Hotel Presidente Asuncion

So today the conference ended. what can i say? Wow doesn´t seem to cover it but thatçs all that comes to mind in this instance. Its been an amazing experience, which i will write more about once i´m out of asuncion and have good internet access! tomorrow i´m heading to the chaco. and then on saturday to bolivia!

... that I had ever seen! We bought one and actually they aren't good at all (hard, dry and bitter), but at least we could fool around with it back at the hotel! :)

We also spent quite a lot of time doing nothing, chilling out. I remember specifically an evening watching Sofia Coppola's "Lost In Translation", laying on the bed eating chocolate. :) Hard life...

The last thing we did, the evening before Daniela's departure, was to try to find her a guitar. We had heard that in ...

... in the Bolivian heights. Required: a little motorcycle (600-1000US$ new here, resold after), some money there (to buy the driving licence!) and stiff upper lip. The plan: 2 or 3 weeks on the road, from the jungle to the Altiplano, see everything on the way, sleep where we can, eat what we can, and cross fingers. Sensible mind and survival instinct not required. Please answer as fast as possible.

... Paraguay est un pays où le tourisme n'existe quasiment pas. Dans les bus régulièrement j'étais le seul blanc-crème, et les regards indiquaient un mélange de méfiance et de curiosité. L'infrastructure touristique est inexistante, alors on oublie les auberges et on doit aller dans des hôtels. Le résultat est que c'est assez cher de voyager au Paraguay, parce que même les hôtels les plus minables ne sont pas donnés, et bon on ne veut pas aller dans un hôtel minable... En tout cas ...

Hello all, I have not written in about 5 days and so much has happened in that time that I can't even remember all of it. It feels like about a month. We officially started language and technical classes on Monday, and I am in the Guarani class. We have 4-6 hours of class per day and sometimes I feel really overwhelmed by the amount of information being presented to us. There are only 6 people in my class, so ...

... when you can't control it? We're having fun anyway!" I've been hearing that from Paraguayans for 2 years, but in that instance it was like a switch flipped in me, and I actually felt better. And obviously we did eventually get home, nobody starved, and the kids had one of the most unique experiences of their lives. There really was nothing to worry about. Adam meanwhile handed the reins of the computer lab over completely to the three ...

... never have before because I always take the night bus, and then we stopped and waited for the husband of this lady to arrive at this gas station we were stopped at, we ended up waiting about an hour and a half almost two. Then all now 8 of us cramed in this little van with all of this stuff, and the day is getting hotter by the miniute, no air conditioning of course. And then, the van overheats and we have to stop and put water in it, and ...

... Zimmerwahl. Als ich dann alles in mein neues, ruhigeres und grösseres Zimmer gebracht hatte, musste ich feststellen, dass ich dort keinen Internetempfang hatte. Also musste ich wieder umziehen - diesmal in ein drittes, ebenfalls recht grosses, aber eher lautes Zimmer (Danke, Ohropax!). Abgesehen davon habe ich zu meiner grossen Freude festgestellt, dass wir hier einen Fernsehsender empfangen, der alle Spiele aus der Premier League überträgt. Das mag ...

... I had started (opposite the Bus Terminal), I steeled myself for using a public bus without an interpreter. The operation went remarkably smoothly and twenty minutes later I was alighting exactly where I had intended (just an hour and a half later than planned). As it turned out, the delay was not a huge problem. I completed the suggested walking tour but think I can safely assert that downtown Asuncion is not a postcard friendly place. That said, it is pretty fascinating ...