2 years growth of El Paraiso Verde
Mixed feelings on the first visit – spring 2018 – information trip
I would like to share my experiences at El Paraiso Verde with you. It was in the spring of 2018 when I went on the investor trip. And I have to admit that I had mixed feelings. On the one hand there was the enthusiasm that the videos had aroused in me about the project, on the other hand there was also a healthy mistrust. Above all, I was deterred by what felt like a very offensive sales strategy and so I was excited to be able to get an idea for myself.
When I met the tour group, I was immediately taken with the spirit of these wonderful, similarly ticking people. It was just wonderful to meet like-minded people. I was also incredibly enthusiastic about the unconditionally positive spirit of the first “pioneers”. From the first second, it was the people who made the project for me. However, I remained skeptical about the really visionary plans of Sylvia and Erwin Annau.
The idea of a health center, its own youth village, a school, healthy restaurants, a hardware store, etc. sounded impressive. But I was looking at a lot of undeveloped land. Nature as far as the eye could see. The enthusiasm generated by the wonderful people I met continued. But also the skepticism regarding the implementation of the idea.
Experience the pioneering days – residential containers
In the following, I was lucky enough to be able to follow the course again and again through visits and not just via videos. I admired the people who actually endured living in containers for months and working for an idea that was far away from me. I myself was through with this adventure after three nights in such a living container. From the outside it still seemed to be moving slowly.
Surprise January 2019 – a “real apartment” – a look behind the scenes
So I was all the more surprised when I came to visit El Paraiso Verde again in January 2019: there were actually more houses than I had ever expected. Lo and behold: I was able to spend the night in a real apartment instead of a living container!
We spent a really nice night there and had Sylvia and Erwin show us the construction progress and the new type of welcome house. A lot had changed since the spring of 2018. It was especially enriching for me to get to know the two minds behind the project a little better. Many approaches that seemed a bit strange at first glance suddenly made sense through an understanding of the background.
An example of this is the aspect that you couldn’t just come as a visitor, but only as part of an investor trip. Just visiting, so without knowing the background, you would probably actually be rather scared looking at the still wide open country. I know that there are many critical opinions about El Paraiso Verde and I myself always had my doubts.
It just seems too big … But after this visit I have to admit that I went home with the thought that I had often done the project an injustice over my faint doubts. I pay my respects to people like Sylvia and Erwin, who have bitten their way through so many obstacles over such a period of time. And maybe it’s like everything in life: there are an infinite number of color gradations between black and white. Nothing is just light or just dark.
The Hermetic Principle
The Hermetic Principle of Polarity teaches us “Everything has poles. Everything has a couple of opposites. Equal and unequal are the same. Opposites are essentially identical. ”There is no light without shadow and no shadow without light. One could also say: every truth is always only half the truth. We will not find a project – either here in Paraguay or anywhere else in the world – that does not show any polarities.
And isn’t it precisely these polarities that ultimately make us grow? “You cannot see the stars without the darkness.”
I sincerely wish El Paraiso Verde that it will shine in all its light in the near future.
Daniela Jost
Dear Daniela, thank you very much for your report,
Yes, that’s it. We have done everything we can to make this vision a reality. We cannot do more and we do not want less.
Erwin and Sylvia Annau
