Paraguay and All the Travel Stuff

With Marcos back as our requested driver, we hit the Friendship Bridge to Paraguay. I really can’t tell you what crossing the border is like because we just gave our passports to the driver and he took care of the rest each time.

The border city is Ciudad Del Este in Alto Paraná. Right at the border in the middle of the Paraná River is a island called Acaray, which is a dormant volcano, home to a large variety of snakes. This island is not to be confused with Snake Island (Ilha da Queimada Grande) off the Atlantic side of Brazil, which is closed to the public due to the large number of venomous golden lancehead pit vipers.

The roads are congested and the air was pretty smoggy. The sidewalks are overflowing with street vendors, who can be relentless in pursuing a sell. You can buy just about anything. But you have to be careful.

This city is known for its duty free shopping at the Paris mall. It is large and has a lot of American brands; prices are even in dollars. For us, as America’s, there were no deals to be found, but for the Brazilians it was a big deal. Imports are very expensive in Brazil so it’s much cheaper for them to buy here. We were met at the van with a shopping center guide who took us in the mall and showed us where we can store any merchandise purchased, where the bathrooms were, etc. Never had a mall guide before.

After a morning of shopping, well in our case, waiting for shopping to be over, we went to lunch. We had plans for a cheap Paraguayan buffet but Marcos was quick to pivot, when we wanted something a little more adventurous. He took us to Kattamaram Paraguay for lunch at the beautiful Restaurante Panorâmico Puerto Kattamaram and then a boat ride down the Rio Paraná.

Well, after having our fill of fish, some in our group weren’t quite ready for a boat ride, so we opted to go back to the hotel instead. Stan and Lisa had a plane to catch that night so it worked out well for them to go back to the hotel and get showered and packed before the plane ride. That was perfect, as everyone was able to just have a little down time before dinner. We all had fun swimming, playing ping pong, resting, and eating açaí poolside.

I can say I’ve been to Paraguay but I can’t say that I’ve experienced Paraguay. I’ve been told that once you get out of the cities, it’s a much different side of Paraguay. I guess that means I’ll just have to try to come back some day.

Roberto and Trevor dropped Stan and Lisa off at the airport and came back and grabbed us for dinner.

The bridge you cross over to get to Argentina is pretty cool as it is painted in each country’s colors.

The next day we started our two day trek back to Atibaia.

The plan was to eat lunch at Italian castle restaurant on the way home but, we instead, chose to have a slow morning at the resort, so no one was hungry when we reached the restaurant. Next time, Castelletto Dal Pozzo; next time.

We had booked our hotels before we left except for the one on the way back home, as we weren’t sure how far we would travel each day. Turned out to be a little bit of an issue. We ended up back in Londrina, which is around the half way mark and the city we stayed in on the way to the falls.

The issue was that the former Brazilian president was in town and everything decent to stay in was booked solid. We found a hotel but it could only house three people max per room. Check out the cool glass elevator. Instead of going up the 19 floors in that elevator, Mason would have almost rather slept outside with the homeless guy asking for money or food because the crack he used had made him hungry (homeless guy’s words; not mine).

The max three people situation meant that Daniel, Mason, and Tucker would share a room. What could happen with three (well almost three) teenagers sharing a hotel room?

This, this could happen. Sometime during the night, Daniel got up and tried to put toothpaste in Tuck’s ear but Tuck moved and got it in his hair instead. Since it didn’t wake Tuck up, Daniel and Mason left Tuck to wallow all that blue toothpaste all over his bed all night long. Tucker was so confused when he woke up. He thought he used soap instead of shampoo in the shower and that it must have turned his hair blue. He had toothpaste all over his clothes, hair, and face. Well, maybe there’s a reason why hotels don’t rent to people under 25. Maybe, they know what they’re doing.

The following day, Roberto found this cool pit stop. It was part gas station, part restaurant, part local history museum. How cool?!

I couldn’t decide if the statues were cool or creepy.

Look at these beautiful roses.

On a completely random note, look at this picture above. What’s wrong here? If you guessed that I’m riding in the car, with a drink, WITHOUT a lid from Micky D’s, you’d be right. No lids. Brazil is real funny about plastic. Plastic is cheap made but it’s pretty pricey. A lot of the straws are paper (don’t even get me started on that) and if you ask for a lid, McDonalds will put this film (think cling wrap) across the top of your cup. Then you jab your straw through it. I could see myself spilling my drink trying to get the straw through so I just went without one.

The hotel rooms were pretty standard. My family, not so much. A few things to note about hotels in Brazil. One, avoid motels, as they are not family friendly. They are more for hourly visits as the names Motel Passion and Motel Aliba suggest, if you get my drift. If you don’t get my drift, then just trust me: avoid them. They do not have washcloths in the hotels: towels, yes; wash cloths, no. It’s not just your hotel room either, Brazilians just don’t really use wash clothes. There will usually be shampoo and liquid soap, usually in refillable bottles mounted to the walls, as opposed to personal use soaps and shampoos. Depending on the hotel, they may or may not have shower gel (usually yes), conditioner (usually no), or lotion (sometimes).

The hall lights are usually motion activated. The problem with that is some take a while to detect motion and you wind up walking a good ways down the hall in the dark. As a women and a mom, I don’t like that. Tucker loved it, it was a game for him to see if he could get by the motion sensors without the light coming on.

We have yet to stay at a hotel that has a peephole in the door. We have stayed at American chains, Brazilian chains, Brazilian independents, and a resort. None have had peepholes.