Our night in Ciudad Del Este was interrupted at 3am when Rhys discovered
a Shar-Pei in the courtyard and decided it would be a great idea to
entice him in the room, after shoving him back out again (the dog, not
Rhys) he spent the next hour trying to break down the door, we left
quickly the next day before they saw the damage and boarded a bus for
Asuncion, the capital.
Two facts about Ciudad del Este for you, one it's one of the biggest mafia run towns in the world and two, Paraguay used to have three main cities, Conception, Asuncion and Encarnacion named for the conception, assumption and incarnation of Christ, when they built the 4th city in the 1960's there were no names left so after a lot of debate they chose 'City of the East', creative hey.
The hostel in Asuncion was brilliant, El Jardin. Run by a Swedish guy, Tomas, and his wife it’s set around a courtyard with fruit trees and lanterns and everything is so clean and fresh, the showers were unbeatable. The first night we just slept and the second day walked in to town to see the sites. Paraguay isn’t really set up for tourists, and even less so for those that only speak a few words of Spanish. The Presidential Palace based on Versailles and the Panteon dos Heroes were nice enough as was the random museum of spinning tops and feathers but after two hours we’d exhausted the guidebooks suggestions. Back at the hostel we got talking to some other travellers and headed to the Britannia pub, a British themed pub owned by Germans, where it happened to be Oktoberfest. A few 2 ½ litre beer taps later (a bargain at £5) and some tequilas we went back to the hostel.
As the hostel was so peaceful and a little haven we were happy to just chill and chat to the other travellers and Tomas the owner. That evening Tomas was going to a centenary, friendly game for his football team, one of the two biggest teams in Paraguay, Club Cerro Porteno against Boca Junior so we tagged along. A great experience, fireworks and flares in the stadiums (I say stadium loosely) and more flags and banners than you can throw a stick at. That night was a return to the Britannia.
Another quiet day followed. We ventured out long enough to visit the cemetery which in a roman catholic country I had imagined would be really ornate but was actually just creepy as some of them had been broken in to and you could see the skeletons, urgh.
Having spent 4 nights in Asuncion and recharged we decided to head north to Laguna Blanca. First was a 6 hour bus ride to Santa Rosa where when we arrived the last bus to the lake had already left. After walking all 200m of the main street we decided to get a cab the last 30km. An hour later down a dirt track and we arrived at the ranch. The lake was beautiful and serene, perfectly clear and so clean it was pumped into the taps to drink. There was a white sand beach, 3 other visitors, an eco station and a million bugs. Eating dinner was an event trying to dodge the dive bombing beetles. That night brought an incredible electric storm that went on all night, our room didn’t have glass windows just shutters and the wind and the rain came howling in.
We spent the next day on the beach and exploring the reserve and as the other guests had left we had the place to ourselves. That night we sat on the beach watching the stars. Back at our room we spotted a massive spider and slept with the light on so we could keep an eye on it.
The next day we headed further north.
Two facts about Ciudad del Este for you, one it's one of the biggest mafia run towns in the world and two, Paraguay used to have three main cities, Conception, Asuncion and Encarnacion named for the conception, assumption and incarnation of Christ, when they built the 4th city in the 1960's there were no names left so after a lot of debate they chose 'City of the East', creative hey.
The hostel in Asuncion was brilliant, El Jardin. Run by a Swedish guy, Tomas, and his wife it’s set around a courtyard with fruit trees and lanterns and everything is so clean and fresh, the showers were unbeatable. The first night we just slept and the second day walked in to town to see the sites. Paraguay isn’t really set up for tourists, and even less so for those that only speak a few words of Spanish. The Presidential Palace based on Versailles and the Panteon dos Heroes were nice enough as was the random museum of spinning tops and feathers but after two hours we’d exhausted the guidebooks suggestions. Back at the hostel we got talking to some other travellers and headed to the Britannia pub, a British themed pub owned by Germans, where it happened to be Oktoberfest. A few 2 ½ litre beer taps later (a bargain at £5) and some tequilas we went back to the hostel.
As the hostel was so peaceful and a little haven we were happy to just chill and chat to the other travellers and Tomas the owner. That evening Tomas was going to a centenary, friendly game for his football team, one of the two biggest teams in Paraguay, Club Cerro Porteno against Boca Junior so we tagged along. A great experience, fireworks and flares in the stadiums (I say stadium loosely) and more flags and banners than you can throw a stick at. That night was a return to the Britannia.
Another quiet day followed. We ventured out long enough to visit the cemetery which in a roman catholic country I had imagined would be really ornate but was actually just creepy as some of them had been broken in to and you could see the skeletons, urgh.
Having spent 4 nights in Asuncion and recharged we decided to head north to Laguna Blanca. First was a 6 hour bus ride to Santa Rosa where when we arrived the last bus to the lake had already left. After walking all 200m of the main street we decided to get a cab the last 30km. An hour later down a dirt track and we arrived at the ranch. The lake was beautiful and serene, perfectly clear and so clean it was pumped into the taps to drink. There was a white sand beach, 3 other visitors, an eco station and a million bugs. Eating dinner was an event trying to dodge the dive bombing beetles. That night brought an incredible electric storm that went on all night, our room didn’t have glass windows just shutters and the wind and the rain came howling in.
We spent the next day on the beach and exploring the reserve and as the other guests had left we had the place to ourselves. That night we sat on the beach watching the stars. Back at our room we spotted a massive spider and slept with the light on so we could keep an eye on it.
The next day we headed further north.
Cerro Porteno football game in Asuncion.
 |
| View from our room, Laguna Blanca. |
 |
| El Jardin Hostel, Asuncion. |
 |
| Laguna Blanca. |
 |
| Waiting for a bus to leave Laguna Blanca. |
No comments:
Post a Comment