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It had been 15 years since the first, and last, time were were in Paraguay when we stayed for two nights in Asunción. It didn't take us long to realise that the city had completely changed. We didn't recognise anything. We got stuck in a huge traffic jam that is normal now and went past numerous McDonald’s and Burger Kings etc. At least the petrol is cheaper than in Argentina.
It was 39°C, extremely loud, and Kirsten was shouting directions for me so I could negotiate my way through the taxis, mopeds, buses, pot holes. Not easy! We had to go around the houses to find a parking space and only got one in the sun. Kirsten went off to get us cash but had to wait a while. At least she got air conditioning - I had to stay with the motor home and was battling over 50°C inside the driving cab!! Our thermometer obviously only goes up to 50°C because it kept showing "---" and then it would flash back to 48.8 before staying permanently on "---".
Fortunately a shady spot became available so I moved over to it and managed to reverse in on my own. Phew! At least a bit of relief from this unbearable heat. One hour later Kirsten came back. She'd done some shopping at a supermarket for the basics so we could drive straight to a hotel where we would be staying. But she had over 4 million Guaranís!!! Wow! We're millionaires! Okay, it's only $750 US but still, 4 million sounds great!!
We set off again in the traffic but then I had to do an emergency stop! Kirsten suddenly thought she'd been given far too few notes and could have been out by half the money. She frantically got the money out - all 100,000 notes (approx $20) but only 43. She kept counting and then the heat frazzled the brain cells because it took a while for us to work out that 43 x 100,000 is 4.3 million ... the correct amount.
Poor thing. She was panicking thinking we'd lost half the money and desperately trying to calculate huge numbers in this heat! We finally worked it out and the panic was over but Kirsten's heart rate was still high!
We managed to drive to Hotel Westfalia, run by a German family, and where we can park safely for only 10,000 Gua each per night (approx $2 each). The parking area is guarded by an electric sliding door and a high wall. We had electricity, water, and the use of the pool and a shower room/toilet. Super! There was another German motor home, Guenther and Ilka, already parked there but they were out in the city and didn't return until the evening.
At first we parked next to them until we found another plug under a roof on the opposite side of the parking area. So we moved and parked on a tiled area. At least we had shade and we also stayed dry as there were thunderstorms on most days. Some of the storms were so heavy that the water flooded the tiles by our side door!
The temperature was so high that the heat was too much for us. We stayed in bathing gear all day and went to cool down under the shower several times a day. The outdoor pool was too warm!! I was having a real problem with my back and could only lie down. It was too warm inside so I used our lounger but Kirsten had to help me down onto it. She also had to help me back up whenever I needed to go to the toilet or get under the shower. Not good.
On the second day I was lying on the lounger but the foot part needed to go down a notch. I asked Kirsten to help me. To get it down further you need to fold that half of the lounger in on itself to reset it before pulling it back into a horizontal position. I wanted Kirsten to help me up so she could adjust it but she managed to get me stuck inside by grabbing the bottom half and pulling it up with me still on the lounger!!
My legs were pointing up towards the sky and the pain was so bad I shouted for her to stop but she just laughed!! I couldn't move my legs to the side. "Help" I cry out, but that made her laugh even more. I managed to get my legs to the side and Kirsten helped me up. She was still laughing and I was in severe pain!!
Later I made the mistake of asking her to cut my toe nails. They were really too long and I wished I'd cut them a week ago! She nearly cut the skin and bent my toes and nails to cut them. Jeez!! Never again!
We went to the hotel restaurant twice to eat as it was too hot to cook inside the motor home and the hotel restaurant served German food. At least one of the thunderstorms cooled us down a bit to 34°C though so I managed to make us a typical British meal for one of the evenings - salmon with parsley sauce and potatoes.
My back was so bad that Kirsten managed to get me an appointment with a chiropractor with the help of the hotel owner/manager Annette. We got a taxi there rather than battle with the traffic but it took us 35 minutes and was really painful. When we got there the office was closed!! Hmmm? What now?
