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Published: March 28th 2010
We arrived in Villa Florida following a short 3 hour bus ride from Asunción on the 20th. As soon as we arrived we were very happy that we would only be spending one night in the small town as it is definitely not a hot spot for tourists. The write-up in the Lonely Planet spoke of nice beaches and a good place to relax but we never found the nice beaches and the water in the river was disgusting. We spent the night at the ´Pasadas Misiones´ hotel right off the highway which was very basic and roach-infested. The only good thing about it was its location as we were able to catch a bus to Caapucu the next morning from right outside the front doors.
Caapucu is a small town 20kms from Villa Florida. We arrived there on the morning of the 21st and waited for our ride to the ´Estancia Santa Clara´ 7kms from the town. We got to the Estancia at 12:30pm and got settled into our room which was big and clean. The ranch was very beautiful and our hostess (Valerie) seemed nice enough; she also spoke English which was a bonus. We were given a
very good lunch and arranged to go horseback riding at 5pm. We were told that we could basically do whatever we wanted. We spent the afternoon playing frisbee and swimming until Braeden cut his foot open on the plastic filter cover on the bottom of the pool which broke into 3 very sharp pieces when he stepped on it. We showed the broken cover to Valerie but she never apologized or asked if he was okay.
Horseback riding was alright but my horse hated me. Braeden had a good time and enjoyed riding because he is comfortable on horses and his was willing to listen. I was given an old nag that didn´t want to do anything, especially with me on it. The guide had to pull it behind his horse just to get it to walk until it finally realized it was going to have to. From then on, it punished me. If there was a tree, it walked me into it, dragging my entire upper body through the branches. If it had a choice of taking the right path, or the left path around a thorn bush, it walked right through the middle scratching my legs. It
whipped me with its tail and made noises of exhaustion and irritation. The hate was mutual by the end. Needless to say, I didn´t get back on that horse again. We did get to see a beautiful sunset though which made it worth while.
Luck was not on our side this weekend and it started pouring rain throughout the first night and carried on until we left on the 23rd. It was very disappointing because having spent $60 USD each per day to stay at the Estancia, we now were unable to do any of the activities provided. We spent most of Sunday indoors reading and listening to our Ipods. The weather did break for a couple hours in the middle of the afternoon which gave us a chance to go out exploring on our own. We walked through the pastures looking at the different animals and taking pictures. While not overly exciting, it was nice just to get outside. By the time 5pm came it started pouring again and we were back inside for the rest of the night.
Lightning struck very close to the house around 7pm with a bright flash through the window, making our
beds shake and Braeden´s mouth taste like copper. A loud bang and the power went out; it did not come back on for the rest of our stay. With now power, we also had no running water so were unable to shower or flush the toilet. I was disappointed that we did not hear from our hostess following the power outage nor did we see her again. She already had our money so either she didn´t care to offer us candles or any further service, or she was too embarrassed by the bad weather and lack of power that she hid inside the main house until we were gone. Either way, I was disappointed with the lack care and service, especially considering how much money we paid to be there. We did fine though. We had our own candles and also took some from the pool house after dinner just incase we were to run out. We filled a bucket with rain water so we could flush the toilet and used baby wipes and bottled water to clean up before bed. It often pays to be self sufficient. Even though the rain had ruined our day and kept us inside
Estancia Santa Clara
Of course, Braeden had to climb it.for the majority of our stay, it was nice to sleep to.
We got up on Monday morning, had breakfast and waited for our ride to take us back to Caapucu, anxious to leave the Estancia. While I wish we had better luck with the weather, I must say that the Estancia itself was very nice and the food was fantastic. However, if we would have known that it was going to turn out the way it did, I doubt we would have bothered going. Even without the rain, this was a good example of how things aren´t always as depicted on the website. In order to do activities, you have to seek them out as the only thing offered to you is horseback riding. The ¨photographic safari¨ as listed on the website is not a guided tour around the lot; As explained by Valerie, ¨There are a lot of nice things to take pictures of so you can walk around and take pictures.¨ The staff aren´t engaging, the activities are self-service often only consisting of a random net set up in a small section of dirt and grass, and the ¨mini zoo¨ they have consists of 3 caged
animals that look absolutely miserable in their far too tiny spaces. Overall, I´d call the weekend a bust.
So we are headed back to Asunción for a few nights before flying to Venezuela on the 27th. It will be nice to be back in Asunción where people don´t pay us any mind (we were such a spectacle in Villa Florida and Caapucu that teenagers were taking pictures of us with their cell phones). From there, it´s beach time 😊
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Eric
non-member comment
I really enjoyed your Paraguay post. It reminded me of my time there. My blog is looking for some good travel photos. If you have time, email us some at dirtyhippiesblog@gmail.com or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric