What do we do? (Peru)

You know I can not lie to you, even if I wanted to, for what’s the use, I’d only be lying to myself, and we all know that to be a fruitless journey.  Today has been highly mixed with emotions and ultimately has to be looked at, so far, as something of a failure, yes, yet another one.  We had a very nice bus, by far the most comfortable one yet, heading from Trijijo to Piura.  I’m sorry but I’m not certain about the spelling of these cities, and there are more to come with unsure names, so you’ll have to bear with me tonight.

We arrived in Piura at seven in the morning which was a beautiful two hours late!  Our plan was executed perfectly as we wished to head straight out of town to a seaside town called Mancora.  Not having a map as usual we didn’t know how far it was to Mancora but hoped for an hour’s journey perhaps by local bus.  This was not to be the case.  Our bus departed quickly enough and our hopes of a short trip were dispelled in finding out it takes four hours in total.  There was no comparing this new bus to the last and that most certainly increased our discomfort.

The next four hours proved as arduous as we’d expected and to add to the joy the scenery was something awful.  The land being mostly Desert Mountains was barren and only disturbed by the occasional semi-flooded village.  It has been raining for a few days in this region and there is no system in place to handle such weather.  When we were not in a village or along a curvy mountain road the valleys left much to be desired, for the entire trip seemed somewhat littered in rubbish.  This is how we arrived, feeling fatigued and disillusioned.  Not a good start needless to say.

You know, when things are bad and you need to write about them.  And then sometimes things are good and you need to write about them.  I feel like for the past however many weeks all I’ve been doing is writing about the bad days. This is difficult.  This is fucked up and should not be the case.  I should be writing about all the amazing things we’ve seen and done.  All the wonderful food we’ve eaten and bars we’ve been to.  But how can I?  I have not experienced any of that!  We have had some really good ice cream along the way.  I’ve had some great hamburgers along the way.  We’ve had one good meal in Paraguay on one day, along the way.  Otherwise it’s all been mediocre or outright disappointing.  Like this town, there is nothing to do here; it’s a one road town that is full of traffic and a very busy beach.  People surf in Peru yet so far; from this beach and the one we were in yesterday I’ve yet to see any good waves.  They would all be great waves for Jeanie and I who have no idea how to surf, but if I were a surfer, I would be well disappointed.

Perhaps I should write about football from here on out?  Liverpool seem to be doing better and if we win on Wednesday against Arsenal their campaign will start to look questionable and perhaps we can even take the third spot from them, not that we are really strong or together enough, but if other peoples games continue to go our way, as they largely have throughout the season the one never knows.  And ultimately, as long as United do not win the league this year who cares!

Ahh, we really do need some help, maybe from you lot.  If you’re reading this why don’t you write a comment and tell us what to do, as we are out of ideas!  Four weeks to go and on our way to the mountains in Eqador tomorrow, what do we do.  People say Colombia is amazing, and I look forward to it yet it’s going to be expensive, so as soon as we cross that boarder money becomes an issue again, and I don’t know that I’m ready for that again so soon.  We have heard a huge number of people who have gotten robbed in their trip and that worries both of us.  This is not a nice thing to have hanging over our heads but it’s there nonetheless.  It’s strange but I don’t think in Asia I can ever remember hearing so many people talk about getting robbed, I would say everyone we have met has met someone who has gotten something nicked, that’s pretty bad, hell, it’s bad for South American tourism if nothing else.  My entire blog at the moment is bad for South American tourism, hehe!  Unless you have enough money to enjoy Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, then I whole heartedly encourage you to visit!

What else can I write?  I really don’t know.  All I can do is beseech of you to write in a comment and let us know what you think.

Speak soon, xx Jeffrey 07/02/10

It has been some days (Peru)

It has been some days since I last wrote to you and I have no excuse really.  On the morning of our arrival in Iquique I wrote to you and have not since; I’ve in fact not even published that written work I believe.  We spent two very nice days in this beach town talking to the many people in our hostel and getting ideas for Peru.  Jeanie finally got to lie on the beach and I managed a session amongst the waves with some boys; always an important task.  That of being alone and manly with the boys!

