Mar 2007

Ask any traveller about Paraguay and they will tell you two things. Firstly that theres nothing there and secondly that theres nothing there and thirdly that we´ll be shot. However ask if they´ve actually been there and 10 times out of 10 they haven´t. Theres enough here to keep you occupied for a good few weeks but thats if you know where to look for it.
The ironic thing was that I never intended to go to Paraguay. It was only because Chris persuaded me to go while over in Igauzu. Even then I only expected spending a few nights there before heading down to Uraguay. Instead I ended up staying nearly two weeks and found South Americas best kept secret.
So on Sunday the 18th of March 2007 the four of us crossed into the great unknown and I finally came to county where no Kehoe had been before. Instead of crossing at Ciudad del Este where the border at Iquazu is we crossed in at Encarnation in the South, via Pousadas in Argentina. The main attraction for this town/city is the Jesuit ruins at Jesûs and Trinidad, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The first thing we discovered when entering Encarnation is that Paraguay is dirt cheap, and I mean dirt cheap. The hotel we stayed in may have looked like a former prison but for $4 your having a laugh.
The next day we got the bus up to Jesus to check out the ruins, took about 2 hours and cost us $3. The ruins themselves are former Jesuit settlements, one in Jesûs and one in Trinidad. They were settled around the 1760´s but they all got kicked out of Paraguay not too long afterwards. The first thing which hits you though is that the Paraguayan Tourist Board must consist of 1 guy in a small office somewhere in the capital. Despite being a UNESCO site the Jesus location is completely underfunded. There was one sign and that was pretty much it. If UNESCO gave them some money I´m pretty sure the site never saw a penny. The ruins were different from anything that you get in the UK, they let you walk anywhere without a guide. It was here that we bumped into another Brit traveller we´d meet back in Rio a guy called Finn. Who originally only planned to spend a few days in Paraguay but joined us for the full 12 days instead.
Now I realised Paraguay was cheap but on the way to the bus to Trinidad we actually found a car for sale cheaper than the bus ticket. It was tough call but the possibilty but we ended up getting the bus. The Trinidad site seems to be where some of the money must have gone as parts of it have been restored.
The following day we ended up heading out to the San Rafel National Park, strictly speaking it isn´t one yet cause all the money the government had to buy the land all mysteriously disappeared. Getting there was an adventure in its own. We ended up waiting a the smallest town ever for 4 hours to get a lift from one of the rangers to the park.

It was quite funny when we turned up as one of the other guests was an ex-scoucer who lived out in Paraguay. It also turned out he wrote most of the travel guides so he def. came in useful. Ended up spending a few days there just chilling out, was pretty cool.
After that we again hit the road for the capital, Ascuncion. It wasn´t a Rio or a BA but it was still pretty cool and had a few things there to do. One thing which stood out was how rich some were and how poor the others were.

The picture above is the presidents pad, yet right behind it are shant towns. Also behind it we got a bit of a shock, turns out Paraguay actually has a navy.

While in the city we ate like kings, 3 course meals in the poshest restaurants in the county (black tuie waiters and everything) for like 7 quid. Ive never eaten so well.
After a few days and a few late nights we lost 2 fellow travellers, Chris and Louise, while me, Claire and Finn decided to this quality park that I cant spell. To get there however we had to hire a 4x4 as most of it was off road.

All I can say is off-roading in Paraguay in a Jeep is the most fun you can have with your pants on. It was absolute quality. Half of the trip was on dirt roads, and I mean propper ones.

We were flying over bumps and bridges, power sliding road bends, absolutely amazing. So anyway we rocked up at another park, this one was miles better, apparently Bono and Madona gave them a shed load of cash.

To get around we had to have a guide and drive, which meant more off-roading. We did a couple of quality stages which had been cut out of the forest and were over grown. It was also then that had a minot prang, some 16 year old in a pick up tried to over take me while a was over taking some else on the dirt road. However big feck off hole meant had to jam on the brakes and he ended up in the back of us, so wasnt technically my fault.

As you can see was only a minor one, guy at the hire shop didnt care about it, though Im pretty sure we added a few other dents a scraps.
Again after a few days of walks, canoeing and a few other things we had to head back to catch the bus to Uraguay the next day. Which meant night time off roading, quality!! Also meant the highways were pretty dead, except you couldnt really get it past 130kmph as the steering wheel started to shake violently. Anyway, the Paraguayan road trip was absolutly amazing, driving in the middle of nowhere, at night, with shooting stars above you is a once in a life time experience which will stay with me.

Right, will be brief as wasnt much there. We rocked up on the Brazilian side and did that in like 3 hours, not much there at all. Then swapped over to the Argentinian side for about 4 days, 2 days too much. However one of those was taken up by a hang over and the other one due to transport.
The real fun came afterwards, I was due to head South to Uraguay but instead went North to Paraguay. Absolute quality!!

