South America 2007

Got a 2 hour bus back to encarnacion and were absolutely covered in orange dirt that was flying in through the windows of the road into the beaten up bus. I was sat next to a girl who taught me a novel way to eat an apple. First you bite off a chunk, chew it for a bit in your mouth and then spit out the skin into your hand and lob it out the window!

So after another 5 hour bus ride we arrived to Asuncion. After checking in to a hotel we headed out for dinner looking like we had been literally dragged here. Chris looked like a starving street kid with his ripped orange clothes and then somehow accidently managed to order himself a plate of tomatoes for dinner, whilst Fin ate a plate of tongues! Being a vegetarian means most days I have no choice but to eat cheese and bread, so my veggie lasagne was warmly welcomed.

After dinner we were invited to join a group of paraguayan guys for a beer. They were hilarious and spoke some English too, they were repeatedly chanting ´God save the Queen!´ They even gave us a lift home after spinning around the block a few times listening to The fugees and Jamiroquai and have invited us out tomorrow night. should be interesting!

Whilst in Iguacu I met an Israeli guy who spent some time in Paraguay and recommended to go to El parque nacional de San Rafael. No-body knew how to get there and the bus conductors in the main bus station said that there was no bus that went there. I was determined to see this park as the Israeli guy said their were wild Indians, so we still jumped on a bus in that direction and after about 3 hours got dropped off in the middle of no-where on a dirt track...

We found a roadside shop called el gordo and the owner was really hospitable (he even offered to sell his shop to us!) We explained where we were trying to reach, the kind old man made a few phone calls for us and got the environmental secretary to come and pick us up!

We waited 5 hours for our pick-up truck to arrive, playing cards and chilling out on the roadside. Again we had an audience, the word had obviously spread that we were in town, as more and more locals gathered around to watch the tourists play cards. When our lift arrived, we all piled on to the back of the truck, hanging of the edge we waved goodbye as we headed to the national park...

On arrival to the Park, we were welcomed by a Swiss couple who had lived there for 28 years. They asked us if we had bought supplies, namely food and camping gear. No was the answer to that one. They found us some tents and said that they could whip us up some food.

The only other tourists there were a gay German couple who were trying to find somewhere else to live as they believed Europe (especially ireland) was just about to hit an economic crises and so came to Paraguay?! What planet are they on?! And secondly an English guy who had lived in Paraguay for the last 3 years, and get this, hes the travel writer for Rough Guide, the author of the paraguay chapter!!!

On arrival it was dark so Paul (The author of Rough Guide) asked us if we wanted to go down to the lake and try to find giant guinea pigs. We saw three, they must be the biggest rodents on earth, they were the size of a large pig! After I Sat ouside alone for a bit and relaxed in my hammock under the stars before getting into my tent. I slept like a log.

When we woke up we had the lushest breakfast and then headed into the forest for a trek, accompanied by a couple of the park guards, their rifles and a machete. Great day, trekking through the forest and the day ended by watching the sunset by the lake with fin.

San Rafael was a great experience, but unfortunately didnt see those wild indians I was looking for. Paul said that I would find them in a place called Mbaracayu, so time to hit the road again, first to Asuncion the capital to try and get a park permit to enter Mbaracayu...

Where is everybody? This is what real backpacking is all about...lovin it!

We crossed the border into Paraguay and hoped off the bus to get our passports stamped, turned around and the bus had gone without us, how rude! I stood up the whole way on the bus crushed next to some guy with a bad boy gun squashed up next to me. I gave up my seat to some other willing passenger, who do they think I am? The red Cross?

When we arrived at the bus station in Encarnacion I felt like an Alien that had just landed. Everyone was staring at us with friendly yet curious eyes. I went into a little shop to buy some water and the shop assistant asked me what I was doing in Paraguay, when I responded I was travelling around to check out the sites, he replied there´s nothing here to see, hmmm, interesting!

First day we headed to the jesuit ruins, we were the ONLY people there, strange bearing in mind this is one of the only attractions in Paraguay! Oh no, actually we werent there was one other person, it was Finn, someone I had met in Rio who said he was heading this direction!

I sat on the ruins and relaxed in the sun, lovely day. Nice to be away from every other traveller for a bit, especially after the mass tourism of Iguacu. The landscapes here are similar to England, really green and Paraguay so far has been so so chilled and the people I have spoken to so far are soooo laid back.

We headed to the second set of ruins in Jesus. On the way walking to the bus stop we saw a car for sale. Parguay is dirt cheap, but this car was 50P! I tried convincing the others to buy it, but they werent convinced. We arranged for the bus driver to come and pick us up at 5pm, have they not heard of bus timetables before? Oh well, we were the only passengers on the bus I guess...ºººº