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Hasta La Pasta is a really nice campground up in the hills about 60km from Asunción. We had already heard about it from other travellers we'd met along our route who had stayed here. So we were really looking forward to it and we weren't disappointed.
After a very warm welcome we went straight into Christmas celebrations - the Germans celebrate on Christmas Eve. The owners René and Marion are from Switzerland and Germany respectively so most motorhomes are German or Swiss.
We all gathered at 3pm at a terrace and sunset area where there is a grill/barbecue pit. A cauldron full of goulash was hanging above the hot coals. There were over 20 people, most were campers but there were others who were staying in the 4 holiday bungalows or chalets here.
The party went on for over 10 hours - chatting with everyone, drinking punch and eating goulash with chocolate mousse for dessert. The meal was prepared by René and Marion and cost approx $12 US each. Well worth it.
We got to know a great deal of people most of whom had been here before. So we were the new ones. We'd already met Guenther and Ilka plus Janneke and Ralph at Hotel Westfalia. We also met Uwe and Claudia who are taking a long break here. Uwe said "Are you Helen and Kirsten?" Do you know Nicole?" He was supposed to say hello from Nicole if he meets us! We met Nicole 6 years ago in Mexico! Small world!
They met Nicole whilst travelling through America and Canada and Nicole had managed to lose the cap from their camping toilet. It had dropped through the hole at the dump station. Oh Sh--!! Literally! Replacements are very difficult to find. But it just so happened that Uwe had the same camping toilet and had brought a replacement along! Nicole was hugely relieved. Literally! Uwe has brought more replacements from Germany since then and is now known as Toilet cap Uwe!
When it came to eating the goulash we fetched our table from the motor home and Chantelle and Cesar from Paraguay sat with us. We were all talking Spanish with them until I realised that Chantelle is from England - from Manchester! She's been in Paraguay for 22 years, married Cesar and they have a 19 year old daughter.
Somehow we managed to stay awake until midnight although most of the campers had already gone to bed. We were waiting for the fireworks. We have a great view down across Ypacarai Lake and at midnight it seemed as if every household set off their own individual fireworks. Nothing like a professional display of course but still there must have been thousands going off all around the large lake.
Christmas at Hasta La Pasta
On Christmas day we got in the queue to use the washing machine!! Not exactly a festive activity but a necessary one! That evening was a grill party at a different barbecue area and on Boxing Day we went for a walk around the local area along the sandy roads. When we got back there was a power cut. We learned over the next few weeks that power cuts happen quite often in this area. The one on Boxing Day didn't last too long before the local authority managed to repair it but it means that the water pumps don't work - i.e. no water and no showers. They often happen after a storm so we learned to fill up bottles etc with water if we knew that a storm was coming.
The following day was not Kirsten's best - first she put lemon juice in both our cups of tea and I needed to make another cup for me; then she forgot to put butter in the frying pan to make cheese toasties and burned them; later she left oil in a pot on the gas burner and didn't remember until it started smoking!! Oops.
Her final disaster was choosing a film for us to watch. The one she chose was supposed to star Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep so should have been a good film. After 10 minutes we were both asking if the film actually has a story! It certainly wasn't a normal role for Julia Roberts. We waited for Meryl to turn up thinking the film might get better! No ... why? Because Meryl Streep wasn't even in the film! Kirsten had got it mixed up with a different one! Oh boy. In case you want to know the film is called "Closer" and we found it depressing. It got deleted!
A number of the other campers were interested in keeping fit and Kirsten joined in with the "Fitness by the Pool" programme with "Manuel" as their trainer! It certainly wasn't easy in the heat - except for me, that is. I just took the photos and videos!
Marion is a super cook and makes various pasta dishes or meat dishes if they are booked one day in advance. We booked ourselves in for the 29th December along with Janneke and Ralph and another Dutch camper, André, who we met last year in El Bolsón. We had Pasta Carbonara - yummy!
