July 2-5
July 2nd didn’t exactly go as planned. We had hoped to leave Jataity at 7:00AM after
all the T.I.M.E inters said a teary good-bye to their host family. We were going to meet the Bakers (our newest
team mates) in Villaricca and caravan with them to Argentina. Estimated arrival time: 3:00.
However, as the last intern was stepping into the van, a man
told Jeff that our rear tire was wobbly.
Jeff noticed five broken lug nots.
We drove slowly to the next town (50km away) and pulled into a mechanic’s
shop. We waited for 2 ½ hours and were,
praise God, on our way again.
Truth be told, we always have major car problems, so we were
glad to get it out of the way early. It
was too late to meet up with the Bakers and too late to catch the ferry to
Argentina, but we’d just go through Brazil and arrive in Argentina middle of
the night.
However, an hour from the Paraguay/Brazil/Argentina boarder
the van just stopped. We sat on the side
of the road from 6:00 to 8:30 while Jeff tried to trouble shoot with no success
and then the mechanic tried to trouble shoot the problem with no success. Finally, we were towed to a German hotel for
the night. The manager was kind enough
to order hamburgers for us at 10:00.
July 3
Bad news on the van: it will be “stuck” at the mechanic’s
shop in the town it broken down in for a week.
Jeff had to hire a driver to take us to the Brazil side of the waterfalls. It was a beautiful day. The waterfalls are breath-taking.
July 4th
At 9:00 we flagged down a public bus and headed to Asuncion. We made great timing and even had time for
souvenir shopping that afternoon.
That evening we had an asado to celebrate Independence Day.
Jeff, as normal, blew up fruit and set off the loudest
firecrackers.
I got a text from Ryan saying that he went to Wal-mart and
bought vegetable to blow up. Like
father, like son. Boy, I sure miss that
guy!
However, the evening ended on a bit of a sour note….but you’ll
have to ask Jeff about that.
July 5
We said a tearful good-bye to the interns.
During these past 6 weeks they battled no water, cold showers, strange food, freeze weather, illness, car break downs and a language barrier...and they did it all with laughter and smiles. It is always tough to see our interns leave but we are so excited to see how God uses their time in Paraguay to help mold them into the Christian health care professional he has called them to be.
