So, 2 weekends ago, I decided it was time to make one last trip to Paraguay to buy some things. On my list were: a backpacking pack, some cheap sunglasses, coals for my hookah, and maybe some tobacco. I went with my friend David, a german staying residentially in Puerto Iguazú, because he knows a lot more about packs than I do, as far as quality and pricing goes. So, as we were on the bus, I heard some people saying about how all the stores in Ciudad del Este were closed, although they didn't know why. Great. I had just skipped school, got up (kind of) early, and used up valuable passport space to make the trip here, only to find out that the stores were closed. My friend David was quite glad; this way he could see some more of the city without the insane crowds, noise and traffic of the commerce area. There was an english guy sitting behind us, who was asking about how the trip would work, as far as going through immigrations and all that would go. He seemed pretty cool, so I started talking to him. He told us he was on a trip of the world (his second one), 6 months of which he would be spending in south america. Right now, he was headed to Asunción. Dude's on the ball! Once we got off the bus, I got to thinking. I could see the rest of this city (something I had always wanted to do) with David, or go with Ciaran (the english guy) to Asunción. The idea of Asunción was incredibly tempting, being just 6 hours away in bus, maybe 60 pesos, AND it had always been on my list of things to do here. Plus, I had my backpack with my camera, a pair of shoes (I had flip-flops on at the moment), and my wallet. Just about all that's necessary for a 3 day trip! So, as you probably expected, I made the decision to go to Asunción. We stopped at immigrations first, so Ciaran could get his entrance stamp into the city (I already had one nearly 3 months old that I had neglected to get the exit stamp for) and then started on our way to the bus station. So as it turns out, it was Paraguay's bicentenial that weekend. Because of this, there was LOADS of really good looking girls in their patriotic uniforms (most of which consisted of a tight, short, button-up dress, boots, and some type of hat). I was a fan. We continued asking where the bus terminal was (we were always told it was just straight ahead, but a varying number of kilometers away, we heard between 3 and 5). After walking for a good while in the hot sun, pushing our way through crowds watching the parade, and asking around, we finally found the station. After paying the 75 peso/75,000 guaraní (paraguayan currency)/$18.50USD ticket, we rested a bit so Ciaran could have a smoke, and then boarded the bus. After watching "the switch" 3 times, we finally reached the Asunción terminal. At first, we had planned on getting a bus to the hostel we planned to stay at, but after failure to find the stop at a first glance, and too much laziness to want to go through the potencial stress of worrying when to get off, we decided to get a taxi. So, we got into a tazi, and gave the driver the address that we wanted to go to. He suggested some other places, and I said whatever, if it was cheaper and ok with Ciaran. Then, the guy pulled off to the side of the road to "make some calls". As we saw the meter go up and up, I got pretty fed up. I told the guy just to take us to the hostel we had planned on going to originally. After the extremely long (and apparently 53,000 guaraní/13 dollar) wait, we finally arrived. We rang the doorbell while the taxi driver waited, to make sure it was the right place. An american man came down, told us the price of the rooms, and then asked how much we payed for the taxi. When we told him 53,000 guaraní, and he gace us an incredulous look. "what? you should have paid about 30. Where's the driver? After arguing we told him what happened before we got here, the man started arguing with the taxi driver. All of a sudden, he punched the driver in the chest, hard. I got inside, and the men continued arguing. More heated arguing, and the hostel owner shut the gate, and spit on the taxi driver. Damn! He told us, "you guys go upstairs, I'll deal with this shit". So, we went upstairs to find 4 spanish guys chillin' out on the couch, watching TV or on the computer. We went upstairs to put our stuff in the room. While we were making the beds, the man came back up, and gave us keys to our lockers and to the hostel, and explained how to use the shower, etc. We thanked him for what he did outside (we only paid 30,000 guaraní). He replied "no problem. You gotta know how to deal with animals like that." We were informed that the room was 41,000 guaranís ($10 USD) per night. After paying, we went out for something to eat, as neither of us had eaten since breakfast. We found a place to get some delicious lomitos (meat