Last weekend we had a much needed, five day spring break. In our effort to see more of Paraguay, we hired a driver, packed up the tent and supplies, and headed to the elusive Laguna Blanca. Teachers had spoken of hearing of a white sand beach with a lake of crystal clear water, but some thought this was a myth. Its not. Paraguay does have a spring fed, crystal clear lake, surrounded by a nature reserve. In fact, there is a team of scientists there right now studying the flora and fauna of the area, and have found what they believe are two new species of frogs.
Anyway, we went with three other couples, Kathryn and Lorenzo, Jac and Guille, and Danielle and Kagan. All of our supplies barely made it into the van, but soon we were on our way. The laguna is partly owned by a man who runs a ranch nearby and rents out cabins and offers camping as well. It is incredibly hard to get to. Three hours on paved roads, and then another hour on dirt roads, that include four of the sketchiest bridges I've ever been on . Think planks of wood across little creeks. Super scary in a big van!
We got there, set up our tent, and explored the lake a bit. We spent three days there, and it was a wonderful way to get out of the city and enjoy the nature of Paraguay.
We played quite a few games of sand soccer. They resulted in injuries for almost everyone.
We also took a few hikes around the lake to look around. Jesse will be doing a post later on some of his findings.
Since it is anaconda mating season, we were hoping to see one, but alas, we didn't find one. We didn't even see a tarantula. Maybe we'll have more luck on our next camping excursion.
What to use for bait? Well good thing Jesse and Danielle are such good grasshopper catchers! They caught plenty for us to use.
We all climbed into the boats to head out and try our luck in catching supper.
Jesse was the only lucky one to catch a fish. Since we only caught one, we threw him back. But the fish was a tilapia, one of my favorites!
