Trans Chaco Rally x 2 (cont)

Raquel´s sister Abrelia had come home for Easter. Two of her sons live in Caazapa to go to school. She brought her two youngest daughters with her. I had never met Abrelia before because she lives way off the beaten path. It seems Abrelia got married and went away when Raquel was really young and so they have rarely seen each other. Needless to say, it was a nice reunion.

In fact, it was quite the family reunion. Veneria was the only missing. She went to Brazil in 2002 with her boyfriend and hasn´t come back yet. Avelino made it in from Asuncion. He took the bus as far as he could, then had to walk hours and hours in the dark, without a light to get to Potrero Guazu at about 2AM. I don´t think I could do that. Crispin lives fairly close by so he was able to make it. Diosnel lives in Potrero. Lourdes (the sister) still lives at home, and we took Juaquina. After the fact, I realized I didn´t take a picture!

So after Easter, Abrelia and her daughters Maria and Pricila made their way to Caazapa. I believe a relative gave them a ride. We decided we would take them on home. One of my brothers-in-law cautioned against going in the Daewoo. He said there was too much red dirt road to make it out there in the car, that it sat too low and that the roads were in bad shape, worse than going to Potrero Guazu. Abrelia and my nephews said that the road was in good shape, better than going to Potrero.

So off we went in the little Daewoo. Just me, the two woman, and three girls all under eight. No cell phone. No map. Of course from Caazapa to Caaguazu was all paved and we arrived in good time, about an hour and a half with a short stop in Villarica to raid the ATM. In Caaguazu, we made a potty break, filled up the Daewoo, and started down the dirt road. I remember asking how far it was to Abrelia´s house. She responded through Raquel something about 80 kilometers. The road wasn´t too bad, especially by Paraguayan standards. We were probably averaging about 45 kph, so I thought we would be there in no time. Did I mention that it had rained very hard three or four days prior to this trip? Well actually that didn´t really seem to come into play until after about 50 km on the dirt road. The road was really decent until we hit a long stretch of what was pretty much sand that probably was about 1.5 feet deep. By the time I realized that we were in the middle of it and losing traction, it was too late. The car just stopped. It wouldn´t go backward or forwards. We were perched on the center and the wheel ruts on either side were just too deep. Great! We were in the middle of nowhere and had no real options. There was a house close by, so Abrelia went to ask about borrowing a shovel or some implement to maybe dig ourselves out but there was nobody there with authority to lend anything out. We were still freshly stuck and were pondering what to do when a Nissan Pathfinder (or something similiar) came around the corner. There were three young men in it and they agreed to try and help us. First we tried pushing by hand but it wouldn´t budge. Finally the guy got some rope out of his vehicle and tried pulling us out backwards from the sand pit. No luck. Several motorcycles and a couple of four-wheel-drive trucks went by. The young man who was helping us changed tactics. He hitched up to the front of the Daewoo and quite easily got us to firm ground. In the mean time an old large farm type truck tried to make it through and also got stuck. I think the truck was too old and underpowered to get through, because it definitely had the clearance. The guys that were in it were well prepared as they got out and each had a shovel to dig themselves out. So we thanked our rescuers and offered them a couple of bucks for their kindness, but they refused saying to give the money to the poor.

Okay so we had our little setback. We were guaranteed that the rest of the way would not present any problems except that a bridge along the way was in poor shape. We went a little further and stopped in a little town to eat and pick up some supplies for Abrelia´s family. That took a little longer than I wanted but thought that it was no big deal because we only had a few kilometers left to go. We finally hit 80 km distance travelled. Abrelia said we still had a long way to go. Hmmm. We continued on. And on. And on. Finally at the 120 km mark, we made it. I think there was a slight gap in communications on the distance we needed to go. I guess Abrelia had actually said that her town was 80 km from another town along the way. Anyway, we made it and her family was glad to have her back.

We went with the intention of spending the night. When we were making good time and the distance was thought to be substantially shorter, I had started to think that maybe we would be able to get there, visit a little while and return to the paved road all before dark. The reality was that we didn´t get there until between 3 and 4 and that there was no way to visit, leave and make it back to Caaguazu before dark and then go on to Caazapa.

My brother-in-law Rosalino is a very nice man. He greeted us warmly and made us feel very welcome. Lourdes and I went with him to get some mandioca. He hitched up a small cart to a horse and off we went. Lourdes loved it. She couldn´t stop grinning. Rosalino and I talked about his land, how he used to make charcoal from wood in a big oven but it was too much work and besides the oven collapsed. His primary use of the land is to grow herba. Apparently, the leaves of this tree are harvested, dried, cut, and sold to make a sort of tea. So we got to where the mandioca was. Rosalino made short work of cutting the plant with his machete and pulling the roots out. Lourdes helped carry the mandioca back to the horse cart. We climbed in and made our way back to the house. Again Lourdes was in heaven. Along the way, the horse let out some gas. Lourdes mixed her english with her spanish and said ¨horsey pedo¨.

Abrelia and Rosalino live way out in the middle of nowhere. I don´t even know the name of the little town (if you can call it a town). It turned dark and we had duck for supper and by 8 we were getting ready for bed. Raquel and I were outside brushing our teeth and I was astounded by the stars in the sky. It´s very difficult to find a place near my house where the night sky doesn´t prevent you from seeing the stars clearly. The sky was clear and I could see every star, not just the bigger brighter ones. It was amazingly beautiful. I wish I knew more about astrology, I mean astronomy.

We made it home the next day without incident. Abrelia was very proud that we stayed with them since we´ve never stayed with Juaquina or at the parent´s house.

Time for now. We´ll be arriving home next Wednesday. If anything else comes up, I´ll try to post.