Cycling Amigos - South America - Cycling and Exploring

[En Español] No set plans just a bicycle, a starting point & the rest we would see how it pans out. This has been our philosophy from the start & now over 10,000km later we've cycled through Ecuador -> Peru -> Chile -> Argentina -> Uruguay & Paraguay along the coastline in between exploring the Peruvian Andes & Bolivia by bus, foot and hired bike. Here you can watch our contiguous cycle journey unfold..
LOVE APPEAL
While Valentine's Day 2010 has come and gone we would still like to draw your attention to the great work of LOVE Trust and keep showing some love as the posts about the final stages of our journey are published here. We would also like to say a big thank you to those who have already assisted by spreading the word, making donations or offering to help in some way. Read more...

Monday, March 15, 2010

CYCLING: The hermanos return to Paraguay!

Km10184 to Km10198: Good-bye Amigo
It was a Sunday morning and as with most countries in South America everything had ground to a halt, even buses run far less regularly than on a Saturday to match the plummet in passenger demand. It was Mark's last day with us and we had spoken of having one last delicious pastry together at the local restaurant come bakery as we had been to when passing through Foz do Iguaçu a few days prior where we had already enjoyed great meals by weight and lemon pie to rival the best I have had anywhere in the world. Having packed Mark's bike up for the long bus trip back to Sao Paulo and then on to South Africa the bikes had to stay at the hostel while we went off to enjoy our last meal together. To add to the mood it was a sombre morning overcast and grey as we strolled up and over the tree lined hilly deserted streets of Foz hoping I read the sign correctly and that this would be the one unique business in town that was open on a Sunday.

We had originally planned to spend the morning viewing the Iguazu Falls but this time from the Brazilian side however all the guidebooks and pictures seemed to suggest that the views from Brazil could not beat those from Parque Nacional Iguazú in Argentina so we decided to leave it be. There was no point hacking all they way there to see the same thing we had seen the day before but only from a little further away just because that's what tourists do. So with cravings satisfied we had a little time to relax before Mark would be on his way back to Sao Paulo. Later that afternoon we walked Mark and his box full of bike to the local bus stop when suddenly the bus snuck up on us and we could barely get Mark, his box full of bike and his bags on fast enough before the bus raced off leaving us hardly any time to say god-bye; just a thanks for the best 10 months ever, see you in 6 weeks and a wave and that was it. My cycling amigo was now on a 15hr bus heading back in the direction of home, something we had spoken of but as a distant thought and now suddenly as if unprepared for, it was a reality. Thankfully though I had Andy with me now and we were preparing to set off on our own little 6 week adventure.

Now just the cycling hermanos (brothers) we needed to reshuffle our stuff to accommodate the few things Mark had left for us and then head back to the far cheaper yet more edgy Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. When we passed through Cuidad del Este a few days prior it had been complete chaos so I was now a little apprehensive about heading back there. It was overcast and a little cooler than usual so we decided to head off in the early afternoon even though we only had about 14km to go. When we arrived at immigration we were amazed that there were hardly any cars crossing into Ciudad del Este. We practically had the whole bridge to ourselves and when we got to the other side all the chaos we had experienced on the Thursday prior was gone. No one was haggling anyone and the streets had been cleaned, it was a Sunday and the carnival was going on in Rio de Janeiro so there was not a soul about.

We had decided to spend two nights there so that we could spend the next day exploring the electronics markets as I still had the $50 my parents had sent over so I was looking for something cool to spend it on. We found a nice little hotel, Santo Domngo, near the shopping area that had a crumbling sign just like in the movies but the room was great and breakfast was included so now satisfied we had a home for two nights we headed out for dinner. I had forgotten it was Valentine's Day so I was a bit confused when the restaurant we picked had had balloons and streamers everywhere, I first enquired with the waiter if there was a private function on that night and he said no so I was like then why all the balloons to which he just laughed and responded saying its 'El Dia de los Enamorados'! Only once we sat down and I saw the two chocolate on the table with the tag 'Feliz Dia de los Enamorados' or 'Happy day of the lovers' did I click that was Valentine's Day, so Andy and I enjoyed a very romantic dinner for two making sure to enjoy the free chocolates at the end.

