Asunción yet again…

The first time I went to Asunción, it wasn’t good. Many reasons. This second time managed to be even worse. Everything started the wrong way. We were supposed to get there by plane, but at the airport they didn’t accept my boyfriend’s documents saying that they were old and ragged looking. We went back home, spent hours on telephone talk and then it was decided we should take the car and hit the road.

We had woken up on a Friday at 4 a.m.; arrived in Foz at 21:30 and waited for J.  to meet us. See, J. has some diplomat’s benefits (and an ID card stating so) and without that we wouldn’t dare driving inside that God forsaken’s country. It’s well known about the corrupt police force that does little other than scheme to extort money from anyone who happens to be from other countries.  Brazil specially. Like I mentioned in that previous post, they still blame us of the failure of a country that they are. The encounters with the policemen made this trip such a nightmare that I even dreamed I was nuking the h*ll out of that accursed country. We arrived in Asunción Saturday at 5 a.m.

Saturday at noon, we woke up for lunch and after that we took a little walk around the same places we had in our first visit almost two years ago, then we headed back to J.’s place for a 4 hours of balloon blowing for Malu’s first anniversary on sunday.

 

 There were only two good things about this trip: I believe I took better photos and on monday on our way back home we passed by the Iguazy Falls. (The photos from the Iguazu Falls I’ll share on the next post). Other than that, I wish I hadn’t taken this trip. It was beyond tiresome, stressful, frustrating…

Monday we were up at 3 a.m. to hit the road again. But as it happens monday was a national holiday in Paraguay and most of the roads and streets were blocked by vulture looking policemen. Their eyes, so hungry, staring eagerly, wishing they had their vehicles so they could chase after us for a quick easy buck. So, because of that we had to take a different and unknown road, which took us to a “city” called Luque and… well, I usually say that with google maps one can’t get lost in this world anymore, and we found out that it doesn’t apply to Paraguay. We rode in circles for 2 hours. Also, here in Brazil, when we arrive at a dirt road we know we’ve taken a wrong turn and we are hopelessly lost. There in Luque, we had to take a never ending dirt road to reach the road we wished, hoping it was the right way.

The problem is not getting lost… but getting lost in a place where the police will commit horrors if you fall in the wrong hands, wrong place, wrong time… We were stopped many times on our way to Asunción and back, and I assure you that was most unpleasant, to say the least. Unpleasant until J. showed them his ID. It was “beautiful” to see how the bullies all of a sudden became buttsore sheeps. I hope to never go back to Paraguay… unless I’m sure to go to the Jesuit ruins, and well escorted too.

All along the road trip we saw signs saying: “It’s forbidden to make fires”, still… we were engulfed by smoke from bonfires set just a few feet from the road. I’d make a jest about it, but I happen to know stupid people are to be found everywhere in the world.

There are some very peculiar sights along the road from Asunción to Ciudad del Est, many places selling Chipas (some kind of bread made with cheese and lard) and Mate tea, chairs,  dolls, wooden horses, many many other cheap stuff, but mostly Chipas and Mate tea.

Forgive me, everyone, for the harsh words. I had to get it out, so I won’t forget…