We are now in Peru I’m pleased to say!  We have been in the second city called Arequipa for two days hence.  It is always rare that I say anywhere near a bus station but on this occasion it is so.  We arrived no earlier than ten at night and not knowing a thing about the city or its centre I didn’t dare venture into it at such an hour.  Although I don’t feel in danger I know better than to get a taxi (which will over charge you) or a bus (which will leave you in the middle of nowhere potentially) at such an hour at night in unfamiliar territory.  Therefore upon seeing a number of Hotels near the bus terminal we headed straight into the first one and found a Matrimonial (double-bed room) with inside shower for twelve dollars a night.  Claiming to be clean, with TV in English and quite I at once grabbed it up and we went for a meal of Chicken and Chips!  How could one complain!

Our idea was most certainly not to arrive at gone ten pm however there was some confusion in the bus terminal in Chile it would seem.  For the salesman lead us to believe our bus would arrive at seven, which turned out to not be even close to the truth.

On the night of our packing in Iquique we met a man who spoke of his friends being robbed in the bus terminal in the Peruvian boarder town we were to seek our tickets in and potentially spend some hours waiting in.  With this fresh on our minds, and knowing it had only happened that morning we decided it would be better to buy our ticket in Chile, despite in all likeliness it being more expensive.  Our taxi to the boarder, across both boarders and to the town of Tacna was successful and our driver was extremely helpful in terms of showing us to our next bus and all that might be needed in the terminal.  Therefore I cannot complain of the price we paid, and given the hotel room we’ve now happily spent two nights in I can’t find myself complaining about any of the coincidences that lead us into Peru.

Tonight we will leave for Ica an overnight bus journey that still costs more than we would like but nothing like the cost of busses in Argentina and Chile.  This is a town that was recommended to us as being quite spectacular due to it’s being in the middle of the desert and for some reason made it into the traveller’s bible.  From there at this moment we know not where our next destination will be.  Lima is a city only four hours from Ica so we will most definitely spend at least one night there before heading to the beaches in the North of the country.

The issue now is time.  We feel like we have very little of it.  With less than six weeks to go quite suddenly we are no longer willing to just mull about in a town because we are not bothered to move that day.  We are instead highly interested in finding places we like and then mulling about there, without exhausting ourselves in the hunt.

As of yet Peru has proved to be exactly what we need.  We can eat out three meals a day and stay in a double room without the risk of spending far too much money.  Although we both understand our lack of desire to return to the West so quickly we simply came with too little money and had a few things go against us.  In all honesty I feel far more comfortable now after a mere two days in Peru than I have after weeks spent in Argentina and her surrounding neighbours.

Well I’m afraid Jeanie has finished her shower, this means I must shave and go in search of fruit for breakfast.  I’ll speak to you all very soon, hopefully the hostel tomorrow will have Wifi and I’ll upload these two thrilling instalments for you!

29/01/10

Crossing the Andes: (Argentina-Chile)

I’ve just finished a twenty-four hour bus journey from Argentina into Chile and to her coast.  It’s been a long hard day I won’t lie about that, we awoke at six fifteen yesterday morning and it’s now a quarter to seven the next day.  I have been awake for most of the trip.  Leaving Salta we headed straight into the mountains and along a valley that was lush with green and far more populated than I’d expected.  Our bus only made one stop along the way towards the base of the Andes.  Here a few people boarded but it was quick and we were soon on our way.

Our coach was marked number two and it seemed to me our driver didn’t appreciate being in this position, for he sped right along and despite our leaving Salta Terminal a good half hour after number one’s departure once on the open road we were quick to pass them by.  For the first few hours the land remained populated, sparsely but there were small villages scattered about.  The landscape however became more and more awesome in its scope with each turn, and there were many turns.

The first site worth mentioning was a point in which, hold on a second, there is one before this.  As we were climbing the hills out of Salta one could see on the mountains surrounding this city snow capped peaks.  The previous night it had rained quite heavily in Salta and it was quite beautiful to see the outlining peaks covered in snow.  Now, back to the second as it turns out spectacular!

Nearly the entire trip we journeyed through what at one time, many thousands of years ago, would have been a large river.  As we entered a narrow section of the ancient river a series of hills gradually growing independently into mountains appeared before us.  The reason it caught my eye was the colour.  Each hill had a different colour to it.  Every mound of sand and rock was unique.  Different shades of reds, oranges, greens and browns appeared before me.  At least six or seven different colour and probably more if one had a chance to properly inspect them.  Sadly we were flying by and my glances were full of wonder.

