Jun 2007

That is the quick description of Paraguay in my south american travel guide. Interesting. Why would I want to go there?? And my answer is: Why not??

Every traveller I met has questioned my choice of travelling through Paraguay... What is to see there? is the question... and "I will find out" is my only possible answer...

I entered Paraguay through the bridge that links Posadas in Argentina and Encarnacion in Paraguay in a very rainy and dark day. I have just visited the jesuist mission in San Ignacio in Argentina and the idea was to visit Trinidad in Paraguay, another mission, and then make my way up to Asuncion and through the Chaco, one of the wildest areas left in South America, to get to santa cruz in Bolivia. Encarnacion is famous for its "zona franca", a duty free area south of the city, which in the coming years will be flooded by the creation of the Yacireta Dam. This project has been going on for years, and due to the corruption and the political issues, it is not clear to the paraguayans, not even the ones living by the river whose houses will be flooded, when this will happen. However, the goverment is doing its part in building houses for these people further inland for when that happens. Who will get the houses and how, it is another matter...

Got to my hotel, in front of the station, not even having a booking and hoping I had luck in my side. Gloria, the owner of the hotel welcomes me with her big smile. She also informs me that the two american guys seating in the lounge are volunteers who live in the "campo" and that due to the weather were unable to access to their sites. I guess they might not feel the same, but I feel lucky the weather was bad and they could not get back that same morning, cause for me, meeting Sam and Nico, the Peace Corps volunteers that gloria was telling me about, was one of the best things of Paraguay.

They have been living in Paraguay for a while, and not only speak a very decent Spanish but are also learning Guarani, the language of the guarani indians, to be able to communicate with everybody in their sites. Their job is not easy. They are working in a program of environmental education, trying to teach the locals the consequences of some of their day to day actions: cutting trees for farming, burning rubbish.. nobody likes to be told by someone from another country how to do things, even if it is for their own good. And Paraguayans are no diferent. The determination and patience of these volunteers have been of enourmous inspiration to me. Thanks to this guys I have learnt a lot about the country ans its people, and why not, they have also taught me where to get the best ice-cream in town

I wanted to visit the site where Sam is living, but unfortunately the weather kept me from doing so... I decided to leave for Asuncion, and I took something very important with me: Nico said at some point "the beauty of Paraguay is not about its monuments or sights, it is about its people" and how true that is. Everybody I have met there, from Gloria and her family, to Maria the woman from the laundry, has showed me how people can live in a world that is so different from mine and still make you feel like you were at home.

Thanks to these guys, I stayed in Asuncion in the attic of a hotel which is normally reserved for Peace corps volunteers, at very good price. I had to lie a little bit for it, i must confess, so apparently now im a "spanish volunteer on my way to bolivia" in the eyes of the staff at that hotel. They still tried to sell me another room which was more expensive, but that is part of the paraguayan way of life...

Asuncion is a rather strange city. The differences that can be felt around the rest of the country are even bigger here. I have seen the biggest and more opulent houses in my life here, they are next to the slums and built in streets where dogs search for rubbish and that they are barely paved. It is difficult to understand such diferences, but i guess it would be even more difficult to live with them. Somehow, the visit to Paraguay has showed me that the goverment of my country, although far from perfect is way way closer to perfection than the one in Paraguay.

In the local bus (which I have to say are sights themselves due to the most random decoration) I met Francisca, from PJ caballero, a town northeast of paraguay. She does the usual third grade: what is my name, am i argentinian, what am i doing here, am i married.. together with the story of some relative or friend living in Spain and of course the positive thought that im gonna find a paraguayan man and im gonna marry him. This has been the typical beginning of the conversation with every person i have talked to in this country. She also tells me she is going to a demonstration downtown, she is a teacher and they have some petition for the goverment. I dont pay much attention to that, and maybe I should have.