We waited and after 15 minutes the chiropractor arrived. He is Argentinian and has two practices, one in Corrientes, Argentina and the other in Asunción. He spends 3 days at each but has to drive 340km every Monday to get to Asunción. He was late because the border crossing took longer than usual!
We had a bit of a problem understanding him so he had to repeat things a few times and after hearing my circumstances he set about putting me right. Unfortunately it involved a lot of pain!
He used an adjustable bench and spent over an hour cracking various vertebrae including the neck! Yeow! That was followed by more pain as he massaged my back muscles and the whole of my right leg where all the sciatica pain is. Then he even used acupuncture. It cost $50 US dollars and we made another appointment for two days later. I didn't know whether it was the right thing to do but I needed to try something. Maybe all the pain means it's working. He told me to use lots of ice on my back and to continue with the exercises I'd been doing.
Afterwards we decided to get a bus into the city centre not the best idea. The bus drivers are terrible - Kirsten was nearly flown through the front windscreen trying to pay because the driver set off (0 to 60 in two seconds!!) just as we'd got inside. I got thrown against the turnstile which hurt my hip! Jeez, the driver stomped on the accelerator and then stomped on the brakes and continued like that all the way into the city centre!! We were glad the bus ride was only 15 minutes long!!
When we were here 15 years ago we walked along virtually empty streets with hardly any traffic. That has definitely changed now but we still went on a small tour which included the railway museum ($2 US entrance fee), German bakery (cakes and a cold drink), Palacio and the tourist info centre where we picked up some maps.
The congressional house of parliament looked like it had been hit by a bomb! Yep, there was a political uprising 9 months ago and a lot of the building was damaged. It didn't look like they were going to repair it either. We moved on to the Cathedral which was closed and then got another bus back to the hotel.
The bus system here is complicated and there aren't any bus stops, except in the city centre and buses with the same number don't necessarily take the same route! Lots of buses have more than one number on it plus several names of places they go to that aren't on our maps because they are just buildings or city areas. Even the locals have to flag down buses and ask the driver if he's going where they want to get to!!
Our second bus ride wasn't as bad as the first but we still got thrown around and I had to stand up because it hurt my back less. We used the map to track our route towards the hotel but then the street names disappeared. No signs up. The map showed the names but if the street signs are missing then the map isn't much use, is it?!
We ended up having to ask another passenger where we needed to get off and then it took us three stops to get off the bus! The first try - we were standing at the wrong exit door! The driver lurched on to the next stop and we needed to hang on and get to a different exit. Next stop - right exit but we couldn't open the doors. Before we realised that we needed to press a button to open the doors the driver had already lurched off again! We finally got off at the third stop!!
Guenther and Ilka had already left but we had new neighbours - Ralph and Janneke from Holland. Their land rover also fit under the roof. I had to lie down whilst Kirsten introduced us to our new neighbours and later got me some ice from the hotel. It seemed to work or at least just numbed the whole area. Janneke felt really sorry for me because she had had the same problem!
The next day we went for our dentist appointment. We had problems with the buses again as we had to wait ages before one turned up and then we got off too early and had to walk for 15 minutes in the extreme heat. We were 15 minutes late when we arrived but fortunately it didn't matter because we still had to wait 20 minutes before we were called in.
Dr Neufeld speaks German even though he was born in Paraguay and has a very modern practice. He has a great sense of humour and we got on very well with him. I went first as we were only there for a check up and cleaning which he carried out himself.
Then it was Kirsten's turn and it didn't take long for Dr Neufeld to find a problem. He said that one of Kirsten's wisdom teeth didn't look too good. How does he know that Kirsten has wisdom teeth? They are all under the skin and can't be seen. Kirsten said they're not a problem but he took an x-ray and told her that the tooth was no longer covered by skin. He pointed out a black area under the wisdom tooth on the screen which meant there was decay. The tooth had to be removed!
Kirsten needed to use a mirror to see for herself. All her wisdom teeth have been covered by the gums for decades. We were both surprised to see the tooth exposed. If the tooth isn't removed she could end up with a bone infection. Not good! She also has a 40 year old amalgam filling on the other side that needs to be removed.
