The Hostel
The Hostel
ABOUT PARAGUAY
20th August 2024
A good friend of mine is from Paraguay, so I could not travel across South America and not go by. To be honest, over the course of our friendship, she never told me much about the place. I mean occasionally she would tell me about plans she and her mom or brother had made to visit Paraguay, but she never told me what it was like, what it felt like being there. I suppose I never asked either. But the point is I really had no idea what to expect. I remember her telling me she and her family are from a city in Paraguay called Asuncion, so on the day I decided to head over to Paraguay, Asuncion was the city I looked up when I opened Google Maps. According to Google Maps from La Paz, Bolivia to Asuncion Paraguay is 30 hours by bus, So I packed my bags and headed over to the bus station. Stringing together the few Spanish words I knew at that point, I was able to purchase a bus ticket to Asuncion. I was told the bus did not leave for a couple of hours, so I just hung out at the bus station for a couple of hours. I don’t really recall what I did during that time. I would like to say I read, but honestly probably not. Some time just after nightfall, we loaded our bags, got on the bus, and headed out. Almost immediately, I fell asleep. When I woke up a couple of hours later we were at the Bolivia-Paraguay border.
As you are well aware if you read the other post I had been dreading this moment. The bus driver instructed everyone to get off the bus and head over to the customs building where our passports will be checked for entry stamps if we are not Bolivian citizens. Now, it was bright hell outside, the sun was just rising, it was warm, it was golden, it was gorgeous even, but in that moment I felt like the sun was out to get me. How it lighted every possible corner I could hide felt vindictive. So with a sense of mild panic, I headed in and got in line with the rest. Eventually, it was my turn, and the agent asked for my passport which I gave to her. After flipping through for a minute or so, she asked me where my Visa was. It may seem like at that moment I had only two options: be honest or lie, but as it turned out there was actually a third option: play dumb. I am a person of integrity, I don’t like lying to people and I don’t appreciate it when people lie to me so naturally I decided to play dumb. I knew exactly what she was asking for but I decided to act like it was the first time I was hearing I needed a visa to enter Bolivia. There was some back and forth, some confusion, some frustration. At some point, I even pulled out the random stamp I got from the dude at the border on my way in which just confused everyone even more. It eventually became apparent that I just simply did not have the visa, so the agent gave me two options. I could either hang back when the others leave, pay a fee in addition to the required visa fee and do all the things I need to do to get the visa, and then catch the next bus to Asuncion whenever it comes by or I could sign some papers which would allow me to leave, but then I will be banned from entering bolivia for the next 3 years. These papers were in Spanish so I was hesitant to sign something I did not understand, but I also did not want to wait for the next bus or pay the fee. So after an appropriate amount of deliberation, I decided to sign the papers. They made a copy of my passport, then took my picture- front, sides and all. I was then told I was free to go, I got back on the bus and we continued on to Paraguay. Oh, I forgot to mention parts of this are fiction.
On our drive over to Paraguay, we were stopped two more times, both times our bags were searched for drugs, cocaine specifically. Apparently because of an abundance of coca in Bolivia, the plant from which cocaine is made, Bolivia is kind of a cocaine hub. If you did not know, now you do. Anyway, Paraguayan officials are always nervous about people smuggling cocaine into Paraguay hence why they perform those searches. I mean I get it, but at the time, it felt a little excessive. We eventually did make it to Asuncion, When we arrived the sun was just setting. We were dropped off at a bus stop from where I was able to walk to the hostel where I had made plans to spend the following week. I took a shower and went to bed.
The next day, I woke up just as the sun was rising and headed over to the kitchen to make some tea. This kitchen was one of the most beautiful kitchens I have ever had the pleasure of being in. It was an open-air kitchen, so there were no windows and the wall on the side overlooking the city was only half the height you would expect. from the kitchen you could see the city below, it was just beautiful. After I was done admiring, I made some coca tea, which I drank while taking in the city.
When I was done, I got ready and headed out to explore. I obviously did not know anyone in the city and I was not very open to getting to know anyone. So I Just spent the day aimlessly wandering the streets of Asuncion with no particular destination in mind. I did go to a couple of Museums and went by the market to get some groceries. At some point, I remember it raining and me just hanging out in front of this store waiting for it to stop raining. I don’t know, being in Asuncion was interesting because I recall thinking at that moment, when I was waiting for it to stop raining, about how much Asuncion reminded me of the States. But there were also many other times when I felt nostalgic because something about the place reminded me of feelings I had felt at one point or another when I was growing up. It was never really the structures that filled the spaces that made me feel that way, rather it was the unique way things just were. For instance, the way it smelled when it rained, the way the trees swayed in the wind, and my personal favorite which probably will not make sense to you but also the way silence sounded. It all just felt really familiar. At the same time, it still all felt foreign despite its familiarity. Overall I did enjoy my time in Asuncion, I liked the peace, the quiet, the calm.
