Paraguay seems interesting !!!

Hi ron73,

Welcome to Expat.com

Please note that we have created a new thread as from your post on the Paraguay Forum for better visibility and interaction

Thank you

Maximilien

As a Paraguayan I can say that Paraguayan people are friendly especially towards Foreigners, in fact, they'll put you on a pedestal just for being american. You have to be careful though, Paraguay doesn't have rules that regulate prices on products there, so, if you want to buy things cheaper, you'll have to ask Paraguayan friends to do shopping for you, otherwise, Paraguayan Merchandizers may rise their selling price because they know that dollar has more value than guarani, therefore, they'll try to trick you on prices, but in supermarkets that's not a problem, the problem in supermarkets is that you have to be very careful when you go to the register because cashiers add the"comission," despite that is a nice country to live, people are very friendly and helpful specially with Americans, Paraguay has two national languages which are Spanish and Guarani. Guarani is an indian language that we inherited from our ancestors,as well the terere and mate, those are the national drink there by the way, nevertheless, despite the fact that we have two languages we mix them and we speak what we call YOPARA and in the borders with Brasil we mix Spanish, Guarani and Portuguese, that happens in the city where I was born Ciudad del Este and that also happens in Pedro Juan Caballero and our Spanish has Argentinian slang because we have borders with Argentina too, I think you'll be white well living in Ciudad del Este, is kinda like Miami and you have Foz do Iguazu(Brasill) crossing the Puente de la Amistad (Bridge of Frienship) grocery is cheaper there and you have all the electronic an appliances in Ciudad del Este downtown way cheaper than other place, Brazilians, Argentinians go to Ciudad del Este because of that, and you can make friendship with other foreigners like, Arabs, Brazilians, Argentinians, Chinese, Korean, people there because there's a lot of foreingers that has stores there, anyway, I hope you can decide where to go! good luck!

ron73 wrote:

Hi, Yes I don't know where to start. This is new (blog entering) and not sure where to begin, so here goes. Looking to move out of the US and Paraguay seems interesting. Interested in second citizenship and possibly a new home. Have traveled to Asia a few times and like it over there but not  interested in it as a permanent place to live. I currently day-trade so good internet is a must in the area that I relocate to. First is getting to know the area threw this blog and other sources, next will be to visit. So please be patient with me because I will only be asking question about expat life in Paraguay, I know little about it.
Looking forward to chatting with you all,
ron73

Hi Ron,

1). Why Paraguay?  Old country, new language for you, long distance from home, and ... what else?

2). You might not be able to day-trade unless you spend a lot on a super fast Internet connection.
Maybe you'll switch to swing trading ...   

Previous to 25 mbps I was using 3 mbps speed and orders were instantaneous and all charts pulled up and stayed current. After upgrading to the higher speed I see no difference with my trading platform, I do see a big difference in watching streaming videos. So the need for speed is not so great, as long as not dial up. Can you give me any ideal of general speed and price range? And yes swing trading is an option? Thanks for the reply John C.

Thanks for the great info, still a ways out on deciding on where to live. Looking forward to a visit later in the year or first of next year, so yes no big hurry. One small question is a US drivers licence all that is need to drive while visiting?
Thanks Jorge.

I'm not quite sure, I think so. I think is valid for 1 year, then you have to have a Paraguayan one

That was fast... I just looked on google maps (earth view) and you really sparked my interest in Ciudad del Este, especially the large body of water above the dam and very close. Do you happen to know if the water way below the dam flows directly to the ocean? In other words no more dams, I looked and couldn't see any.

you can find info about the Itaipu dam here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itaipu_Dam and I think that Rio Parana is part of  Rio Amazonas which crosses the Amazona rainforest in Brazil and is the largest river in the world which again is connected somehow to the ocean you can find info about the Amazon River here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River

ron73 wrote:

That was fast... I just looked on google maps (earth view) and you really sparked my interest in Ciudad del Este, especially the large body of water above the dam and very close. Do you happen to know if the water way below the dam flows directly to the ocean? In other words no more dams, I looked and couldn't see any.

Oh my, Ron, what are you trying to do? 
Why would you live below the dam? 
Do you want to see when the dam cracks and a wall of water engulfs you? 

Very very funny, it's the lake above the dam that interests me. If and when I move I would like to learn how to sail and that looks like a perfect place to do that. Also main motivation for moving to Paraguay is the short time period to acquire a second passport, in that time I would like to learn sailing.

Visited your website and viewed pictures of your work area, excellent setup. 

Thanks for the humor, maybe find a town on the banks of the the lake.