I have made myself at home in Asuncion, Paraguay. Right now as I type, at 1:00 PM, the temperature is 80 degrees and the sky is cloudy. I am now living at a Mennonite Hotel that is called Menno Heim Hotel. I can also buy lunch and supper here. I have not yet found anyone here at the hotel who speaks good English, but I still have ways to communicate digitally with English friends. Right now I am sitting on a bench under a tree typing this letter. The temperature feels wonderful. The air smells like green trees and it is clean and fresh because it rained last night. It seems to me that I have found a beautiful garden in the middle of the city. Many beautiful trees and plants are surrounding me. How did I get here? I departed from Mechanicsburg, PA at 10:00 AM on Tuesday. I walked to the bus stop and took the bus to the train station in Harrisburg. I took the train to Manhattan island in New York City. Then I took a bus to JFK airport. From JFK, I flew to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and then to Asuncion, Paraguay. Then I rode a taxi to this Mennonite hotel where I am right now. I arrived here at 8:00 AM on Friday. That comes to a total of 68 hours or 2.8 days. The time here is two hours ahead of Pennsylvania time. Why did it take so long? I missed my flight at JFK because they didnt like that I only had a one way ticket. They blamed the missed flight on bad weather and changed my ticket to 24 hours later free of charge. Many people slept in the airport that night, and so did I. My flight then left an additional 3.5 hours late from JFK and I arrived late at Sao Paulo, Brazil, so I missed my flight to Asuncion, Paraguay. They rescheduled me for free to fly to Asuncion about 11 hours later than the original itinerary had prescribed. TAM Airlines also bought me a hotel room on floor four and also offered to buy me supper. They issued a free temporary visa so that I could take the free bus ride to the hotel. I had a good nap at the hotel and I almost missed my flight because time change got me mixed up. Thankfully I just missed my free supper and not my expensive flight. I had an English speaking friend who shared the exact same flight change with me in Brazil and we traveled together to and from the hotel. I was very glad for his help. He knew Portuguese, Spanish, and English. I arrived in Asuncion, Paraguay, soon after midnight on Friday morning. I bought my visa and went through customs without any problem. I wasnt very tired right then and I was not in a hurry to leave the airport. I explored the airport, ate a meal, took advantage of the free WIFI, talked to some Russian Mennonite people, turned down several offers to get my shoes shined, and ate another meal. I also studied the culture by observing people. I took my good old time and then I finally allowed a taxi driver to take me to a hotel after the sun had come up. I thought that he was going to take me to a $20 per night hotel but he took me to a $50 per night hotel. I refused it and told him to take me to Menno Heim Hotel, (Central de Menonita). On the way here, we checked out a $40 per night hotel but I refused that one also. I was pleased when we found this Mennonite hotel for $26 per night. Free breakfast and free WIFI Internet come along with the $26 per night. Dinner and supper can also be purchased here for a reasonable price. I didnt have enough cash, so the taxi driver took me to an ATM. Then I was all set to stay here. I payed $35 for the taxi ride plus I gave a small tip. The taxi driver left happy. The taxi driver was going to just charge $20 but I wasnt satisfied with the first hotel that he took me to. He probably did take me about twice as far as he had originally been planning before I was done with his services. I am glad that I am where I am right now even though it cost a lot of taxi money to get here. What are some highlights regarding my trip? I sat beside a Morman Christian 32 year old lady in the train who has been baptized with water by immersion in the name of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit more than one hundred times. Now I dont feel so bad about the fact that I have been baptized five times. Mormans think that it helps to get baptized for the dead. She has only been baptized once for herself. And think that once should be normally be enough if it is done the way Jesus wants it to be done. She had a testimony about receiving the Holy Spirit in a new way on the day that she was baptized for herself. She did not become a member in a congregation on that day. It is evident to me that she believes in Jesus, she has received the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is presently active in her life, therefore I call her a Christian of the Mormon type. She has visited many Mormon Churches but not many if any other churches. I gave here my testimony about how I have been blessed by visiting many different denominations and also how that I was blessed much more for getting baptized the second time than I was for getting baptized the first time. I also told her why I believe that God honored my second water baptism better than he did my first water baptism. I heard a lot of Portuguese during the first flight and also while I was in beautiful Brazil. I kind of like the sound of the Portuguese language. How long do I plan to stay in Paraguay? I didnt decide yet. I probably will stay anywhere from 16 to 85 days. I was planning to go to Joses wedding in Peru on February 13, but now Im not sure if I will after all. I paid a lot of money to travel here and I paid $160 for a visa that will last for 90 days. I might as well stay here for 85 days and make good use of that travel and visa money. I can do my office work just as well here in Paraguay as I can in Peru or in the United States. And it will be easier for me to learn Spanish here than it would be for me to learn it in the USA. How did I get here if I dont have a returning flight? I paid someone $25 do buy me a one way ticket from Paraguay to Florida and then he canceled the ticket before 24 hours had passed and he got a full refund. I just had to pay $25 for him to do the transaction. It took me more than 24 hours to get from NYC to Paraguay, so my friend did the transaction twice for me and I paid a total of $50. Was that honest? The airport people didnt even ask me if I had a returning ticket. Apparently it just showed up on their computer screen. I am planning to honor the 90 day rule so I guess I am honoring the spirit of the law. Now I have the freedom to wait till later to decide which country I will go to next and how I will get there. You can communicate with me via Facebook. Facebook can be used for text messaging, voice messaging, and real-time phone conversations. The only cost is the cost of the Internet data that gets used. I have access to unlimited free WIFI Internet here at Menno Heim Hotel. You can also communicate with me via Text Plus, Google Hangouts, Skype, Email, and Telephone. You should be able to leave a message if you call my Pennsylvania cell phone number. I have a way of checking my voice mail, as long as I have a good Internet connection.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 20:33:07 +0000