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Published: October 3rd 2012
Day 350 Tuesday 25th September We were woken by 3 ambulances and 2 fire trucks stopping outside our hotel something had happened across the road and it all looked very serious. The road was blocked off and people started moving their cars, after about 20 minutes paramedics emerged from the market area with one man on a stretcher who was conscious, so after all that thank goodness it did not seem serious. Today everything is opened so we went window shopping and we are finding that this is a strange town which is full of expensive shops selling designer goods but there are syringes on the streets. We are only about 5 blocks from the plaza but on the wrong side and the difference once you get within a block or two of it is amazing.
Went back to Picolo’s for lunch it was definitely quieter and we relaxed there for over an hour eating good food. After wandering around a bit more and seeing a group of Mennonites (religious group) in town we went back to the hotel to wait.
At 6.00pm we went out for a snack and then back to the hotel to get our
Bolivian Border
High tech border securitybags and grab a taxi to the bus station. It was busy and the taxis were all full, but a local man came over to us who spoke English and helped us flag down a taxi and negotiated the price which was really nice of him. The trip was very slow so we got a good final look over the town and it definitely looks better of a night with all the shops lit up but so do most cities. At the terminal we checked with the bus company we brought our tickets through Yacyreta, paid the departure tax and had a final toilet visit before being shown the luxury bus we were on. It actually was not too bad but on the old side it had a toilet on board, not sure if it works yet, a TV and good leg room. We got on the bus about 7.25pm which had about 8 tourists only on board it was due to leave at 7.30 prefect timing, well at 8.00 we are still sitting there when suddenly we are told we are changing buses to the one next to us. I quickly jumped off to get a seat on the
Bolivian Border
Bus problems that wasn't ours for a change next bus while Scott ran around to get our bags out and transfer them across….yes you have to do all this yourself.
Our new bus is a piece of crap with no leg room and it was already three quarters full so the arguments were already starting over where to sit. We continued to sit here till 8.30pm before we got underway, so much for the original bus company ensuring this would not happen and going through the farce of us choosing our seats on a floor plan showing where the televisions were positioned on the bus and us choosing good seats near the front. The woman we had got the tickets off yesterday went through the whole spiel of selling up this bus including emphasising that it had Air conditioning, and if you exclude opening the window this bus had none. I remember her grinning face and giving the thumbs up, which at the time thought meant “great bus” but now I know it actually meant “suckers”. As we rolled out of the terminal dinner was served, we both declined as we had just eaten but it looked OK, chicken schnitzel and rice. As soon as dinner was
Asuncion
Estacion Ferrocarril - The first steam engine in South America finished the seats started to recline and we soon had the chairs in front on our knees. The one television on the bus did not work properly and only emitted a bright blue light which later in the night when the lights were turned off was annoying and one of the passengers lost the plot and ran over to it and started pushing buttons left right and centre to no avail. The other passengers started laughing which made him even more angry and he finally started banging on the door to get the co-driver out and turn it off. The next dodgy thing was the toilet which had no water and the door did not lock properly plus the light was very dim but I could still see all this pink stuff in the sink and on the floor which initially I thought was that yucky pink soap. Later I discover that the pink stuff was disinfectant that the co-driver every now and then just opened the toilet door and splashed around which just created bigger puddles as the trip went on. We both tried to get some sleep which eluded us as we tossed and turned trying to get
Asuncion
Palacio de Gobierno comfortable and the men behind us continued to push their knees into the back of our seats.
Day 351 Wednesday 26th September At 4.00am we pulled into the Bolivian town of Villamontes where a group of 5 people were waiting to board the bus and they soon discovered that their bus had been overbooked. Because two buses had been squeezed onto one our seat numbers no longer applied and we had just grabbed some of the last seats available which we discovered in Villamontes actually belonged to an Austrian couple who demanded we move…..too where? We couldn’t speak German, they couldn’t speak English and our conductor couldn’t speak either and despite feeling sorry and guilty for being in someone else’s seat we weren’t about to move. We had spoken to a couple of young Australian girls who had a very similar experience on a bus in Bolivia and spent hours sitting on the floor. After paying US$60 for these tickets I would have screamed blue murder before letting that happen. In the end the conductor rearranged the seating on the bus and the Austrian couple got seats but a couple of other guys were forced to
Ascuncion
Park on the river stand. We had initially thought about travelling to Villamontes for a couple of days and picking up the bus to Paraguay like this Austrian couple but I had a feeling this was what would happen so thank Goodness we didn’t.
