It has been a little over a week now that I arrived in Paraguay. I have been staying with family on a rural farm near Villarrica for the last couple of days. It feels like eternal summer here. I enjoy running on the dirt roads in the morning, going for a swim and meditating after my morning workout. I feel deeply relaxed here. The local or home-grown food is a treat, and spending time with family makes me very happy.
The sunshine and mostly blue skies are awesome. In the night you can see countless stars. Light pollution is very low. We are quite a distance from the next city.
There were a couple of aquacero rainfalls that didn’t really bring enough water. It is bone dry here and the temperatures have been high. The workers on the farm still work. While cutting down grass on a part of a field, they found some wasp nests and decided to burn it down. Maybe not the best idea in this climate, but they took a lot of precautions so it wouldn’t spread. They have a lot of experience with the weather and vegetation.
I enjoy it here, and some family matters make it so that I will stay here for a while. I will stay in Villarrica part-time and hope to share some more details of city life (or small town life rather) as well.
A lot of the smaller paths where folks live here are dirt roads. This makes driving an adventure especially going up or down hill. Small rocks hitting the bottom of the car is the least of your worries. And on rainy days you almost slide more than you drive.
I don’t want to just talk about food, but I have to tell you about these fruits. I had mangos yesterday and today as a side for lunch. They taste amazing. I even got to pick a couple of ripe ones today from one of the trees, washed them and put them in the fridge for tomorrow.
You will see mostly flat lands driving down from Asuncion to Villarrica. Only the occasional hill will break the horizon in the three hour journey. There are some cows grazing on the side of the road or some more white cows on some fields far away. But mostly you can take in all the beauty of this fertile part of Paraguay. Wild palm trees, eucalyptus monoculture farms, fences, chiperias and full service gas stations.
My driver was a bright and pleasant young farmer of swiss descent. He was weary of the dry and hot weather preceding my arrival and that he hoped for rain to soon come – not only for the crops. The unpaved roads could also benefit from some water. They were a spectacle of dust and flying rocks. We saw a couple of (out of control?) fires and a lot of already burned down fields. Displeased with the tradition of burning the fields instead of tilling he pointed them out to me and shook his head.
Getting out of the red air-conditioned camioneta I began to really feel the heat and humidity. I have arrived at my first longer stop in this travel. How long exactly? I don’t know.
Officially jet lagged I am exploring the upscale Villa Morra while trying to stay in the shade as much as possible. Can’t help but try some of the cheese/wheat combinations(Chipitas and Mbeju con tres quesos) and of course the Tereré.
Entry into Paraguay was super smooth. The border agent asked only a couple of questions: why I am traveling to the country and how many days I intend to stay. I did get an Onward ticket before leaving Germany in case the airline or the border patrol wanted to see documentation for my return. Nobody wanted to see it. She did ask if I have a cédula. I am always debating of getting one when but I never had the need to stay more than the 90 days allowed by the visa free entry yet.
View from Paseo La Galeria
Number one priority last night was resting the swollen legs after flying for 15+ hours. But I did find a steakhouse in the nearby mall to enjoy a sensible priced(100k PYG) steak with mandioca fries for dinner last night. I am enjoying the amenities of metropolitan life. I know those will be rare in the countryside. And that’s where I am heading next.
Moved out of my apartment today. I got pretty wet when walking to the hotel. It is a weird feeling not having any keys to a place. Technically I am homeless now. I liked that apartment a lot. Bittersweet. But super happy that now this new chapter of my life has started.
No more wasps here
The roads along the powerlines.
This one is actually not ripe yet.
Rare sight
Refreshing: yerba mate with ice water
View from Paseo La Galeria
Palms and 37°C
777-300
january rain