They make their own pasta here (hence the name Hasta La Pasta) and sell it to various restaurants and shops. Their home made pasta is to die for! We even got home made apple strudel for desert! Oh we certainly love this place!!
Pasta production at Hasta La Pasta
Every Saturday Marion and/or René drive to the local markets and take some campers with them. It's a great service because there is nothing nearby and we get the chance to stock up with food without having to pack up the motor home and drive. Kirsten really enjoyed the trips and was surprised when all the people spoke German! There are a lot of German expats here in Paraguay and most of the stands at the markets are run by Germans. That means you can get imported German goods, as well as typical German cake, bread and sausages. Needless to say, Kirsten thought it was wonderful!
The New Years Eve party started at 6-30pm and we were all served with pork roast, German potato salad and sautéed red pepper and onion. There was home made Tiramisu for desert. Have I mentioned how good this place is yet??
Just like the Christmas party, the food was all prepared and served by René and Marion along with René's son Fabian and his girlfriend Thora who have flown over for a few months to help out. Of course we had to celebrate New Year at 8pm because that was New Year in Germany!! Then it was dancing all night to Uwe's music selection - he had spent hours putting everything together on a stick. A lot of the oldies from our generation! Kirsten danced non stop!
Only a few managed to stay up till midnight and we watched the fireworks across the lake. Afterwards we went into the pool to cool off!! Great way to bring in the new year!
New Years Eve party at Hasta La Pasta
A number of motor homes left early in the new year including our Dutch friends Janneke and Ralph. They are going to Salta, Argentina to watch the Dakar rally but we will definitely keep in touch. We might meet up again along our travels, who knows?
I was getting really frustrated with my back problems. It seemed that everyone on the campground has had a slipped disc! Some had problems for 2 years, others for 3 years. Oh boy that is not what I wanted to hear! The internet was also a source of information and I was getting all kinds of different advice on the best way to treat it. I just wanted to try and do something to help myself but didn't know whose advice to follow.
Then Regula from Switzerland arrived at the campground. I met her and Joerg in Uruguay when I first flew down to South America in August 2015 and we have met up with them on several occasions whilst travelling around. Joerg is in Switzerland at the moment but he's a physiotherapist and has dealt with a number of back problems. He offered to help over the the phone! Wow, that's great. Someone who I know I can trust and who knows what he's talking about!
I spent around 45 minutes on the phone, firstly describing my particular problem and then answering various questions and listening to his advice. Basically I have a slipped disc but the main problem is the Sciatic nerve which is being constantly pushed and squashed. My back muscles are hard which is the bodies own protection but the muscles aren't giving the sciatic nerve any room to heal.
The treatment is simple - rest, no sport, no exercises, nothing that causes pain. Heat or ice depending on what feels better. In my case that's heat so he suggested an infra red lamp which can warm deeper inside. Just using hot water bottles isn't good enough. If lying down is the position that causes the least pain then lie down. I need time and a great deal of patience. It will basically heal itself!
It really helped to know what the problem is and to know that it will heal. But patience is not my forte!! It also meant that Kirsten would have to do everything. Our motor home is not set up for someone who cannot bend or lift or pull or do anything that might strain my back.
Here's just a few examples. Our compressor fridge is on the floor and is a drawer that has to be pulled out. So bending over to pull the heavy drawer open is not going to be something I can do. We have water in 6 litre bottles which I can't lift to use. We have to catch all our used water in a bowl in the sink and then empty it at the dump station here so Kirsten has to do that aswell as fetch water for the washing up.
We both have our different jobs that we do but now Kirsten would have to do everything. I normally do the washing up, clothes washing, filling up all the water bottles and tanks and sweeping the carpets plus general cleaning and tidying up. Poor Kirsten would now have to do all of that plus her own jobs aswell.
