Tuesday January 12

Yesterday we caught a local bus from Caaguazu to Caacupe. Getting a ticket amidst a crowd of locals all speaking Spanish was a challenge itself. Ond chap told us with actions to sit down. Another chap offered us sips of his mate. Now I realize sharing a straw and drinking strange water wouldn´t be the best idea but we did want to try it so we did and so far no bad reprocussions. Eventually we got herded onto a bus going to Caacupe. Someone had been sick on this bus and this held things up. Eventually we all pushed on. More and more and more until you couldn´t squeeze another person into the aisle. It´s a feat to stand up in a bumpy bus for two and half hours! I was too high to see out the windows but my face was only a foot from the television screen so I watched some Jackie Chan comedy and violence in Spanish whether I wanted to or not.

It was sort of scarey to arrive with packs in melting hot temperatures having no idea where to stay, when you don-t speak the language however we did manage to find a place and the air conditioning is worth every penny. I think this year air conditioning might be our new requirement. Last year it was that I had to have a window, this year I just want a place to escape the extreme heat. We are drinking quite a bit of beer and it has never tasted so good.

This morning we set off walking and went to a municipal building. Jim and I managed to find a wonderful tourist information person. She didn-t speak much English but a tiny bit and she took us on a hours walk around the town. We even got to the top of the big church. Then we went to a small old church that has holy water that heals so we are both now YOUNG again.

After the walk around, Jim worked on his blog and I headed off with my paints and did a quartersheet painting in the full sun. Unfortunately it isn-t as wonderful as I wanted it to be but such is the challenge of being an artist.