We left the ruins and decided to follow Google’s alternative route through countryside that looked at least slightly interesting.
After a couple of miles our attempt at adventuring ground to a halt. The asphalt ran out.
Once upon a time we probably would have given it a go but after tens of thousands of miles of South America and several misdirected attempts to find back roads in several muddy dusty difficult countries, Team Lost decided caution was the better part of valor and we turned around.
So we took off across Paraguay Sunday afternoon and this is what we found in this little visited country.
A friendly man selling chipas, rings of cheesy toasted bread. It’s a cultural experience and he wished us a happy journey. He looks fierce doesn’t he? He wasn’t. 
Paraguayans are known for drinking cold maté and if you ask residents of neighboring countries where it’s drunk with hot water they think it’s barbaric but to me hot or cold maté is horrid and bitter. Weird people drink weird stuff. I drink tea. 
Did I mention cows in the road? Paraguay is a poor country and curbside grazing is free.
Some of Paraguay Highway 8 was a wreck and some of it was freshly paved. We hit a speedbump at speed once which shifted the load in our lockers but miraculously seemed to do no damage. That was a discouraging moment as I tried to concentrate on the road. This one was obvious: 
And we came across an accident marked in the usual way:
Don’t know who went in the ditch but they had it in hand. 
Rusty break on the road so he can stretch out in the grass and we can contemplate the meaning of life.
We took all day to drive most of the way to the campground in Caacupé and stopped at a little restaurant we saw when we were here in Independencia last summer. It looked intriguing with a sign board in Spanish and German.
Would you know it some kids told us it was closed for winter when all the Germans are back home for the season. Layne got a bit gringo complaining they had posted anything on Google so we had breakfast for dinner and slept at a gas station as usual.
Misiones to Caacupé where we hope to get new KO2 tires cheaper than we can buy them in Chile or Peru.
Bolivia continues to have problems keeping up with demand for fuel and messages we have read from travelers say it takes a lot to fill the tank so we are postponing visiting Bolivia for now.
“ From our perspective, the diesel situation in Bolivia is not good. We were unable to get diesel in Sucre, and it is also very scarce in Uyuni, with extremely long queues.
We were allowed to move to the front because the petrol station employee permitted it. Understandably, the other people waiting in line were not happy about that. The employee also told us that they only had enough diesel left for another one or two hours. Nobody ever seems to know exactly when the next delivery will arrive.
We managed to get through Bolivia with diesel, but we also carry several spare fuel cans and spent a lot of time waiting, discussing and negotiating. In some places, we were not allowed to fill up because we are foreigners. Overall, the situation is very chaotic.”
So we plan to bypass Bolivia on our way to winter quarters in Arequipa Peru.
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