Caaguazu, Paraguay, Mile 158

MAP  http://www.odysseyatlas.com/trip/8j2

Greetings from Caaguazu, 30 miles east of Coronel Oviedo.  Today, the wind and heat returned with a vengeance, the temperature topped out at 102, and there was a steady wind out of the east at about 20 MPH which was blowing right in my face the whole trip.  I rode a pretty straight shot directly east from Coronel Oviedo here to Caaguazu; I had thought about continuing to Campo 9 25 miles on, but I was really hot and it looked like rain.  I am going to try to move on to Campo 9 tomorrow early; the forecast for Ciudad del Este tomorrow afternoon is positively frightening, they are predicting inch-an-hour electrical storms for the late morning and afternoon.

The first part of today´s trip was hilly, which, faced with headwinds, I like, going uphill blocks some of the wind, and the wind only causes me to coast a bit slower down the other side.  Given the choice, I would rather ride in mountains or hills than into the wind anyday, what goes up will, eventually, go down, but wind never ends.  The second part of the ride was just flat, into the wind, I boogied along at about 9 miles an hour, which is not very fast to put it mildly.  Getting into Caaguazu, I rode around a bit and found a likely hotel that ended up being very nice, 90,000 Guaranies (about $20) and they have a pool, which I already used.  The guy at the desk was also nice enough to let me upload my pictures onto his laptop; I saved them and mailed them to myself and will post them here later. (I want to get him his computer back as soon as possible.)

As I move east, I am now about 90 miles from the Brazilian border at Foz do Iguacu, and the Brazilian presence is getting more notable, Everyone at the restuarant I ate at last night was speaking Portuguese, and so are the other guests here at this hotel.  Eastern Paraguay is very much an economic colony of Brazil, and it is showing.

That is all for today´s quick report, and now ownership can have their computer back.