While travelling along the ancient river and later, higher in elevation along plateaus that stretched as far as the eye could see I was reminded of the Himalayas.  Many years ago I travelled with a friend through Tibet making our way towards the Nepalese boarder.  We couldn’t afford the luxury of hiring our own Toyota Land Cruiser and therefore hitchhiked by any means possible.  This saw us travelling in Busses, minivans, the back of cement trucks and Lorries full of human cargo going from one city to another.  Most of the time the travel was difficult and only slightly rewarding.  However our last journey was one that I’ll never forget.

We had managed to hitch a ride on the back of a garbage truck from base camp one to the nearest village and crossroads.  Once there we knew finding a ride would be difficult but not impossible.  From down the road we could see a few Toyotas and decided to investigate further.  In Tibet one must always pay for their rides, whether it is a private car or government bus.  These were most definitely private cars, and as it turned out they were under the service of the Royal Navy.  It seemed strange to us too!

We went inside a small restaurant that the Navy Toyota was parked outside of and found there to be only one man in the place.  He spoke English much to our delight, but seemed completely unwilling to drive us to the boarder, despite saying that’s where he was eventually heading.  Knowing he was being well paid by the British Government we were unwilling to pay him but knew there was likely little other option.  We asked.  He said he wanted two hundred Yuan each, roughly twenty-five dollars, and an extortionate amount.

We stomped off in a fury, partially real partially for show.  After ten days in Tibet we were exhausted of this sort of daily battle.  We stood outside back at the petrol station about fifteen meters away.  An hour passed.  Perhaps two hours passed.  During this time however not as single vehicle passed.  This was not so odd, for traffic in Tibet is nearly non-existent, and traffic willing to stop for you is even less.

Eventually the man came out of the restaurant and looked at us from down the street.  We didn’t know if we should approach him or not, our nerves were already in tatters and our egos long since shot to nothing.  As we stood our ground he called us over.

Both parties were aware that he had the upper hand.  I didn’t want to pay his price but knew I would if it meant getting out of Tibet that night.  He asked if we still wanted the ride and we swallowed our pride and said yes.  He restated the same price and we asked once again if lower was possible.  There was now a man at his side and they spoke for awhile before coming back with a renewed offer of three hundred and fifty for the two of us.  Knowing we had little choice in the matter and that this Land Cruiser was likely to be our only option for the rest of the day we accepted.

Tibet itself is not a place I’ll ever quickly return to.  It’s some of the hardest travel I’ve ever done along with some of the harshest conditions.  The food is sparse and poor in quality.  The people are no different in mentality than the Chinese the West so despises for being there.  From what I could tell in terms of business there was little distinction between the two and ultimately the people were probably better off.  This however is not a political discussion!

Tibet in terms of natural beauty ranks amongst the top of my list.  This drive from Base Camp to the boarder of Nepal was something unrivalled, even after yesterday’s journey.  The land is so vast and unoccupied that one feels very small indeed.  I saw mountain tops that appeared to be floating on air.  At many points the incredibly large basin that once contained a massive river similar in size and shape to the one I saw yesterday spanned for miles in width; clouds often contained within its walls.

I don’t know exactly what the difference was in the two landscapes.  Most certainly they are brothers in arms.  Both speak of a time gone bye, of a vastness that I find hard to imagine, and it makes me once again awe at the power of Mother Nature.  The Himalayas were full of vegetation; greens of every colour, snow topped mountains and blue sky that never ended.  The Andes are the exact opposite.  A vast desert now on which only small shrubs grow and the occasional field of large cacti.  Large reserves of salt lie in the valleys of the Andes, not as vast as what one sees in Bolivia but still an awing effect of seeing what appears to be snow on the hot desert floor.

The trip was a windy affair full of vast emptiness that left one feeling insignificant but also wore at ones nerves.  In the lush Himalayas there’s a different sense to things, life grows, and one feels progress and hope.  In the deserts of the Andes it’s hard to think of life existing.  The odd Lama passing is somehow not inspiring but depressing, it speaks of a hard life, it speaks of a nomad dying alone on a high ridge never to be found and quickly forgotten.

I discovered an amazing new land yesterday and I feel blessed to have seen it.  For once a night bus would have truly robbed me of an amazing experience.  Sadly Jeanie was asleep for most of the journey not dealing with the forever bending roads.  Perhaps one day, having taken a large dose of motion sickness pills she will get to see what I did!

It’s time for breakfast and then perhaps a nap on the beach, for finally we have made it to the coast.  Sadly Chile is not a cheap country and we will stay here a mere two days before heading to hopefully an equally as beautiful spot in far cheaper Peru!

