I can’t believe we’ve been back in S. America for a month now; time flies especially when you have each day to do with what you wish. Even though we’ve only covered 1,000 miles as the crow flies, we’ve seen & done a lot. But at the same time, we’re past the most dramatic scenery and the most exciting locations in South America. If they were closer, we’d be revisiting them instead. Right now we’re in Paraguay enjoying hanging out with Mark & Liesbet and the new friends we’ve met at a lovely campground here.
Sometimes I feel like I have writer’s block and this blog gets away from me. I wait too long and feel overwhelmed by it. Because we really do a lot in just a few days. Now that I need to start focusing on getting ready to ship to Europe, I think I will just post some photos here and call it caught up for now.
After leaving Mendoza where we stored the truck, we headed northward toward Cordoba, Argentina to see the mountain towns of the Central Sierras that circle it. We’d really missed hiking and we knew after this area, these would be the last mountains we’d see on this continent perhaps. For now anyway, until we fly back to Peru one day to do the Huayhuash Circuit! We visited the towns of La Cumbrecita, Capilla del Monte, Alta Gracia, Mina Clavero, Quebrada National Park, San Marcos Sierras and La Cumbre. Our favorite was the hiking in the little pedestrian town of La Cumbrecita. We could go way up into the hills on long dayhikes where only the gauchos roam and the condors soar. Sometimes we had dogs for company. We named these Flip & Flop. They walked with us all day.
The other towns offered interesting museums, national parks, a really cool location where the world’s 2nd and 3rd largest meteors have fallen out of the sky, riverfront campsites and places to bike ride. We’ve done a fair amount of biking and seen some really nice wildlife, including monkeys and birds. We drove 60km out to El Inpenetrable NP to look for anteaters but only saw crocs & birds. When we got there the bridge leading into the park was in too rough shape for us to cross it so we had to do an insano 76km hot bike ride to get to the park sites. We visited a bee farm and bought delicious honey. We explored the Chaco region of Argentina too.
One crocodile at one of the parks we visited was so funny. They would feed it bread and when they tossed the bread in the water all the little fish would come to eat it. Then the croc would eat the bread and have a fish sandwich!
Crossing in to Paraguay was over a dam and was one of the calmest borders ever and the most unique too.
Paraguay is so far a laid back, tidy, agricultural country with red dirt and temperatures that range from really hot, to perfect to a little chilly, all in 24hrs. The food is great. We’ve had the best beer and the best restaurant food in all of South America here. The logging and destruction of the forest for yet more agricultural land bothers me. The animals will eventually have no place to live.
Shortly after arriving and meeting up with Mark, Liesbet and their Aussie friend Larry in an awesome resort style farm, hotel & campground, it was Jon’s birthday. It started out with a birthday breakfast, a nice walk on the beautiful grounds here at Manantial, an afternoon going into the city of Encarnacion in a rainshower to visit an Asian food store (lots of Japanese & Germans live in Paraguay), then a riverfront beach walk once the rain stopped. Watched the sunset, had a beer and then went out for sushi at a really nice restaurant!!! We’d been so looking forward to a big sushi boat and then there we were with great company! Then we came back for cake & champagne. It was such a great day.
This campground has a really nice collection of worldwide overlanders and its been great to get to know them. It’s really fun to get together and share ideas. This campground has a swell trail for exercise, pool, animals, a good hose and plenty of room. Not much more we need right now. We’ve also had our bikes out for a couple of days to visit the local Jesuit Mission ruin sites. There are a couple of locals who come to sell their incredible German treats and bread too. We like to eat well and you can do that here.
Soon we’ll have to start heading towards Uruguay to get ready to ship. It will be hard to leave the Spring and head to winter in Europe but there is no way to hit all the seasons perfectly. We have a few spots we’d like to stop at along the way. One thing we really appreciate about this life is that we have time to ponder things. I was thinking that it means a lot to us to be able to have plans. To have somewhere or some thing that we want to do and then the means to make it happen. Even to have somewhere to GO. As we drive through some of the quieter, more simple parts of the world where there isn’t this kind of opportunity that we feel we couldn’t live without, we realize how much this means to us. We’ll do it for as long as we can. It is the ultimate feeling of freedom and we don’t take it for granted.
I’m losing my niece Michelle after a battle with colon cancer. It has put pain and sadness in our days as we know hers are coming to an end. She was supportive and interested in our travels. She knew that being a kind human is more important than anything else and will get you farther.
It was so good to see her last month when we were in Florida and painful to think that we won’t see her the next time we’re down and I won’t be able to message her anymore. In the words of her sister Nichole: “Quiet, bright, beautiful light, this place will be worse without you.” We love you Michelle. We don’t want you to go.
