http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/MWCJunkie/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from MWCJunkie en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:24:01 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:24:01 +0000 Tuesday.Woke again to roosters and later to three military helicopters buzzing over our heads. Strange. I spent some time reading out on our balcony listening to the neighbourhood slowly awaken.Another lovely breakfast in the garden overlooking the little pool on the side of the hill. We tramped up the hill to Largo dos Guimaraes where we caught the wonderful old tram called the bodinho al http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Santa-Teresa/blog-423249.html Monday. Woke quite refreshed to the sound of roosters. Amazing how quiet it was after all the racket of the evening. A bit of a panic this morning after the camera was dropped we discovered we were having trouble downloading photos and couldnrsquot figure out why. Decided the only solution given that both my disks were full was to seek a new one. Breakfast left out for us was delightfu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Santa-Teresa/blog-423247.html Sunday on the road again.A long day of travel after a rather less than refreshing night on the bus. We reached Sao Paulo at 855 a.m. as promised and found ourselves in a huge station of the size and caliber of any city airport with the restaurants and souvenir shops to match. More than 80 gates Wersquod soon bought our tickets for Rio and were back on the bus ldquoconvencionalrdquo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Santa-Teresa/blog-423246.html Thursday. Up early again to catch the 730 a.m. bus to Foz do Iguacu which our Chaco busmate Sondra a young Dutch woman on her way to three months on a Brazilian dairy farm after an advanced degree in soils science had put us on to. Good thing too because most of the buses go to the Argentina side and we didnrsquot want to be bothered with that. A sixhour trip rolling through southern P http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Paran-/Foz-do-Igua-u/blog-423244.html An excellent breakfast with Helmuth and Nicoleta yogurt and softboiled eggs juice tea and hugs and pictures as we said goodbye with promises to put them up should they come our way. We couldnrsquot really say wersquod love to come back much as wersquove enjoyed our visit with them. Not enough to draw us back to the Chaco But we had a great morning getting a lot of our questions an http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Asunci%F2n/blog-422869.html Up early to be back in NeuHalbstadt in time for the dayrsquos tour supposedly starting at 7 a.m. Our hosts fed us a full breakfast of buns with guava jam wild honey cold meat and cheese and tea. We were sent off on the bus to Menno Colony where Walter Ratzlaff a former mayor of the town gave us an illuminating view of life in the oldest colony the highly conservative one that left Ma http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Chaco/blog-422448.html Up at 5 a.m. to catch our taxi to the Hotel Excelsior already waiting for us in the Casa Mennonita parking lot chatting with the guard. ldquoTranquilordquo he said about our general anxiety offering me a sip of his mate. The Excelsior turns out to be a very fancy hotel no wonder the price over 100 wersquod been quoted which seemed outlandish for Asuncion. A long wait in the hotel http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Chaco/blog-422447.html I hate writing about this almost as much as I disliked living it but today Sunday was a crashing disappointment. I almost wished I'd been one of the Machu Picchu people after seeing a morning service hijacked the way this one was. We arrived early anticipating a great morning with a whole lot of Paraguayan church folk joining the paid attendees for our final service. The chapel a good http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Asunci%F2n/blog-422439.html Breakfast is finally warming up at the Casa Actually had a conversation this morning at the table with folks from Chaco. And the morning started out great with a surprisingly good performance of the Faith Life Men's Choir from Canada with a soloist from Paraguay who used to sing with them when he lived in Canada. Sithabile Ndlovu of Zimbabwe was a most interesting speaker a young black wo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Asunci%F2n/blog-422436.html A sterling choir from Switzerland started off Serving Like Christ day well. One of the cool things this morning was a report from Melani Susanti a young Indonesian woman who served as an intern with MWC at the MCC UN office wearing her pale blue UN tshirt. She reminded me of all those incredibly capable confident Indonesian girls I've met over the past few years. I don't know what their http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Asunci%F2n/blog-421867.html Some cool stuff this morning a prayer of thanks led by Ojibway and Cheyenne people including a big delegation from Kansas facing the four directions then to the sky and to the ground. Strange to watch 6000 people turn around in their seats facing south but even the skeptical Dutchmen took part. Claire Brenneman had just launched into telling the story of the Pax Boys who helped build the T http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Asunci%F2n/blog-421604.html A taciturn bunch these DeutscherParaguayans. Jeff is convinced they're just so insular they're not interested in making conversation with an Englischer like him. But I'm convinced they're just not that into talking over breakfast everyone looks glumly at his plate of good homemade bread served with cheese cold meat toppings juice fruit yogurt drinks and of course instant coffee set at http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Asunci%F2n/blog-420177.html Time to get ourselves to Asuncion. Overcoming our confusion about Guaranis about 5000 to the U.S. dollar WHY did we not practise those big numbers in Spanish we managed to buy a ticket to Asuncion on NSA Nuestro Senora de Asuncion what appeared to be a big bus company. Apparently directo does not mean in Paraguay what it does to gringos. Direct yes with about a hundred stops at te http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Asunci%F2n/blog-420156.html The good the bad and the downright ugly of Latin American buses Bus 1 Sunday nightrsquos departure from Buenos Aires was easily the most luxurious bus trip ever ldquoCama suiterdquo is Argentinarsquos roadbound equivalent of longhaul first class on the airlines a private screen meal service a glorious view comfy huge seat legroom galore and oh joy of joys a LazyBoy style http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Encarnacion/blog-419884.html July 12 our final day in Argentina the sun was warm finally and we decided to catch up on a bunch of things we'd missed on the first chilly pass. First the wonderful Sunday market just outside our door. The quiet square which was scrubbed and polished early on Thursday morning had been transformed Booths filled the square and marched far down the streets in all directions with antiques http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-419678.html Recoleta may just be a perfect reflection of Argentina's proud and sometimes tortured history. Just outside the crenellated brick walls of its famous cemetery lies a Disneyesque neighbourhood of glitzy movie theatres and restaurants catering to a young crowd of latenight diners. It's not quite as odd as it seems given that Recoleta cemetery is also probably the city's biggest tourist attraction http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-417693.html A day and a half and so much to remember already ...San Telmo Cobbled streets baroque colonial mansions with intricate wroughtiron balconies and ornate doorways mosaic tiled sidewalks Plaza Dorrego bustling with craft merchants shops in 200yearold houses crammed with the most amazing antiques ancient telephones and cash registers milk separators dusty chandeliers old doors gaudy hand http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-417396.html We made it After seeing Rebecca off at the airport in Toronto how exciting to see all those kids in their red shirts with the MC logo all packed and ready for their own adventure we went to the other terminal for our own flight. Long trip but fortunately quite uneventful with stops in New York great view as we circled around Manhattan into La Guardia and Washington's Dulles airport I http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-416856.html test http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-415086.html