Saturday 14 October 1995

Our three week vacation in Paraguay, Chile and Argentina got off to a propitious start at home in Ottawa (or unpopicious, depending on your definition) when a pigeon pooped on Mary's head less than an hour before we had planned to leave for the airport. With a flight leaving after lunch, we finished our last minute packing in the morning and then wandered through the market for a final cappuccino at Grabba Jabba. The pigeon did it's dirty deed just as we were going into the cafe - maybe this was an omen. We then came home where Mary did a fast clean up job and then we toted our bags through the Rideau Center to catch the #96 bus to the airport. The new part of the transit was good and we arrived at the Air Canada check-in within half an hour of leaving downtown.
We had an uneventful flight through Toronto to Miami where we met the rest of the group and checked into Ladeco.

Sunday 15 October 1995

The overnight flight to Santiago was, again, uneventful although Ladeco really crams people in. Customs was very quick and efficient in Santiago and we were soon in a bus on our way downtown. Santiago seems to take a little time to get going on a Sunday morning. We had a look around the railway station where pigeons are a real problem - Mary was very nervous about being anywhere underneath pigeons due to her recent unhappy experience. From there we visited the San Eugenio workshops and the Quinta Normal park. Santiago is very pleasant at this time of year with avenues of trees with white blossoms. The snow capped mountains that surround the city provide an excellent backdrop.
Back at the airport we boarded a flight to Asuncio. A flight just ahead of us was going to Montevideo and a large part of the complement was a boisterous mixed choir going to a competition. They kept bursting into wonderful song and were vigorously applauded after each one by the other waiting passengers. One woman in particular had a beautiful voice. The airline staff could not make themselves heard above the singing and general hubbub and had to wait for the slightly quieter moments in between songs to make their boarding announcements. Our flight to Asuncion was quite good and the meal was excellent. The city had obviously had quite a heavy recent rainfall. The red mud roads that are plainly visible from the air were very wet and there were a few flashes of lightning as we took our bus downtown to the hotel.
We decided to go out for a meal. Several of the streets were not well lit and so we decided to stay close to the hotel. We found a good restaurant and managed to make ourselves understood quite well.

Monday 16 October

We slept very well and were down in good time for the charter street car ride through town. The street cars were very late in arriving because there had been some problem with the wires being brought down in a recent storm. The general manager of the company came to meet us to tell us that the cars were coming but it was a long time before #9007, in white, turned up. In the meantime we stood about watching the city of ocean wake up and it's citizens go to work. The stalls in the plaza began to be set up. The fellow at the leather store put up a nice selection of leather bags, and a number of the group went over to check them out.
As it turned out the streetcar system now only has two operable street cars and the company suspended service so that we could have our charter. They probably made more money that way. The line is in very poor shape and cannot last much longer. The whole operation is quite moribund and the carbarns present a scene of utter desolation. It is difficult to understand how it can keep operating.
Every so often we had to stop to clear the flange way and at one point we climbed a three inch pile of mud across the rail. At one point we found ourselves going the wrong way down a one-way street with traffic passing us on both sides in the opposite direction. We were stopped by a taxi parked across the tracks with a flat tire. The group soon solved this problem by bouncing the vehicle out of our way. Everyone had a wonderful time doing this, it was an excellent team building exercise that served to break the ice in the group at the beginning of the trip. As the street car went up the hill, we looked back at the taxi sitting just disconsolately and lopsidedly in the middle of the street with traffic zooming by it on both sides. With delicious anticipation, and regret that we couldn't see it, we imagined the look on the taxi driver's face when he returned to find his taxi in the middle of the road.

Left Asuncion car shops - Right Taxi blocking our way

The streetcar brought us back to the station where we were greeted by the two musicians who accompanied us last year, one with a Paraguayan harp and the other with a guitar. Our train was hauled by #152 which turned out to be a good, strong engine. We departed in heavy rain. We saw the doorways of several houses decorated with dozens of balloons, even saw a woman carrying a great billowing cloud of them down the street with the wind carrying them onto the windshields of passing cars. A local guide told us that these balloons are used to decorate the doorways of houses to celebrate birthdays, perhaps similar to the pink flamingos placed on North American lawns for birthdays and anniversaries?
The weather improved as we made our way into the chaco but there were overcast skies all day.. Beer (Heineken) in the diner was followed by lunch which was built around surubi (Paraguayan catfish). This year we came across a hot sauce from Brazil (Molho Pimienta Vermaelha by Aristo) which Mary was able to find in Encarnacion later on.
This being a Monday, Sapucay works was in full operation. The steam engine operating the belts was working and the belts slapped around above our heads. In the works were steam engines #60 and #101 under heavy repair while 2-6-2 tank engine #5 was in steam in the yard. It is business as usual even though the railway cannot last much longer. In a similar vein, there were many piles of ties along the right of way ready to be installed.
At Sapucay horses were running freely along the platform and there was a delay while a broken pedestal casting was replaced. It was interesting to see it done as this was accomplished with the use of hand operating jacks and they didn't even get the passengers out of the car. The tricky bit was to get the new casting lined up after it had been fitted over the axlebox. The old pedestal had been broken for some time because the break was rusty. In all it took about 45 minutes. Not bad for a crew working in flip-flops.
We had more rain and the visit to Tebicuary Sugar Mill was curtailed. The last part of the journey was in the dark and we could hear the frogs which made a mewing sound like a cat. Two buses took us to the hotel at Villarica and we turned in early for the night.

