We left Encarnación with a Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (NSA) bus, mainly because the lady in charge of our guesthouse recommended it. We had asked around the previous day and found at least one company offering the trip for Gs65'000 but apparently the cheaper ones are a lot less comfortable and slower, going through all the little towns on the way. NSA promised an estimated travel time of six hours (five during the night) and we weren't too inclined to stretching that any further. We've been on long bus rides before, it's not an experience we have to have here.

We paid Gs90'000 per person for the tickets and got seats in the lower floor of the double decker. It's roomier down there and even the locals seem to prefer those seats, even though the views are much more limited than on the top floor. Even more so because the unwritten rule seems to be that the curtains are meant to be kept closed. We disobeyed on that one though and supported a peephole for most of the way. The scenery wasn't that exciting as we passed mostly flat countryside with small houses scattered here and there. Paraguay isn't known for much of anything, so there aren't really any mountain ranges or things like that to look at. Luckily they were showing some movies along the way, namely the Night at the Museum trilogy. Sadly they were dubbed in Spanish. And they started with the third movie, followed by the second and the first (before restarting the loop and showing the third and much of the second for a second time). Also, the newest film was clearly filmed in a movie theater with the tell-tale shadows moving around with popcorn dishes in hand.

The trip took somewhere between six and a half and seven hours but we didn't mind the small delay since this was by far the most comfortable bus ride we'd ever had. The seats reclined to almost horizontal and there was so much leg room that we didn't have to worry about squashing the people behind us. We had our small pillows with us so we were well rested, though a little hungry when we arrived in Asunción. We had some snacks with us but those can only go so far… It was past six in the evening and dark when we made our way out of the bus station so we decided not to go the cheap way this time but invest in a taxi to our hostel. Sadly the place we had reserved, called Panambi, had its reception a few blocks away from our room and we only had the useless accurate address for the reception. That is to say that the taxi drivers here can't bring you to a place with the name of the street and the number of the building, they need the name of the street and the two streets surrounding the block. We had the full address for the room (Herrera 628 between Antequera and Paraguari) but what was really needed was the phrase "Herrera entre Antequera y Paraguari" and thus the address we had for the reception (Manuel Domínguez N.º 489) was insufficient. We took the taxi to the site of the room and paid Gs40'000 (by meter). Then we used the offline map I had on my phone to navigate to Manuel Domínguez before walking down along it to find the reception. We found it at Hostel B&B Ñande Po'a, apparently owned by the same person and conveniently mentioned in our guidebook, where it also said that it would be in the corner of México and Manuel Domínguez…

After all that hassle everything went smoothly. We got the key to the room and the lady actually walked us back there spilling out things in Uruguayan Spanish which made understanding her a little difficult since we can barely understand Castellano. The room was nice enough with a lot of space, air-con, a private bathroom and a kitchenette. The fridge was so new that the drawers inside were still sealed with tape but we had hoped for a better stove. The one we got was a single spiral type stove which took a long time to get water to a boil. Also, we only had a tea pot to boil it in. This didn't stop us from cooking some pasta in it after we managed to get some from the store. We got a small pot the next day when we went back to the reception to pay for our stay. The four nights cost us Gs453'000 and we were pretty happy with that.

The location of the hostel was good with pretty much everything of mild interest within a walking distance. I say "mild interest" because Asunción isn't blessed with many notable sights. According to our guidebook the most instantly recognizable monument in Paraguay (because there are no others…) is the Panteón de los Héroes which contains the remains of some people of historical importance. When we actually found the place it was closed for renovations. We did see quite a few small plazas and walked to the Mercado Cuatro, a busy South American market selling just about everything. I've often wondered what happens to the devices companies like Sony, Samsung and Nokia make too many of without being able to sell them. They turn up here where people are perfectly happy owning a cellphone with a keyboard and a PlayStation 2. Paraguay is one of South America's poorest countries and it shows. The cars are old and there aren't that many tall buildings even in the capital. It's far from a slum though, at least the parts that we saw, the buildings might be a little worn but they aren't crumpling and there are busy stores all around. There was even a Hard Rock Cafe where we went to get lunch just that we could say that we've eaten in Hard Rock Cafe Asunción. We didn't want to get the shirts because they cost Gs160'000 as oppose to the Gs33'000 we paid for the three course lunch menu. It tasted awesome, which probably means that we should eat out more. Our usual diet has lately consisted of pasta with a side of tuna, which is pretty sad. Luckily we were able to find some "Carne de Soja", soy protein made to resemble bread crumbs to be used like minced meat. We had it in New Zealand and were very surprised to find it here in the promised land of carnivores. They buy their meat in huge bags by the weight and do the same with bread. We get weird looks every time we buy three buns because usually people leave the store with a sack of bread the size of a pillow.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that we were bored, we enjoyed the slow pace for a change and even went one morning without setting an alarm. It was nice. The wifi worked pretty well so we Skyped with people back home and finally got around to fill out the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) required to enter USA. It cost us $14 each and proved a little troublesome since we had to fill in our contact information in the US and our previous employer. I can't begin to imagine what they would want to contact the South Karelia Central Hospital for, but we gave them an address for that purpose anyway. My old host-dad from my exchange year in the States was kind enough to give his details for the document, which was nice of him. We thanked him by making a quick call over Facebook messenger because we failed to answer the one his pocket made to us. It was a nice little talk, although a little strange because we haven't talked in eight years and because we'd had a little wine before it. Luckily wine is cheap here with the bottom shelf ones going for about Gs8'500, so passing the long evenings wasn't a problem. With so much time on our hands I was also able to make a notable achievement by finishing all 220 levels of Angry Birds Star Wars in a matter of days. Who could have guessed that the Darth Vader pig was actually a bird behind his mask?! Perhaps finishing Angry Birds Star Wars II will explain what that was all about?