So we made it to Puerto Iguazú (Argentina), which is situated in a very special place for two reasons. Firstly, it is at a place where the Parana river is the border dividing Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay (viewing platforms on Brazilian and Argentinian side, a muddy shore on Paraguayan... we'll get to that). Secondly, it is very close to the Iguazú falls which are the 'largest waterfalls system in the world'. The amount of water falling down is unbelievable. I can honestly say that was the god of all waterfalls that I have seen (being away from Estonia is getting to me. I am actually little-by-little starting to describe things by more than just 'all right' :D). Anyways, added a picture from the Internet because it is impossible to get a shot that would do this place any justice.
But sights are sights. What we actually will remember the most is the people we stayed at. So the guy we had met on a bus (coming back home to Argentina after living in different parts of the world for 15 years) took us to his friends' place where we camped in the garden for some nights. We were the first europeans (non latin-american) that they had ever had a longer conversation with and seemed to be pleasantly suprised that we don't bite. We had long conversations in Spanglish and tasted the best barbecue - asado.
Random facts about Argentina before moving on to a new country.
*They love their asado and they are very good at it (and are not shy to say it). There are grills burning on random streets and by the road (and under the bridges or in the middle of the road) from morning until evening.
*They are crazy about their maté. Every morning every Argentinian takes his/her maté cup, fills it with the herbs, fills a thermos with hot water and walks around the whole day, pouring new water on the herbs and drinking it through a metal straw. When friends/family come out together, then they share one or two sets of thermos and cup.
*Argentina is quite expensive, which is the reason why we spent so little time in this country. It had cut a bit of a hole in our budget (despite the fact that we had still not paid for any hotels-motels so far).
So we decided that we are tired and need a rest. After working our asses off in Australia (it was physically pretty hard and crazy hours) and then going from one place to another almost every day, solving random problems, not really eating properly and being a bit ill doing it... we decided to try to find a place to rent for a month. We knew that Paraguay was cheap, we didn't know anything else about it. We tried to find some couchsurfing places or Airbnb but there were not too many options... and hotels (especially cheaper range ones) were almost impossible to find online.
Paraguay is one mysterious country - noone knows anything about it. Years ago, Asunción was the first center of all the exploration of all the continent and they had the first railway the whole South America. Then they decided to fight with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay (I have now heard at least for versions about the starting reasons), lost the war (duh...), lost 90% of their male population and have not really recovered ever since.
The country spends literally nothing on developing any kind of tourism (I believe that this is the official page for any tourists visiting the country. http://peltolaparaguay.weebly.com ) and there are almost no sights recommended anywhere. We have now spent 1,5 weeks in this country and we have seen four non-latinos, all here because of some (volunteering) project, not tourists. We have met one local person who speaks English. So I can not stress enough how un-touristic this country is. The only place you can buy souvenirs is the central square of the capital - they fill just a corner of the square because there are no people there to buy them anyway (I am sure there actually are a few in the capital... probably).
To top it all off, about half of the country is virtually uninhabited. In the western half of the country, the Chako, lives only 2% of the whole population of the country. If you have done something really bad, this is the dry forest, where you will never be found.
Already entering the country, there was no border control - we asked to be dropped off the bus by the border and asked to get stamps in our passports to show that we have entered the country legally. We also gave clearly not satisfactory answers to their questions about our plans in the country etc... but they let us go in anyway.
We spent a few days in Ciudad del Este and paid for a hotel for the first time (here we can finally afford the cheap ones). It is a crazy shopping town where you can get fake everything. The Argentitians have to take their fake CAT shoes over the river from Brazil in a boat (met a guy who was doing that) but the Paraguayans can just walk across the border. Right next to the border crossing are big fancy shopping centers and streets filled with makeshift 'shops' as well. This shopping jungle was where we probably saw a few tourists as well but they could also have been blonde Argentinians (a suprisingly high number of light-haired people in there).
Anyways, we were quite puzzled at first. We were still trying to find a place to rent over the internet but things do not happen through internet around here, especially through any international pages (and pages in English). Every time we were hungry and decided to go out to eat something, all the eating places seemed to be closed (and we had seen them open earlier). The set-up of any given street seemed to change according to the time of day, with businesses opening and closing at seemingly random times. And to top it all off, there was really noone to ask (and even googling gives little answers).
We finally found an Airbnb near Asuncion and although we had not planned to go to Asuncion at all, this seemed to be a place with a good price (and a 45% discount for staying the whole month) so we booked the whole month. We had a two-day stoppover in a town on our way before we finally got to Asuncion and got on a new bus to the location where the Airbnb app had directed us. We were a bit worried because we hadn't heard back from the host but since he had confirmed our stay then we were still optimistic. It turned out that the house did not exist. At least not where we were. And the host was not answering his phone either.
