Asuncion

Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, must be one of the least visited and most misrepresented cities of South America. It’s capital Asuncion boasts a working port which is frequented by barges, small container boats and ferries. Destination guides for Asuncion are sometimes hard to get.  Even more difficult to find are destination guides for handicapped travel.

The location where Asuncion is situated today was most likely visited by the Spanish conqueror Juan de Ayolas n the 16th century. He was searching for a way to get to the silver mines of Bolivia. He was eventually killed by the aborigines on one of his return trips. Later, a Senor Juan de Salazar was dispatched to search for his lost countrymen, but alas this was in vein. It was the year 1537 when Senor De Salazar visited the present day location and decided to build a fort. He called it Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion.

It wasn’t long after the erection of the fort that word got out and it soon became an important base to explore from - both Bolivia’s Santa Cruz and Argentina’s Buenos Aires were founded by expeditions that left from Asuncion. Hence the name “the mother of cities”.

Asuncion is located next to the river Paraguay. The old part of the city, including the harbor, looks out over the Bay of Asuncion. A natural bay permits small vessels to come and go to their various destinations, one of which is Brazil.

It is a crumbling, atmospheric old city. When you walk down the main street (called Palma) you will meet pavement vendors selling the famous Nanduti embroidered lace, you will hear the sounds of harp music coming from various music stores and you will be approached by hawkers selling chipa - a delightful and very typical Paraguayan bread made with manioc or corn flour.

Asuncion has many stately old hotels like The Grand Armele and the Asuncion Palace, both situated downtown near the harbor. You will have a view across the harbor and the Bay of Asuncion from most rooms. The sun setting over the Chaco is a sight you will remember for a long time.

Because of it’s heat in the summer months, the locals tend to frequent its many restaurants, bars, night clubs and open air festivals at night. Traditional Paraguayan music is very popular - as is modern English and Spanish rock. The city also has a large variety of restaurants to cater for every taste.

The eastern part of the city, especially Villa Morra, forms the new face of Asuncion. Here you will find numerous shopping malls with all the latest movies and international take-away restaurants. If it’s culinary delights you are after, then you need not look any further than Asuncion. The locals are excellent chefs and their food is prepared in such varieties that it’s truly a feast for the eye. You can also catch a movie at many of their multi-screen cinemas. If it’s orchestral music or a ballet you are after then the Paraguayan National Bank Theater offers concerts on a regular basis.

The city is also dotted with many parks and plazas, all boasting huge trees that offer a reprieve from the sun. Strategically placed Asuncion has a large number of hotels which will suit all pockets. You can find budget accommodation around Plaza Uruguay, where the Lapache trees are transformed with spectacular purple blossoms at the beginning of Spring. The Plaza de los Heroes offers a few four and five star hotels.

Since destination guides for Paraguay are hard to find, the above information should be useful to visitors who plan to visit Asuncion - the Mother of Cities.

Handicapped Travel To Improve Life For Disabled

Traveling was difficult in the past but in the last century due to the number of inventions that have been made in various fields traveling has become very easy. People travel to long distances without much of difficulties. Handicap travel to make life better for disabled is important.

With the advent of motorized transportation a large number of people are able to travel long distances without any difficulty. Even in this modernized world people who are disabled have difficulties in traveling. Though these inventions have increased the frequency of travel of people it has helped only fully abled people.

Not many of the disabled people have been benefited by these inventions. This is because a very little bit of interest has been shown by these creators in creating vehicles which are suitable for travel for disabled people.

There are some governments which has taken steps to ensure that these disabled people travel on wheel chairs too can have a good travel. For this purpose they have started using vehicles that are friendly for disabled person on wheel chair. These vehicles have special entry and exit for accommodating people on wheel chair. These vehicles also have seats which accommodate people on wheel chair.

There are ways to ensure that you and the handicapped person traveling with you have a safe and happy travel. The mode of transport that is chosen must be appropriate to support travel by these people. The food items and the diet that the person on wheel chair follows must also be known.

When traveling with a disabled person one has to ensure that the traveling arrangements are made correctly and in advance. One should also know whether the transportation that he uses has the facilities so that the handicapped person can travel with out any difficulty. The transportation medium must have enough medicinal facilities to ensure that the person on wheel isn’t affected during the travel.

The next thing to do is to have all the medicines that the person takes. No medicine should be missed. A list of phone numbers of the people to whom the handicapped person is close should also be taken by the person.

There are many people who get bogged down because of their disability but they need not feel bad. They can always travel even with their disability. There have been many people who have done great inspiring things even with grave disabilities. People on wheel chair must take inspiration from these people and should travel a lot.