Encarnación, Paraguay - Sushi

We woke up late. (Do I even need to bother saying that anymore?) After one last meal at Confiteria Bolsi, we walked over to Plaza Uruguaya to try to buy bus tickets to Encarnación. Naturally we arrived in the middle of the lunch break and both bus company offices were shut up tight, not a person in sight. So our only choice was to get out to the bus station and see what we could see.

The taxi ride was long and seemed very circuitous. As the meter ticked -the first taxi meter we've seen since Medellin- I began to wonder if we were taking the scenic route on purpose. But when we arrived at the station, the driver pointed out a few companies that had busses to Encarnación, and very carefully and politely helped me figure out what bills I needed to give him, and was generally so nice that I decided he wasn't trying to be tricky. I'm glad he was nice about the money. I'm telling you, there's something about these large denominations that my mind refuses to understand. It can be pretty embarrassing actually.

It turned out we had missed the departure of the fancy bus by 45 minutes. But there were at least two dozen bus companies clustered in the enormous station, and a couple of windows down we found someone who would sell us tickets on a regular bus leaving in just a few minutes. Forty-five thousand guaranies each.

The only problem - we were out of money again. For crying out loud. Why does this keep happening to us lately? And how did we manage to spend 800,000 guaranies in so few days? It seemed like such an obscene amount of money to take out of an ATM, but I guess it isn't. See, this is part of my problem.

Luckily there was an exchange window just around the corner. Michael, who still has not been able to get his ATM card to work, offered to change a travelers check, but the exchange guys wanted nothing to do with it.

So I pulled out my trump card - a 20 Euro note that I'd been hanging onto since Michael's and my trip to Amsterdam over two years ago. They were happy to change it, and we got more than enough for our bus tickets. And this really is my last cash this time, so we need to pull ourselves together with regard to ATMs.

The bus was ok, but like the ride to Pedro Juan Caballero it seemed inordinately long. Five hours felt like a whole day. Every time I glanced at my watch I was dismayed that so little time had passed. It's a shame that I'm getting so sick of busses on this bus trip, but it can't be denied.

We don't plan on staying long in Encarnación, so we got a room at a hotel in sight of the bus station. It's a nice room with a faint moldy smell, cable TV, bidet, and... a frigobar! Yes, a little mini fridge with a cheerful little assortment of bottled soda and canned beer inside, for the same prices that they'd be in a store.

Our main reason for coming to Encarnación was to use it as a base for seeing the Jesuit ruins of Trinidad and Jesus. But coming in a close second was the sushi. Yes... there is sushi in Encarnación, Paraguay and because it was dinnertime when we arrived, we immediately went out to get some.

There is a Japanese population in Encarnacion, and there were real Japanese people working at the big, barnlike restaurant, but the sushi turned out to be just ok. Like what you would get at a fancy grocery store in Manhattan. Still, we were happy to be eating sushi, which we have been fiending for even longer than salami. And the gyoza was excellent, and the tofu salad was pretty good.

But we can feel the trip is kind of winding down now that the bus is becoming tiresome and we keep longing for foods from home.

HOURS ON THE BUS: 379.75