The next day we went to explore the huge expanse of electronic stores where they had pretty much anything you were looking for with some of it looking more genuine than others. The one thing you could be sure of though is that you could bargain the price own on anything, nothing was priced and everything got quoted in US dollars so every transaction was pretty painful. I don't really like having to haggle down prices and we were carrying local currency which only complicated the calculations even further but I had spotted a pair of bluetooth wireless headphones which would bring to an end my woes of fighting with earphone cables on the bike and Andy had discovered he could buy a new microphone, LCD screen and Nokia tool set to fix his ailing phone at home so the haggling began. We went from store to store trying to get the prices down but by now it had started to rain heavily with the roads becoming rivers and roof edges dumping down bucket loads of water making getting about even that more challenging. I hadn't seen rain that heavy not even on the bikes, it was like the heavens had just opened making the roads impossible to cross without getting a shoe full of red muddy water. Although now drenched eventually we both got our stuff at great prices with me getting my headphones for slap on $50, now this may seem pricey for a set of headphones but they sounded great, worked seamlessly with my phone and appeared to be a good replica if not the originals of a pair of Nokia headphones that sell on-line for a minimum of $170. Andy managed to find all he was looking for for a out $20 so if he can now fix his phone using his purchases it'll be for a fraction of the $200 price tag Nokia has put on fixing it for him.

Km10198 to Km10252: The Guaraní family
The next day it was still pouring with rain and we would heading back towards the intersection where we had come from a few days prior where the road split left to Encarnación and carried on straight to Asunción. An intersection which we remembered as being covered in red sand thanks to a lot of heavy truck traffic coming on and off the roads and guessed now would be covered in red mud. There was a difference in level between the hard shoulder and the actual road so now with all the mud, as predicted, this change in level became very difficult to cross. Every time we wanted to avoid the bumps that had been placed on the hard shoulder to prevent trucks and taxis from using it as a second lane we had to go back up onto the road and round but now with it being muddy our tyres became very slippery making it very likely we could trip over on the change in level falling on to the highway. Having passed the busy split in the road our bikes were caked in mud and just as I was thinking to warn Andy about the slippery edge he moved onto the main rod to avoid a truck stopped on the hard shoulder and came crashing down into the road. Luckily he had checked for cars before going so none came when he was lying sprawled across the highway, seeing this chaos going on in front of me and I got quite fright resulting in me giving him quite a flee in the ear for not being more careful which he did not really seem to appreciate. Fortunately, Andy did not received much more from the fall than a graze on the knee, skewed handle bars that could easily be straightened and a very muddy pair of socks he had strapped to the back of his bike that morning to dry after so diligently having cleaned them the night before. Not long after the fall we found a nice little road side stall with some tables and chairs out of the rain where we could buy a drink and make our sandwiches allowing Andy to recover little more from the shock of his fall.

That evening we were just going to camp by a petrol station on the side of the road when we saw a road leading off to what looked like a few houses and fields which we hoped would be a bit quieter than next to the highway. While exploring the area we saw a lady in her garden and asked her if we could camp on the piece of ground across the way but she refused to talk to us and just ran inside to call her husband. Their property looked quite well kept with a beautiful green lawn, well kept flower beds and tidy little wooden home. The husband soon came out to chat to us and asked what we were looking for so we explained that all we needed was a little grass to set up our tents on for the night and we would be gone early in the morning. He wanted to invite us in to camp in their garden but his wife was not having any of it, he came out and said you could stay here but my wife is afraid but please do come in and have some tereré with me. I thought this a bit odd but we figured why not and went in for a drink.

Toni was his name and Spanish was actually his second language with Guaraní being his first. It was great getting to sit and chat to a local and get the low down on the social classes, immigrants and his impression of their national government. Toni's son about 10 yeas old was far more inquisitive than his mother and came out or a chat, he was attending a Spanish school but spoke Guaraní with his family at home. We notice quite a large number of German settlements or rather exclusive security colonies of German's so I was quite keen to know what this was all about. His impression was that they all came over from Germany after retirement with friends and builds big houses all together starting little German colonies installing large satalight dishes so that they could get German TV. Naturally he felt that they didn't want to integrate into society at all, they just kept to themselves. Personally I'm still not too sure what I think about this natural human trait we seem to have of grouping together with people we feel we can associate better with. Personally I enjoy exploring other cultures and love the variety of it but maybe that's not everyone's cup of tea. South Africa is a perfect example how separation can only deteriorate into hatred and misunderstanding of other cultures resulting in one culture or race oppressing or thinking they are more superior than another. Then on the other hand we can't go forcing people to hang out with different people against their will. I guess in a multicultural society like South Africa you can try prevent misunderstandings by educating and integrating children from a young age but when it comes to immigration I guess its a problem all countries around the world are grappling with.

