How to Tell Whether or Not You Are in Paraguay

Wait . . . are we in Paraguay?

In case you are ever in a situation in which you find yourself asking, "Wait . . . are we in Paraguay?" here are four surefire signs to help you discern the appropriate conclusion.

The Top 4 Ways to Tell Whether or Not You Are in Paraguay:

1. The streets are lined with vendors selling towering stacks of Pringles

2. All of the people are speaking Spanish.

3. There is a huge sign that reads: "Bienvenidos a Paraguay"

4. When you ask strangers, "Is this Paraguay?" they say, "si."

So, on Tuesday morning we woke up early with a plan to go see the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls before catching a 2:30pm bus to Rio de Janeiro. I walked up to the hostel reception desk and pointed toward the huge 4' by 5' laminated sign that held the schedule for the numersou buses heading toward Rio.

"Can we buy tickets for the 2:30 bus here?"

"No, no no," said the lady, "these ones," and pulled out a folded and faded printer page with a list of four buses departing the falls for Rio. Out of these four, two left at noon and two left at 6.

Since our sole plan for Rio was to beg for a church to let us sleep on their floor, and the bus ride would last 22 hours, we decided that the safest (see, mom and dad) option would be to skip the falls and take the earlier bus to Rio (giving us plenty of time to search for friendly churches before night fall).

We left the hostel at 10am, giving us two full hours to get across town to the bus station. We were directed to stand across the street from the McDonald's and catch a bus to the "Rodoviaria." A bus came. "Rodoviaria?" we ask. "Rodoviaria!?" exclaims the bus driver and motions toward the other side of the street. We crossed the street and wait for the next bus. "Rodoviaria?" we inquire. Multiple people nod. Feeling confident we board the bus and settle in for what we expect to be a 10 minute ride.

Twenty minutes pass and we begin noticing some unfamiliar scenery. Alisa tapped the woman in front of her, "Rodoviaria?" The woman nods.

We then cross a wide river and on the other side find ourselves surrounded by tables holding towering stacks of every type of Pringles can. We found that slightly odd considering multiple people had told us that Pringles in Brazil are really expensive (like 12 US dollars a can).

Suddenly we pass through some kind of barricade with "POLICIA" written all over it in huge letters. That's weird . . .

We continued to chat until Alisa says, "Uh, Tessa, I think this is Paraguay." Outside the window is a huge billboard reading, "Bienvenidos a Paraguay."

At this point we begin to wonder whether or not we are still in Brazil. Tessa asks the people around her, "Wait, are we in Paraguay?" They all say yes. Whoops.

Long story short, we had a wonderful time in Paraguay and made it to our bus with 9 minutes to spare. We still had know idea what we would do when we arrived in Rio the next day but we did say a little prayer: "May the opportunities we need present themselves."

This story is TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Our sole photo of Paraguay. The prompt: Look like you're Paraguayan.