dare2go

Paraguay: Asunción to Ciudad del Este


Sunflowers along the road in Paraguay

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We covered just a very small part of Paraguay, since we only drove south-east to Encarnación then north-east to Ciudad del Este. The much larger part is taken up by the Chaco, but it is a little like the vast interior of Australia - long distances to cover and not many people live there. I must admit that we were a little surprised by the country. Originally it had not really been on our minds as a place to visit, but when we discovered we needed a visa for Brazil, it turned out that Asunción was the only viable option. The country is clean and very pretty. People take a pride in their place, whether it is a tiny little house on a couple of hundred square metres, or a huge farm with fields that go on forever. Almost without exception, the houses have well-cared for gardens, mostly with beautiful flowers. We were there at a good time, because all the trees that could flower were flowering, and there were acres of sunflowers to truly add some colour. And the people are very friendly, although very difficult to understand at times. We are still amazed at how you can change countries, thinking you can speak Spanish, and suddenly you feel like you can't speak the language at all!
An interesting custom, which apparently originates in Paraguay, is the constant drinking of Tereré. In Argentina we had come in contact with the ritual of Maté drinking. It is necessary to have a special cup and a straw with a bowl on the end shaped like a spoon but enclosed with a sieve. The Maté herbs are placed in the cup, and hot water poured over. The resulting drink is then sucked through the straw, the sieve holding back the herbs. In Paraguay, this is done in the same way, but usually with cold water (Maté is also drunk here), and is called Tereré. It is usually a social or communal thing, as the cup is passed from one to another. Families will drink Tereré together. Friends will drink Tereré together. Every bus driver needs an offsider to share Tereré with while he is driving. People walk around everywhere with their insulated water containers and very often a special attachment on the side for the cup. Some of these are very elaborate and we saw them for sale all over. There is always somewhere to fill your water container with very cold water. Supermarkets usually allot a whole aisle to Maté products, and monumental Tereré cups mark many towns where there are production facilities. If this custom didn’t originate in Paraguay, they have certainly made it their own. Since being in southern Brazil, we have noticed it just across the border - not sure if it’s just Paraguayans on holiday, or if the custom has made its way into the border regions.
The southern part of Paraguay was settled by a lot of Jesuits and many missions were built. Most of these were later destroyed by another faction of the Catholic Church. Don’t ask me for details - I’m afraid I am just not interested enough to find out! We did stop in San Ignacio to visit a museum containing carved religious statues. The most interesting thing about this for me was that they were actually made by the indigenous people who had been taught by the Jesuits. While religious art is not really at the top of my must-see list, these were particularly well executed and also very well preserved. We also visited the Trinidad ruin site, which gives a really good idea of the very extensive work done by this order to bring their particular message to this country.
We spent a few days in the German settled area of Hohenau, where we stayed at a lovely campground, complete with swimming pools and very clean bathrooms with hot showers at any time of the day. It would have been easy to stay, as some of our fellow campers had discovered, but Tierra del Fuego summons!
On our last night in Paraguay we chose to stay at the Refugio Biologico Tati Yupi. Lydia, a fellow camper in Hohenau, had told me about this place, because she and her husband had tried to stay there. The information I had was that it was a few kilometres past the Itaipú Binacional (a huge hydroelectric project outside Ciudad del Este, which provides something like 75% of Paraguay‘s power and around 25% of Brazil‘s) and that it was necessary to get a permit to stay there. They had camped outside the gate because it had been a Sunday and the office issuing permits was closed that day. Hence, she didn't know where the office was; only that it was in the small town before the park. Her suggestion was to drive to the entrance and let the security guard direct us.
So, on arrival in Ciudad del Este, we turned left at the first roundabout and followed the signs towards Itaipú. Almost 20 km later, having passed the entrance to the hydroelectric works, we were at the gate of the park, and the security guard was explaining where we had to drive back to, in order to obtain the permission which, he emphasised, didn't cost anything, but basically we couldn't enter without. By this time we were aware that this park is owned and operated by Itaipú and I thought we understood that we had to go back to the main entrance of the Hydro-electric Plant to obtain the permission. This huge gate was almost half way back to Ciudad del Este!
On arriving there I went in search of the office. The security guard at the gate of the visitors centre sent me to the reception, and the attendant there sent me back down the same road, another 1.5 km, to the Museo de la Tierra Guaraní which is at the Centro Ambiental de Itaipú (the Environment Centre of Itaipú). This place is 7.5 km from the roundabout in Ciudad del Este, and is on the left hand side as you drive from there. The guards at the gate gave directions where to go, but I had to ask again at the Museum entrance (which is quite a walk from the parking lot at the gate). When I found the right place, I didn't recognise it because it just looked like a house with the front door closed. It is right next to the entrance to the zoo and I found this out by asking a guy who was sitting on a bench under a tree. He directed me to the front door along a path, took a short cut across the grass, and was behind his desk before I got inside! The process at this point was very simple. I gave him my ID and he filled in the appropriate form and put a call into to someone - I think to make a reservation. He then proceeded to tell me what I should do with this form and its two photocopies. Unfortunately I couldn't understand more than a word of what he was saying - well, maybe two or three. In the end I knew we had to hand them in at two different places - I was guessing he meant the main gate and then the park gate. So, we stopped at the main gate and offered them but they just sent us straight to the park. The security guard we had met an hour previously, came out smiling, took the original and waved us on telling us that the camping place was a further 8 km.
We arrived at the campground about 1½ hours after we arrived at the park entrance for the first time. To help others avoid this, we have put GPS coordinates of the relevant places on our camping page. It was worth the effort in the end, but the story doesn’t finish with our arrival. There were busloads of people there, but we weren’t really worried because nobody had tents set up. We figured the buses and all the people would be gone by dark. A nice young woman, who spoke very good English, took our other two copies and directed us to a place to park. It looked great. The campground is near the water, and there are large trees all around, which in this weather certainly help reduce the heat in the camper quickly. We got ourselves level and set up, then decided to take a walk and have a look at the dam. As we returned Juergen started to point out the lighting in the place. It is an electric company, after all... There were enough lights around that camping area to turn night into day - and conducive to sleeping, I don't think. After dinner it became totally apparent that we couldn't manage to sleep where we were parked, so we had to pack up and move to another area where there was less light! In the end it was a very peaceful night and I guess all the hassle was actually worth it. Beats sleeping in McDonald's car park in Ciudad del Este, which was the option we found on another overlander's camping list!
The next day, which was Saturday last week, we drove into Ciudad del Este to go to the supermarket and go shopping for a new computer. This city is a tax free zone and electronic goods, in particular, are supposed to be quite cheap. We knew exactly what we were looking for, but we hadn’t counted on the crowds of shoppers who come over from Brazil on weekends to shop. It was quite difficult to get around. Eventually we found a shop which seemed to know what we were talking about, and wasn’t making promises it couldn’t keep in the hope we would settle for something different than we asked for. We did buy a new Asus Eee PC and it may well save our marriage! Only joking, but it is nice that both of us can work at the same time, on updates and so on, without having to push the other off to get some time. After this success we crossed the border into Brazil, and the rest, as they say, is history. Actually it is my story and if you’ve made it this far into the report you will have already read it!


 
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