Asunción

Our plans might have changed a little for Asunción, but Caitlin and I were able to leave on Sunday night (midnight) by bus to have one day to explore Asuncion before my flight. Being a cheapo, I was hoping to take a city bus from the bus terminal to our hostel; however, after seeing about two buses filled to the brim with people literally hanging out I accepted that there was no way we were going to get on with my backpack and huge suitcase. So, we hopped in a taxi that took us to our hostel, Black Cat Hostel. The front desk people spoke English so from then until when I arrived in back in Asuncion 10 days later I basically took a break from Spanish (not a good idea!).

 I purchased Bradt’s Travel Guide to Paraguay while in Albuquerque (basically the only English travel guide available that focuses solely on Paraguay), and I was glad to have it. Embracing our touristness we brought the book along while exploring the city and ended up doing the walking tour it suggested, which led us to important government buildings, little known museums, fabulous marketplaces and other little gems. The only thing it failed to show us was where an ice cream place was, which we spent more than an hour looking for. Little did we know that literally right across the street from our hostel was an Amandau (basically the Cold Stone creamery of Paraguay)—in our defense there wasn’t a sign on the outside. There are many German immigrants living in Paraguay, and while in Asunción we got confused for Germans more than once by German Jehovah's Witnesses. One was a little confused as to why we were Catholic missionaries in a predominantly Catholic country, but they were nice and spoke a little English, which was fun. For dinner we went out to a place the hostel suggested as a must for coming to Asuncion. While eating dinner, we were approached by three middle-aged gentlemen sitting next to us to join tables. After politely declining several times we agreed to join up. It was a little awkward at first, but after the man who was shamelessly flirting with us left, we had some great conversation about Paraguayan culture with the other two.

The Cathedral

 

Memorial for Marzo Paraguayo (Memorial for those killed in demonstrations that broke out after the Vice President was assassinated in 1999. This was while the President was being tried for impeachment for abusing his power. I have sooo much to learn about the history!)

 

 

 

Legislative building--funded by the government of Taiwan. We went to a great little museum inside. I don't think it gets many random visitors because they seemed a little confused when we asked about it, but the woman who showed us gave us a quick peak into the legislative session, which was cool.

 

Entrance to where legislative sessions are held.

Giving credit to the guidebook.

 

Street view by one of the museums

Old Train Station

A lot can change when you take a closer look.

The next morning Caitlin and I parted ways (her back to Encarnación and me to the airport). Although we said goodbyes and exchanged our last hugs it still didn’t seem real that the next time I will see her won’t be at the sisters’ house in Encarnación. (She left Encarnación on Sunday and flew out of Buenos Aires on May 15^th back to the States. At the end of May, she’ll start a two-year teaching program through Creighton University where she’ll be teaching language arts on the Winnebago Native American reservation while getting her teaching certificate. As sad as I am that she’s not here with me anymore (and lonely), I’m super excited for her to start her new program, and I know she’ll be a great teacher.

Check-in at the airport was a breeze and I was happy to enjoy my first stop of many in the Duty Free shops. Duty Free Shops might be my favorite part about international flights—I love them more than the free meals. It’s not that I ever buy anything; I just like to get free spritzes of perfume to freshen my journey. Starting out smelling nice on a 9/10 hour flight is good and using a spritz to freshen up after a 9/10 hour flight is even better. At the airport in Brazil, I met two Americans serving in the US army who are stationed in Texas but work a lot in South America. It was fun to talk to other Americans, learn about travel, here some of their stories and share some of mine.