A Day on the River

"El Penon" on the Argentina side of the river

The Parana River as the clouds rolled in

Yesterday I had the day off.  One of my friends, Guillermo, has a boat and kayaks and lives right at the edge of the river, so my friend, Eugenia, and I went to spend the day at his place.  But before the fun could begin, we had to get the boat off the trailer and into the river.  Normally this wouldn't be a difficult task, but putting the boat in the water requires one person to be in the water taking the boat off the trailer, and another person to be driving the truck.  Guille had to be in the water to maneuver the boat, and Euge didn't know how to drive, which meant that it fell on me to drive his MANUAL truck UP the steep ramp from the water.  Even though my first car was a manual, it didn't last long, and in the past 10 years I can think of about 3 incidents in which I drove a manual vehicle, and 2 of them were on un-trafficked neighborhood streets for the purpose of trying not to forget how it's done.  Which I guess paid off, because despite rolling back dangerously into the river a little way, I did manage to (illegally) drive the truck up the ramp and back to Guille's house without stalling out or hitting anything.  But would that be the only illegal thing I did throughout the day?

Terere

Back at the house we prepared some fruit and terere to take with us on the boat.  Terere is the cold version of mate, which involves using the same dried "yerba mate" leaves, putting them in a cup instead of a mate gourd, and pouring ice water or juice over them instead of hot water.  Don't worry, I'll be bringing back plenty of mate supplies for everyone to try some, whether you want to or not!!!! My favorite type of terere is with mint leaves in the water. 





So we set out on the small motor boat, and stopped in the middle of the Parana River for a swim, and then just hung out in the water and floated downstream with the current.  At one point a large stream joins the river, which creates several little whirlpools, and the boat spun in circles various times passing through this part. 

Paraguay - the forbidden land

Guille was telling us about how one time some Paraguayans came across the river and stole an old boat he used to have, and how he and some friends went across the river to the Paraguayan side to try to get it back.  We looked across at the other bank of the river, at the Paraguayan side, where neither Euge nor I had ever been, and where I can't go without an expensive visa.  And there it was, less than 200 meters away...but even though Euge and I really wanted to go, Guille said we shouldn't, so I didn't do anything else illegal yesterday.  But at some point I do hope to go across, put my feet on Paraguayan soil for 1 minute, take a picture, and come back.

When we went back to the house Euge and I set out in one of the kayaks, and paddled upstream a ways to the little "beach" here in San Ignacio.  Back at Guille's we had a little cookout, grilling some meat over the fire.  And that's what I was doing instead of posting a blog entry yesterday :)