Tuesday 17 October 1995

We were up early and after a quick breakfast, went back to the train for the long ride across the rest of the railway to Encarnacion. It was misty and this provided some interesting effects for photography. They were a great number of spiders' webs which were shown up by the dew it is surprising how extensive some of these were - one system was spun across a 20 foot stream.

Right - San Salvador Junction

Wildlife was interesting on the stretch to San Salvador junction. There were several large hawks and we saw two rheas. We saw owls close to their burrows together with roadrunners and their chicks. There were many wild pineapples as well as cactus. The land is used mainly for cattle but the fields are dotted with termite mounds and the occasional white cattle egret.
At San Salvador Junction #152 came off and number #59 was attached to our train. This was a mistake as the only good thing about number 59 was the red paint job. We had seen #59 in Sapucay shops under repair last year. It was obviously in trouble before we left with a leak in the pipe leading to the backhead which serves the auxilliaries. #235 was on washout while #524 was dead in the shed. We had a walk around San Salvador junction which is very much a one horse town, literally. The streets are all red mud. The houses are spread out and we could hear radios but otherwise very little sign of life. There is a very wide broad patch of grass on the center by the railway in which pigs and piglets were rooting around while youngsters were indiscriminately digging up pieces of sod and carting them away. A guide explained that Paraguayans are great believers in naturopathy, and this sod contains small plants that are collected and sold in the markets for their heating properties and as a source of revenue.

We set off in high spirits into a riot of wildlife. Red-breasted kingfishes, swallows with long forked tails and emerald ducks were in profusion. There was much water and this was covered with water hyacinths as well as a form of bellbine weed with a hibiscus type flower. Wild orange trees grew along the right of way and there were several cattle skulls and odd bones lying around. In places thistle was blooming in a pink profusion and there were black and red butterflies. Iturbe has wide red but streets. Colin gave an Operation Lifesaver pin to a small kid. He skipped away and then showed it to everyone at the station. Our maximum speed was about 15 miles an hour and it soon became evident that #59 had a front bearing problem. It would run for about 40 minutes and then there would be a 20 minute plus break while the crew attended to the bearing. We waited by a bridge over a branch of the Tebicuary river for about 45 minutes while they worked on the bearing. It was a wonderful setting and the pictures were very good but we were bothered by the mosquitoes.

The train train lost about three and a half hours due to the bearing but we enjoyed the scenery. The land was pretty flat with lots of water. The small towns were interesting and many people, especially children, came out to see us. Several of the farms had bamboo growing around the corral. At one point, towards evening, we passed a boy sitting bareback on a brown horse which was up to his chest in a pond. What a great way to cool off after a hot day.
We ate two meals in the restaurant car (comedor), chicken for lunch and steak for dinner. Both were very good. While waiting for dinner we bought manioc rolls from a lady at the station, a typical Paraguayan bread. She was selling them from a carrier on her bicycle. They tasted a little of fennel. While we were eating the musicians performed although, at times, they were almost drowned out by the merriment of the eaters. It was such a tight squeeze in the aisle that whenever the waiter needed to get someone a beer, the guitarist had to stop playing and reach behind himself for a bottle and pass it over to the waiter. When not serving meals the car was open for beer and the beverages.
As it became dark we realized that there were no lights in the train except in the comedor so movements were carried out using flashlights. Many stayed in the comedor and drank beer. Whenever the train stopped we were treated to the cat like mewing from the frogs outside. We arrived at Abogado around 22:15 to find that #54 had been sent down from Encarnacion to rescue us. Even better, a bus arrived to take some of us directly to the hotel. There was some concern that the bus would not have enough room for everyone who wished to get to the hotel as soon as possible. As it happened, there were more hard cores than anticipated and there was room for everyone. We arrived at the hotel at 23:15 while the hard core people, who stayed on the train, made it in just before 02:00.

