Paraguay 1

 We went to Paraguay to see Tim during the last week in January and the first week in February.  Since then I've been pretty busy, but it's time to get this recorded.  We took this picture while we were still fresh.  Our first flight was delayed because of bad weather at our first landing point, which was also our place to transfer to our overnight flight to South America.  We were very glad for the long layovers our travel agent planned into the trip, because we ran from one plane to the other and the second flight was already boarding, so we didn't have much extra time at all.

Overnight flying is harder than I anticipated, at least as far as being able to sleep sitting up in a small space.  But because of the aforementioned bad weather, many people missed their flights and our overnight flight was empty.  Halfway through the night Chuck moved to another seat, giving me two and I could curl up.  That was enough to let me sleep.

The rest of the pictures in this post are from the hotel where we stayed.  The hotel belongs to Alto Refugio, which is the organization where Tim is working.  I'll say more about that in a future post.  This hotel was donated to them for their work, and they are waiting on permits in order to use it for their ministry.  In the meantime, it was a very pleasant and beautiful and comfortable place for us to enjoy Tim.

Dawn from the balcony.  This balcony was wonderful for early morning devotions or late evening relaxing, but much too hot when the sun was above the trees.

Dawn, facing the back wall of the hotel grounds. 

If you stand on the picnic table and look over the back wall, this is what you see in the mornings.

  

Another view of the balcony.  Almost everywhere you go, the floors are tile.  It is easier to clean with the fine red soil of Paraguay, and you don't need a carpet to keep your feet warm there.

This is where people could park when they use the hotel.  That vehicle belongs to David and Judy, the founders of Alto Refugio.  This side of the hotel has the windows for a large gathering room for groups, and above, the balconies for the hotel rooms.

This is the view from our balcony.  Beyond the wall is the neighbor's property.

Another view of that side of the building.  There are window air conditioners in the rooms, which we used after the first couple of nights.  It was warm, but reasonable when we got there.  After a couple of days it got pretty hot.  Most homes do not use air conditioning much, if at all.

This is facing the front gate of the hotel.  Locked gates, iron fences, etc., are important for security.  Places to sit outside are important for managing the heat and for social interaction.  This would be part of the parking lot, but it is also a gathering place, a place to drink terere' (I can't get accent marks right with my American keyboard), a place to eat where there is a breeze and some shade.

The same view during the one rain we had while we were there.

The street side of the gate.

Looking across the pool from the back wall at the hotel.  We spent quite a bit of time under that thatched roof.

Looking toward the pool from the other side.  David, Tim, and Andrew (another Radical Journey participant) planted those little sprigs of grass in the days before we arrived.  In Paraguay they will soon be well established.

This is a shower head, pretty typical for all of Paraguay.  The shower runs cold unless you flip a switch to change the water to hot through the wiring you can see.  We've been told not to touch the shower head while using the shower!

A gecko was there one morning when I showered.  I saw him, or a friend of his, a couple of other times in other parts of the hotel while we were there.

flowers on the balcony

hibiscus growing in the hotel grounds