Through Paraguay to Bolivia

Hello again friends, a lot has happened since our last post!

Our journey to Puerto Iguazu from Maldonado ended up being a long one, but without too many glitches. The only trouble was that one of our bus transfers had us catching a bus at the side of a highway at eleven thirty at night... and the bus did not come untill twelve thirty! Luckily we were waiting by the road with three very nice local men who made us feel more comfortable. One of the men was our taxi driver and we were so grateful to him for waiting with us, it would have been trouble if the bus didn´t come!

We stayed in Puerto Iguazu for two nights at a great hostel equipped with a wonderful pool and patio, air conditioned rooms, and a nice kitchen. On our full day there we took the bus to Iguazu Falls, which is only about twenty five minutes away. Once there we did numerous ¨hikes¨ around the water falls. They were expansive and spectacular. The thunderous noise that the largest fall, the Devils Throat, made was amazing and the spray you felt was so refreshing in the heat. What was so wonderful was how on every trail that we walked there were constantly more and more falls of varying heights and widths. This day was great, but also very overwhelming because the park was so full of people. The paths that went up to the different falls were so very crowded and if you stood by the guard rail to look at the falls for too long someone would inevitably elbow you out of the way to get their picture. It felt like people just wanted a picture with the water falls but didn´t really care to look at them! This is not to complain though, we sort of made a mistake to go on a Saturday when it is more packed than normal. We did do one hike that was off the beaten track though and it redeemed the day for me a bit. It was a trail that went through the forest to a swimming hole and a small waterfall. It was just about three and a half kilometers, but we only saw about twenty people on our entire walk. It was great to go for a refreshing swim and sit under a stream of falling water. The day was definitely worth while and wonderful. Aside from seeing crowds of people we also saw crowds of animals! There were birds, fish, lizards, and a neat animal called a coati. They were all over the trails and paths and climbing in the trees.

We then left Puerto Iguazu for Eastern Paraguay (and on our way we stopped at Itaipu dam, which was massive and startling and surrounded by government propoganda about how wonderful it is), where we stayed with a very lovely couple Benny and Esther. They have lived in Paraguay for most of their lives, both being born their but also living in Canada for some times. They are living in a town called Campo 9, where Benny works for a radio station and Esther does some life skills teaching in local schools, all as part of the EMC church. They were extremely hospitable and gave us a great taste of life in Paraguay. We spent a day driving around the countryside with Benny, seeing the contast of Mennonite colonies and Aboriginal villages (which was quite extreme), drinking terere under trees with locals, and eating a ´super poncho´ (giant hot dog) at a gas station. I also had the priveledge of joining a game of soccer with local women. It was a complete blast! Their style of playing is completely different than I am used to, so I had to adapt quite a bit. They were so kind and made me feel totally at home with them on the pitch.

From Benny and Esthers we went to Filadefia, which is in the Chaco region of Paraguay. We really enjoyed our time here, staying with a young woman named Damaris who is a social worker there. She is friends with Benny and Esther´s daughters so they connected us to her. We spent time walking around the town, which was settled by Mennonites in 1930. It now has a diverse population of different Aboriginal Paraguayan groups, Mennonites, Brasilian Paraguayans... amoung others. It was interesting to be staying with a woman like Damaris who shared many of our points of view and she was able to give us an understanding of the tensions and triumphs that the community is experiencing.

We left Filadefia for Tarija, Bolivia last Saturday at eight in the evening. We bussed to a town called Mariscal Estagarribia where we waited for a number of hours at the side of the road where the immigration office was (but it looked like a house... and there was no lights on outside... and we were told to just wait on the porch), then caught a bus at three thirty in the morning into Bolivia that took us to Villamontes, then waited there for seven hours for a bus to take us to Tarija. The buses to Tarija only travel at night because they go on very windy and narrow mountain roads, so travlling in the dark means you can sooner see other vehicles by their headlights. This last leg of our journey was not pleasent, and took more of a toll on Nathan than on me. He was quite stressed. The road was washed out by rain at one point and se we waited on the bus for three hours. Once the road was ´fixed up´enough our driver made an attempt to drive it. As there was a cliff drop off to our right, the bus passengers were quite nervous. Once enough people started yelling up to the driver, he let us off to walk this sludgy section of the road. After we had walked it we watched the bus make it through the wash out and reboarded it. It was quite an adventure and after 37 hours we were finally in Tarija.

But that whole journey was worth it as now we are reunited with our lovely friends Nico and Nele (whom we met on the ferry in Chile). Right now Tarija is quite alive with people celebrating Carnaval, which wrapped up here yesterday. We spent yesterday celebrating Carnaval by taking to the streets equipped with water balloons and fake snow spray. Everywhere you walk you have to watch your back and watch the sky, as people with water guns or buckets or balloons or this snow spray are launching their weapon of choice from balconies or the backs of trucks. It is a great time as the whole city is having a massive water fight! We also wandered into a market alley where we heard live music and ended up dancing with local men and woman. The music was so alive, consisting of drums and trumpets. The people were so welcoming of us and taught us some dance steps. They also shared some of their home made wine and taught us some of the customs of the celebration. This time was finished off so nicely by dancing in a circle around a small elderly man playing a drum while blowing an animal horn and wearing a Monster Energy Drink hat. He was showing so much life and brought us much joy. We have a video of that, and will try to post it in the future maybe.

Today we are going to try and find a way out of this town that doesn´t involve a death defying road, and hope to leave for a town called Tupiza tomorrow.

Big love,
Chloe (and Nathan)