So, for the very first time, we both go to the dentist and Kirsten is the one who needs something done. Every other time it's always been me!
Kirsten didn't want it done so close to Christmas (it's the 19th December) and Dr Neufeld is away for the first 3 weeks in January as his daughter is getting married, so we made three appointments for the end of January/beginning of February.
Afterwards we walked a few blocks to get to a new Casa Rica German supermarket that Dr Neufeld told us about. Kirsten's eyes really lit up when she found marzipan stollen - a typical German marzipan bread. Of course it cost 3 times more than in Germany but she needed a treat after the bad news from the dentist.
We were both really hungry and the supermarket had lots of different hot foods in stainless steel trays under heat lamps. We asked if we could eat it in the balcony area above where we could see tables and chairs laid out but they told us the restaurant wouldn't be opening until next month. However they did have a display with two settees separated by a table and I asked if we could sit and eat the food there.
First we had to get the food and take it to the check out to pay for it! So we got chicken stroganoff with rice and chop suey in plastic containers with plastic forks, took it to the check out to pay and then came back to the display area and sat amongst the Christmas decorations eating our lunch in the middle of the supermarket!!
It took ages for Kirsten to look through the supermarket afterwards as they had a great deal of imported German products - it was certainly Christmas for Kirsten! All thoughts of wisdom tooth removal seemed to have disappeared!
The next day we went back to the chiropractor for another hour of pain. Am I doing the right thing here? Is this going to work? The chiropractor even gave me some of his over the counter painkillers - he has five slipped discs!!
I took a tablet straight away as we wanted to get another bus to Mercado 4, a large market area consisting of several shops, mostly indoors, where you can buy virtually everything. We needed a mosquito net to fit over the bed (we'd already been kept awake by a stray mosquito and our other net is too small for this motor home); a 12 volt fan to help with this oppressive heat even though we already have a small fan that runs on electricity; an umbrella; and extra cable plus connectors to extend the cable of the 12 volt fan. Within 20 minutes we had everything!
Shame that the bus system doesn't work so well! We waited, and asked around, and waited - no bus. We ended up walking to another main street where we might have a better chance and stopped at a petrol station en route. We were both hungry and the petrol stations here have a food court - hot dog and quiche hit the spot! We managed to find a bus and got off at the right stop. We've finally worked out the system here!
Back at the hotel I lay down with ice on my back whilst Kirsten extended our new 12 volt fan cable so we can sleep under our new mosquito net with the fan on to keep us cool. The night temperature here never goes below 30°C!
Janneke thinks our mosquito net is perfect - it's bright orange, the same colour as the Dutch football team. Sadly they didn't qualify for the World Cup next year, a subject Janneke and Ralph don't want to discuss! But they were really happy when we gave them a website where they can watch live football. Later that evening we watched a match from the German cup whilst they watched their team PSV Eindhoven get through to the next round of the Dutch cup. They are really happy to finally meet other travellers who are just as football mad as they are!
We had more heavy rain and the humidity went above 90% so we spent the time writing reports on the computer and getting our Christmas email and card sent out. I got through the day by taking painkillers, something I rarely do.
Asunción
On Saturday 23rd December we left Asunción and drove to a campground called Hasta La Pasta which is about a 1 hour drive away from the capital city. (It took us longer because we got stuck in traffic!) It's known amongst travellers as a relaxing place in the hills where it is cooler at this time of year. We had never been there but we were greeted by René the owner as if we were best friends!!
Apparently Guenther and Ilka had already said we would be coming and Janneke and Ralph were also there. René had only just opened the gate for us to drive in when he asked me how my back was! It was the first time we'd met!!
We parked up at the far end of the camping area and went down to the house where we were warmly welcomed by both René and Marion (and their four dogs). We sat with them chatting and drinking tea for so long we needed to borrow a torch to find our way back to the motor home. We had a quick snack and put our shopping away. We'd have to check out where everything was in the campground tomorrow. It was late and it had been a long day. Time for bed.