Just before 6.00am we got to see the most amazing sunrise the sun was a huge vivid red ball and at this point we stopped for the first border checkpoint. This stop was for us to get stamped out of Bolivia and we were here for about 30 minutes and then all back on the bus for all of 5 minutes and we had to stop again. As we lined up again still on the Bolivian side we were confused what this checkpoint was for and we soon discovered they were just checking our names off the bus passenger list. We are not sure why this could not have been done when we were stamped out so it was all back on the bus and down the road arriving at the border crossing at 8.00am. Here all the bags were removed from the storage and we had to stand near our bags while they were inspected. Once done we
Asuncion
In the Estacion Ferrocarril had to put them back into the storage and then walk under the boom gates into Paraguay where we had to line up again and show our passports while the bus drove up to us. Here was also an opportunity for the bus driver to throw the rubbish from the bus into the scrub before entering into Paraguay. Back on board we continued down the road which was just dirt and all the dust was pouring into the bus through the door that did not close properly and the holes in the window where the handles should have been, need less to say we were now all covered in dust and coughing. We stopped occasionally for police to inspect the storage compartment of the bus but at least we did not have to get off till we reached Mariscal Estigarriba and a large building. Here it was off the bus again with our very dusty luggage and a very scary looking woman with no uniform or ID showing walked up the line checking passports, she then made everyone lift their bags one by one onto a walkway about waist high while she did an inspection. Lucky another man joined her
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Scott practising to be a bartender on the other side and made it quicker but some of the older people had difficultly lifting their bags and she was not going to help, she was on a real power trip. Scott got her and I got the other man who was much nicer and actually helped me with my bag and even zipped it up when finished, back on the other side Scott’s bag was being demolished and everything was being opened but we both made it through. Scott had been complaining bitterly about the pathetic bag searches and the feeble efforts made by apathetic border guards and for his complaining he now got a proper bag search by a Paraguayan version of a female Gestapo officer. Back at the bus we were pretty sure this is where we should be stamped in to Paraguay but no one said anything official to us after asking around we discovered that we had to walk out the gates and around to another building for the stamp into Paraguay. The lady in the office must have been friends with the other lady and was incapable of a smile but at least we are now officially in Paraguay. Back at the
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Luxury of train travel bus we told the Austrian couple where they had to go just as they were about to board, not sure what would happen if they missed the stamp. In all our other bus border crossing in South America the drivers usually assisted the people through all these steps and check before moving on that everyone is stamped out and in to countries but not on this quality bus.
We were now in the middle of an area called the Chaco, which is a scrubby flat terrain that is hot and dusty. It is a fairly inhospitable area of the world that humans fortunately/unfortunately have struggled to survive in and the road we were on “The Trans Chaco road” is regarded as one of those “adventure” roads but just reminded me of too many monotonous Australian country roads. The road started to improve but it was too late for us as the bus was filthy with the floor and us covered in an inch of dirt and added to this was that the toilet now stunk to high heaven and we still had a long way to go. We were stopped numerous times for police to hop on and do
Asuncion
Cabildo - old government building random checks and it was all getting a bit tedious. They would always have a look into the luggage compartments and because our bags were on top they were the ones that always seemed to be pulled out and dropped in the dirt looked at and then stuffed back in again. From our window I felt like sticking my head out and abusing them, but Dad always said “don’t argue with a man that has a gun”.
We started to see the lights of Asuncion but were stopped again for about 10 minutes for an inspection and a policeman hopped on board with a torch and walked up and down flashing it around wildly so who knows what he hoped to see. As we entered the town there were people lining the streets and lots of police cars and it appears that the cars for the Trans Chaco Rally (a once yearly event) were driving through. We finally made it but of course we didn’t get dropped off in the terminal but outside on the opposite side of the road at 9.35pm, 25 hours after we started or 26 hours if you count the time on the first bus
Asuncion
Palacio de Gobierno we were kicked off with the only stops being for official reasons and all food served on the bus. We dragged our weary bodies off the bus got our bags and into a nearby taxi to our hotel. As we were shown to our room the Hotel receptionist sort of gave our bags an odd look because they were absolutely putrid and had turned brown from all the dirt and dust. Shelley just laughed, pointed at the bags and said “Bolivia”, and when we got to look in the mirror we realised we too were covered in “Bolivia”. After checking in we asked for directions to food that would be opened at 10.15 at night and our only nearby choice was Pizza Hut 6 blocks away. We hot footed it down there and thankfully there was an ATM in the complex to get some Paraguayan Guaranis to pay for the food and eat all before 11.30pm when they closed. We were literally the last people to leave and walked back to the hotel for a well deserved shower and to bed.
Day 352 Thursday 27th September It was a very slow start to the day and
Asuncion
Don't linger too long - Palacio de Gobierno we did not emerge for breakfast till 9.30am which was a pleasant surprise freshly squeezed juice, fresh hot bread rolls, ham, cheese and jam. After getting ourselves organised including the pile of laundry into a bag we walked the street first dropping off the dirty clothes then sightseeing. Just off the main plaza we visited the old train station Estacion Ferrocarril which is now a Museum with a small but interesting collection of things including the first steam engine in South America and two train carriages to show the luxury of train travel compared to the modern crappy buses. We sat in the lovely comfy seats from the 1800’s just wishing we had had such old world luxury on our bus yesterday. Next we walked to the Plaza De Los Heroes and saw the small markets which did not have much of interest. At 2.30pm we stopped for lunch and a break before slowly walking back to the hotel. The centre of the city is small so because we have tomorrow here there is no need to rush around and see everything which is not much. The town reminds us of Montevideo in Uruguay not sure why but it has
Asuncion
Statue of some Dude a similar feel and look. The people are friendly and the streets seem to be safe and very clean in the areas we have been walking around in fact the street are very quiet except for the area around Plaza Los Heroes. It is hard to believe this is a capital city, where are all the people? I guess it does spread out from the town centre so that must be where the people are.
