Halloween: Or something like that…

Last weekend the Kate, Linny (both from Missouri) and I traveled to Paraguay’s capital, Asuncion to visit the other U.S. exchange students. The original plan was to visit them for Halloween and have our own “celebration” filled with scary movies and ridiculous amounts of candy. Due to stereotypes towards an American Halloween and our not always so helpful AFS volunteer, we weren’t able to do that. Instead we waited a week and still had a blast seeing each other. Originally one of the CDE girls and I were going to stay at one students house while others were at another house, but after a few hours together no one really wanted to leave each other. So, it ended up that all 11 or so AFS USA kids crashed on a couple of mattresses in just one of the empty rooms available in Hannah’s enormous mansion.

The weekend was jam-packed of so many things it definitely seems like it was longer than 2 days. Adventure began as soon as we stepped off the bus and were met by Emerson (VT) and Hannah (Wisconsin). They had been debating between the each other which bus line was the best to take back to her house and decided upon “Linea 13”. Let me just take a second to advise anyone who may be taking Asuncion buses in the near future…NEVER TAKE LINEA 13. The first 2 hours we sat on the bus we laughed off the fact that it was taking us all over the city, but not that close to Hannah’s house. We decided it was our chance to really get to know Asuncion and for 2,300 Guarani (50 cents), it was the cheapest tour out there. The final hour made us a little nervous and as darkness began to set in we reached the end of the line which consisted of a couple other buses in a large parking lot in the middle of a shady neighborhood. This was definitely NOT where we wanted to be. We decided the police officer (armed with a huge gun) was the safest bet to ask for directions. Luckily, without needing to bribe him or anything (quite normal here) he told us to wait 15 minutes for the next bus to leave. A half hour, a smelly bus ride, and a cramped taxi ride later we had arrived at Shopping del Sol. There we met up with the other U.S. kids and ate a good healthy meal…Pizza Hut.

That first night we decided to hang at Hannah’s house. We attempted to make chocolate chip cookies, but shopping for ingredients in Spanish and then converting measurements to metric proved to be a little difficulty. The kitchen was left smelling pretty good and despite their varying consistencies, the cookies were pretty good. Later on we took a dip in the pool and showered off the bus rides. All cuddled up, we chatted until the wee hours of the morning recounting all of our treacherous tales.

With a 3 or 4 hours of sleep in us, we were ready for the next day and set off to the mall. This experience was particularly strange for me. Walking into the Nike store with all the prices in dollars and later lunching at McDonald’s in the food court really left me feeling like I was in the U.S. However, unlike the other U.S. kids, I’m not used to malls and had the sensation of being on a vacation somewhere in the U.S. The rest of the day was spent shopping around off the streets, sweating in the 100 degree weather, and lunching in the Asuncionsioners favorite lunch spot, the “Lido Bar”.

The original plan had been to go out to a disco Saturday night, but we had a few under-18 guys with us and didn’t want to risk them not getting in. That, and some people didn’t want to spend the money to get into a club. Us CDE kids still wanted to get out though, so a restaurant was suggested. Around 11 or so that night we headed to a Mexican restaurant, which I would highly recommend. The food was delicious! A quick ice cream stop and we were on our way back to the mansion. Unfortunately that night, Linny got sick and spent the night in the bathroom. The next morning we took her to the hospital and were informed that she’d have to stay the night there. That was a slight problem since our tickets were for noon. It must be mentioned that here in Paraguay, they use the hospital much more frequently than we do in the U.S. so it wasn’t that big of a deal that she was “hospitalized”. Kate and I ended up catching the noon bus and the other exchange students hung out with Linny in the hospital. By mid-day Monday she had recuperated and was back to Ciudad del Este that evening.

The trip home was pretty calm for Kate and I, except for the fact that about 30 minutes outside of Asuncion our bus broke down. We ended up having to wait about 2 hours on the side of the road, without air conditioning, but eventually another bus came and we set off to finish the 5 hour journey across the country. It was a great chance to catch up on all our missed sleep, though. Now we are all trying to plan our next get-together, but next time CDE is hosting.