Fortunately we didn't have any plans so we decided to stay at Hasta La Pasta. I could even borrow Marion's infra red lamp whilst I was here. It was going to be a testing few months but at least we would be staying at a very nice campground with a swimming pool and great neighbours!
As always we encountered quite a bit of local wildlife. First we had a really mad bird that kept flying into our side window!! Not just once, but repeatedly. It kept coming back several times a day to bash into the window. Then it also started pecking our front windscreen!! I kept shouting at it and chasing it away but to no avail.
We couldn't work out why it seemed hell bent on breaking it's neck. Maybe it saw it's own reflection and thought it was another bird. Maybe it was trying to feed the other bird! Who knows? It really got on our nerves especially at 6am every morning!! So we got out Kirsten's old yoga mat and used clothes pegs to cover the window and used some cardboard under the windscreen wipers to try and stop the pecking bird from putting a hole in our windscreen!
Our strange coverings seemed to work for the side window but sometimes it would come back to peck the cardboard on the windscreen. At least we didn't get woken up early every morning any more so that was good.
Then we had a huge, and I mean huge, toad that startled Kirsten when she went out of the motorhome. She shrieked!! Regula came along and tried to move it towards a field outside the campground. She was using a palm leaf but the toad wanted to go in the other direction. (It didn't want to be toad where to go!!) Then it tried to climb through the metal fence and ended up doing a sort of handstand!! It was too fat to get through the fence! (See video)
Rhinella schneideri- huge toad
We also had some interesting moths and other flying things on our mosquito nets at night. It was warm so we always kept the doors open and they were attracted to the light. Some even found there way inside and had to be removed but some of them were very colourful and photogenic.
In between we went out with Claudia and Uwe for two days to do some sightseeing (see next report). We had a meal with them and Regula at Hasta la Pasta as a thank you and to pay towards the parking ticket we managed to get on the second day!!!
We had a few bouts of prolonged rain as storms came over the area and some more power cuts. One lasted for 40 hours and people had to use water out of the swimming pool to flush the toilets in the bungalows. They had lots of guests staying here so it wasn't exactly very good for them but there was nothing that the owners could do except phone up to complain and wait!!
There is never any internet when there's a power cut but the main problem is water and the fridge. Our fridge had been off for most of the time as we were parked in the shade so we weren't getting much solar power but we had enough water and could still use our toilet. René put the generator on twice for the campers so we could plug in and switch the fridge on. The rest of the time the generator was on for his freezers and his pasta which needs to be cooled and dried.
We finally got power after two nights without power - a 40 hour wait. Our fridge contents managed to survive with the short generator spells and our own battery power from the solar panel so we were happy.
The bouts of rain also meant high humidity which lead to a few things going off. We had to throw bread away because it had gone mouldy very quickly. Even our potatoes were splitting because they couldn't cope with the heat. We weren't going to put them in the fridge because there's not enough space. The bad ones went into our Bio bucket where we collect all the bio stuff that can be put on the compost.
Some things didn't last very long - newly bought tomatoes might go off within 24 hours and bananas ripened very quickly, even if we bought them green.
There was also lots of sport to watch. The internet is sometimes strong and fast enough to watch but generally only in the early mornings or late at night. Uwe had a sim stick that is pay as you go. That meant we could watch a Bundesliga football match for approx $2-50. Not a bad price but sadly our team HSV are playing really badly and it was getting worse! Surely they know that they need points otherwise they will be relegated for the first time into the second division? Depressing! We also watched the Australian Open tennis which was on late at night. That meant we could watch it in our motorhome and it wasn't as depressing.
Uwe also invited us to a pool film night along with Claudia, Regula, Fabian and Thora. He wanted to show us his favourite film "Pulp Fiction" which is from the 90s. We'd never seen it and now we know why we didn't bother watching it in the 90s!!! It's really rubbish with good actors but apparently a cult film.
Fun @ Hasta La Pasta
After 5 weeks here it was time to pack up and pay and drive back to Asunción for Kirsten's dental appointments.