sandwich) for just 10,000 guiaraní! After that, we looked for a place with a telephone so that I could tell my hostmom where I was; it was getting dark, and she still thought I was 300 kilometers away from where I actually was. So, after finding the place and having much difficulty in getting the number right, I finally reached her. "Hi María Rosa, it's Ben." "oh hey Ben, where are you?" "Asunción." "Asunción?! what? what for!?" "I met an english guy on the bus, and decided to go with him; everything's closed in Ciudad del Este. It's the bicentenial in paraguay, so I thought it would be cool to celebrate it here in the capital!" long pause.... "well.... ok. Have fun." I love my hostmom! Makes me good food, helps me with my spanish, and lets me do mostly whatever I want, as long as I give a reason! After the phone conversation, we decided to go get some beers, being a friday night and all. We found a little store where it was 8,000 guaraní per liter ($2 per quart), so we decided we would chill there. As we were drinking the cheap beer, some random older guys came up, greeted us, and sat down next to us. Cool, I thought, maybe we can ask them what'll go on for the bicentenial. Turns out, one was crazy; I didn't understand a word he said (as he kept switching from guaraní to spanish), pointing at the sky, flexing his arms, making angry faces, and rambling about somethingsomething....god....somethingsomething...soccer! maradonna! messi!.....somethingsomething...Don't mess with me!.... and so it continued. When he went in for a bathroom break, I asked his friend to translate what he was saying for me, ask I understood about 5% of what he said. "ok, sure thing" the guy tells me. So, once his either incredibly drunk or mentally challenged friend came out, he started rambling again, with the same effect as last time. I Lockheed at his friendo who I just talked to. The guy looks at me, looks at his friend, and shrugs. Wow. So, the ordeal continued. He would talk, I would make gestures or say “yes” like I understood, and continue drinking beer with Ciaran. After awhile, ciaran made a useful observation: “It seems like he’s pointing less at the sky, at more at you,” he told me. Hmmm. Now that I paid more attention, he was right: I was receiving an increasing amount of voice raising, pointing, angry/crazy faces, and ininteligible speech. So, we both agreed that it was a safe bet to leave after we finished the beer we were on. Afterwards, we went back home, and went more or less directly to sleep. That morning, we woke up, lounged around the hostel, and then decided to go buy some food, as it was maybe noon or one and we hadn’t eaten anything. At the supermarket, we bought some dirt-cheap food so that ciaran could make (I forget the name) ground beef, chili Peppers, pepper salt, and rice. Sounded DELICIOUS. After a long-ish wait, the food was Reddy, and smelled great. While he was cooking, I had been getting in Couch with my friendo Ellie, a canadian Exchange student who lives in Asunción. I had finally got through, and we decided on meeting up after we ate. So, after consuming loads of ciaran’s delicious concoction, we headed out. We had to catch two busses and ride about 30 or 40 minutes, and finally arrived near Ellie’s hostfamily’s house, where she was waiting for us. It was so great to catch up! I was pretty envious; she was living Asunción, had a decent amount of friends, and had no desire to go home. I, on the other hand, have grown pretty tirad of puerto Iguazú. We talked and talked, and I met her (very nice) hostfamily. We decided that we would all go together to the bicentenial festival, and once it got late, maybe go our separate ways, since she would stay with her family. The center was PACKED. We arrived early, so right when we got ther, it wasn’t too bad. We had some good hot dogs, drank some beer, and walked around for the first 2 hours or so. We went inside the capital building (I think) and saw some national-treasury types of things, constitution, old Pictures, etc. The capital building was illuminated with lights of red and blue, which looked beautiful. The later the night got, the more crowded it got. I had my backpack with me, so it was quite difficult to squeeze through the crowd. At maybe 10 or 11, we left for a bit, because Ellie’s host family was leaving, so she had to go home with them. So, after our good-byes and hugs, Ciaran and I went back into the fray. One thing that I forgot to mention earlier, was the temperature. Due to the nature of the trip, I hadn’t brought a hoodie, pants, or anything of the type, all I had was two T-shirts, a pair of shorts, slip-flops, and my shoes. That night it was cold enough that you could see your breath. Because of this, I was pretty cold. Ciaran, I would imagine, was colder; he had slip-flops on, where