From all-inclusive to other roofs over the head... and much more

The time with Carmen and Tinita passed by, as it could not have been otherwise, unfortunately too quickly. Erik and his family returned from their stay in the USA, so it was time for us to have one last wonderful farewell dinner with specialties from Carmen (schnitzel with mashed potatoes and chipa guasu - we always have to smile that it is more than normal not to find a single vegetable on the plate ;) ) and to cuddle extensively with Tinita one last time.

Goodbye Tinita

At the last minute, Erik organized a new place for us to stay - a friend of a friend's mother (or something like that) and then we were already in front of our new home:

a small house with two extra rooms in the garden, which are used as an Airbnb. So one of them will be ours, our own bathroom, clean, nicely furnished...

The new Airbnb room

And a small part of the local pets

Then it became a bit strange, although somehow sympathetic. There are still 2 dogs and 6 cats (including "Obama" who lived in front of our door), a slightly messy kitchen, and the man of the house: an Englishman (around 70), likes to talk, but the catch: he has been in Paraguay for 15 years but can't speak a word of Spanish ... Well, that's of course sad for our Spanish learning ambitions, but okay, not a big deal. So now we're just living in a strange Airbnb house. We already suspected that we couldn't keep riding our high horse forever when it comes to our housing situation, but we had successfully suppressed that until now :D

But then there was another thing, or as they say here - una cosita - a little thing. Unfortunately, our room was already rented out for next week.... Hmm, but no problem at all, after all, the mother of the Señora lives only 50m away and she also has a small room where we can easily bridge the time until we move back here again. And in August we'll have to do the same for another 12 days... Okay, the plan was actually to finally unpack all his things - it seems like that has to be canceled for now.

Two days later, we're already in the new transitional house at the mother of the Airbnb lady's house and have to admit that our living quality not only decreases as assumed, but rather makes a decent crash landing. The grandma is really, really nice, but a rather impressive grandma and so it happens that the supposedly clean dishes are dirty, or filled with water in the cupboard, the house smells very strange, there is mold in the bathroom (yes, even on the toilet seat), and everything is very, very dark. So not a place that invites you to spend your evenings here, unfortunately it's only 8 degrees outside... Well, of course, we still try to spend some evenings in the pizza place next door - not without suffering from the cold, but it's the better option. :D Just like 'cozy' breakfasts in the garden in the sun but unfortunately with these damn 8°, you get creative to avoid the smell. ;)

So we tried to fill our weekend with as many trips and activities as possible. The biggest one was to Aregua, a suburb that is currently a sweet and creamy hotspot and a popular destination because of the strawberry season. With Oscar and Lidia, we strolled through the city all day, took many "lindas fotos" (Oscar has a new phone with a pretty good camera), ate way too much cream, and wondered about the business model of 200 exact same stalls. A really nice day!

After a weekend, our stay is supposed to be extended at the grandma's Airbnb because of more guests. For us, it's clear that we have to look for something else, some place where we can feel comfortable for the last month and unpack our suitcases. After a crisis text message round to all our acquaintances and friends, we were very touched by the support and ideas we received from all sides! In the end, Eric found a new place, another Airbnb but this time well maintained and sympathetic.

During our visit, there was still a small stumbling block, that men are not usually received here, but luckily we were able to convince them and move in with persuasive words and charming smiles, so Hansi was allowed to move in too!

So now we live in a semi-detached house with a Paraguayan business mom, who turns out to be really nice, she is out all day but constantly asks about our well-being. Quite funny: her daughter is a blogger and an internet celebrity in Paraguay (the technical term is "Instafame") and is currently traveling in Europe to expand her travel blog. So, it sometimes happens that someone says: Do you actually know her blog, it's the best of all... Paraguayans just love Instagram and blogs! The house is super clean and a bit sterile, there are few pictures and colors, but our room is as well decorated as we dared to with Tesa and the fear of glue residues on the wall, and we start to feel really comfortable.

All our things are finally unpacked again and we were able to do laundry and cook food after a long time. We don't even have to wash our breakfast dishes before using them, just to have breakfast in the garden because of the smell. So it's the little things in life after all ;)

So now we can concentrate on the important things again: Paraguay! As often, we couldn't believe how much these semi-holidays become an event here. On Friendship Day, you congratulate everyone on this fabulous day that you are currently spending together. (and of course also all the people you don't actually know at least via Whatsapp:)

There are 2-for-1 special offers around every corner and extra shifts (of course not) are added at the packing stations in the supermarket. At work, there was a friendship gift exchange in which mainly sweets were exchanged and Hansi got a new plant for his desk from Ari as a result, a plant that he had unknowingly discovered by the side of the road the day before.

Today, we celebrate another funny tradition: to prevent all the evil spirits of the nasty August, a true Paraguayan drinks "Carrulim" today, preferably in the early morning, a quite disgusting mixed drink made of caña (liquor), lime, and wine herbs, which gives you a shiver at the latest after the 4th sip, but can also elicit a heartfelt 'Santa Maria' from some. The spirits (! ;) ;) ) argue about the frequency and quantity, but it is agreed that there should be at least 7 sips :D. What you do not do to have the blessings of the good spirits on your side.

How one would wish to drink this Carrulim. By the way, it is sold on the roadside by the herb ladies!

How we got to drink it... That looks promising, doesn't it?!

We should have done that yesterday at the latest.... An evil Paraguayan spirit seems to have made Hansi forget to take his fork out of his mouth before taking a bite. The result was a noise so loud that even Ari almost choked, but don't worry, it was just the explosion noises from Hansi's teeth, of which he now has a little less. You just don't get any younger, but these days there seems to be enough schnapps for consolation.

Cheers and greetings from our new casita