After I visit the presidential palace, and realised that is located next to the slums, in a pretty good example of the country´s situation, I begin to see police everywhere. And i mean everywhere. I also begin to hear really loud voices and people shouting. Mmmmmm I guess it is the demonstration.. And then loud bangs, and I panick a bit, not a lot, because nobody is running, but still. Soon realised they are fireworks from the demonstration and there is nothing to worry about, but the presence of dozens of riot polices doesnt help to relax.. so i decided to get the **** out of there, but how? To the left, the riverside slums, to the front the demonstrators, everywhere else the riots... So i manage to get through the demonstration in the side, and skipping all the guys having a pee in the walls... I manage to make it to the Uruguaya square, where I found all this people camping there and making fires to keep warm.. they come to the city to look for something, but from what i stand, they dont seem to be looking fo anything is particular, and it is cold.. Dogs, dirty kids, dodgy looking characters... not a pretty sight, and the one that makes me wanna leave Asuncion. Im sure it is a great city, but im not enjoying it so far, so why stay?? I make my way to the station to ask about the buses that leave for Bolivia... and end up going somewhere else... but that is part of the next chapter...

Hasta Pronto!

There are no words to describe the feeling of seeing Iguazu Falls for the first time. Or the second or the third… Pictures don’t do justice to them. The sound, the smell, the water in your face… It has to be lived to understand it! So i will apologize now for the photos you´ll see below, because you dont really see the falls, instead you see me in my best touristy pose...

I arrived in Foz de Iguazu very early after a 16.5hs bus journey from Sao Paulo, and after a couple of hours (get the bus to town, then the bus to the border, then get an exit stamp in brazil, then wait for the next bus, then cross the bridge and get a entry stamp in Argentina, then back to the bus to the station, then a taxi to the hostel) I arrived to the accommodation feeling like… well, you can imagine! But the argentinians are SO nice, that they even make you forget the fact you haven’t been in the shower for few hours and you are in serious need of one…Got to the room and I was hoping to catch up in some sleep when I got allocated my new roommates, bunch of Spanish students from Kentucky, that became my best friends for the next couple of days. Spent the rest of the day visiting downtown, in Puerto Iguazu, and meeting pretty much everybody around there, as they are all very curious about the Spanish girl walking around town. So they ask me. And I tell them. And then conversation begins until someone else joins in… Had a fab day, and met very nice people.

Friday was the time to visit the Brazilian side of the falls. From my point of view you have to see both sides, and if possible the Brazilian first.

It gives you a better overview of all the falls, and gives you the opportunity to see the “devil´s throat” (the most impressive of all the falls) from the bottom. Loved it. It is so unbelievable that words would not be good enough to explain it!

Finished the morning visit and head to Itaipu dam, which is the largest power plant in the entire world. It is a shared project between Paraguay and Brazil, and it actually provides for 80% of the total power of Paraguay and 25% of Brazil. It is considered one of the 7 wonders of the modern world, and it is definitely worth visiting.

In between the falls and the dam I probably saw more water on Friday that a sailor in his entire life!

Saturday was the turn for the Argentinian side. I visit most of them in the company of Anna, a German girl which is also a Spanish student in Buenos Aires, and we hiked our way through the falls.

The Argentinian side provides a closer look to the falls and the opportunity of seeing the Devil’s Throat fall from the top, which is so amazing… If you have ever read about how the people in the Middle Ages believed that the world was flat and it ended with the seas falling to the space, this is as close as it gets to that image…

It is surreal, and so powerful, it makes you feel how little humans are in compare to nature.

After the last couple of busy days I decided to take the offer from the hostel of an extra free night and have Sunday off, to leave on Monday morning heading south thço visit the Jesuit Missions and then to enter Paraguay. Well, there is little I should say about the rest of my stay, only that Saturday is BBQ night in the hostel, with free caipirinha… and well, somehow I end up in the swimming pool at 4.30am. Dressed. And it was raining the next day, so my clothes had to be packed wet… But that was the whole point of coming to Iguazu, right?? To see the water and maybe get wet…

Lets see... Imagine for a minute a summer version of New York, with light coulored buildings and people dressed in a mixture of winter-summer clothes. Now mix that with a hills San Francisco style, add few people sleeping on the floor, a bunch of police standing in each corner, and the biggest concentration of street vendors in the world, and maybe, you can picture Sao Paulo.

