In early 1991, while traveling around Patagonia, I’d hitched a ride with a German family in Punta Arenas, Chile. When they dropped me off on a windy street corner in Río Gallegos, Argentina we exchanged addresses and hoped to meet again someday. It turned out that “someday” arrived about 6 months later.
My wife and I had flown from Toronto to Buenos Aires on Canadian Pacific Airlines. They were inaugurating a new service from Canada to Argentina, with the reward of so many points for taking that one flight that they could be redeemed for a free domestic round-trip later on – it was hard to resist. I drove from Tucson to Toronto, bagging state high points along the way, and arrived at the home of climbing partner Brian Rundle and his family. Susan flew in from Tucson soon after. We spent several days with them, seeing the sights and having fun, then late one evening flew out of Toronto. CP made the flight feel like a gala event, with free booze flowing like water – at one point, we had beer, white wine, Bailey’s and Grand Marnier on our trays at the same time. The 10-hour flight deposited us in BA the next morning.
Seventeen days later, after much travel and many adventures throughout Argentina, we found ourselves at the bus station in Foz do Iguaçu, Brasil. Today, we would cross the border into Paraguay and meet my German friends in the capital city of Asunción. Things started to go haywire when the clerk at the ticket window refused to sell me a ticket. What the hell was going on? When I asked why, he said that since I was traveling on a Canadian passport, I would need a visa to enter Paraguay before he could sell me a ticket. Susan, on the other hand, didn’t need a visa with her U.S. passport. He couldn’t explain to me the prejudice against Canucks – after all, he was just following instructions. I was pissed, mostly at our travel agent who had dropped the ball on this one.
I had no choice but to leave Susan sitting on our mountain of luggage in the crowded, grungy bus station while I headed out to fix my problem. We really did have a lot of luggage. I had purchased climbing gear in the States for friends in Mendoza and Córdoba, put it into suitcases to transport it, and as we doled it out we filled them up again with souvenirs to take home.
After several misdirections, I finally found the Paraguayan consulate – what a hassle! They confirmed that yes, Canadians did in fact need a visa to enter their fine country. They wanted to see my international vaccination booklet, which fortunately I had on my person, and then they told me they needed a photo. Away I went to a place they recommended, had photos taken, then left one with the consulate folks. They said to return at 3:00 PM. I headed back to the bus station – Susan was still there, keeping watch over all our stuff. We caught a cab back to the consulate with all our crap, dropped it all off, then went out to eat lunch. By the time we finished, my visa was ready.
All that fooling around had cost us a lot of time, so we caught a cab and had the driver take us all the way to the bus station across the river. As we drove across the Puente Internacional de la Amistad, we saw many people carrying goods (things like televisions, stereos, small appliances) on their backs into Paraguay, perhaps to re-sell at a profit? The cabbie took us to the main bus station in Ciudad del Este and dropped us off. As soon as we arrived, we bought bus tickets for 10,000 Guaranis apiece (about $7.50 US), and the bus pulled out almost immediately.
We munched on whatever snacks we had as the bus rolled along, traveling through gentle, pastoral country. Our bus must have been an express, as it hardly stopped at all during its 6-hour trip to Asunción. It was 6:30 in the evening when we pulled in to the station (Paraguay’s time zone is 1 hour earlier than Foz do Iguaçu). From a pay phone, I called my friend Joerg Henninger – what luck, he was home! He drove to the station and picked us up right away, taking us directly to his beautiful home. We settled in and spent the evening drinking wine until late.
The next morning, we slept in late – by the time we arose, Joerg had left for work. His 2 children, Philipp and Alexandra, were at school. One of the 2 maids made us breakfast, then we caught a micro to downtown Asunción. We did all manner of touristy things – exchanged money at a casa de cambio; bought many souvenirs for friends and family to take back home with us; walked around the centro a great deal. We discovered chipas, a delicious snack sold by street vendors, of which we made a meal. It was a cool, pleasant day and we spent a lot of time walking the streets enjoying the beautiful trees, plants and birds. When we’d had our fill, we simply caught a micro back to the barrio of beautiful homes where Joerg lived and spent a nice evening at home. Oh yes, today there was a partial eclipse of the sun visible from the city, only 10 or 20%, but still fun to watch.
Joerg had some kind of high-powered job working for a German company (it may have even been the German government) where they contracted with foreign countries like Paraguay – I vaguely recall it had something to do with forestry. In any case, they must have treated him pretty well – they had 2 full-time maids and lived in a huge, beautiful house, which they rented for a mere $500.00 US per month. One of the maids even did our laundry!
Susan and I spent another day in town sightseeing and playing tourist, getting to know this very old city, founded in 1537. Later, I helped Joerg pick up his vehicle from the mechanic shop. After supper at home, the 5 of us spent the evening curled up on a huge bed watching videos that showed the flora, fauna and landscape of the whole country – very interesting and educational.
The next day, Saturday, our 4th in Paraguay, Joerg drove us into town to some shops that sold artesanal goods made by Indian craftsmen. I bought small animal figures carved from beautiful palo santo wood (I still have and treasure these today). Then all of us headed out in Joerg’s comfortable SUV for a fun day in the countryside. We stopped at roadside stands along the way, buying fresh fruit and fresh chipas – everything was dirt-cheap. While stopped at one of those stands, we watched a greater rhea pick up an orange from the ground and swallow it, then watched the round lump slowly work its way down the long neck until it entered the bird’s body. These birds are the largest in South America and were common in the countryside.
We stopped for tea and toast at a lovely hotel on the shore of Lago Ypacarí near the town of San Bernardino, spending a leisurely time playing cards. Once back in the city, I started taking antibiotics for a terribly painful sore throat. The evening’s entertainment was checkers, and Susan beat the pants off of everybody. We certainly had a pampered time as Joerg’s guests.
The next morning, Joerg drove to the airport to pick up his wife Ziggi and her niece Katrina. Meanwhile, Susan and I decided to explore the city by bus. We stopped at one point for lunch – pizza, of a kind that seemed popular here and in other cities we visited – with white sauce, and a topping of greens. Later, another bus took us clockwise around the edge of the city, and we stopped at the Jardín Botánico. We spent hours walking around the huge park – there was even a small zoo. Two more buses took us back to the Henninger residence. Ziggi and Katrina were there, and we all went out to a German restaurant for a nice dinner. Once back at their home, the ladies retired early as they were very tired from traveling all the way from Germany that day. We stayed up late talking with Joerg.
Up early the next morning, we said goodbye to the kids and Joerg who headed out for the day. After breakfast, Ziggy drove us to the bus terminal where we boarded our express bus right away. Our seven-dollar tickets bought us comfortable seats and a French movie with Spanish subtitles. En route, from roadside vendors we bought fresh chipas, cokes, yogurt and tangerines. Just over 4 hours later, we found ourselves once again in Ciudad del Este. In the pouring rain, we arranged a cab ride for $22 US to take us all the way to Puerto Iguazú, Argentina – that meant getting through 2 sets of border crossings, one into Brazil and another into Argentina, with all the customs stamps. Once there, our plans quickly unraveled – but that’s another story!