So being obviously pretty disappointed (as we had come from the other side of the country), we wrote to another Airbnb host with a bit more expensive price and asked if we can stay for a few nights (to make new plans), took a bus back to Asuncion, came off at a random stop (where was even the centre we did not understand ... not very clear from google maps) and sat down in a park. The following hours include a new friend crackhead, his friends patroling the streets, a 'hotel' that we paid for by the hour (complete with a used condom in the corner) and some scary and relieving moments. Nothing bad actually happened.. just quite a few 'what the...' moments in one evening.
The 'what the..' moments continued when we made contact with our new host and it turned out that he lived just a few blocks away from the adventures of the previous night. It is also quite a coincidence that our friend the crackhead (I never remembered his name but let's call him Ernest as I have a feeling that I will write about him again) lives right across the street from a local police station in an abandoned mercedes. And the said police station is our neighbour. I have passed his car and seen the light of him smoking from a can.
Our host/landlord Victor lives in a cool apartment with a big balcony with a view to the river (over a slum) so we'll stay here to rest for a month. We didn't want to live in the capital but we have a good deal with someone who can explain the local life to us in English. It would be extremely difficult to find anything like that in a smaller place. We also have three dogs living with us. The newest edition to the family arrived about the same time as us and is a funny little puppy called Pochoclo, who is so fat that he can't get up or down the stairs.
From what I described, it doesn't sound like a very nice neighborhood... well on the one hand, it is not. On the other hand, we are basically at the center of the city and there are safe routes as well (during the day, all routes are safe). In Asunción (and other Paraguayan towns), the city changes a lot also according to which corner you turn and the time of day. One moment, you have tens of busy normal people moving around and doing their thing, behind the next corner, there are wooden shacks built right on streets with people in rags, behind next corner, completely nothing, behind next corner ten bodegas (bottle shops) and fast food places.
In the same apartment that we live in, there is also a Spanish guy who has lived here for four months and he has never had any trouble. It is because despite the way the country may look, all the people are nice and friendly and very helpful and very curious. People here are a bit shy at first because they have most probably never spoken to any Europeans before but very welcoming and nice.
Some random facts about Paraguay:
*People still love asado and maté, but Paraguayans drink even more of Tereré, which is like Matè but cold (you have ice in your thermos) and the 'cup' is made of cow horn. All kinds of different herbs are also added to the mix, which you can buy on street corners.
*They are crazy about Mandioka. It is a kind of root which is usually boiled and then it tastes exactly like boiled potato. They use it like the rest of the world uses bread by the meal (you get a plate of boiled Mandioka with every meal you order) but they also make different bread-like products and other dishes out of it.
*Riding a city bus is quite an experience (it is an experience the first time but a source of frustration all the next times). After you have flagged down a bus (it stops if you signal it) and are almost in the bus, the bus starts to move. The driver is selling you the ticket while at the same time picking up speed and dodging other vehicles. The bus also has stops but apparently you can get on and off wherever you want. Sometimes the bus stops every 50 meters. The bus starts to move and sometimes already 5 seconds later (and I swear I am not exaggerating) someone pushes the button, the bell rings and the bus stops.
The buses go up to 40km out of the center of the town here so in order to get to the last stop in any reasonable time, the driver speeds up very suddenly and stops at the last moment before/after every stop. That means that all older people or mothers with small children are given seats immediately even in packed buses (it would be impossible to stay standing up with this crazy driving)
*You know the 'first train in South America' that Paraguay boasted. It now has no trains or railway. Oh sorry. There is one freight train that very rarely brings some goods from Argentina
*Audiotuning is very popular around here. Quite a lot of people who have money install soundsystems that are so big that they can't close their car trunks anymore. They all listen to the same (horrible) beat while they drive around (and around and around) with the music turned up so loud that the only thing you hear is the panels of the car and the windows of nearby houses shaking. Best place to encounter these species of Paraguayans that we have seen: Caaguazú
*The locals also have a few bars but it is very common (in some areas more common) to sit in front of bodegas. They will even bring you a bucket of ice for the beers (as there are special prices when you buy 3-5)
*The traffic gets crazier in every country we get to (and the police more corrupt)
*Some prices (we still think in Australian dollar so 1EUR = 1,5AUD). Hotel room (out of Asuncion) - 10-20AUD, meal in a cheap restaurant - 3AUD, bus across the country 20AUD, bus in Asunción - 0.75AUD, 1 litre of beer 3AUD, 0,7l bottle of local 'rum' Caña - 3AUD, a packet of cigarettes - 0,75 AUD
*Most people speak Guarani to each other but most speak Spanish also
*Doing anything takes more and more time in every next country that we go to. Simple things like taking money from ATM (longest time: an hour on Sunday evening and a wait of over an hour on Monday morning) or buying a bus ticket takes forever. This is probably one of the reasons why 'being late' has no meaning here. If you get where you planned to get on the same day that you planned, you are not late.
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