For dinner we headed to the Britannia Pub which is a great pub but the food is on the ordinary side with not much to choose from but we did get a T-shirt each which are pretty cool. This city apparently has a bad reputation for prostitution and on the way home we got a show that we had not planned on. As we walked back to the hotel a group of working girls ducked back onto a building verandah which of course drew attention to them and there on full display was a man standing with a woman kneeling with her face in his crouch…..well you can guess the rest. Across the road were two men watching, not sure if they were his
Asuncion
What do they mean by Discreet?? mates or just stopped for the free show.
Day 353 Friday 28th September Today we are seeing the rest of the sites of town so we walked past the Plaza Los Heroes to Bahia De Asuncion on the Rio Paraguay…..basically the bay on the river where all the government buildings are located. The first one was the pink (salmon coloured) Cabildo which was once the centre of government we then walked past the huge new government building to Palacio Gobierno. This is the President’s house where the first leader of Paraguay Dr. Jose Gasper Rodriquez De Francia lived. He ruled Paraguay from 1814 to 1840 and was to be the first of several “colourful” leaders. He crushed all opposition, nationalised the church and used to have people shot if they lingered too long in the front of his building. Thankfully today we were not shot at while we lingered to take photos. His humanity extended only as far as banning flogging but all other dissenters were executed on the lawn outside his window and in an effort to save bullets/money they were bayoneted. Francia was totally paranoid locking the palace doors himself every night, unrolling the cigars his sister made for him to check for poison and tearing down colonial buildings over one storey high to deny would be assassins a good vantage point. This has left the city a bit bland but some of the beautiful building did survive you just have to look a bit harder.
Unfortunately for the Paraguayan people they have had a run of bad dictators including Francisco Solano Lopez who had an Irish prostitute as his lover. He went on to go to war with Brazil because they invaded Uruguay and he thought he would be their saviour (illusions of grandeur) but it backfired because when Argentina refused to let his troops go through their country he declared war on them. The war with both neighbours between 1865 till 1870 was the bloodiest in South America and lead to Paraguay losing half their pre-war population and 20% of their land. This guy before his death had his brother, brother in law and mother executed, with his poor 70 year old mother being flogged first….charmer. Things seem to be better now but the government is still not that stable as the previous President a former bishop with illegitimate children was kicked out for corruption so the saga continues.
Whilst wandering around the town plaza a guy approached us trying to sell us a tazer. All through this trip Scott has been saying how much he would love to have a tazer to deal with annoying people and now he had the chance to actually get one. His little eyes lit up like the tazer itself but then he thought about trying to carry one across the borders and thought it was probably best that he didn’t buy it. I of course just told the guy “no, we are Australiano’s, no in Australia, illegal”, which was only part the reason as I just didn’t want Scott ending up in jail for tazering some poor sap that wouldn’t get out of his way. The guy trying to sell it just kept zapping away and waving the dangerous thing in our face till I grabbed Scott and dragged him away before he reached for his wallet.
For lunch we ended up in a mall where Scott splurged on a kebab and I had an empanada. Did a bit more window shopping but by 3 most of the shops were closed so it was back to the hotel for a rest. For dinner we headed downtown to a restaurant we had spotted earlier today and got a fairly average but expensive feed. It was while here that I realised what was incredibly unique about this town…..there is no dogs. This would be the first town in the whole of South America we have been in that there is not a single streetdogs roaming around, and this is probably what makes the place even quieter. On the walk home there was a concert in the Los Heroes plaza so we stopped to listen to a few of the artists performing. It appeared to be part of a protest against the Government and there were lots of posters depicting the current president as Hitler as well as a display showing some of the faces of the people missing and murdered under the rule of president/dictator Alfredo Stroessner who ruled from 1954 to 1989. Once again our lack of Spanish meant we couldn’t understand the speeches between artists or some of the written information but it was fairly obvious that it was a protest of sorts. There was only a small crowd and the whole thing was fairly happy and non-violent so we knew there was no danger but we wondered how full on the police are here and if our photo was taken at any time. Don’t really care if we now have a file in the office of the Paraguayan secret police because the music was great. Could have stayed longer but we have an early start tomorrow for our bus to Encarnacion.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
GREAT BLOG
The pleasures and aromas of travel...shake off the Bolivian dust and enter Paraguay...what a fantastic adventure you are having.