Paraguay from the Back of a Pick-Up Truck

Just another day at the office… for a hitchhiker! Today I hitchhiked in the back of this pickup truck toward Mariscal Estigarribia, the last village with a sizeable population in Paraguay before the border with Bolivia—and that border is still 250km away!

In Paraguay, you usually get your entrance/exit stamps in your passport at the migration office in a town before the border rather than at the actual border. This also happened to us when leaving Brazil and entering Paraguay. Besides being a little strange and not straightforward at all, this is a complicated process of asking around for ‘la officina de migración’. If you don’t tell your driver this, you might accidentally drive past the immigration office. Without an exit stamp!

When you find the office after a while, the guy who gives you your stamp might be on his break for three more hours. It’s good to know this beforehand, as I won’t be hitching 250 kilometers just to turn around for another 250 kilometers to get my stamp and then back to the border again! That sounds like the literal definition of hell.

I have my stamp for today, but won’t leave Paraguay until tomorrow, so I’ve been checked out of Paraguay while still chilling here and not being in Bolivia! Fingers crossed the Bolivian customs don’t give a damn!

P.S. Dear Paraguay, I will return to explore more! You’ve been amazing. I really wish I wasn’t in such a hurry right now. You deserve more attention and love.

 

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