As far as quiet cities go, Asunción is doing a good job. Although there are over 2 million people living in and mostly around the city, it's still amazingly quiet. Especially during their siesta, which seems to last between 2 and 4 in the afternoon. It kind of suits the image of Paraguay, or at least the one I had, I guess.

That doesn't mean everything's fine in Paraguay. When I was strolling through the city I walked into the park on Uruguay Square. It looked more like a camping ground than a park. The tents were made of pieces of plastic underneath which whole families of indigenous Indians lived. They are protesting to get a piece of land for their families. There's a huge problem with landownership in Paraguay.
The top 10% holds 43,8 % of the income, the lowest 10 % holds 0,5%. Apart from that 10% of the population controls 66% of the land. 30% of the rural people are landless. Numbers that say a lot about the social issues in this quiet capital of Paraguay.

Paraguay was the first country in South America to become independent from Spain in 1811. It has fought many bloody wars in the meantime. But apart from all this, things are starting to look better. In 2010, Paraguay experienced the greatest economical expansion of South America, with a GDP growth rate of 14,5% for by the end of the year.