Paramanta Hotel Asuncion

... t want to cook. I enjoy having my weekends free and not having to answer to anyone. (In site, PCVs are always answering to someone and weekends are not free. We are volunteers 24/7/365) I even joined a gym recently with a few of my fellow coordinators. Fortunately, the gym isn't open on the weekends, so we couldn't go even if we wanted to.. ha ha. The year is broken up into 4 parts of travel for myself and my boss. The first is to do site presentations for the ...

... my Bolivian and Peruvian reflexes came back on a hurry, and I quickly found my marks. It's been quite a mess to get to the bus terminal, and a nice chaos finding a bus going to Asunción! The bus was thoroughly dirty, thoroughly slow, thoroughly hot under the sun, and to do 300km it took 8 hours. And once again little peddlers came into the bus to offer food and drinks. It was funny coming back to all that, like meeting again an old friend who can be a pain in the neck sometimes ...

... weg naar een hotel met zwembad, omdat we, na twee volle dagen in de bus en nog eens 18 uur bussen in het vooruitzich naar de volgende halte, vinden dat we dat verdiend hebben. Bij stoplichten staan kinderen van misschien 10 jaar oud kunstjes te doen, autoramen te zemen of iets te verkopen om aan geld te komen. Naast onze taxi op de stoep ligt een meisje opgekruld te slapen zonder vader of moeder in de buurt. En dan voel je je zo kut, kan ik je zeggen. Wij hebben het nodig om in een ...

... Chile's pacific coast line had been on the cards but after some reading and asking around it just wouldn't be possible in the short space of time we had. Some flicking through the guide book and discussing our options Asuncion seemed the best option. It was already on the list of places to visit. It seemed small and not too distant, but also afforded us the opportunity to finally get some more stamps in our passports. So, as quickly as the decision was made, we threw ...

... but was worth the wait. That evening we went to "the extreme fun bar" where the smallest girl on the trip did the 15 drink challenge and was instantly hammered, 20 mins later we had to be back as there was a kurfew and she spent the night hugging the toilet and appeared a bit sheepish the next morning with a huge bruise on her chin! We then drove back to Potosi and then on to Salta in Argentina, taking long drive days, free camping at the side of the road on ...

Mba'eichapa! Or, hi how are you, in Guaraní. I have made it to Paraguay safe and sound and the last few days have been incredibly busy. We all left Miami on Wednesday night and arrived here Thursday morning. We went straight to the training center here in Guarambare, about 45 minutes from Asuncion, and had some introductory classes and then straight out to our host families, where we will be staying for the next 3 months during training. My house is out in a ...

... day and so we were back to washing sheets in the creek and hauling water from the neighbors' house - a fitting way to reminisce about our first months in Caazapa'mi. When I came back from the creek in mid-morning, Albino had come to say goodbye. We sat chatting for hours, not wanting the inevitable moment to come. I had planned all I wanted to say, grand things about our projects together and my hope that Albino would continue, but all I ...

Just a quick note to inform that today is spent mainly just relaxing at Joaquim and Sandra's beautiful home in beatiful Areguas. Then, in the afternoon, I might head out for a walk around town too... g'day... -- Yeah, we had a really nice walk (with Klaus and Igel, one ...

... es so schon grenzwertig. Man hat mir aber gesagt, dass sich das jederzeit wieder ändern kann. Schliesslich wäre es Winter. So fühlt sich also Winter in Paraguay an ... Der heutige Tag war übrigens zum Vergessen. Ich habe heute drei unschöne Entdeckungen gemacht. Erstens: Eine Kakerlake. In unserem Palacio de Pasantes! Und was für eine! Zwar war sie schon tot, aber ich vermute, dass die auch noch Freunde und Verwandte hat, die noch nicht tot sind. Ich ...

Well, we (me and my new travel buddy David, a fellow backpacker from Belgium) crossed over the border to paraguay and into the spanish speaking area. Finally I can use all the Spanish i learnt from all those climbing trips. "Hola Que tal, dos cervesa por favor!". Yes, i can do double quotes again. I´m now in the capitol of paraguay... bonus points to anyone that knows what the city is called.. Yup, thats right Asuncion. Its the craziest place I´ve been yet. We arrived at 10pm ...