Conception

11/26/09

So about 7 hours into a 4 hour bus ride we arrive in Conception. Conception is a small town almost straight north of Asuncion. When we arrive, the whole town is being decked out in white pieces of cloth. We can't figure out why and the guy at the hotel has no idea. It's not a festival or anything. Our hotel has seen better days, but it has style. It has a courtyard, sweeping staircase and balconies, overlooking both the courtyard and the street. It also has air conditioning and is two blocks from the heladeria (ice cream shop). Shannon buys us ice cream (really good ice cream – I'm sure the milk has never been pasteurized) and we wander down to the river. The river is the place to be. All the young couples on their motor scooters are there. Kids are swimming, old guys are fishing. We watch the local ferry service in action. Some guy puts his bike in a rowboat and is rowed across to the other side.

As we are hanging out in air-conditioned splendor, waiting to go out to dinner, we hear an ear splitting siren. I go outside to make sure the hotel is not on fire. I am pretty sure it is not our hotel making the noise mostly because it doesn't have smoke detectors, so the first sign we would see of a fire would be smoke or flames. The sound turns out to be a fire truck, but it is involved in a parade, not fire fighting. Apparently the white ribbons, signs and balloons are all in support of peace and they are having el parade por la paz (the parade for peace). I swear everybody in town is marching (or driving) down the street. The parade lasts for about 20 minutes, then everybody disappears.

Carmalyn seems to have caught what has been bugging Shannon and I, so just Shannon and I go across the street to a Paraguayan Grill. Dinner consists of a large tray of mostly unidentifiable pieces of meat. The tray looks like a mini barbecue. It has four legs, each about a foot long, a pan an inch deep, full of coals to keep dinner hot, with a grill on top, full of animal parts. I'm not even sure what animal. Most of it is excellent. I think the blood sausage is good, Shannon doesn't agree. Neither of us like the heart and intestines.