The long , long road to Paraguay...

My last thing in Cordoba was a meal out with 7 of the people I`d spent New Year`s with, and I felt a bit down as I said goodbye and headed for the bus station.

Having not had a proper night`s sleep for a few days I managed to sleep on the bus, but still woke up feeling tired.

12 hours after setting off, the bus pulled into Resistencia and it was raining - like torrential rain. And there was two feet of water running in the roads. It eased off a bit, so I started to look around, and then it started again so I got soaked.

It`s famous for having almost 500 pieces of public sculpture with more added every year. It was a nice enough place - but the amount of sculptures worked against it, because it seemed cluttered, and I just ended up walking pas most of it. It also leaned towards clasical so I didn`t find it that appealing. I even forgot to take photo´s.

I`d planned to stay here for the night, but thought I`d buy a ticket to Formosa and stay there instead.

When I got to Formosa 2 hours later, it was raining. And I couldn`t be bothered even going into town. So I bought a ticket to Clorinda, and hung around waiting a few hours for the bus.

On the bus to Clorinda, I got thinking that I was so near Paraguay and if it was earlier I could have made it to Paraguay - and as I`d been on the road for 24 hours straight I was starting to think about getting a place to stay.

But when we arrived at Clorinda the bus station was miles away from the centre, and they kept saying La Frontera over and over to me (which is border in Spanish) and pointing at a bus. So I get on, not really sure what would happen next.

After 20 minutes we make it to the border, and I get off. After changing some money I walked over the bridge into Paraguay and got my exit and entrace stamps. It was 10pm.

Here´s the border:



When I get into Paraguay it´s totally dead. No buses, not taxis, and no traffic. I asked some guy´s down the road when the buses would start and they said 5am - so I had a long night ahead. I was going to hitch hike, but there was no traffic going into Paraguay.

As I´m wandering about wondering what to do, a car pulls up, the window goes down, and a hand appears and puts a taxi sign on the roof. I´m thinking: "OK - and this doesn´t look odd?"

So I hang around for a while, and then get chatting to one of the immigration guy´s who says that it is a proper taxi and that it costs $30 dollars to get to Asuncion (I`ve no idea what the costs are as the currency changed at the border and I had no idea of the exchange rate). So, some what reluctantly, I get in the taxi. Just as we set off, another man jumps in the front seat and we pull away. The taxi sign gets taken off the roof, and we drive down the road into Paraguay, which is very, very dark.

I´m thinking that this is it - I´m going to get robbed, and sit trying to work out what I´m going to do.

It´s almost 30km´s to Asuncion, and I´m sitting there waiting for the worst to happen - but nothing happens. And after a while the other guy gets out, and the guy drops me in town. Phew!

Everyone says - don´t walk around Asuncion at night. But I had no problems, while I hunted around for a place to stay. I even went out at 10.45pm and had a sandwich at a cafe.

It was a real relief to make it - and after more than 24 hours on the road I was glad of a good night´s rest.