Love, Jeffrey, 25.01.10

This is the End. (Argentina)

This is the end, the end my friend, the end.  I’m not certain that’s how the lyrics went but it was something like that.  Yesterday I spoke with a friend of mine in Colombia and he gave me a few more cold hard facts.  Firstly that Colombia is not cheap, perhaps not as expensive as Argentina but that it’s not cheap.  Then he told me that the boarders with Venezuela are closed.  That would mean flying and we’ve already discovered that flying in S. America is not cheap.  Then he told me about the boarder to Guyana, also closed, and that Guyana, French Guyana and Suriname, three of the countries I was very excited to visit were expensive, almost Europe prices expensive.  But then almost everything this trip has been almost Europe pricing, so there you go.

The real issue came with the boarders being closed; that’s where it got tough.  With the fact that tomorrow we head to Chile which is definitely more expensive than Argentina and they may take $100 dollars off me even if I do only stay for a few days.  I just feel like somehow South America is way out of my league.  The only countries we can afford to visit are Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.  And Ecuador uses US dollar as it’s currency, so I can’t imagine it being all that cheap.  Bolivia is dangerous, at least it’s the only country in the world I’ve ever been robbed in, and therefore I’m nervous about bringing us back there, and they want $135 dollars from me, so screw that!  All in all, it’s difficult.  For those of you that have been reading about the trip so far you will know that I’ve been stressed, more or less stressed about money since I arrived, and I’m hoping the decisions we made yesterday will alleviate some of that pain.

Last night we decided to leave early.  After reviewing our situation the decision was an easy one, not a desired one, but in the end easily made.  We have come up with around seven more weeks, leaving in the middle of March.  I will look in the next days about a flight back to New York and we will both stay there till our wedding.  I will find any job and Jeanie will keep my mom company.

This is how it has to be in many ways.  And in many ways it makes the most sense.  We have money now, we have money for our wedding visa and lawyer and perhaps if I get a decent job in New York then we will even have some money for our move to London.  My only consolation in us leaving in seven weeks time is that I really hope we’ll be able to take a cycling trip in Europe this summer for two or three weeks.  We can head around France and not worry about a thing until it all kicks off in September.

The next seven weeks in Peru and Ecuador, plus a short spell in Colombia will hopefully be much more gratifying, and perhaps knowing that we have less time now I’ll try not to worry about the money as much.  It really has come to a shock to the system how far over our budget we went, we have gone!

This trip has not gone how we had expected, and it’s sad as we were so excited about the trip in the coming months.  It has showed me how accustomed to Asia I’ve become and something different is certainly not bad!  Perhaps for our next big trip, hopefully to Africa and hopefully with a lot more money in our pockets we will be more prepared and at least have some idea of what’s around the corner!  It’s now 11am and we are just starting out day.  So I’m going to check my mails and have some breakfast with my woman.  Tomorrow we are on a bus all day and all night, so I’ll speak to you all again on Monday from Chile!

Love Jeffrey 23/01/10

I suddenly really miss my mother (Paraguay)

I suddenly really miss my mother.  I can’t explain this euphoric feeling that’s come over me just now.  I occasionally get quite frightened when this feeling comes about, however I don’t feel that death has come, I simply miss my mum.  We have seen a lot of each other this past year and as a result perhaps she’s in my mind more than she has been at other times.  It could also be that Jeanie and I are struggling in this trip a bit at the moment.  Not as a couple but in a travelling sense.  We have yet to find somewhere we are really happy with, a place or even a country where we can say wow, this is great.  I can’t take anything away from Paraguay because we will both leave here in a few days thinking the world of it.  The people are very friendly, the landscape is beautiful and if you can find the natural wonders then this too is impressively pristine as there is so little industry for tourism, both domestic and foreign.

With that being said we’ve come to realize we need a bit of tourism, we need to meet some other people or couples where hanging out and sharing ideas and laughs are possible.  So far with the exception of our day with the Peace Core people we have not had that, and amazingly enough some of our already fondest memories surround the presence of others.  Anyone who’s ever broken up after a long trip together and realized they spent too much time together and not enough time with others will understand; the rest of you might just think we are crazy and don’t have a very solid relationship.  Well luckily I’d say that latter group were wrong!

I’m going to go out of this dark depressing room now.  Get some yogurt for breakfast and find a way to entertain myself before we head to the capital, Ascusion for the day.  We are planning on doing a little site seeing but this depends on how Jeanie’s leg is feeling.  She’s still in a lot of pain from the climbing done at Salto Cristal.

