Teresa: Oh yeah, baby. We decided to splurge and have a treat half way through our journey. Best $400 I ever spent. We went to Asuncion and stayed in a 5 star hotel/resort for 2 nights. Google the resort...sweet: Resort Yacht and Golf Club. Breakfast included, which was a serious buffet, no cheesy continental stuff. We couldn't partake of all that was there, but we sure enjoyed lots of stuff: clay tennis courts, racquetball, basketball, soccer courts, playground, 1 of 2 golf courses in Paraguay, on the Paraguayan river with a beach with real sand, kayaking, salon, spa, mini movie theater, several restaurants from fancy to casual, 2 pools. But the best part of all, was a huge bath, with real shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and wait for it...towels that actually dry you off and absorb water and not just smear the water! Gotta say, feeling jealous of those Europeans; liking the bidet action. I splurged and shaved, and took extra showers, because I could. Oh the luxury. My friend/"sister", Norma, watched Luna for us. It was nice to have a break from the puppy duties, but we missed him. It's gonna be hard to leave him.
Maya: There were 2 pools. One of the pools had a bridge that you could swim under. And even though the water was very cold, Jacey and I survived. On the weather, it said it was going to rain on Friday. But it didn't rain a bit; it was sunny and 85 degrees both days. I got a manicure and pedicure. My nails and toenails matched; they were both turquoise. Both my big toes have a white and orange flower. Me and my mom also got our bangs cut. Nothing like a girls morning in a salon. Our last morning in the hotel, we had many delicious foods. All kinds of fruits, and many different spreads for the bread (including my favorite, dulce de leche). As we were finishing up, we saw soccer players. We wondered if they were professionals, so my mom asked the waitress. She explained they were 2 of the 12 professional Paraguayan teams, which is like meeting Michael Jordan. She explained that they came to the hotel the mornings of their games "a concentrar", or to focus. And when we walked out, my mom told them, "Good luck," then changed her words to, "well, just play good."
Jacey: We got checked in and were shown to our room. As he opened the door, I was simply amazed. There were 2 beds and a open up couch, flat screen t.v., plus chairs and table to watch, closets to hang up our clothes, a big bathroom with a sink, mirror, tub, toilet, and bidet. We got quickly changed so that we had time for the pool. As we headed down into the pool area, my eyes struck something amazing. There was a water slide! But it wasn't working. My mom got her lounge chair, we strapped on our goggles, and slipped into the pretty cold pool. But after swimming around the pool with a swim up bar, we got use to the water. After awhile, it got chilly, so we pulled out our lounge chairs and sat in the delightful sun. Maya was feeling thoughtful, and gave us both a back massage. We were able to chill and chat. Then we went around exploring the hotel. After that, we showered up and got pretty nice looking and headed up to the Tata kua, fancy restaurant. I had fish [surubi], with a shrimp cream sauce and a vanilla milkshake. The harp player began to play his entrancing music. I was in heaven. We got back to the room, watched t.v. (in English, no doubt) and went to sleep. And that was just the first day! Sorry for the details, just wanted to give you an image of what it was like. We woke up, went to the salon, and got manicures and pedicures. I got dark and light purple. We went to a different pool and played. We had a waiter bring us hamburgers with eggs on it and ate by the poolside. Maya was once again feeling generous and gave us massages with lotion. We then had a lazy afternoon. We went on a walk and explored the neighborhood, came back and had a simple meal, and slid into bed. The last morning, we had a delightful breakfast and even met professional soccer players, which here is a humongous deal. And a taxi took us back to the bus terminal, to catch our bus back to Paraguari, our home.
