We wanted to stay in the central area of Asuncion, so we contacted El Viajero of South America after talking to our luxury travel experts. (They are a B&B network located in the best places of Colonia, Montevideo, Punta del Este and La Pedrera, Uruguay, Cartagena de Indias and San Andres Island, Colombia and Asuncion, Paraguay.) From a look at it, I believed it was the perfect accommodation for those on a single parent travel or on any other type of family travel.

So after a one-second ‘family meeting’ (well not quite), we decided yes we would move the next day – that being today!  We continued our walk through town down to the central square – as this was close by.

I do notice men sit, start, or plain ignore us as we walk on.  The pavements are broken and uneven. Paraguay has open grilles over their drain areas, so this caused the wheels to get stuck. I fast learned to zig-zag pull across these 1 – 2-meter length grilles.

We check in, and discover we are at the back of the courtyard. 2 more lots of stairs!  The lovely lady at the reception helped me up both lots with the biggest smile – no complaints, and happy to help.

It was lovely and clean – not much space for our bags, but we made it work. It also had an air-conditioning – which I think I might need after this work-out! My son promptly found the flat screen TV, but we had to go and get the other bag that had to wait.

This time we wandered past the old church behind. We were impressed by the lovely singing and worship that came from it. We snuck in and had a look. There was only a handful of worshippers but it felt wonderful. Getting the last bag was much easier. I had no backpack on, and only one to pull.

When we returned the cleaner helped me up with the bag.  Time for a nice hot shower. It was a gorgeous day, so I did some hand washing and was able to hang it out in the wash area near the kitchen.

We then had a wander around the grounds – it is placed in a totally restored old mansion, which has 2 huge common rooms, bar, and barbecue, a beautiful colonial backyard with lots of local vegetation.  I liked the briar brooms, and the painted artwork they had outside.

Finishing this blog off a few days later …..

We also made friends with a Mum from Norway and her teenage daughter.  In fact, we went out with them for a day trip and will be meeting them again in a few days to travel together.

Now as we say good-bye we wish we were not moving on. As much as we love staying in hotels, hostels are definitely the place to meet other travelers and make new friends.