Unremarkable

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After a day in Asuncion Ive discovered that the lonely planet researchers probably havent visited here for a couple of years. Almost everything in the "backpackers bible" is out of date!! the first hostels that we went to that are recommended are closed down, the restaurants dont exist and the travel information is all wrong!! Its the first time Lonely planet has failed me but were getting by ok! They did get one thing right though, the breakfast in the hotel were staying in is described as "unremarkable" and they certainly got that right! After the fabulous breakfasts in Brazil (brilliant coffee, fresh fruit juice, ham, cheese, rolls, cornbread and fresh fruit and nobody minds you making up a packed lunch) this breakfast is a little depressing. A teaspoon of yucky jam each (i think it was jam anyway), one bread roll and inferior coffee, but we had a good giggle about it. Mikel had read up on how to visit the national park of Ybycui. Its one of the off-the-beaten-track highlights of Paraguay and is famed for it gorgeous waterfalls and rare Mariposas (butterflies). It involved takling a local bus out of the city for three hours and then another local bus to the national park. However, it wasn´t so simple and Im glad Mikel spoke better spanish than i did. the bus driver told us we could get a Micro from the town of Ybycui to the national park but then he dropped us in the middle of nowhere and told us we needed to walk 8km to the park. It was already 1pm and the walk would take the best part of an hour and a half. We were told the last bus to asuncion we pick us up at the same spot at 630pm so we had to be back in time. that would leave us hardly any time in the park but we´d come so far already so we set off. The scenery along the way was also unremarkable and the road stretched out for miles ahead of us. There was barely any cars that passed so we were on our own. There was a huge storm threatening and thunder bellowed, following us all the way. About half way to the park is tipped down and the thunder and lightening never ceased. We were the only visitors to the park and the ranger arranged a car for us (for a small fee) to take us back to the bus stop so we could have more time in the park. Despite the crap weather the park was still beautiful, its mostly rivers and subtropical rainforest and we were lucky enough to spot a couple of the very rare and very beautiful metallic blue morpho butterfly. (they were massive but too quick to get a photo) The Salto Guarani waterfall was also pretty impressive, im sure its much more beautiful in nicer weather though! We hiked deeper into the park but were worried about being back in time for the bus so headed back.

We were early for the bus but by 7pm it still hadnt come and we were sure we´d miss the connecting bus to Asuncion, it was also getting dark fast and we actually had no idea where we were. A little boy walking past told us it was a 6 hour walk to the town of Ybycui but that his cousin had a car and could take us for a small fee. He led us to his cousins house which was down a dodgy country lane in the pitch black (i would never had done this if Mikel hadn´t been with me and being overparanoid about everything i kept my penknife handy!) The guy charged us 80 guaranies(about 8gbp) to take us to Ybycui. It was a pretty scary ride as the car was about 100 years old and i dont think he´d driven it in a while. It stank of petrol and didnt have any seatbelts. He couldnt go faster than about 30mph anyway but the headlights also cut out every so often and he had to keep sticking his head out of the window to see where we were going! I prefered not to watch! The next bus to Asuncion wasnt until 4am so we had a fair few hours to kill. We found a restaurant that served fantastic steak that cost next to nothing and a bar that didnt close until 2am so at least we wouldnt have to wait in the bus station for too long. The town of Ybycui was also unremarkable and the locals in the bar were quite dodgy but we did a good job of ignoring them and played cards and drank cheap beer until closing time. We werent too confident that the bus to Asuncion existed as different locals told us different things and we´d had such a bad run of luck with transport already but sure enough at 4am the bus arrived and got us back to asuncion in time for yet another unremarkable breakfast at our hotel.

I planned to take an overnight bus to Iguazzu that night but didn´t want to waste the day so decided to take the lonely planet walking tour of asuncion. Many of the sights were unremarkable but the city had many good coffee shops and a museum of the city´s urban development which was right up my street! (pardon the pun) The best part of Asuncion though has to be its people. They are Mate mad! everyone sips mate everywhere, all the time. Policemen on duty, bus drivers, people waiting at bus stops, taxi drivers, shopkeepers, stallholders, they all carry around their thermos flasks and mate cups. Theres little stalls on street corners with piles of all different plants and herbs and the locals can pick their desired blend and a little old lady will grind it up for them in big stone basins. In the main square loads of groups of locals, all ages, kids, old people, business men and homeless people all sit and pass around their mate cups. Its so fun to watch.

They all also seem very partriotic and throughout the city there are Paraguan flags flying and loads of monuments and statues to celebrate the War of the Triple Alliance. This i dont quite understand becasue thats a war that Paraguay started when they declared war on Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina at the same time but were defeated, really badly defeated, within 5 years they had lost 26% of their national territory and half of its population. But they still seem pretty proud and the some of the monuments are quite extravagant and beautiful! So all in all Asuncion is pretty cool but its time i moved on!

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Comments

[Mum]

Knight errant
Glad you found a knight in shining armour to rescue you, even if his steed was a 100 years old. I'm trying very hard not to think about who or what could have come along! The Mariposa's sound lovely I'm sure there's a drink called that as well! Love you, Mum xx

[anonymous]

I really enjoyed reading this. I just got back from two months living in Paraguay this summer in a town just outside of Ybycui. It's cool reading about people visiting places half a world away that I've been to. I've went to that park and spent a ton of time in Ybycui. I drank my fair share of mate. Thanks for writting.

[Daniel]

Evil Harold
I only watched Neighbours today, having not watched for ages (stupid work) but Harold has gon Evil, an seams to have been taken over by some wierd sub-consouse, he almost killed Paul. Glad to hear you escaped. Keep up the blogs. Dan x