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Published: July 24th 2008
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Water Taxi Starter Motor
Okay, I know I'm a nerd. I was rather fascinated by the hand start engine! Well, I made it to Paraguay after an exhausting plane ride. Just finishing up my second full day here, I think I have mostly caught up on my sleep from the trip! To get here, I had to leave our apartment in Vancouver at 9am on Sunday, July 20th. I finally arrived in Asuncion, Paraguay at about 6:30pm on Monday, July 21st! That is one long journey. I tell you, I didn't quite realize how far Paraguay was before actually making the journey myself!
Not a lot has happened since getting here. Things seem to run slow here - except the pedestrians. Slow pedestrians = dead pedestrians. If you ever come to Paraguay, know that the cars most definitely have the right of way! Things seem to work by size here!
Today we rode across the river on this long boat (the local form of water taxi). The whole water taxi was wood and from a distance you'd think 'wow, that guy actually drives around in that thing? Does it even float?' But alas, he does, it does and everyone takes these things up and down the river. So, we get in the boat (with our guide - who
The Rio Paraguay is Alive!
Okay, that is an exageration, but the river has all of this floating vegitation. It is so thick it looks like you can walk across it! speaks impeccable spanish but little english) and the driver scrounges together a couple of life jackets for us. (Our guide, kindly had brought his own life jacket, but nothing for us.). It turns out that the life jackets were missing a few straps so he laced them together with string. Kudos to him, because they looked reasonably sea worthy when he was done with them. The lifejackats were probably moot anyways because you would probably catch several things that would kill a gringo like me just for swimming in the river!
Anyways, so we've got our life jackets on. All of a sudden we hear this cranking sound. We turn around to see the driver bent over this box (that evidently housed the engine), and he is hand starting the engine! Engine sounded like a single cylinder model. It was all quite low-tech. When the driver was docking our water taxi, I noticed that he controlled the throttle by pulling on a string! When he had the engine revved to the speed he liked it, he would tie the string off on a nail.
Driving here is an adventure too - except in a car you don't have
Asuncion Street
A picture of a street in Asuncion. the padding of a life jacket! Best way to describe the whole driving experience is 'it is best not to watch!'
Man, the air is thick on some of these streets. Quite difficult to breathe sometimes. I am starting to agree a bit with GW Bush - it seems almost irrelevant for developed countries to put so much effort into cleaning up our act, given the crazy levels of pollution emitted in developing countries. And you thought there was bad smog in LA! Some of these streets are like bars where smoking is allowed - actually filled with smoke and smog!
The hotel upgraded my room today. Now I actually have a window. The view isn't much though! See the attached picture (sorry for the low res, I will post a better one later)!
The weather sure changes a lot here. When I landed at about 6 pm, it was dark (it is winter down here after all), and it was about 27 degrees C. That night there was a lightning storm like I had never heard before (I'd say seen, but I had no window in my room, so I could just hear it). It was
Buildings near the Navy Base
Yes, Paraguay has a Navy. Here is a building near the base. so intense I could feel the walls shaking! No kidding! And it lasted all night. It woke me up several times. The rain was intense too - again, it sounded like a downpour. Coming from Port Alberni, I know my rain!
Yesterday and today were both cool - like I-wish-I-brought-a-sweater-cool. Before I left, I checked out the weather and it was like 30 degrees, so I thought a sweater wouldn't be needed. Turns out I was wrong. At least I brought a rain coat. I heard about the thunder storms before leaving Vancouver.
Until next time,
Mike
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