Having now chatted for a while with Toni he was more than happy for us to stay but his wife still hadn't bothered to come out and meet us so he went in to tell her we would be camping on the lawn. But there was a compromise, and she had asked us if we minded leaving a passport with them for the night to give his wife piece of mind that we would not be running off with her flowers in the middle of the night. I thought it quite ridiculous but if I couldn't trust him with my passport why should he trust us sleeping on his property so I happily obliged and we went about setting up camp. They had a big Rottweiler chained to a tree which the let loose in the garden at night which I as a little concerned about at first but as it turned out the dog seemed to be more worried by us than we were by him. Every time I or Andy turned over in the night the dog got spooked and started another chorus of barking across the neighbourhood. The whole area just seemed to be on edge, I mean this family had a fence with barbed wire on top and a huge dog really seemed overkill to me given that some properties barely had a fence. Yet just about everyone had a dog that enjoyed barking so needless to say we did not get too much sleep that night, so I was the sun rose we were quite keen to just get my passport back and get going so that's exactly what we did.

Km10252 to Km10320: Things get tedious
Today the weather seemed to be drier but I think we were feeling a little drained from the lack of sleep and persistent heat. We were practically falling asleep on the bike and were ready for lunch when we started spotting public picnic areas on the side of the road however most of them seemed to be occupied and while I'm sure they wouldn't have minded us joining them I wasn't in the mood to rack my brain for Spanish words. Suddenly I spotted one unoccupied and it was perfect, it was under a nice big tree giving us plenty of shade and not only did it have benches for us to sit on (and lay on) but a nice big stump to cook our lunch on. Not long after lunch though we were accompanied by an elderly yet completely drunk man who I could barely understand, 2 things I did understand was the gesture to take a sip from his hip flask the other was the usual accompanied plea for money. Now while I was quit happy to give him some food and send him on his way I was not about to provide him with some cash to refill his whisky bottle no matter how much of it he was willing to share with us. I felt sorry for the old man but all I wanted to do was sleep and wasn't about to curl up and put my head on his lap so I was quite relieved when he finally decided to stroll off. We had a good sleep under that tree that day thankfully so as we wouldn't be getting much sleep that night either.

That evening we came across a petrol station with a lovely patch of grass alongside their outdoor restaurant where the chief attendant had invited us to sleep but mentioned that it may get noisy there so perhaps we should sleep on the floor in the workshop. As appealing as the the workshop floor sounded the grass looked good so off we went to set up our tent. Later we were invited back to use the shower round the back but the power didn't work so it would be cold and I would need my headlamp. I was dying for a shower now as we had cycled for 2 days in the heat without having showed or swam once so off I ran to investigate the shower. The door would barley open but then it wouldn't close further than it opened yet that was the least of my worries, someone had used the shower floor as a toilet and had left not only their excrement but also some toilet paper just finish it off nicely. I was trying not to throw up but I figured I'd step around it, block my nose, have quick shower and get the hell out of there. I think this qualified as my worse shower in South America while others had been colder and some had literally electrocuted me this one just made me feel dirtier than before I had gone in and that was quite a feat! Needless to say after relaying this spine chilling story Andy did not have a shower that night.

Although I was gagging from the memory of the smell I was clean and quite excited to hop into bed. I slept well until about 2am when a car pulled up next to our tents with 2 huge speaks hanging out the back, and I'm talking can't close the boot huge! This fool decided the petrol station outside of town was a cool place to show off his sound system to his friend and their girlfriends and they seemed impressed it. Now while a big fancy sound system could be considered cool by some this one was just so loud that if he drove past a saw mill people would stop and ask what was that so no one within a kilometre radius could hear themselves think let alone talk to anyone else, so this whole group all just stood outside the car staring at each other as snippet after snippet of bad cover versions spewed out of the car speakers. I tried to ignore it, estimating in my head how long a battery could last while turning out that many amps of sound but it lasted longer than any of my estimates so they must have kept the engine running. Andy opened his tent up and stared at them which probably just gave them even more pleasure and while I was tempted to get up and stick my bicycle pump through one of their speakers I chose the option that would not get me and my tent damaged and that was to dig my trusty earplugs out and go back to sleep, even if I was at risk of getting an ear infection after having cracked them open on the first night in Rio de Janeiro 10 months prior thanks to a snoring room mate.