After a couple of days in Asuncion, I decided I wanted to see more of Paraguay so I got on workaway and reached out to a couple of people. This guy in Caaguazú got back to me. He owned a place there which he was working on converting into a commune and he wanted some help. I looked up Caaguazú and it was apparently only about 2 hours away, so I packed my stuff, got on a bus, and headed down there. The guy picked me up at the bus stop, we then spent most of the afternoon running some errands, got lunch at some point before heading over to his place, which was another hour away. For whatever reason at no point did it cross my mind that he could murder me or worse, he just did not seem like the type.
When we got to his place, I met his girlfriend for the first time. After a brief introduction, we got busy unloading the groceries we had picked up in town. When we were done, the guy showed me my room. It was a little hut separate from the main house. We had to walk like 6 minutes across this small field to get to it. There was a little porch but no furniture. We headed inside, it was rather dark, but there were two windows which we promptly opened. Once we did I noticed the bed on the floor in the center of the room and the shelves built into the wall. The space was clean enough and cozy, which I appreciated. He headed back to the main house while I unpacked. After I was done unpacking, I headed to the main house where the guy and his girlfriend were out front, chitchatting on the veranda. I joined them and for a bit, we engaged in the usual conversations that people who have just met each other usually engage in, where are you from, how long have you been here, what do you do on the daily, etc. I learned that they were both from Germany and had only recently decided to immigrate to Paraguay. The girl immigrated to Paraguay with her family and the guy immigrated by himself and it sounds like they met in Paraguay. At some point during the conversation, the guy took out this brown powdery thing he had bought while we were out and about, he told me it was tobacco in its raw form. Of course, I was intrigued. He took out this pipe, it was straight, slender, and forked at the end. He filled it up with tobacco and put the forked end in his nostrils. He then sat facing his girlfriend who then blew on the other end of the pipe emptying its content into his nose. Besides seeming a lot more relaxed, he barely seemed affected by it. He then asked me if I wanted to try it and after a moment of hesitation, I figured why not. He filled the pipe again, asked me to come sit in front of him which I did, and then he put the forked end of the pipe in my nostrils and blew the content of it into my nose. Immediately I felt a lightheadedness I had never experienced. I felt the ground fall from under me as I lost total control of my body. Without realizing I gently fell to my back where I stayed for a minute or so. Within a few minutes, the effects of the tobacco wore off and all that was left was an intense feeling of calm and tranquility. We hung out on the veranda for the rest of the day talking until dinner time is how I would like to recall it, but I feel like it is more likely that after hanging out on the veranda a bit longer, I headed back to my room for a nap. It had been a long day and I just needed a minute to myself. I ended up sleeping through dinner and woke up to the guy knocking on my door. They had made dinner, I don’t recall what, but he brought me some. I recall thinking that was very sweet of them. I ate some of the food and then went back to bed.
In the morning I went up to the house, the guy was in the kitchen and he showed me the pantry which was filled with all kinds of ingredients. He told me I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. So I made some oatmeal with banana and milk. After I was done eating, I asked him if there was any work I could do around the house, this was a work trade after all. He told me not really, but after some insistence, he told me I could maybe weed around this Buddhist temple they had set up in front of their house. Grateful to be able to repay them for all their kindness I got to work. Over the next couple of days, my days consisted of breakfast, weeding, working on my grad school applications, showering, and dinner. A day or so after arriving the guy's girlfriend informed me she was going to go stay with her parents for a while. So for a bit, it was just me and the guy in the house, we barely saw each other though. He was always busy but I could not figure out exactly what he did all day. Sometimes though we would sit around talking, he told me about the six years he spent traveling in India and his passion for the Indian religions. He had a whole library of books on Indian philosophy, which he told me I was free to browse through whenever I wanted. I told him about the places I had been so far and where I was headed next. He told me about his vision for the land we were on. He wanted to build some sort of artist commune where people could come from all over the world to just be and create. I told him if he ever did I would be open to returning after I leave. I don’t know if he ever will create the community he envisioned, but I do plan on reaching out someday to find out if he did. If he does, I most definitely will go back to Caaguazú to see it.
At some point, this dad and his son also from Germany arrived. I think they found the place through workaday as well. From what I gathered the father was considering moving to Paraguay because he felt like Germany was doomed. He was apparently not a fan of all the pollution and technology and he just wanted a slower life for himself and his son. It sounded like he had also just gone through a divorce. The father and son mainly spend their days hanging out on the porch and chilling. I didn't really get to know them all that well, mainly because I decided to leave shortly after they arrived. I decided to head over to Brazil. I informed the guy of my plans to leave which he seemed sad about, but maybe I am just projecting. I packed my bags and called a taxi which came and picked me up and dropped me off at the bus stop. From there I caught a bus to Foz de Iguazu, the city in Brazil where the Iguazu waterfalls are located.
