Football in Paraguay: Cerro Porteno vs Olimpia

With immaculate timing we hit town as the two biggest teams in Paraguay, both from Asuncion, were locking horns. There was a lot of pre-match build up in the paper we bought which claimed the country was literally split in two. Not sure how that works but lots of people were talking about it. Cheap seats were sold out so we forked out about £7 each for civilised seats. We chose Cerro as our team as they play in red and blue, the colours of York City.In the red and blue corner... Cerro! Woo!

Entering the ground just before kick off, the atmosphere lived up to the hype. The hardcore fans were at either side of us behind the goals and they did an amazing job of making noise and showing off their team colours.And in the white corner... Olimpia! Boo!

We went to the game with Eileen, who had never been to a proper game before, and Doug, an American chap who Eileen met through work. Doug was splendid company and a sports fan, though soccer was not his first love and he did get a bit too excited about the prospect of a red card and impressed when the ball was kicked a long way. Cerro were favourites but Olimpia took the lead during a first half where the former were very lack-lustre and unimpressive. At half time some uncoordinated but scanitly clad cheerleaders were followed by a nice, positive message carried onto th pitch reading 'no more violence'. The second half kicked off and so did the Cerro fans. Had some Olimpia fans sneaked into the opposition end? No; this was simply the fans from Cerro Porteno hitting each other and throwing missiles to prove who were the most hardcore of all. At this point we were very happy to be in the quieter part of the ground. Eventually the riot police came quick-marching in, causing all the fans to run away from them in fear as is the way in a country where a long standing, uncomprimising military dictatorship recently ended. Objects were thrown and handbags brandished until the end of the match with only an equaliser ten minutes from time reminding them there was actually a match being played. Apart from one brief skirmish the Olimpia fans to our left were far happier, bouncing and singing to drums in a typically Latin American style. It wasn't too sad then to see Olimpia fire in a well deserved goal in the dying minutes of the match.

The game was good and the fans were crazy, even starting a small riot on the street outside a supermarket we were in after the game. A great day out for all.

Cerro Porteno 1 - Olimpia 2 Att. 32,000

Food in Paraguay

The chipa is a national obsession. Main roads are dotted with roadside chiperias (we wondered initially if they were chip shops) and no bus ride in the country, or football match, or any sort of public event would be complete without somebody negotiating the crowds to sell them from an enormous basket balanced in one hand. They are a hunger-satisfying, stodgy, cheese bread, usually still warm from the oven as they are kept wrapped in the basket in a table cloth.

The following snacks were all consumed in Asuncion's splendid bar/cafeteria, Lido Bar. It is full of customers sat at the wrap around counter drinking juices, or beers and eating traditional Paraguayan Guarani snacks. They all have Guarani names.

Pastel Mandio - like an empanada made with mandioca (yucca)
Sopa Paraguaya - a stodgy corn snack with an eggy, cheese quiche flavour.
A hearty three snack line-up before our Saturday night out.

Front left: Chipa Guasu (a different take on the standard chipa. This one is made from cornflour and cheese).

At the back: Pajagua Mascada (this literally translates as 'what the dog chewed'. It's a herby, spiced potato mash-up).

On the right: Mbeju (two flat, dry maize breads, with a cheesy mixture in the middle)

Asunción

In front of the presidential palace

Compared to other South American cities, Asunción is decidedly calm and on the outskirts, still has quite a rural feel, with single storey houses set in lots of space. In the centre, there are some lovely, old crumbling colonial buildings, grand official buildings and modern office blocks. An old photographic studio

The center is laid out on a grid system and most of the buildings are only 2 or 3 stories. This is due to a paranoid general some years ago who, to avoid assassins, insisted that he could see on to rooftops and in all directions when he was about town on his horse.A central museum

We were here over a weekend and except for the football match on Sunday (separate entry of course), the centre was deserted, with hardly any cars and the odd rumbling bus.One of the main squares

