May 6,

Up and about just before the alarm at 0600. We readied and finished packing. Then we met our hostess turning over the keys & fob to enter. Jeff E-hailed an Uber to the bus station. We arrived by 0730, found our Nordeste Bus stall, and received our paper tickets after we presented our passports. By 0740, we were on our bus. At 0810 we were underway, only ten minutes late.

Quickly we arrived at the border and nothing was said. Everyone exited the bus seeming to walk to the bridge, we followed. Jeff finally found someone who spoke English. We should’ve gotten an exit stamp for Brazil. So we hoofed it back, found where to get our stamp,…and had problems. They would not give us one because yesterday we didn’t get an entry. Finally, they waved us on. So we reboarded the bus. There was a guy that had been walking with us from the bus, but he continued on walking. What a mess!! Anyway, the bus started up and we crossed the border. The bridge (that we had almost walked across) goes over a river that defines the border of Brazil and Paraguay. Once across the bridge we went to the Immigration here. We did get stamped in – I made sure!!! We also got our picture taken. Then back on the bus. That is how it is supposed to work. It was 0930. The bus restarted at 1010, going through Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Interestingly, that river that we just crossed is the Parana River. This river separates into two rivers south of Foz do Iguacu. One being the Iguazu River and the waterfalls a bit further downstream, and the other being the Parana River, which continues on becoming the southern border of Paraguay. That river continues snaking through Argentina and finally empties into the Atlantic ocean in Buenos Aires!

At 1022, we pulled into the bus terminal. Some left and others loaded. We headed on at 1028. We stopped once around 1130. Two ladies came on board selling bread and coffee – had some takers. Then we moved on. The landscape has changed as we moved west, no more mountains. It’s more rolling hills and pasture land with the soil being red colored. I noticed some fields were corn, and some sugar cane. Along the road farm equipment was for sale. Also I noticed three foot tall mounds of dirt that seem to be termite or ant homes.

At 1245, we stopped for lunch at Churrasqueria Brazil. It was a buffet with a parrilla area. You pay by the kilogram. A lady pointed out an item to try. I took half of a piece…it was like mushy cornbread. I should have gotten a whole piece. The only other great thing was a casserole of crumbly meat topped with lots of cheese. It was all seasoned well. We paid 71,000 Paraguayan Guarani (PYG), which is $11.89. We finished and went next door for some peanuts and a chocolate “brownie”- a packaged chocolate layered dessert. This cost 12,500 PYG or $2.08. We loaded up and left by 1325…moving on west.

In Coronel Oviedo the bus stopped at a toll booth, so this #2 Hwy was a toll road. The driver also made a stop and opened the belly luggage compartment just before the road changed numbers – don’t know why he did this. An hour later the driver stopped again, I assume this time to relieve himself. Also I noticed the bus had to pull off at the weighing stations. Questions??

As we get to the western side of Paraguay and its capital, Asuncion; the terrain has taller hills and more forested. The driver took a bypass around Caacupe. We passed by a big lake, Lago Ypacarai. It feeds Rio Salado which runs into Rio Paraguay. This last river makes up some more of the southwestern border with Argentina. At 1711, we pulled into the bus station, only three hours late.😞🙄

     WELCOME TO ASUNCION, PARAGUAY!!!

In the station, I parked with our luggage as Jeff went to get a SIM card. He returned successful. He also changed some money. Then we took a taxi to our place. The traffic was horrendous! We only had over a mile to go, but it took awhile as the counter kept going up. It ended at 35,000+ PYG, or over $5.70. Jeff gave him 50,000 PYG which was $8.17.

We got checked in by the security guard. Then we proceeded to go up to our new home until June. It was “lovely”!!! And most importantly it was just like the pictures. We are on the fifth floor, and it’s overlooking the pool. The building also has a gym…we can use this and that pool! Jeff did super-great on this booking. We checked everything out as we unpacked. Then we went out to a grocery store just for breakfast stuff and wine tonight. We got back and had popcorn with wine for supper; watched some YouTube and bed by 2200.