as I had my nike’s. The enormous amount of people helped a bit with the coldness, but not a ton. My inicial plan was to drink to the point of the alcohol warming me up/not being able to feel the cold. We had a few beers more, and then went to see the big show at about midnight. On one of the big government buildings there was some big projected numbers marking the countdown (until midnight). There was an orchestra playing, with some tenors singing some national hymns; everyone was waiting for the clock to strike midnight to mark the bicentennial. Once it finally reached midnight, everyone started cheering. Fireworks went off (quite impressive, but I must say, zambellis trump them), the orchestra played the Paraguayan nacional anthem, and the crowd sang with them. Moments later, some quite attractive girls came out and performed some traditional paraguayan dances. Throughout the crowd, there was also some groups of students from various schools in traditional clothing, dancing. At that point, from all the beer, my need to piss was just too much to bear. At first I looked for some discrete place to relieve myself in the street, but, after finding that there was far too much people, we found a restaurant. The line was incredible. At first, when I walked in, I thought I was in the clear. I saw the 15-person line, all women, lined up at the door of the bathroom. Then, when I just walked past them to get into the men’s room, the one in front said “what are you doing?” “Going to the bathroom,” I replied. “Well, the women’s restroom is closed, so everyone has to use the men’s.” What!? I have this dying urge to pee, and now I have to wait for a bunch of women? In my bathroom?! Damn……. After I finally got through that mess, I went outsider and Lockheed for ciaran. When I found him, he asked “do you want to go back to the hostel?” “Why?” “They oponed up the streets to cars, the people are leaving, and there’s no more beer outside.” What the hell kind of party was this?! It’s barely 1am, people are leaving, and there’s no beer! For God’s sake, it’s your country’s 200TH BIRTHDAY!!! Jeez, you’d think there would be more of a party. Whatever, I guess… So we walked back, and went to sleep. When I got up the next day, I was trying to work it out with Ellie to see if maybe I could stay at her place; she had wanted me to stay for Monday, but I didn’t have the money. I knew that I had to arrive back in Ciudad del Este sometime between 6 and 7:30, to be able to catch the bus across the border, and it’s a 6 hour trip from asunción to Ciudad del Este. I ended up communicating with her and sorting the trip out until maybe 1:30pm; I knew I would be late, but I wasn’t sure how late, maybe the bus would go faster at night. I missed the terminal on the first bus I took (I noticed that the city was turning into countryside, and asked the driver when we would reach the terminal. “oh, we passed it about 15 minutes ago” he tells me. So I got off there, and took another bus back into the city, to the terminal, making me even later). When I arrived to the terminal, I took the first outing to ciudad del este that I saw. After waiting 45 minutes for the bus to arrive, I boarded. The air conditioning on the bus was FREEZING cold, especially in my t-shirt and shorts. Why do bus drivers even do that? Just makes no sense to me. In thinking that the driver might go faster at night, I was right on the money. The driver kept it in 5th gear, running on high RPMs for practically the whole trip. We arrived in Ciudad del Este at about 8:30. At this time, I was plenty ready to be back on Argentinian soil again; I had just spent nearly $100 USD in 3 days. Me being my mother’s son, this just stressed me the hell out; I can’t stand spending more than I intended on spending. Paraguay was alright, but I just wasn’t there long enough to enjoy it properly. The thought crossed my mind to walk back, to save money, but two factors stopped me from doing this: it was 22kms/about 13 miles to argentina (which I could still do; I had all night), and more importantly, that I would be crossing through Ciudad del Este and Foz do Iguaçu, Ciudad del Este being the most dangerous city in Paraguay, and Foz being one of the most dangerous in brazil, at night, by myself. The taxi across the 2 borders was a whopping 150,000 guaraní, or about $35 USD. Although it not might seem like SO much, think about this: I paid half that to travel 300 kilometers/190 miles. I couldn’t stand spending so much money, but in the end, it was simple. Pay the money, or run the quite high risk of getting killed/robbed. I chose safety. The rest of the way went smoothly, we went through the brazilian and argentinian customs, and I arrived home at about 10:30. All in all, not too shabby.
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