we forgot the camera

Yesterday we went for another adventure, this one more adventurous than the last, but we forgot the camera so you will have to be satisfied with mental pictures that I will try to help you create in your mind instead.

To start off our adventure we decided to see "salto suizo" translated "swiss falls" It was nice. we had to hike through the jungle for the last 100 meters or so, and had some very nice scenery to see.

That was fun, and off we were in the other direction to see if we could find a tall lookout point. Supposed to be 17 kilometers away on a bad road. We drove for about an hour, having driven about 13 kilometers, when all of a sudden the mud seemed to overtake the car a little. Trav backed up a little to get a bit of a running start when uh oh, we are in the back back of the boonies when our car slid into a very muddy ditch. Trav got out to take a look, and started pulling dead babmoo out of the bush to get traction to get out of the ditch. I got out to help him, wearing my flip flops, and within pulling about 3 pieces of dead bamboo out of the bush, my flip flops were so slippery I couldn't wear them anymore, so I took them off and went barefoot which gave me much better traction.

We had no luck on the car, it only slid further and further into the ditch. We were royally stuck. We decided to hike to find a house and maybe an ox to pull us out. So I got Zippy out of the car and in my sense of urgency that we needed to find some help... I forgot to change her diaper. And we were off climbing the last 3 or4 KM to find an ox. After about 20 minutes we noticed that Zippy's pants were a little wet. Me being barefoot, and Zippy with a dirty diaper. We walked and walked and walked. My feet HURT! Every time we were going uphill (which was almost all the time) they had put down stones on the road, and the stones were cutting into my feet. When we finally reached the top after an hour of walking we ever so nicely found out there was no help to be had. There was one man, but he didn't have an ox or anything to pull us out, but he was willing to charge us 20 thousand Guarani's to look off the lookout point if we wanted.

Thinking a bit we decided that Zippy would only be getting grumpier seeing as it had been at least 4 hours since any of us had had anything to eat, we still had almost an hours walk back down the mountain before we would reach the car, and it wasn't worth it since about 200 meters down we had already seen the view.

We asked him to fill our water thermos and were on our way again. Zippy's pants by this time were sopping wet. I wasn't sure if we should just take them off, but I didn't want the bugs to bite her bum, so we just kept going with the sopping wet pants.

After arriving at the car, where we had stashed a package of cookies and some chocolate milk, we had our snack and I stayed with Zippy (changed her diaper of course) and Trav went down to find some help going that direction. 5 minutes after he left, I started hearing voices, and around the corner 2 guys came walking down the road. They were working with some cattle up there. I asked if they possibly couldn't help us. They said they had a horse but not an ox. We weren't totally sure a horse could do it, but I was willing to try. They asked If I had a strong rope. ARRGH, nope, all I had was thin rope for tying stuff on top of the car, but just in case I decided to check and hey look, Travis had a tow rope in the back for occasions just like this! One guy went to go get the horse, and The other guy and I started putting rocks under the wheels to get some traction.

When the horse arrived, we decided I was supposed to drive, the horse would pull and the other guy would push. After about 5 tries we got the car free, but the mud was too thick for me to keep going up the hill. We tried to get the horse to pull me up ( so i could turn around up there) but the horse couln't pull me. One of the guys guided me to help me back down the hill to a point where I could turn around.

I was free! but where is Trav?, do I sit here waiting for him so we don't lose eack other? or do I go down the hill and try to find him? I started down the hill, and the first people I came across (2 little girls) told me Trav had gone with their brother to find an ox cart. I asked that if I would keep driving on the road if Trav would see me, or had he gone onto a side road to get the ox? They said he would see me. So I gave the girls a ride to their house and went to find Trav. After about 10 more minutes I found Trav, and we headed back to our hotel.

My feet are still feeling the consequences of walking that far without shoes, and Trav's really feeling his legs from walking that far but we are okay.