Talk to you later perhaps,

Jeffrey 19/01/10

It should be said (Paraguay)

It should be said I’ve now started this post three times today.  Once this morning where I got in all of “La Colmena” once this afternoon where I didn’t even get that far, and now, where perhaps I’ll manage to write something of use beyond this first paragraph!

La Colmena is the place we were in yesterday and for two days in total.  We headed there with the idea of visiting some falls called Salto Cristal.  Cristal would indicate clear water and Salto is the word for Waterfalls.  Our hunt for somewhere both relaxing and beautiful has still alluded us and my hope was this would be our spot.  Sadly as i’ve already said, we were there for two days.  As soon as we arrived  in the midst of mid-day heat we went searching for a hotel.  We came to the Hotel Kichimi run by a Japaneese woman which seemed odd but having already been in a German colony we were ready to accept anything.  The place appeared clean and the price for a shared toilet bedroom was 70k which is above our 50k preference but we were willing to accept that.  I asked if we could see the room first, wanting to know what it looked like and feeling that there may be other options in town I figured why not have a look.  This turned into an unexpected issue.  For five minutes we discussed in Spanish why it was impossible for me to see the room.  She kept assuring me it was clean and I kept assureing her I believed her but wanted to see the room in case it didn’t suit our desires.

At some point she simply walked away back into her kitchen and left us standing there frusterated.  We were off to find another place.  I discoved my instickts were partially correct.  There existed a hostel, well, a woman who rented rooms from her house.  We had a look at this and deciding we were not mortally insulted by the Japaneese woman we returned to what had to be cleaner room.  On our walk back we came to the conclusion we must have run into some cultural misunderstanding; for she did not seem rude or mean spirited in any way, and with it being such a bizzar issue to bicker over we were glad when she didn’t seem dismissive upon our return and indded the rest of our encounter was pleasant enough.

As we’d come to find Salto Cristal it was the first question I asked of the cleaning girl who showed us to our room.  She said it was far away, 12 kilometers, and that there were public busses going there but that it was very far.  When I asked her if she’d been there she said no, and he co-worker who’d now joined in had also never been there.  Perhaps it’s the exhaustion of spending three weeks looking for that perfect spot or the pessimism of age but it was then that Jeanie and I decided the falls were unlikely to show themselves to us.

We spent the afternoon looking around the town and deciding that one day would be enough in this city anyway.  As we returned to the hotel in the evening after our all too common Hamberger meal there were a group of boys sitting in the court yard speaking Enlgish.  As we walked past them to our room I asked Jeanie if we should go speak to them, we’d already discussed trying to be more open in meeting people when given the opportunity, so we jumped in.

They turned out to be a group of Peace Corp volenteers down for the weekend to go for the falls!  Perhaps our fortunes had changed.  It took a little while but we managed to talk ourselves into joining them in their van the next day.   17/01/10

Salto Cristal.

I know I need to write this bit!…..

Welcome to Villa Florida (Paraguay)

Welcome to Villa Florida the nicest city this side of Asuncion.  This morning we got up yet again at seven to catch a bus!  I don’t know what it is about travelling in Paraguay, or perhaps it’s travelling with Jeanie  but seven am seems all to common an hour our alarm clock goes off.  Can you believe it that I didn’t wake up this often to an alarm clock in New York.  For four months living there I only ever needed one on Sunday and the occasional Wednesday where here, while on “holiday” it’s almost every morning.  Something’s not right!

Enough complaining!  We got up at seven and were waiting on the side of the road by half seven on our way to Encarnacion for another transfer.  Everything went really well, we actually had to transfer three times but they were all seamless and although we ran over budget once again today we both had quite a nice day it has to be said.  Jeanie slept for the entirety of the first two busses and having told her we were only two cities away I made the mistake to fall asleep on the third bus.  It was not until I was suddenly woken by the conductor asking me if we were getting off at Villa Florida that I discovered the extent of my error.  He kept saying it was only one kilometre back as we got off the bus with sleep still sitting in my eye.

I scoweled at Jeanie but her little girl blushes only made me angry at myself for falling asleep.  As usual whenever she’s at fault and knows it I end up taking on the blame!  How do women do it?

The early afternoon sun had arrived and our walk back was two kilometres at most, so not too bad despite the heat.  A long bridge took us across a large clean looking lake that invited me in with every glance before heading into the town of Villa Florida.  We knew we’d arrived thanks to a large Coca-Cola sign welcoming us, Jeanie thought that was sweat of them!