Wednesday 18 October 1995

The Novotel is excellent and we were glad that we would be staying three nights there. We got up late and had a look around the grounds. The hotel is on the edge of town and we could see the Parana River across the fields which will eventually become a lake when the dam is fully operational. We took some pictures of the tame rheas (South American ostrich) in the grounds and then went with the group to the railway station for an inspection of the yard.

There was a surprising amount of activity. #58, #102 and #104 all in steam, #53, #291 were dead in the shed while #334, a formerArgentinian 2-8-0 was in the yard. The weekly freight train to Asuncion, hauled by #102, left while we were there. #54 was working the trips from the Encarnacion yard to the interchange with Ferrocarrilos Argentinos on the Paraguay side of the international bridge.

Having said goodbye to the group that was going to Brazil we went in the bus to Posadas where we had a late lunch. This is a pleasant town with many jacaranda trees just coming into bloom. It is evident that Posadas is much more prosperous than Encarnacion. The streets and shops are better and there are no horse-drawn taxis in Posadas. We had a look at the overgrown railway yard in Posadas where the hulks of steam engines #230, #252 and #602 had been dumped. This will all be flooded when the water rises.

We ate at the hotel this evening. Colin had Surubi with Roquefort sauce which was very good, Mary had a beef steak cooked “a punto”, or medium rare, which was also very good. Our waiter taught us the right term for desired doneness, and we used it several times later in the trip to great advantage when ordering beef. It was understood in Chile and Argentina as well as in Paraguay. We also had a nice bottle of Argentinian wine.

Thursday 19 October 1995

Today we went to the station and rode a special freight train to Abogado and back. #54, which rescued us a couple of days ago, was on our train and we were reasonably sure that we would make it. #102 was working the container sidings. The first part of our journey was through that part of Encarnacion which will be flooded by the dam. There are many shacks with lots of pigs and piglets. It seems there are several small brick operations, one was using a horse on a turn wheel to knead the clay. We had a small boy stow away called Victor, his name was tattooed right up his arm. He was thrown off at the first run past but evaded the conductor and got back on again. He was eventually thrown off about 12 km out of town and had to find his own way back.

The track was very overgrown and presented a lush green appearance with the occasional bright red flowers. There were many stands of bamboo which, presumably, harbored a lot of snakes. The water came close to the rails and provided habitats for egrets, ibis, hawks and gallinules. At one run past the first guy out disturbed many snakes in the long wet grass. Fortunately, they are not too active at this time of year.

Abogado

We took water at Carmen where we were watched by two kids on a horse. We came across a work train at Abogado with #52, 2-8-0 in charge. After a box lunch we ran straight back to Encarnacion with just one run past it it was dreary and rained quite heavily. We were not going fast enough to keep ahead of the mosquitoes. At one point we passed several banana trees that were growing close to the rails. These had been planted a few years ago for a Camel cigarette commercial because the director did not think the area looked enough like the jungle ! As we ran into town it was early evening and there were a lot of soccer games in progress. Our last sight of the station was with a group of horses running freely through the yard.
Mary, in the meantime, having seen the primitive conditions of the freight consist (nowhere to sit, no bathroom and everything filthy), had chosen to skip this particular adventure and instead to explore the town of Encarnacion. She came on the bus to the station with the group and then walked the few blocks into the waterfront and downtown area. The mission was to wander around to get a taste for the town, and also to find a bottle of that Brazilian hot sauce, some postcards, and some stamps.
The waterfront area was chockablock with shops and stalls, all selling a variety of items ranging from the useful (socks, underwear, shoes) to the tacky (plastic toys and knick knacks) to the smuggled (electronic equipment, cameras, watches, music tapes ). Paraguay is reputed to be a smuggler's paradise, with locals bringing in goods from surrounding countries and selling them cheaply. Although the shops assistants all stood about outside their doors and hawked their wares, they did so in a non-intrusive, inoffensive way for the most part.
Mary found the Brazilian hot sauce very quickly, but postcards were nowhere to be found. Obviously, Encarnacion is not a tourist site. The whole area in the waterfront will eventually be underwater. Walking into the downtown area meant walking uphill, and the atmosphere changed gradually to office buildings and businesses and houses. There were some very nice houses in walled gardens. At one point two well-dressed men strolled ahead of Mary amiably chatting, then crossed the street to enter bank, and then she noticed that one of them was carrying a briefcase, and the other one was carrying a gun and was obviously his bodyguard.
Lunch could have been in a choice of nice looking restaurants with linear tablecloths, but Mary chose a greasy spoon instead as being more appropriate for her hiking booted and backpacked attire. Bad choice, the food was lousy. But she lucked out in finding a bookstore that had a rack of postcards in the doorway and made her selection. Then the quest was on for stamps. The guidebook indicated the post office was in the waterfront area so off she went, and found the post office. However, the clerk told her that they had run out of stamps, and that she should return the next day for them. At that point it was time to head back to the hotel. There were two options colon take a taxi for the four mile ride to the hotel, or catch a local bus. She had seen the bus number at the bus stop down the street from the hotel, and in her walking around had seen where all the buses seemed to leave the waterfront area, so decided to try to catch a bus. After a few minutes wait the right number appeared but the driver said he didn't go to the hotel. He told her what the sign on the bus should say, and the next one that came along was the right one so she got on and headed back. It was a pleasant ride through town and down the highway, and she was back at the hotel quite fast. The timing was good because it then began to rain.
When Colin got back to the hotel, he was filthy and his boots stank. The first thing he did was to clean the mud and stink off his boots, then he showered and changed, and washed his dirty clothes. In the meantime, Mary had written all the postcards. We decided to send Christina and Veronica a postcard each from each country, and also to Mr and Mrs Bullock in apartment 704, we had seen an article in the Citizen about Mary Bullock's postcard collecting hobby. We hoped to create a pleasant mystery for them about who could it possibly be that was sending them all these postcards. About a week after our return we saw Mrs Bullock in the lobby, and she asked us if the postcards were coming from us. At first we pretended not to know anything about it, but then we admitted that it was. She seemed pleased, and said it had puzzled them for a few days before she thought to call Fay's sister-in-law to ask if we were on vacation in South America.
We all went to a pari;;ada in town for dinner. The barbecued meats and sausage were good although a little overcooked for our taste and therefore a bit dry. All told, with beer or wine, the cost including transport, came to $11.00 which was very reasonable.