I decided to pop down to Ille Grande with one of Claires friends, Louise, as I´d already seen Rio and fancied something different. Ille Grande is an island 3 hours south of Rio by bus, then an hour on a boat. The island itself basically has one main town with about 3 cars on it, the only way to the hundreds of beachs is by hiking ofr hours or by boat.
While on the boat we meet an Aussie girl from Perth called Amy who we ended up taggin along with us for the duration. When we got there everything was booked but manged to get a room in a house with a load of other travellers, was pretty nice actually.
Isn´t too much to do on the island at night, only restaurants, a handful of bars and no clubs. However it does have the greatest attraction of all, pudding trolleys. These things are AMAZING, they come out at night and have the greatest cakes known to man, god I ate loads of them.
Anway the next day we got a boat over to this beach called Lopez Mendes, supposed to be the greatest beach in the universe, or something like that anyway.
The beach itself streached for what looked like miles and the water was cyrstal clear. Was pretty amazing. Manged to spend a day there just lounging around. Talk about a hard life.
While the nest day we got one of the boat trips around the island to about 5 different beachs, all of which were pretty stunning. While on one the boat nearly left without me and I was left power swimming across the bay to get to it. The sunset we got off the boat was pretty amazing too.

While the next day we decied to take a wonder around one of the tracks, saw a cool few things such as some prison ruins. Then we bumped into a sign which said there was a waterfull ahead, an hour later over steap paths, (one was technically a cliff as there was a rope to use to climb up it), we finally made it. It was pretty amazing as you could go for a dip as the water wasnt too bad.

Best shower so far.
However, all good things have to come to an end and on the Monday we headed back to Rio and then onto Iquazzu.

So after leaving Santos and saying addios to the old man I headed up to Rio with 4 of the cadets. Unfortunately it didnt look like we were off to a good start when one of them booked the wrong day in the hostel, however all turned out well and crashed in another place. Ended up checking out the hang gliding first, with Simon being the only willing cadet (Id already done it). It looked quality though and he properly enjoyed it. Then ended up checking out Sugar Loaf, which was amazing. It was better than the Jesus statue by far.
By then however we decided we´d done far too much and headed to some bar for a bit of dead cow. Ended up making our way back to the hostel for a bit more drinking, meet a few odd characters, including the 31 year old account who was a cradle snatcher. It was quality though, crashed an Irish bar and then some other bar.
Dont think we did much on the Sunday, karma meant as we´d done shed loads yesterday we could just chill for the day. Did intend to go out that night but we all ended up falling asleep.
The next day was the cadets final day, so of course we had to head to a bar. However that was after we popped up to the Jesus statue, which just happened to have a bar there as well. So after that we decided to check out Hard Rock Cafe, as all tourists have too, only it was ages away. Was quality when we got there though.
So anyway they buggered off on th Monday after a quality weekend where I don´t think I ve laughed so hard in ages.
It was Monday when Chris and Claire arrived too, cant remember too much of what we did then. However the high light has to have been the football match we went to see in the Mara something stadium, Flamingo v. some other local time and a final of something. Crap that was amazing, flares and fireworks going off, flags being waved, everytime they scored we got covered in beer. The atmosphere was amazing. It was an amazing experience, we were right behind the goals with all the die hard fans, we were pretty safe though as we´d got a group of 22 from the hostel. The tube on the way back was also quality as it was just full of Flamingo fans chanting and jumping, wouldnt have got that on the London Underground. After that bascially just chilled in Rio for a while till we headed off to an island called Ille Grande with a friend of Claires.

After sluming it for the last X amount of weeks the offer of a bit of free board and English food with the old man was something which was quickly snatched up. Staying onboard RFA Gold Rover, it far surpased any hooker hotel or grotty hostel. No being woken up at 6am by people packing, no filthy showers...e.t.c

So had to fly at something silly at like 7am and so check-in was 5am, I decided to kip in the airport... not a good idea. Manged to get about 4 minutes sleep. Was so tired couldnt even be bothered with the check-in girls blantent flirting, now thats tired. Eventually got on the plane and headed off to Sao Paulo, where I got picked up, how flash is that, and wisked off to the ship. Manged to eat more in the few days on the ship than in the previous 7 weeks, English breakfast, and my favourite, Steak and Kidney pie!! Even got to watch a bit of English TV, quality!
Santos itself is basically the weekend retreat for those with cash from Sao Paulo, so its pretty dead from Monday to Thursday. The beach is pretty nice though, water aint too clean though. Even ended up doing a bit of culture while there, checked out some building high up in the centre of the city. You got to it by a sort of tram thing, was kinda cool, saw the whole city from up there.

Also sampled a bit of night life which Santos has to offer with a few of the Cadets, was quality. However for the last two days I was forced to check into a 5 star hotel, talk about slumming it. Check out those views from the pool.


Anyway though, ended up heading to Rio on the Friday with the four cadets as they had a 3 dayer off....