So I left you all in Salta, Argentina, after I had cycled the last couple of kilometers of this trip. As always, I didn´t want this trip to be over just yet. Even though there had been difficult moments, I really enjoyed being out on my bike and I really couldn´t believe it was over now.
But, I knew it was time to sell the bike and that I would need some days to do that. Because we would be moving continents pretty soon after the end of my trip, I knew it wouldn´t make sense to take my bike in the bus to Paraguay, then take it on the plane to Colombia and either take it again to Spain, or sell it in Colombia. So.. selling it in Salta it was.
I found a nice little hostel, but due to the rain and it being fall in the southern hemisphere, it wasn´t that warm. And somehow, grey weather always very much affects my mood. Of course I was also quite tired of the almost 1400 kilometers I had cycled in the past weeks, so the in total 5.5 days I spent in Salta were not very interesting. Most of them were spent trying to sell the bike, putting it online, talking to people, offering it to bikeshops, etc. This meant that I was kind of tied to my wifi connection and couldn´t really go out on daytrips. Again, also the weather wasn´t really great for it.
But of course we were still in Argentina, so every night ended with some bottles of wine shared in the hostel, and together with two other Argentines we even managed to get a little bbq together (this is the day I used my flexitarianism.. I hadn´t eaten meat in 1.5 years, but the smells of an Argentine Asado are too good to withstand).
Finally, after 5 days I found an Argentine guy who was very interested in the bike, especially because his plan was to cycle all the way up north to Mexico. We agreed on a price and we both couldn´t be happier. I had managed to sell the bike and above all, to someone who will give her some more adventures.
Now that this was done, it was time for me to take the bus to Paraguay. When I had booked my ticket, I had found that the cheapest flight back to Colombia was from Paraguay. Which was great, because I had always been curious to this country that is so off the backpackers trail.Unfortunately I would only have a couple of days left now, but enough to get a first little impression.
And so I took a wonderful 20 hour bus ride from Salta right to the border with Paraguay. When I got there, they told me that the migration office was to the right. The only thing I could see was a big covered market and I could hardly imagine the border control and thus migration would be in the middle of that market. I actually thought it was a scam and was afraid that the moment I would walk into the market, somebody would come and rob me. So I turned around and asked some more people, they all kept pointing in the direction of the market though. So, well, nothing to do but to have a little faith in the situation. And indeed, at the end of the market there was a little window that said ´Argentina´, and a little window that said ´Paraguay´. No questions were asked at the Argentine side, the Paraguayan guy was a little curious why I wanted to go into Paraguay and at every stamp in my passport he asked me where it was from.
So after a bit longer, I was now entering Paraguay. Which really meant that the market just continued, but now the prices where written in Paraguayan Guarani, instead of Argentine Pesos. Walking a bit more, I found a local bus that supposedly would go to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay and just 10 kms away from the border. It appeared there are two different buses, one with air conditioning, which is a bit more expensive, and one without. I just went with the first bus that left, and I realised right away I really felt like I was back in Colombia. The heat, the pace of the people, the way the people looked, and the kindness. After a while I got to the center part of town where I had found a really cute hostel.
When I entered I right away felt the great vibe, people were sitting in the garden. Chatting and cooking. Where Salta had been quite a bit on the backpackers trail, and thus more popular with all kinds of travellers, mainly younger ones, Paraguay attracts a certain kind of travellers: those that are in no rush and are interested in exploring the unexplored. And even though of course both kinds of travellers are perfectly fine, I feel more comfortable with the ones with no rush 🙂
And no rush definitely is how I would describe Asunción as well. Siesta is still a big thing here, and even outside of siesta hours, no way seems to be really in a rush. They spend their time drinking liters and liters of Mate terere (mate is a herb that they drink in Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil and Paraguay and the terere version is kind of the cold version of it). People drag their little flask and mate cups everywhere they go, and even the bus drivers have made a special mate cup holder.
Over the next couple of days I would spend my time chatting in the hostel with the other travellers, finding some cute little coffee places and trying iced mate coffee (yes, it´s a thing). In the evenings we would stroll next to the river (Paraguay has no sea, but there is the big River Paraguay, with some beaches) and exploring the coloured neighbourhoods. We even ended up on a rooftop party, but considering my flight would leave at 5am the next morning, I did not stay for too long.
However, back in the hostel, I ended up talking some more with the travellers left and before I knew it, it was time to get to the airport, and to go back to Colombia, my little house and of course, my dear boyfriend.
As always, in the plane I looked back at the pictures I had taken, and I couldn´t believe that month had passed so quickly. Literal ups and downs, would be the perfect description for this trip. Did I like it? Absolutely! Have I been lonely? Sometimes, though it wasn´t too bad. Would I do it again? Also absolutely, but… I did notice that when travelling all by myself, I like to see a little bit of civilisation every once in a while. After days and days in the middle of nowhere, with only once an hour maybe a car passing by, I was missing life around me. Also, green and warmth is more important to me than I had thought. So, yes, I would definitely do it again, but maybe somewhere a bit more tropical. Asia perhaps 😉 Who knows.
But first, I had some serious packing to do. As it would only by nine days before my, Thomas and our three adopted kittycats would make the big move back to Europe and into southern Spain. And there was still lots to organise!
