On Friday morning, we loaded the girls into the car and set off on the "five hour" journey across the country. Literally, we drove from one side of the country to the other in 327 kilometers (230ish miles). Highways have a max speed of 80 kilometers an hour (50 mph), but there are several - no, TONS (of) - places where the highway traverses a town and the speed limit falls to a whopping 40 kilometers an hour (25 mph). Even if you wanted to tempt the national police and blaze through town at break-kneck speeds, the speed bumps would not just slow you down, they'd bring you to a screeching that-used-to-be-my-car-but-now-it's-a-pile-of-steel halt. So we inched our way cross-country, dodging big-rigs and playing chicken with oncoming traffic all the way. Throw in a bogus stop by the police where we (once again) bribed our way out of an imaginary ticket and you can see that there was nothing relaxing about the journey to the city of the east.
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| Bailey taking a nap |
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| We all feel that way, Boston! |
We reached the hotel just before the car imploded with the emotions streaming out of it's four occupants. Phew! We quickly unpacked and spent the afternoon lounging by the pool, burning off the stress that the drive added to our shoulders.
Before dinner we decided that it would be a great idea to put all four girls in the bath together. There's a giant tub, they all need baths . . . why not? It was a slippery, splashy mess of a good time and they all survived. Once the little girls were out of the tub, Bobbie turned on the jets for Bailey and Lola. But apparently 2 year-olds don't like "more bubbles" when "more bubbles" is accompanied by some unknown motorized sound beneath their bums. Live and learn.
The hotel room was absolutely perfect for our family. Bailey had her own twin bed and we used the love seat from the sitting area to create a toddler rail along the side. With the love seat out of the way, we moved the hotel-provided crib from the side of our bed into the curtains. And, no, that's not a typo. We literally put her IN the curtains. We closed the curtain liner, shoved the crib against it, then pulled the "decorative" curtains in front so that she could have her own little space (and we could walk around during nap time without disturbing her).
Saturday morning arrived, and with it . . . rain. Of course. I had heard thunder during the night and prayed "Oh God, please don't do this to the Bumgartner's again!" but I guess rain was in His plan for our trip. After their failed trip last year to the falls, Bobbie and Andrew were set on seeing the falls, and Brandon and I are up for anything. So we loaded up a van and headed into Brazil (along with three other single girls from ASA who intended to go to Encarnacion but ended up in Ciudad del Este...look at a map...I don't quite know where they went wrong).
Dirty looks and snide comments ensued as we disembarked the 15-passenger van with the four little girls in tow, but we just smiled and kept on keepin' on. And it was SO worth it!
Boston was due to eat when we were about half-way along the trail (of course) so I grabbed her from Brandon and took off on a speed walk past the other hikers in search of a spot to pop a squat and nurse. But because of all the rain and some construction, the tables that I remember being at a particular spot on the journey weren't out. So I found a wide staircase (where people could easily walk around us) under a tree (it's much more pleasant to be hit with occasional drops off a leaf than the constant drizzle in the open air) covered up (I'm not that Paraguayan) and nursed Boston with this as my view:
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| There was a brief moment with no one on the platform |
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| If only the railing wasn't blocking the view... |
By the time we were done with the hike, the rain had subsided a bit and we had four happy girls to show off to the ladies who told us, point blank "it's too cold to have these girls out in the rain!"
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| Happy little camper! |
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| Playing around after the hike |
With the falls checked off our to-do list, we had nothing left but to enjoy our time together away from Asuncion and away from the heat. And God blessed us with a peaceful - and uneventful - drive back to our house. We can't wait for the next long weekend!
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View from the car
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