{"id":432,"date":"2018-08-07T17:57:28","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T22:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maycas.us\/wordpress\/?p=432"},"modified":"2019-08-28T18:56:53","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T23:56:53","slug":"9-the-adoptee-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maycas.us\/wordpress\/?p=432","title":{"rendered":"9: The Adoptee Trip & Iguazu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Okay, so we\u2019re not quite done with the Ties trip. One of the young men on the trip contracted Tracy to take him to the city of Ciudad del Este on the other side of Paraguay. She will translate for him as he meets more of his birth family. I won\u2019t go into detail because it\u2019s really none of my business, but I will say it was an incredibly emotional trip for this individual that raised as many questions as it answered. It was a privilege to be let into this person\u2019s life and to witness first hand what some adoptees face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

We drove to Ciudad del Este in the Noah. Remember the Noah?\u00a0 I distinctly remember having a mechanic make some repairs for us a few days ago. About half-way through the five hour drive, Tracy tries to pass a vehicle and floors the accelerator to pick up speed. Only the car doesn\u2019t speed up. It starts hesitating, and shuttering, and the check engine light comes on. The engine can no longer go over 1000 RPM without sputtering. We pull off to the side of the road, ponder what to do, ask a passerby for directions to the nearest mechanic, and limp along until we reach the shop. It turns out to be a motorcycle shop, but the owner agrees to look at the car. He pulls a part from the air intake system, cleans it, and tells us we should be good. At this point the car is running fine. But, most of us are suspicious he may not have fixed anything and it\u2019s a fluke. Remember, Paraguayans don\u2019t like to say no or admit they don\u2019t know something. Sure enough, a few miles later the same thing happens again. We decide to risk shutting the engine off, and after it is restarted the problem disappears\u2026for a while. This happened four times during the drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Noah is still not a happy camper…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Unfortunately, at one of our trouble stops, Tracy turned the headlights off and forgot to turn them back on. In Paraguay a driver is required to have headlights on at all times on the highway. You guessed it, we got pulled over for not having headlights on. Tracy negotiates an acceptable bribe with the officer, and we\u2019re off.\u00a0 It would be fantastic to have a picture of this last event, but I didn’t dare risk upsetting the police officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bribe process is interesting in and of itself. The conversation typically starts out with a comment from the officer about how many days pay a fine will cost the driver, and in some cases the fine can be hundreds of dollars. There is a negotiation process that includes the officer trying to get a good look inside the wallet\/purse to gauge how much money is available. A good practice is to hide the bulk of your money, and keep a much smaller amount in a wallet that can be flashed to the officer. After some back-and-forth, the parties reach an agreement and payment is made.\u00a0 In our current situation we had an upcoming toll to pay, so the officer made sure Tracy had enough money left over for the toll.\u00a0 Corrupt, but incredibly considerate at the same time. My mind is officially blown!\u00a0 In some cases the officers document the bribe in a ledger. We’re not totally sure why, but believe it may be incorporated into their pay somehow. And I find in very interesting that the officers never ask if anyone else in the car has money they can contribute to the cause. Must be a pirates code type of situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year Tracy tangled with an officer over an illegal turn (you can’t turn left at a stop light unless there is a sign allowing it). She refused to pay the bribe and went in to fight the ticket. They just laughed at her. The officer’s feel they are providing a service by taking a bribe that is much lower in cost than the fine. Locals will tell you to just play the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip wasn\u2019t all heavy emotions, car troubles, and bribes. We did have some fun as well. Salto de Monday is a beautiful waterfall just outside Cuidad del Este.<\/p>\n\n\n\n