Brazil is an industrial giant, that produces almost anything you could imagine. Almost every product on sale here is made in Brazil, or to a lesser extent, Argentina. Virtually all of the world’s car manufacturers have factories in Brazil, such as GM/Opel, Ford, Volkswagen and Fiat. Many of the cars they produce are similar to models that we have in Europe, but there are also many more that we’ve never seen. There are also several ‘blasts from the past’ that we did see in Europe a few years ago, but have sinvce been replaced. What happened to all the tools and production line? They went to Brazil, so they could start making them over again. Fancy a brand-new Volkswagen Kombi van (the 1968 – 1979 Bay WIndow type)? Well, they still make them here and you can have one for around £10000. Remember the Fiat Uno? Introduced to the UK around 1985, and lasted until 1995 when the Punto replaced it. Well, my brother in law has a shiny 2007 Uno 1.3 with such luxuries as Aircon! It looks the same as the old car (apart from a fancy chrome grille), and says Uno on the back, but they’ve (thankfully) modernised the inside a bit. I’ve not driven it yet but am sure he’ll let me have a go, just so I can remember what it would’ve been like if I could have afforded a new one when I was 16 years old! Can’t afford a VW Golf? Well, fortunately, Volkswagen of Brazil sell a cheaper option called a ‘Gol’. I hired a 1996 Gol a few years ago when in Paraguay and it was truly appalling in every respect, and had the refinement of a 1970’s car. It was however extremely rugged, very simple, and seemingly indistructable, and that’s why cars like that are perfect for the marketplace here.  With temperatures of around 40 degrees centigrade in summer, and roads that are unforgiving and bumpy, some of the ordinary cars we have at home wouldn’t last a year here in Asuncion. We have Renault Clios in the workshop with broken suspension coil springs and worn-out lower ball joints at 3 years old, and that’s from driving on our smooth tarmac roads. If I had a new Mini Cooper S that cost over £20k, I’d be far too scared to take it out here for fear of it being hit by a bus at a junction, or just wearing-out in a year due to the extreme conditions! If it did get hit and had to be repaired, the chances of getting spares from England quickly are pretty remote, yet the well-to-do folk of Las Caramelitas (an upmarket area of Asuncion) still buy them as fashion accessories, just as we do in the UK. A far more sensible option would be an old Fiat or Volkswagen, made in Brazil, easy for parts if it breaks, and rugged as an old Landrover.

Anyway, this post is getting a bit long now so I’m going to call it a day. It’s rained a little this afternoon so is a little bit cooler outside which I’m pleased about as I don’t enjoy intense heat. It’s now Valentine’s day (the enterprising street-vendors that hassle you at every set of traffic lights are offering flowers today!) so I’d better make an effort to do something tonight.

More on the wacky and wonderful world of Paraguayan motoring next time. Tomorrow morning, we’re hiring a new Hyundai H1 8 seater van and driving the 300 miles or so to Foz do Iguazu, on the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Let’s hope that the air conditioning is working, as my Spanish isn’t good enough to complain about it!

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