A hotel appeared straight away, a bit posh looking but it had to be tried.  They wanted eighty thousand, our general budget being fifty I didn’t bother to look at the room, said my thank-yous and kept going.  The next hotel was far smaller but still along the main Route 1.  We’d yet to hit anything like a town centre and I senceed there’d be a few hotels in this town.  It had a large red dot on our map indicating a primary city.

The matron of Hotel Playa was not as old or as kind looking as our previous nights matron.  She told me a double would be eighty thousand and when I balked at the price she showed me a meagre room with one twin bed, one single bed, and a small side table.  The room could not have fit anything more and for Jeanie and I to have moved about the room would have been difficult.  It was dark and dank and didn’t work for us, plus it was fifty with separate toilet.  I was sure the bigger hotel down the road for a bit more money would be worth it if it came down to these two hotels.

I was ready to see what Villa Florida was all about and as the matron showed us the exit we begain our journey away from the main road and down a long wide tree lined street that at once felt like a pleasant high street.  The houses we passed were large, really large with many different designs and large manicured guardens.  Where were all those people talking about when they said Paraguay was poor and dangerous.  Both of us looked at each other and knew immidiatly that we would like nothing more than to live in such poverty!

The first business we came across was a Supermarcado and next door a Restaurant.  I asked in the super market if there was a hotel around and was sad to hear the only ones in town were the two on the road.  The park diagonally opposite suggested a larger town than perhaps we were actually in.  The beauty of the place from start to finish spoke of a lakeside Holiday Inn or some such equivalent.  Having spent the entire morning on the bus however meant we were hungry and any decisions reguarding accomidation were to be made after lunch.

My joy at finding a restaurant serving more than the standard Hambergar, Empinada and Mianessa was palpable.  I ordered chicken with spaghetti for both of us and waited in delightful anticipation.  One of the most amusing aspects of Paraguaian cusine is it all comes with bread.  Despite one not needing the large chunks or rolls we are continually given it’s becoming convienant as I never have to buy bread and simply save it for sandwich making later on!

We ate our tasty lunch, took half of it with us and walked straight back to the large hotel.  Barring a horrible dirty room there was no doubt in my mind where we would stay.  It was not horrible and the addition of Breakfast and Air Conditioning sealed the deal.  Tomorrow we will have to travel thirty-five kilometres to San Juan Bautista for a cash point so again the alarm is set for seven am; can’t wait!

Good night x 13/01/10

You’ll have to excuse me (Paraguay)

You’ll have to excuse me if I’m a little cranky this evening, I’ve just lost at Scrabble and never like when that happens.  I threw an especially large little fit as my last word would have aloud me to win but Jeanie halted me attempt with a useless word!

Anyway, our day today!  We are in this German town called Hohenau; I don’t know how to say it either if that makes you feel any better.  We left San Cosme two days ago early in the morning after I spent a large part of the night on the toilet.  We managed the four hours to Trinidad without any problems however the only hotel we then found wanted $20 a night and that’s beyond our budget.  This being the case we came to this German town, it was founded in 1900 by Germans, other than this I know nothing.  There appear to be a few Germans around but otherwise it’s all the same.

We had gone to San Cosme to look at the Jesuit ruins but found the price tag of $5 each a bit expensive.  We had hoped that coming to Trinidad and Jesus a more impressive display would be on show for the same price.  We already knew the price would be the same but didn’t know what was on offer.  Once we managed to find a cheap room I had to sleep, I think it was bad meat that put me out for twenty-four hours.  One of the nice bonuses of everywhere we’ve been so far is that we can drink the water, and the taste of the Paraguay water is actually far superior to that of Uruguay.

Although we didn’t know what to expect when we arrived in Paraguay and we’ve still only been here for four days I have to say we are very pleasantly surprised.  Understanding this to be a poor and possibly unsafe country we are finding a cheap yet developed country with extremely nice people.  I Jeanie’s own words:

“Even today when I should have felt in danger I didn’t.  Walking by twelve men with machetes out in the middle of nowhere should make me nervous.  But it didn’t, they could have killed you and taken me to the woods without anyone knowing but they are just so friendly I never worried and they said good morning instead of asking for our money!”

It’s true, they did seem very nice, a little surprised to see us on the road but not vicious at all.  Now let me tell you what we were doing!  This morning we woke up early and headed to the town of Jesus which I’d read is a UNESCO site.  The road outside of our hotel is route 6, one of the major routes in the country and therefore it’s easy to grab one of the many busses passing to take us the eight k down the road.  Once we got to the turnoff to Jesus there was a big sign announcing 11.6 Kilometres to the village.  It’s overcast and the air still holds the morning coolness so we start walking.  Generally busses run on all the roads so there was never much of a concern on over a but coming.

