Beach Day - Ocean City, Maryland

If you didn't know Paraguay is a land locked country, so when I lived there I went over a year and a half without seeing the ocean, thankfully I took a vacation to Uruguay or it would have been longer than that; and José has only been to the ocean once in his life, when he took a vacation to Brazil. So, when we were planning his visit he insisted on a day at the beach. 

His time here was planned down to the minute almost, so we had only really had one day available to take the two hour drive from my hometown to the eastern shore of Maryland, to Ocean City, and of course that one day turned out to be gloomy, chilly and rainy. But, we made the best of it!

When we got there we headed straight to the beach since there was a break from the rain. It took a little mental preparation but we finally persuaded ourselves to jump in the water. It was chilly but the waves were great.

After jumping the waves it was to cold to just lay out on the beach so we changed and headed for another first for José ... mini golf! Of course right when we started playing the rain started but we had a great time and I'd like to blame beginners luck because I lost.

Next stop was the infamous Ocean City board walk where we walked around, bought fudge, hit the arcade, watched street performers and overall had the perfect Ocean City day. We finished it off with a great meal at my favorite OC restaurant (and my former employer), Macky's!

Despite the rain we had an amazing day! And special thanks to my sister who doesn't appear in any of these pictures because she was playing photographer for the day.

Did you ever have a day when things weren't going your way (aka - a bad weather day) but, things turned out great in the end?

A Visit to the Sand Dunes in San Cosme, Paraguay

Paraguay is a mystery to travelers. Many people skip right over it in their South American adventures (here is why you shouldn't) and if they do manage to make it here they usually stick to the big cities like Asuncion or Ciudad del Este. But, trust me there are so many unique and interesting things to see in Paraguay if you take a step outside of the metropolitan areas and go exploring. One of those places is the Sand Dune islands off the coast of San Cosme in the middle of the Parana River.

This past weekend the boyfriend and I, joined a group of Peace Corps volunteers for a trip out to the islands. The week leading up to the trip I was nervous about the weather, it had been rainy and cold for days. But, we lucked out, it turned out to be a beautiful, sunny, warm day. The boat ride to the islands takes about an hour and there is not much scenery to look at on the journey, expect the water. You typically stay on the island for 1-2 hours and then its another hour back to San Cosme. There is literally nothing on the island. So make sure you bring anything you might need, including water and snacks. The dunes are quite beautiful, you feel like you are on a deserted island (well, maybe because you are) or a desert in the middle of no where. We spent the afternoon wandering around the island, taking photos and simply relaxing. They say that each year the dune islands are getting smaller and smaller and eventually, within the next several years they will disappear completely.

In San Cosme there is also a small astronomy center that you can visit at night and take a look at the stars. They also have some smaller Jesuit Ruins that are worth a visit. The best way to get to San Cosme is take a 10mil guaranies (roughly $2) bus ride from the city of Coronel Bogado on Route 1 or you can take a direct bus from Encarnacion for 20mil guaranies (roughly $5).

The Pearl of the South: Encarnacion, Paraguay

Next stop for the Matney family was Encarnacion, Paraguay, which is located in the deep south of Paraguay on the Argentine border. You can see the city of Posadas, Argentina right across the river. First stop when we got to town was the newly built Costanera on the Paraná River. This is the closest thing to a beach there is in land locked Paraguay and honestly it is pretty awesome. There are a few food places right on the sand, volleyball courts and a long, winding boardwalk.

The next day we wandered a little outside of the city to Trinidad the site of impressive ruins of a Jesuit Mission. Founded in 1706, Trinidad is said to be the most complete set of ruins in the area, with all of the aspects of a functioning mission and in 1993 it was made UNESCO World Heritage site. I was not expecting much before we got there, given the state of tourism in Paraguay, but I was thoroughly impressed. There is a small welcome center at the entrance with an introductory video and small exhibit of photos and artifacts. They have tour guides available at your request. The ruins themselves were also quite interesting and they were in a surprisingly  well-kept state. 

Final stop on the Matney family vacation : Asuncion, Paraguay!

Stop 2 Uruguay : Punta del Diablo.

After Montevideo we headed over to Punta del Diablo a super tranquilo beach town to spend Christmas. Four of my volunteer friends and I had rented a great little house right on the beach for 5 days and some of our other friends rented a house right around the corner.

First day in our awesome house!

Even had some great Christmas decorations! (thanks mom)

View from our Balcony.

It was nice to have a home base for our Christmas activites since we couldn't be home for the holidays. We invited all the Peace Corps volunteers that were spending Christmas in Punta del Diablo, 13 in all (including myself) to our house for Christmas Day dinner. We cooked the most random mix of food possible, fish, ceviche with fish and shark meat, stuffing and mac & cheese (thanks mom!), challah bread, and fresh salad. For desert we had Andes mint chocolate cookies, lemon bars and pound cake with a mango blueberry topping. It was incredible.

Its a tradition in many South American countries (including Paraguay as well as Uruguay) to set off  Fireworks at midnight of Christmas Eve

Christmas morning breakfast - Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, Scrambled Eggs, Fruit Salad and Mimosas

Our amazing Christmas dinner spread!

Emily, Karen, Alex, Anna and David enjoying the delicious food!

Punta del Diablo is an amazing little beach town. I would love to go back one day and I highly recommend everyone visit. It was great to be able to spend so much time at the beach, something I really miss living in landlocked Paraguay ha!

Bringing the Paraguayan tradition of Terere to Uruguay

Next stop in our adventure was Cabo Polonio, Uruguay! Stay tuned.

Holiday Greetings for South America!

I know I've been slacking on the blog front lately ... and there have been a lot of reasons that have attributed to this.

But, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays and I promise to update as soon as get back from VACATION! I'm celebrating Christmas with some other volunteers on the beaches of Uruguay :)