We enjoyed wandering around the few central sights, including a couple of squares, the presidential palace and the cathedral. Saturday night was party night and after a couple of warm-up beers and caipirinhas we ended up in a bar/club called Piratas (pirates) determined to dance despite the totally random music policy which jumped from cheesy techno to Latin pop, indie, regaeton and, disappointingly, American college rock and Latin American takes on the same.Dance we did thanks to some strong drinks as modelled below by Eileen.Asuncion is a fascinating place: it's hard to believe you're in a large capital city when everything is so friendly and relaxed. It is though, exactly the right sort of capital for the country in which we encountered nothing but friendly, relaxed people; our kind of place.A friendly, relaxed person with a splendid new cap from Manduvira Sugar Co-op.

Eileen in 'Streams and Swamps'

In Paraguay we were heading for my friend Eileen’s house in a village called Arroyos y Esteros, or Streams and Swamps, around an hour from Asunción. After spending a night in a hotel in Asunción having arrived too late to get to Eileen’s, we set off the next morning on a local bus. It was nice to have street sellers back on the buses offering fruit and freshly baked snacks. We find this a very positive addition to journeys and we indulged in trying a deliciously light and fluffy milk muffin with chocolate chips and a chipa, which we’ll explain more about on a food entry. By the time we reached Arroyos y Esteros, with lots of stops to pick up people heavily laden with boxes, bags and cartons of eggs, the bus was packed. It seems there is no capacity limit on buses but everyone takes this with good humour and shuffles along a bit.

Eileen has recently started working for organic Fairtrade sugar cooperative, Manduvira. We found her in the office in the centre of the village. We met lots of people there who were all very friendly. Arroyos y Esteros is a large, rural village set around a big, central square where everyone seems to know one another. The weather was beautiful while we were here – the days were fresh with clear blue skies and sunshine casting a gorgeous light on red dusty tracks and fields full of sugar cane. It was a very relaxing place to visit and we felt lucky to have the chance to do so, because we wouldn’t have done had Eileen not been here.On our first evening, open-air bingo in the square was on, complete with a large sound system and background disco music. We sat on the steps of the church with the rest of the village and attempted to win a blanket, a fan and a mobile phone. It turned out there were three games of bingo, but we thought there was only one and crossed off all 9 of our cards between the 3 of us in the first game, which was a bit hectic. We still failed to win anything and as it was pretty chilly, we retired to the local shop/restaurant/off-licence for chocolate capitán, which is hot chocolate with sugar cane spirit. This really hit the spot and warmed us up. The bingo finished around 11 and Eileen had a call to say that her friends were still in the square, drinking and singing. We went back out and joined them with a few beers. Although they spoke barely a word of English, they had mastered a few songs very impressively, including Queen, I’ve got to break free, Eric Clapton, Knocking on Heaven’s Door and Guns ‘n’ Roses, Sweet Child of Mine. I think they were a little disappointed that we didn’t know all the words, but we did our best and it felt like good, old fashioned fun of the sort that you are told by your grandparents used to happen in your local village before the arrival of the youth of today.

Eileen has just moved into a lovely, little house. The next day, we went to the square for a procession of school kids to commemorate the Chaco War from 1932-1935 when Bolivia invaded the north of Paraguay. After that we ate porridge, picked grapefruits in Eileen's garden and made a yummy juiceThen we went for a lovely wander along dusty red tracks in the afternoon sunshine, and cooked shepherd’s pie and apple and pear crumble with custard in the evening for Eileen’s friends. We didn’t find any streams or swamps but we did meet lots of nice people and got a bit more of a feel for rural Paraguay, which seems a good place to be. If we find something similar in Nicaragua we’ll be very happy.

To Paraguay

This was our first view of Paraguay as we crossed the border from Foz do Iguacu in Brazil, across a wide river over a high bridge by foot into the hectic Paraguayan city of Ciudad del Este.

The difference was immediately apparent. It felt closer to Bolivia than Brazil or Argentina. The military dictatorship only ended relatively recently and the country is still very rural. Everyone seemed very friendly and as soon as we got out of the big, messy trading city of Ciudad del Este things started to look a lot prettier.