We walked, and walked and got tired and kept walking.  Eventually, about two hours later we got to Jesus, no bus had passed.  We come to a small park with a couple benches and melt into them.  Just as we do so I see a bus pass!

Once we finally got to the ruins we were told for the first time that the five dollar ticket included entrance into all the three sites we looked at going to.  This made us feel better but annoyed us as we would have got to the San Cosme site if we’d known.  The best part was our budget would survive the one ticket where we’d been worried about it surviving the two tickets.

We walked around a very impressive hollowed cathedral from the 17th Century and enjoyed our feeling of accomplishment on walking the twelve plus kilometres to the site!  We then managed to find a Gypsy taxi to bring us back down to the main road and went to the Trinidad ruins where we would have most certainly been disappointed with paying a five dollar entry.  Although nice and larger they were in a greater state of ruin.

I’m tired now; we’ve had our first Paraguayan meal for lunch, a most amazing plate of beef steaks of filets with pasta in some very good sauce.  Sadly our landlady only does lunch; therefore we’re still stuck with the staple diet of Hamburger, Millinessa, or Empanadas.  On another occasion I’ll explain further what the latter two are! Tomorrow we will get up early again and head to Villa Florida, our furthest destination yet, perhaps six hours in total on two busses.  We once again will have to go back to Encarnacion, our entry point, as anytime you go past it you must change busses and get a new one, it’s a little strange but works, the whole system here works. At the moment Jeanie just keeps saying she may have to make this her favourite country and that we should take our time here!  We are both very pleasantly impressed and look forward to yet another day sleeping on the busses and looking at unspoilt countryside.

Speak soon,

Jeffrey 12/01/10

San Cosme Paraguay

San Cosme Paraguay.

I sit in a midsized room with two beds an air conditioner and a single brown beside table.  The air conditioner rumbles along in the background, both doing its job admirably and keeping the noise down more than one would expect from the barren surroundings.

Room number 1 is upstairs on the first floor.  It was decided unsuitable almost immediately.  The other five rooms upstairs were never even considered it would seem.  As I followed the girl up the steps she opened room number one only to shut the door before I could get a decent glance.  The only thing I saw was a dimmed room; clearly it had a curtained window.  The entire room appeared red and as this is unlikely I’d venture to guess the curtain was red.  There were two beds, perhaps singles and a pillow lobbed into the middle of one.  This made me think the room was unmade since the last person and therefore unsuitable.

“Tiennes un camas ou dose camas?” (I can’t spell in Spanish for those of you that can)!

“One bed is fine.” I told the young lady of perhaps fifteen.  She’d been the first one to respond to my earlier knocking.  Not by coming out of this single storied building but by asking me from the neighbouring garden what I would like.  She then disappeared for a spell before arriving with keys.  We headed back down the stairs, back to our bags and an open but covered garage full of water.  Off she went again.

I don’t know if it was my Spanish or her finding talk unnecessary but when she came back with a broom of some sort and started clearing away the rain water she didn’t say a word.  I told Jeanie we must be looking at a room downstairs, but had no idea myself.  Eventually the water was gone and with the hard work done a boy of no more than eighteen took control.  He showed me my present room and the outside toilet.  The cost: 50,000 (Fifty Thousand) Guaraní’s.

Wow, seems like a lot right?  Well don’t worry, telling him we would stay two or three days, always a good bargaining chip and the truth in this case I was able to knock five thousand off the price!  In case for some reason you’re not too familiar with the current exchange rate with Guaraní’s and USD we were looking at paying around nine dollars a night.

Still more than I’d happily pay in Asia it’s not bad at all considering the luxury of air conditioning.  This is our first town in Paraguay and both of us are very happy to be here.  Paraguay it seems is the forgotten country.  There were no tourists crossing when we did on that lonesome Saturday morning.  It’s now Sunday night and we’ve yet to see one, and don’t expect to just yet.

This town is small, it’s a strange entity all of it’s own with the High Street being unpaved yet most of the other roads we walked on paved.  They are more cobbles stoned really but still quite nice and as it’s rained both days we’ve been here the high street, the one with our restaurant and ice cream parlour have been most difficult.

