We finished with the camp on Saturday morning down in Ayolas
and unfortunately the last bus to get us home into the community left Caaguazu
at 4 in the afternoon so it was just impossible for us to catch that bus. We also don’t have any buses that run to my
site on Sunday so since we were not able to get back to site until Monday
morning I decided that we might as well take our time getting home as well as
show Romina some other places in her country.
So by the time it was all said in done Romina and I had traveled a
complete circle around the southern half of the country. Below you will see some pictures of our
fantastic travels to Encarnacion and the Jesuit ruins in Trinidad. Enjoy!
We left Ayolas about noon and went about 45 minutes north
and got off the bus on Ruta 1. From
there we just had to wait a little while and caught the bus over to
Encarnacion. Encarn is located right on
the Rio Parana (the same river the dam was on) and across the river you can see
Posadas Argentina. The beach from the
river here looks like you are on a huge lake.
This picture is looking at an old factory with the city of Posadas in
the distance.
This is just a picture of me with my feet in the river and
it almost seemed like I was at the ocean.
Don’t worry mom I got you some sand for your collection!
Romina and I enjoying the cool water with Argentina in the
background.
This is just a picture of the beach itself which is actually
very touristy and since it was a Saturday it was very crowded. The volunteers I talked to that live around
here say that during the week is the best time to come because there isn’t
anyone there. Can you imagine being a
PCV here, I wouldn't ever want to leave the beach!
After our wonderful afternoon in Encarn we then traveled
with one of my G-mates to her site which is located in Trinidad. She lives about a five minute walk from the
ruins themselves and her project involves with working in sustainable tourism
so she knows all of the park guides and guards so we were able to get a special
and FREE tour. This is a picture of me
and Nari (the environmental volunteer in Caaguazu- my closest neighbor)
standing in front of the ruins. We
arrived there right before sunset so I wasn’t able to get great pictures but I
tried my best and I’m sure I will be back at some point again.
This is a watchtower and also known as the Torre de Atalaya.
The next few pictures are just of different areas around the
ruins. It was just amazing to see the
stone carving that was just so beautiful and I can’t even imagine how long some
of this stuff took and how they could have built these huge structures back
then.
This is a picture of Romina in the front of the church. Can you see her? I was just amazed by how tall the structure it was and could only imagine how grand it used to be when it was first built.
This is a picture of the huge and beautifully carved pulpit.
This is just a picture that I took looking out from the
church out into another part that had a beautiful huge tree and with sunset it
looked like a great picture!
This is an artist’s replication of what the church probably
looked like when it was first built.
After we took our self-guided tour right at sunset we had a
hour to look around before we went on the night tour. So we had time to visit with some of the artisans
that sold their crafts outside of the front gates as well as tour the small
museum. Once it finally got dark enough
they started the night tour which was just FANTASTIC and pictures just can’t do
it justice. It was a clear night and the
stars were just so beautiful and seeing the ruins at night just made it seem
like a completely different place.
This is just a picture that I took inside the church itself
with some of the intricate carving.
This is another picture of the watchtower just at night.
We
had a fantastic trip in Trinidad and were able to see so much in just one
night. On Sunday morning we got up and
got on a bus to go back north through Cuidad del Este and then back west to
Caaguazu. We spent Sunday night with a
wonderful volunteer married couple and had a great time cooking enchiladas and
had a movie night. We arrived back into
site on Monday morning about 11:30 and we both had a wonderful trip and saw a
lot but were also just ready to be back home again.
I also got a nice pique again on my foot and I know many of
you got grossed out by the picture of the larva itself so I just decided to
take a picture of what it looks like on the outside before I took it out. It honestly just looks like a blister and
feels like one. I am becoming a real pro
at getting these out which I don’t enjoy doing but I don’t really have another
choice. I have also learned that there
is an opportune time to get them out of your foot but I am still working on
this and hopefully will not have too many more to base my observations on.
I am still living with my second host family that I have
lived with for two months already and it sounds like I will be living with them
until PC can come back out and inspect the new house that I want to rent. The original house that PC had approved fell
through when it came down to it but now I have another house very close to the
other one that is beautiful and already has a lot of furnishings.
Over the next few weeks I will be working on the house
mostly just cleaning and organizing everything so I can start staying there
once it gets approved. I am also
starting to look at prices and will be buying a fridge, oven, stove, and other
things soon. It feels weird doing all of
these things when I have not even done them in the US and I am learning that
they don’t post prices here but rather is a system of going back and forth
until you decide on a price. It isn’t
like Lowes or somewhere where you just walk in and pay that price. I guess it is nice because I can barter a
little bit but at the same time frustrating.
I am learning that if I buy all of my appliances at one place not only
will I get a better price but I can also get them to deliver it 30 km to my
house which makes my life A LOT easier.
Hopefully I will be posting pictures soon once I get the house looking
better.
I am also beginning to start all of my surveys and have
given all of my surveys out to the school teachers so I should be hearing back
from them over the next week to see what they would like help with in the
school. I am also walking my host niece
and nephew to school every day since she goes to class in the afternoons. My nephew is only two so he can’t go to
school but sadly he still cries every day when we have to leave for school to start,
but perhaps he will figure it out soon. Also
I should be starting my community survey soon where I visit every family and
ask questions. I hope you all enjoyed
all of the blog posts! Also many of you
are asking what I need and the best thing to do would be to contact my mom
because she has my ongoing list of things that I need.
Thanks!
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