Km10320 to Km10425: The perfect paradise
The next I was tired again and the landscape was pretty boring. We didn't find a very exciting lunch spot either so was beginning to feel like I had enough of this and wondered how I had ever got that far. About the most exciting thing I saw all day was the veterinaria (vet) and the carniceria (butcher) that shared the same premisses and the turn off to Nueva Londres (New London) which I was tempted to explore but by now we were just keen to get to Asunción. Then that afternoon we passed a sign saying we had entered the Cordillera (mountain range) province, hmm I thought to myself mountains I really don't want any mountains! But we were quite pleasantly surprised they were more like hills and provided for some of the most beautiful scenery I had seen in Paraguay yet.

We had not needed to cycle that far that day but were going to go as far as we could manage in a day as we just wanted to get to Asunicón however when we cycled up into a beautiful little village our plans rapidly changed. The traffic seemed to slow and the village reminded me of the villages in the lakes district in the UK, green, hilly, with little stone walls and beautiful old buildings. Andy and I both looked at each other and were like should we look for a hostel here? We both thought it had looked so cool that we were willing to stop early and spend a bit of time there. We both needed a good wash so we started asking around for hostels and were told there we only 2 hotels and no hostels in town and the one was just ahead on the left. We pulled up outside the hotel and saw sign above it pointing across the road saying balneario or bathing area . I could not see a balneario across the road so asked a man sitting at an outdoor bar nearby where this balneario was and he explained that the sign used to be on the other wall pointing down the hill. He said the balneario was beautiful and we could camp there if we wanted. Andy and I figured we only wanted to stay in a hotel to get clean but if we could stay at balneario that would cover the off so off we went to inspect our potential camping spot.

We bounced down the hill on a little cobblestone road eventually being surrounded by lush green bushes opening up onto a little wooden bridge crossing a beautiful little stream. The wooden bridge was a little precarious but seemed to be fine to cross so we crossed it trying not to get our tyres stuck between the struts. On the other side there was a magnificent soft white sandy beach. I could not believe my eyes, just hours before I was growing bored and weary but this brought it all back to me this is why we were travelling by bicycle and while it might take some time to get between places when you get there it is like you've arrived in heaven. We lent our bikes up again a tree, wiped off our kit and jumped into the stream it was as if we were petrified somebody was going to appear and just take it all away it was like it was just too good to be true! After a good swim and good wash we decided check out the town before returning setting up camp. In town we found a very cool bar on the street selling empanadas and beer, what more do you really need. It was just so special sitting there on the pavement watching life go by while answering all the questions of the inquisitive passers by, they couldn't work out what we were doing there but we couldn't work out why they lived so close to Asunción yet we were one of the few tourist they had ever seen.

That evening we returned to sleep on the beach next to the river making a camp fire just because we could, it just seemed wrong not to. The camp fire did not last long because it was already over 30 degrees without it and we wanted to go to bed early. No one ever did bother us that night and we never did work out what the name was of this mystery town was but what I do know is that my experience in Paraguay would never have been as rich had we not stumbled upon it.

Km10425 to Km10475: Municipal Beach on Lago Ypacarai
We left late the next day so that we could enjoy the morning bathing by the river but even then it did not take us long before we were close to Asunción. Just before leaving Ciudad del Este I had sent out a couple of CouchSurfing requests hoping to find a local to stay with in Aunción and a few days prior we had some luck and had received a response from one Sergio Ruíz. Sergio had mentioned that he did not live in Asunción centre but lived a in little town on its outskirts called Luque, however he was happy to have us and we were quite happy to stay with him for a couple of days especially since he mentioned that he worked in the centre so we could go into town with him anyway. Sergio was now only expecting us the next day so when we came over a hill and saw a huge lake in the distance we decided we would try stay there before progressing on the next day. Once we got to the bottom of the hill we came into a little town and we started asking around if there was anywhere we could camp, possibly even near a river.

We were directed to a place 5km off the main road, apparently it was free and had a place where we could swim so we decided to pursuit it. About 5km down the road in the direction they had sent us I could see a lake in the distance but felt we were now really going too far out of our way as for every kilometre we cycled down this road we would have to cycle back the next day. Soon I saw some men drink on the side of the road and asked them if they knew of this place and they all confirmed that it was coming up on the right. I did not want to go on another 20min to have to ask again so I asked them how long it would take in just about very mode of transport and they seemed to be able confirm by bike it was in fact only 5min away, so somewhat convinced we went on. Soon we came to a turn off that said Playa Municpal (Municipal Beach), wow I thought they were actually correct! We went in a low and behold there the lake was with another beautiful sandy beach. We were not supposed to camp there but the groundsman invited us to camp the night and he assured us it would be safe as he clears the place out and locks the gates not long after dark. I mean really a free camp site on the lake is fantastic but to have it all to ourselves was just too unbelievable.

