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Published: January 10th 2017
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What a beautiful loyal hound
Waiting for his friend while he was in prayer Arriving in Asuncion early in the morning tired from another all night bus ride is probably not the best time to judge a place. The outer suburbs did look a bit rough but our hotel is located in one of the better parts of town next to a ritzy mall and a McDonald's, which we visited for breakfast while waiting to check in. Day one was spent watching TV going to the cinema and having a great lunch at the food court.
Day two saw us hire a taxi for the 800km return trip to the city of Concepcion located on the Rio Paraguay north of Asuncion. They call the city the Pearl of the North, god only knows why there is nothing there to do or see. Still it was nice to travel through a strange landscape and to see numerous bird species and the odd mammal along the way. Our reason for the journey was to locate the old home of one of Ruth's friends which we found easily enough taking a number of photos around the town. In the end this crazy side trip took about 13 hours and resulted in a sore backside.
The next
few days we wandered around town looking at the few sites of interest and visiting markets, we only purchased items from stalls not selling armadillo handbags as we found these particularly offensive. In the evening we packed for the second to last time, we leave for the airport at 5.45am and our flight to Uruguay.
Asuncion's airport was very disorganised with almost no facilities, outside the window near our gate was an aircraft that looked damaged, Ruth thought a photo would be a good idea, 30 minutes later we boarded that aircraft ancient Ruth looked a little ill. The flight was fine and Montevideo airport was exceptionally modern and very efficient, the only concern was the terribly expensive taxi we were forced to catch into town.
Montevideo seems pleasant enough, we couldn't check in immediately so we hopped in a cab and went to visit a market about halfway between the Tres cruces bus station and the old town. The Ferias Tristan Navaja market sprawls over about six square city blocks and sells everything from fruit and veg to pets to antiques so it was a pleasant place to kill a few hours.
The next morning we
Iglesia
Concepcion crossed the road to the bus station boarding a bus to the World heritage listed village of Colonia Sacremento, the trip was tediously time consuming considering the short distance from Uruguay's capital. The bus picked people up on the side is the road then stopped to drop them off only short distance down the road very annoying particularly when the ailse filled up with standing passengers.
The town was lovely although many buildings were in a bad shape mostly due to tough expensive restoration regulations. Ruth and I visited many museums and other interesting sites through out the charming village before settling at a pleasant shady cafe for an hour or so to consume cheese croquettes and a few litres of beer. Our last atm card has been cloned so we are living on a pittance and Uruguay is an expensive place to be.
The return trip to Montevideo was just as unpleasant but fortunately we arrived at our hotel less than an hour before a massive storm hit that raged through out the night. We don't have enough local money to get a taxi so we walked to the bus station to change some of my Chilean
currency noticing that the cab office excepted credit card that was unnecessary.
Our flight to Santiago leaves at 1120am and we are staying at the Holiday Inn opposite the airport so no more stress, I think it unlikely we will leave the hotel as we check in for our flight home at 11am tomorrow morning. We have enough money left for a cocktail or two with dinner tonight.
It has been a memorable journey with so many highlights but it is now time to head home and start my diet, I have indulged in way to much fattening food and beer.
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