SUMMER!!!

It's only 3 more days until we embark on the longest travel adventure we've ever undertaken. We'll be traveling for 55 to 60 days!  We are going to get to see many amazing places with great people including Matt's brother Ben and his girlfriend Colleen, and my good friend from Seattle, Kaitlyn.  Friends from Asuncion will be meeting up with at various points as well.

Here's a map of places we plan on going if you want to follow our adventures. (click on the link)  We'll blog, but probably not as frequently until we return with lots of pictures.  We'll still be available via email, Skype, Facetime, and Whatsapp.  If you have been to any of our destinations, we would love recommendations and input!

Summer break travel plans

Villarrica and Thanksgiving

We had a four day weekend for Thanksgiving here, even though it's not a holiday that is celebrated in Paraguay.  We decided to stay in town for Thanksgiving dinner and eat with some fellow teachers.  We had all the traditional food, minus cranberries, which we could not find.  It was a lovely way to spend a day that we normally spend with our families.

For the rest of the weekend, we traveled about 3 hours east of Asuncion to a small town called Villarrica.  We wanted to get away from the heat of the city for a bit and this area has a lot of opportunities for outdoor activities, including hiking the tallest mountain in Paraguay.  Unfortunately, it had been raining really heavily for the previous 4 days and getting to the mountain didn't work out.  We walked to a nice waterfall one day, but mostly just hung out in this really pleasant small town.

Fresh fruits and vegetables at the market.  Most towns have a version of this outdoor market and everyone shops here.

This is a carpincho, or capybara in Guarani.  It's the world's largest rodent.  The park here had 3 tame ones!

                       

These little boys were fishing at first with a little ball made of flour and water.  When they caught their first tiny fish, they tore it in half and used that for bait. 

The horse drawn cart, or Karumbe ("turtle" in Guarani), is a thing of the past, but still hanging on in Villarrica.

The biggest spider web I have ever seen.  There were probably 100 spiders clinging to it. 

We went for a ride in a Karumbe and got a tour of the city.  We saw the old train station and the factory where they process sugar cane, which is a major crop in Paraguay.