Friday 20 October 1995

Today we took a bus back to Asuncion. There was a leisurely departure from the hotel which gave us the opportunity to look at a couple of small owls which were nesting in an adjacent field. We made a detour to see the so-called Jesuit ruins. These are not so much a ruin as an uncompleted site because the Jesuits were thrown out of Paraguay in the 1700s before this was completed. It is a large complex on a hill with a good view in all directions. It proved to be much more interesting than we expected, and we took a number of shots of the pillars and walls and statues.

There are more villages along the highway than along the railway line and they are more developed. We stopped at the parillada in San Ignacio where most of us had dorado, a very large lump of fish. A black cat appeared and was happily fed small pieces of fish under the table. It seems that we threw the restaurant off balance when we descended upon them even though the driver had telephoned in advance. The driver had a chat with us in Castellano and told us that he had to work every day, seven days a week, that he was poorly paid and that he traveled great distances to all the countries surrounding Paraguay. He lives just outside Ascuncion. We didn't have too much difficulty in understanding each other; we're really pleased that we are able to get by in Castellano, although we realize that we are massacring the language.
The hotel in Asuncion was not good. It was not the same one that we had stayed in a few days earlier.

Saturday 21 October 1995

Sandy and Frank's bed collapsed when they got into it last night and they had to be given another room. We walked up to see the Pettit Rossi Street market. This is a large area, partly along Pettit Rossi and partly away from the street. Just about everything imaginable was on sale. Colin likee the look of the leather goods, including several saddles and a bandoleer for carrying bullets.
We walked back to the station and found out that a school special was about to leave, probably the only train of the day. It was hauled by #226 while #152 and #286 were in the yard. The train of former Argentinian coaches had been decorated with bunting and there was a great noise from the kids and their parents. Many of them sitting three to a seat. When one of the train crew blew his whistle there was a great cheer from the train and it staggered its weary, boisterous way out of the station.

Leaving Asuncion

Asuncion Yard

We then took a walk past the post office towards the presidential palace. At one time in the last century there was a law that anyone who gazed at the palace would be put to death. There is a street market on Saturdays along one of the roads used by the streetcars so there is no Saturday service. The Central Square was full of people selling locally made handicrafts but we only saw one beggar.
Lunch was pizza at Tiohuaca's along with beer served from an ice bucket. The pizza seemed ridiculously cheap until we received the bill to find out that the price was per slice and not per pizza. It was still very good. We finished it off with cappuccino and dulce de memorillo and queso (jam and cheese). We took a bus to the airport along streets lined with orange trees. Mary spent our last guarani at the airport on her first and last drink of guarana (a local sweet, fizzy drink), and two packets of chocolate cookies.
The flight to Santiago was uneventful except that the luggage rack opposite opened both on takeoff and landing and a lady was hit on the back of the head by an EXIT sign when we were exiting. Ladako have a pre-arranged service through which we were met at the arrivals and takeen by minibus to the Crowne Plaza Holiday Inn. We found a beer hall type restaurant and had beer with escalope Cordon Bleu and pork. Both pieces of meat were enormous and there was way too much food so late at night.

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