Caacupe Virgen Song in Guarani

Listen to this song in Guaraní. It's about the Caacupe Virgen!





More songs at YouTube

Nice pic. Paraguayan traditional dancers

more of these pictures on Google images

Budget Travel in South America

South America has a lot to offer budget travelers, but it takes some planning and prioritizing to keep from breaking the bank. Just as Mexico’s costs are far lower than in the neighboring U.S. and Hungary’s are far lower than those in Austria, regional differences in South America can be dramatic. Urban Brazil, Chile, the Galapagos, and celebrity-filled beach areas of Uruguay can be surprisingly expensive. On the other hand, stretches of Peru, Bolivia, and mainland Ecuador are some of the least expensive places on the planet for backpackers.

Long-term travelers find enough variety in South America to keep them occupied for months or years, both in the population and the geography. There are the Andean people descended from the Incas, the Spanish and Portuguese descendents of the conquerors, Brazilians whose ancestors came from Africa, and those who have made their life in the jungles along the Amazon. Throw in immigrants from around the world who have been coming for centuries and it’s an interesting mix.

From the sea plains and steamy jungles the elevation proceeds all the way up the scale to Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of Asia at 6,962 meters (22,841 feet). In between there are vineyards, Inca ruins in the mountains, Spanish colonial towns, pulsing cities, deserts, beaches, and otherworldly Patagonia.

Read more at Transitions Abroad

PARAGUAY: Health Insurance for All (Registered) Domestics

By Natalia Ruiz Díaz

It took 42 years for social security health care coverage for domestics to extend beyond the limits of the Paraguayan capital.

The measure adopted by the social security institute, the Instituto de Previsión Social, could potentially benefit some 290,000 people – mainly women – working in domestic service throughout this impoverished landlocked South American country of 6.1 million, as well as their families.

"This is a huge stride forward which will help improve the living conditions of domestics in Paraguay," the president of the Association of Domestic Service Workers (AESD), Solana Meza, told IPS.

The challenge now is to get employers to register their domestics with the social security system, which very few have done.

Although health care coverage is obligatory for formal sector workers under Paraguay's labour code, only as of this week do all domestic workers have a right to health insurance - 42 years after the inclusion of that stipulation in the social security institute's charter in 1967.

Domestic workers were not covered when the Instituto de Previsión Social was established in 1943. That situation began to change when a special system for health insurance for domestics went into effect in Asunción in 1967. The aim was to gradually expand it to the whole country. But that never happened.

The social security institute's health care insurance covers maternity, non work-related illness, work-related illness and accidents, surgery, dental care, medication, hospitalisation and a disability subsidy.

Read full article at IPS News

WHAT IS Bueno, entonces... exactly?

Bueno, entonces... is the best selling language-learning program for the iPhone, now available on DVD and instant download! Featured by Apple as New & Noteworthy, tens of thousands are already learning Spanish with Bueno, entonces…

Taking the most effective elements from traditional audio books and software programs, Bueno, entonces... has revamped language-learning by incorporating those features into a 1-on-1 Spanish lesson format, where you sit in on private classes with fresh audio/visual teaching tools, a huge improvement over programs currently available on the market.

Bueno, entonces... takes you inside 30 private Spanish lessons with Jimena, a gorgeous Spanish instructor, and David, her jackass student from London as he learns Spanish in beautiful Buenos Aires. Like learn-Spanish reality TV, but without the guilt of getting addicted, because in just 5 weeks you'll be speaking Spanish conversationally.

To learn more about Bueno, entonces, go to General Linguistics.

Top ten most unsanitary practices in Paraguay...

But you grow to love!!

I snagged these from my friend Mark because they are so right on, and I think are applicable in all parts of Paraguay, with MAYBE the exception of some rich people in the capital city. I did add a few personal touches that tend to stretch the boundaries a tad more.

1) Sharing the same guampa and bombilla (drinking cup/bottle and metal straw when drinking Terere). In other words drinking after multiple people usually sitting in a circle and using the same straw, even random drunks and bus drivers...I may or may not be speaking from personal experience.

2) Being served and huge central trough of food among many people, and all sharing one set of silverware, or not using silverware at all!

3) Being served a plate of food on a plate recently used by someone else, and not yet cleaned. Same goes for glasses.

4) Being expected to use the tablecloth as your napkin, that is, grabbing the table cloth and wiping your mouth and hands on it. Table clothes are usually changed every 3-5 days.

5) Sharing a glass with any acquaintance remotely known, when drinking almost any beverage.


You'll love the rest!!! Go to Rohayhu Paraguaype.

Bueno Entonces Reviews

I just started using this app, but already I'm totally loving it. I've tried a variety of other language apps and podcasts and I usually get very bored, very quickly. The format here (i.e. using the backstory of someone who is *actually* trying to learn the language too) is a very cool twist. I also love all the conversational words/tips. The symbols/color keys also rock. So far, big thumbs up! by FIPSbk

Read more reviews at Facebook. you can also join Bueno Entonces as a fan!