Asuncion, Paraguay

We had a really long wait at the bus terminal for the bus to Asuncion so there was time to take in the comings and goings at the bus station and it was not too dissimilar to hundreds of other bus terminals we have had to spend time in around the world.

The money changer next to us had a special office chair that he spent his days on. He never advertised his business but the locals seemed to know he was a money changer. His female partner sat on the opposite side of the doorway and they had the northern access covered. Others covered the other accesses and they were recognisable by their large shoulder bags. After we had been waiting an hour the money changer asked us where we were going and then looked up his phone and told us the bus would be another 30 minutes.We were beginning to feel we had been sold a bus ticket that was not for the next bus but one much later.

Every street seller found us and some visited us every time they went around the terminal. Young boys were selling car raffle tickets, old women had sandwiches and fruit salad for sale in disposable cups. A man had cardboard shoe boxes that housed little chickens for sale. Young men were selling power packs and some had to spend time explaining how they worked to some of the older folk. Other men carried wire frames covered with combs, sunglasses, lighters, combs, scissors and anything else they could attach to the frames. A wave of women came through with piles of table clothes and tea towels over their arms followed by a wave of men selling multi-packs of socks.

Finally our bus came at 11.30 and not 10 as we had been led to expect. It was very slow and picked up and dropped off passengers at what seemed like every stop between Encarnacion and Asuncion. the 5 hour ride became a 7 hour one.

The scenery was quite different from the way we arrived. There was less cropping and more cattle grazing. The grass was long and dry looking. There were lots of horses and the occasional gaucho could be seen riding about the farm.

The old railway station

The presidential palace

We checked into a budget hotel in the city centre. All the hostels we tried were either full or did not have double rooms with their own ensuite bathrooms. It was an old hotel with thick solid walls and wrought iron railings on the balconies overlooking the street. It was very clean and tidy with a heat pump and cable TV. It overlooked a main street so was a bit noisy but was serviced everyday so that was a luxury and they had a great breakfast in a huge dining room with enormous windows that looked onto the intersection so the locals could check us out as they rushed off to work in the rain.

A reflection of the immigrants to Paraguay

The receptionist gave us a map with all the places we would need so it was easy to get around. We visited some of the plazas and residential palace and walked along the waterfront. We could see Argentine flags across the river and the navy boats and seamen exercising.

We had posted a public notice on the Couchsurfing site and had a reply from a local man named Alcides. We arranged to meet him for lunch at a local restaurant. It poured most days and i was most grateful for my waterproof jacket and expensive waterproof leggings. they have kept me warm and dry. John had to buy an umbrella as he didn't want to take leggings.

The decaying memorial to independence

Alcides was a great guy. He worked in IT and spoke excellent English as he had been on an exchange programme to Oklahoma when he was younger. He told us about his plans and talked about different parts of the country. We had originally wanted to visit the national park in the Chaco area of Paraguay but the tour company wanted to charge us US$200  each a day and do a minimum of 10 days so that was outrageously expensive. We contacted an Argentine company but never got a reply from them so we decided to give the Pantanal area a miss which was really disappointing as it is unique and famous for its wildlife and large animals.

 Alcides invited us to a samba class but John is not a dancer and was more interested in watching the Real and Athletico Madrid teams play soccer on TV. It was a thundery wet afternoon so it didn't seem too bad sitting in the hotel with the heat pump on and watching the game.

On our last morning we were up early for breakfast and the receptionist said it was 6am not 7am as we had thought. We discovered that we had been an hour out for our whole time in Paraguay. I did ask a receptionist previously about the time difference and he said no there was no time difference.
It clicked why we had waited so long for our bus and why we were always first up for breakfast and why we waited an hour for Alcides and were about to give up on him!

Quite a few buildings were covered with the colours of the flag

Next stop Curitiba Brazil.