Exploring San Bernardino


San Bernardino is a tranquil little resort town, originally settled by German immigrants, only about an hour outside of Asuncion. We took a day trip here to see what there was to see. Our first stop was a flea market. There wasn't really anything of interest to buy, but it was fun to be surrounded by people speaking German! Then we went down to Lake Ypacarai to watch people and boats come and go. It was a beautiful fall day so we just soaked in the sun! After that we started exploring. One of our Paraguayan friends had mentioned an old, abandoned amphitheater. We are the type of people who think that could make a fun afternoon! After many dirt roads, U-turns, asking locals for directions, we finally found it.

The last concert held here was Ricky Martin in 1994. After that, the amphitheater was closed and basically became completely overrun by jungle. A couple years ago someone decided to clean it up-but since then it seems it's just a place teenagers come to drink, as evidenced by the broken glass EVERYWHERE. But, that didn't stop us from acting out our rock star fantasies, climbing up the catwalk, and even making our own music video. (It. Was. Awesome.) Sunday afternoons in Paraguay tend to be on the dull side, so you have to make your own fun however you can-we had a great afternoon!
One of the simultaneously most frustrating
and hilarious things about Paraguay.
We were on this newly paved,
 4-lane super modern road...and then
 it just dead ended into this tiny
dirt lane driveway to someone's house.
We got a lot of practice asking for directions!





















There was a ladder. It was just a question of who'd be first to see what was at the top.

Nice view.
walking back to the car after a satisfying day of exploring

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