Illegal Immigrant!

Bus to Asuncion, the capitol of Paraguay. Only 5 hours but upright seat next to fat woman who hasn't been taught anything about personal space! We went through the "out" border and got my Argentine exit stamp no probs. Then we drove a while as usual to the entry border of Paraguay. But as we went through the town and people started getting off (and on) the bus I thought "hmmm no entry point onto Paraguay!" The 2nd border simply didn't happen, so am I now an illegal immigrant? What's going to happen when I leave? CAN I leave?? Am I going to get arrested as if I've sneaked (snuck? snook?) here on the back of a lorry? Oh well, let's wait and see!

I got to Asuncion bus station with the intention of continuing west to get closer to Bolivia. I researched Paraguay lots and apart from a beach (well not a real beach obviously if you know where Paraguay is but one that's next to a river or lake that gives you the feel of a real one) at the south of the country but as the weather forecast is set to rain and storm all week I've decided against it. So I'm simply going through Paraguay to get to Bolivia (and to get a Paraguay stamp on my passport (!)). Anyway when I got to the station I looked around for the usual stalls selling tickets everywhere. There was none! It was a huge station and I walked the full length up and down. Twice. But only stoopid shops and cafes everywhere! I stood there bewildered then finally said to a girl watching me, "This is a bus station right?" "Right!" "So where do I buy a ticket??" "Upstairs" she said. Obviously. So up I went.

From now until AFTER my shower at the hostel was the most stressful time I've had in all of my 8 weeks. I had attempted to find out online the day before where buses went to in Paraguay but failed and decided to "just" ask when I got here. One stall said no and sent me to the one next door. The other said no and sent me back to the original one. I tried yet another and got further this time. There is a bus leaving in half an hour that takes me all the way to Bolivia. But it's only a semi cama seat. (one which reclines only a bit. 3 types - semi cama, cama, and premium or VIP which are the fully reclining ones that I love). 24 hour journey. No. I couldn't put myself through that so looked around more. None of them could tell me where they went so I went to the internet cafe downstairs to try to research some more. I had no new currency. I looked around for an ATM, which was probably unlikely to accept my card anyway. I found one! It gave me money! Yey! Back to the internet cafe, got some place names but ALL of them were south of Asuncion! What? So no buses go west? I wouldn't accept that so tried all the bus companies upstairs again. No luck. I was hot, sweat constantly pouring off me, I'd discovered 3 more mosquito bites (On my bum! What the...?), which were itching like hell, and I felt defeated! So back to the internet cafe to look for a hostel. Found one but it's ages away from the bus station, as are all the others so I just went for it. I made sure I asked the taxi driver for a quote. He told me 14000. £1.40. Not bad. I knew it was cheap here so thought nothing of it. But as I watched the meter getting up to 14000 and then pass it I started wondering how much I was going to allow this guy to scam me. I'd decided to give him 20000 regardless. It went up to 35000, 36000. I didn't need this crap right now! I didn't want to start moaning until he'd taken me to my destination. Just in case. Suddenly I re thought how much he'd quoted. Omg I'd got it wrong. He'd said 40000 not 14000! My stoopid Spanish! £4.00 so still not gonna break the bank. Glad I realised before I started shouting at him. Or worse still, threw my 20000 at him and stormed off in disgust!

As I was getting the money out my purse I only saw one card. I always have 2. Where's the other one? Think! I used it to get money out the ATM at the bus station! It's still there! I had been so excited to actually get money I didn't take it out the slot! I worked out timings. That was over 2 hours ago now. No point going back. It'll be gone. The hostel has wifi. I'll just cancel my card. Yes the hostel has wifi but it's not working!!! Omg someone could have booked a flight and bought all sorts of stuff by now!! Where is there wifi please? 6 blocks that way. I throw my rucksack into my (lovely cool air conditioned) room and sweat my way along the 6 blocks, scratching at my bum cheek as I go. I got to the mall, got online, found the emergency number and called it. It was all in Spanish and I had no idea what she was saying!! I found a security guard, explained the situation and asked him to listen to the Spanish lady. He was happy to oblige so I called again. He shook his head no. What does THAT mean?? So I got back to my laptop and got in touch with Andy. Hopefully he's awake on a fri night at midnight. He was! Well he wasn't but I managed to wake him. I found a UK emergency number instead, gave him my card number (I'd written it down in code in an email to myself in case anything like this happened. How organised am I?) and asked him to call.

He got back 2 mins later saying the card was stopped and any unusual activity would be investigated and money back so don't worry. Phew. I then broke down in tears in the middle of this mall in sheer relief. The build up of all the evenings events had clearly become too much for me. Andy as usual was brilliant and managed to say all the right things. I thanked him profusely then cleaned up all my tears and snot and wandered back to the hostel. After I showered and nursed my itchy bites I realised it's Friday the 13th!!

I'd just like to add on that this hostel is the loveliest I've been in. When choosing hostels I usually go to a website, choose the cheapest, and only if it has bad reviews do I go for the next expensive. So they've all been much the same standard. But check out the pictures! Urbanian Hostel, Asuncion, Paraguay. If you ever go.