We spotted that they had some water bikes so we just had to add them to our collection of cycling adventures. After playing on water bikes for a bit growing bored and tired very quickly it was dinner time and fortunately they had a little shop there so we could stock up on some essentials which at this stage included a 2l bottle of coke each. Not long after we had started preparing dinner some laddies came over to checkout what the gringos were up to. They were very friendly and took quite a liking to Andy begging him for a kiss then dragging him up for a photo shoot which just had me in stitches. They had him bending over and doing all sorts of things that made him blush quite profusely, this was all just too entertaining. Thankfully for him it wasn't long before they had to vacate the premisses along with the other visitors but first thing the next morning they were back, clearly Andy had made quite an impression!



Km10475 to Km10500: Lucky to be in Luque
Now being at the municipal beach at least 5km off the main highway we did not know where we were relative to Luque so had to ask around and got the perfect answer, no need to go back to the highway just continue straight on down the road and you will pass Areguá, which is mentioned in the guide books for its clay crafts, and then you will come to Luque. We were thrilled not only were we staying with a CouchSurfer but because he just happened to live in Luque we had already cut 5km off that day's cycle, it does not cease to amaze me how things just keep panning out. Now with plenty of time as we only had about 25km to cover and with Sergio only finishing work at around 6pm we woke up at our leisure and enjoy a good fry up on the beach before setting off. The back road to Luque was a quite unpleasant compared to the main highway into Asunción as it didn't have a hard shoulder however we weren't on it for long so it was fine. Luque is quite a nice little town only just isolated from the city by the enormous local sports and recreation grounds on the outskirts of Asunción. It also has the honour of being home to the Confedeation del Fútbal of SouthAmerica, which is quite significant on continent that prides itself so much on its football.

After cycling around Luque for a bit getting a good feel for it was time to finally meet Sergio at the Luque central church, a well kept and beautiful centre piece to the city. Sergio had a appropriately come to meet us on his bicycle. Now this was a first, most CouchSurfers come meet us in their car and then expect us to follow them back to their house 5km away going at 60km getting annoyed when we don't keep up after having already cycled 100km that day. Meeting Sergio was an absolute pleasure, he is so friendly and invited into his home as if it were ours. Segio lives with his incredibly kind Mom and ageing tiny dog, Vicky, in a very tidy home which has aptly had about 50% of it dedicated to the outdoor braai area. This region is on average hot and in summer sizzling with 40 degree temperatures and near swimming pool humidity. Having visited friends in Dallas, Texas over summer where the climate can be similar I became accustomed to their lifestyle and just figured that when you lived in a hot place you insulate the house and keep the air conditioning running 24/7 but nope not here in Paraguay. Even with 90% of their electricity being generated by pollution free hydroelectric plant this is not common practice. Yes they have air conditioners in their bedrooms but the rest of the house is designed to just let the airflow through and then most of the day is spent on your veranda, if you are lucky enough one, or more commonly the street corner where you enjoy sipping on ice cold tereré with your neighbours.

We spent the next few days exploring Luque and Asunción going into town with Sergio while he went to work teaching English at the American Institute of English. Asunción is a cool little city but as Segio describes it as not big enough to have everything but too big to be a village. I enjoyed the architecture and the craft shops selling tereré cups made from cow horns and hand made hammocks amongst other things. The other thing I really enjoy about this city is the little roadside empanada bars where you can just plonk down for five minutes on a bar stool and enjoy a cool drink and a couple of empanadas for next to nothing and then move on. There are also a few cool bars around as in any city with quite a thriving night life. The city itself is quite divided though with wealthy and poorer areas a bit like a little Johannesburg however I didn't ever see any of the poverty that you can see on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Sergio however did say that they exist, in fact somewhere between the river, the port and the presidential and parliamentary buildings of all places but I didn't ever see any of it any of it yet had been advised by many not to stroll anywhere up past the port, which itself was quite edge.

Next we needed to decide how we're going to get from Asunción up into Bolivia but we still had a few days to work that out while we just chilled sipping tereré with Sergio, his mom and the little dog called Vick in a the very chilled little town of Luque.

All the pics from Paraguay can be seen here.

No comments:

Post a Comment