I’m sorry my friends, there is much more I would like to tell you but I’m starting to fade, it’s just gone ten and we must wake up at six tomorrow for a half six bus.  We are going to a UNESCO       World Heritage city tomorrow and I’ll write more from there.  It will be very interesting to see if there is tourism there, perhaps we’ll even buy a postcard of some of the Jesuit Ruins,

Love

Jeffrey 10/01/10

Puerto Iguaçu once again proved (Argentina)

Puerto Iguaçu once again proved to be something amazing.  The site of most certainly the largest cluster of Waterfalls in the world on the boarder of Brazil and Argentina is something anyone should find themselves fortunate to see.

Three days ago we left Uruguay and all its beauty to head towards these amazing falls.  Our week in Uruguay had been a good one by any account and with more money to spend we most certainly would have spent more time in this extremely friendly country filled with old interesting architecture and an incredibly safe vibe.  I have to say so far we’ve felt nothing but safe I would like to mention.

(I’m sorry if my words this morning seem a bit jangled, it’s middle of the afternoon, I’ve just woken up and my brain is not fully functional yet)!

As some of you know that’s to our Mexicana flight being five hours late I had to pay USD$131 to enter Argentina.  On our arrival via a “launcha” from Uruguay the Argentinean immigration officer actually asked me if I needed a visa!  Why didn’t I get this on my arrival on the 27^th!  A simple no and we were both happy, I was stamped and he had returned to sitting in front of his gigantic fan moving the already hot morning air around his little collapsing office.

Back in Argentina we walked at least half an hour in a city far less interesting than Salto, the one we’d come from.  Eventually arriving at the bus station sweaty and hungry we went in search of our ticket to the falls.  I was prepared for the twelve hour bus ride while trying not to think of the cost.  Our first window was the right one and the woman quickly handed the realms over to a younger thinner man who spoke English.  She spoke faster than Speedy Gonzalez, Jeanie’s favourite cartoon rat!

The 7pm bus, a mere eight hours from now had only one seat left.  The 10pm bus had two seats for us however it costs about ten dollars more each and makes us sit around another three hours in the terminal.  After discussing it and telling the man we would take the 10pm bus he left the booth without saying as much as a word.  The woman seemed to understand what was going on however as she paid us no attention.  We could see him running around and talking to different people but we had no idea what he was doing.  Finally he went back into his air conditioned box and spoke to us.  “The other bus company (previous to this statement he claimed to be the only one) also have one seat available on a 7:30pm bus.  If you want we can have you each on one bus and meet there?”  If Jeanie were a bloke I would have saved twenty dollars.  Was it really necessary for me to even consult her on this new situation?  Not really!

My man in the booth said the bus at ten was not leaving from the station; instead I would have to be picked up at the main road, a fifteen kilometre taxi ride that would cost about that in Peso’s.  He said we should be back here at half nine and the quickly quickly girl would find us a taxi and handle the details.  I handed over a hundred dollars, well technically my little piece of plastic that now represents money in many places and told him we would see him in twelve hours.

Twelve hours later this man was at home watching TV with his girlfriend giving him a hand job…well, he was anywhere but at the bus station at least, what kind of idiot did I think him to be!  Quickly quickly however was there and made us wait outside her little air conditioned box for twenty minutes while we watched the clock tick ever closer to 22:02.  Yes that’s the time on our ticket!  After having a ciggie with a friend and enjoying time in the ice box she finally came out and led us to a taxi.  The meter started at a dollar and the clock said 21:48.  I had to wonder.

By 21:58 Jeanie was getting nervous.  We had left the city limits and were driving down an unlit street in an unknown city at 21:59.  By 22:05 the car had stopped next to a dual lane carriageway and a police check point.  We waited.  We waited some more.  We got tired of waiting.  We said to ourselves: okay at midnight we quit.  We didn’t have the guts to say it aloud however and at 23:46 we celebrated the arrival of our bus and the honestly of our taxi driver.  You know, he didn’t rob and kill us!

I’ve actually just had to go back to the top of the page to see what I was talking about in the first place!  I know I told a bit of this story the other day, so I hope you enjoyed the retelling!  Maybe the Quickly quickly character is funny?  Maybe not?  Perhaps I should simply give up now and go to dinner?  Jeanie has passed out next to me on the bed due to hunger!  Yes, I think I will stop.  You will not realize that my next paragraph will be written hours from now, you lucky audience you!

Sorry my friends but I didn’t get back to you and now I’ve written the next one! x 09/01/10