Surreal is the word that comes to mind when describing this mega-city. The more people told me not to go, the more I was decided to. And Im glad, cause it doesnt matter how many of the big cities in the world you have been lucky to visit, each one of them has something particular and special about it. Sao Paulo is probably best known for its safety, or lack thereof. But I felt safer there that I have felt many times in London or Madrid. The presence of the police everywhere helps, yes, but the fact that the `paulistanos` walk around so careless and not afraid is what make you relax. Everybody wears watches and jewellery. Everybody speaks on the phone and listen to their ipod as they walk. So maybe this place is not as people think.

Of course, there are areas you are not supposed to go, but that is the same everywhere in the world, you just dont go! You stick to the center, and you find everybody else does the same. Even the locals. Which means that in a city with 11million of people living there you find them around in a relatively small area. And boy, I bet you will never see that much people in the street for no particular reason, in your life. Some are selling stuff, some are buying, some are sleeping, and some like me, just wondering around with no particular task. And suddenly, out of nowhere, these people begin to run, in all directions, they shout something i dont get to understand, they pack their little stalls, and they run like in a stampede. Three times I witness this curious show, without being able to figure out what is the reason for the run. It was later that evening when a local guy living in my hostel explain it to me. `Oh, they are running from the fiscales, the tax collection police` Apparently they dont have licenses to be there, so the regular police dont care about that, but the fiscales do. Really random, it was like scaping from a tsunami, and as i wasnt sure if a tsunami would reach Sao Paulo I must confess I ran like hell the three times ( and probably the vendors where thinking why!!!!)

After a rather interesting day out, I finally got back to the hotel where I met few other people and went out for a drink in a bar they were playing live music. BPM to be more precise, which I got told means brasilian popular music and it is so good that I even forgot to savour the capirinha I had in my hands.

Because that is Sao Paulo, full of action and entertainment by day and by night...

I love the airline industry. I really do. I have been part of it for 4 years, and after completing a degree in Air Transport, I hope to be part of it for many years to come. But today is not the day to feel proud about that. Today is the day that due to the most common topics related to the airline world, it has taken me over 40hs to get to Sao Paulo from London. Im pretty sure you could fly around the world in that time.

I work (or used to anyway!) for a charter airline. I had to deal with the whole "this would not happen in a scheduled airline" phrase MANY times. Like flying scheduled would mean perfection. Let me tell you: give me charter 1000 times. We fly to destinations not very often, we dont offer free upgrades, and certainly no free drinks. But you know you turn up at check-in with your ticket and you know you will get to your destination (weather and technical issues permiting).

I turned up at the Lufthansa check-in desk at Heathrow, and I get a free upgrade, nice surprise! I get to Frankfurt and I repeat the action. Although this time no nice surprise is awaiting me. A rather nasty one I would say. The flight is overbooked and im not going anywhere. Overbooked by 88 people to be more precise. So probably not going anywhere any time soon.

Got offered the possibility to go to Munich, there are seats on the flight next day and if I want to, the can check me in then and there, so I will be in Brazil the following day. Mmmmm... not too bad. BUT (there is always a but) I need to make my own way to Munich as there are no connections suitable between the two cities to get there in time. Mmmmmm.... I can still survive that.

4.5hs and 85 euros later, I arrive at Munich airport, which let me tell you, it is the airport that has the biggest concentration of flies of the entire world I reckon. Forget about India, Kenya or similar places, if you are a fly, you'd love Munich Airport for some strange reason.

Eventually managed to make it through the nite, and to board the flight at 11.00 am. To make a long story short (ish): no personal entertainment, food rather poor and crew that are not so please when you ask them when the next movie is gonna be screened ( 2movies in total for a 12.5hs flite)

Finally got to Sao Paulo in one piece, and believe it or not,. went to bed directly, as although I thought that my public transport stories would begin in the southamerican continent, I reckon this one is the winner (at least so far... lets not be too optimistic...)

At last, after all these months, the wait is over! One day late due to university commitments, and with my health state at its worse due to accumulated stress, Im finally leaving tomorrow. The last few days have been full of goodbyes, farewells and such and I dont think I have had the opportunity so far to understand my new life: No Uni, No job, No responsabilities, just the road...

Or I might correct that... As my dad said to me when we said goodbye at Granada Airport: "You DO have one responsability... You have to come back... And that is the biggest responsability of all"

And as I have always kept my promises, Im taking that responsability with me in my 14kg backpack... if no other!