We spend over half of our time on the road but we don't just travel to quilt shows.  We love meeting people, doing volunteer work, and experiencing life in other countries.  We all know that customs are different in other countries, in fact, that's one of the things we like best about travel.  We enjoy learning how other people do life.

Last summer we went on a trip to South America, to volunteer in a vision clinic in Paraguay.  We flew to Chile, then on to Paraguay where we took a 5 hour bus ride to our final destination of Ciudad del Este.  We were there for 2 weeks and were housed in a decent hotel.  It reminded us of a college dormitory.  Basically, we had a queen sized bed, a twin bed, a counter with a refrigerator under it and small closet and a bathroom.  No chairs.  There was a restaurant downstairs where we ate the included breakfast and ordered dinner occasionally.

This was all very interesting and we enjoyed shopping locally and eating at nearby restaurants.  We also traveled to Argentina while we were there and visited the amazing Iguazu Falls.

During the 2 weeks we were away from home, we stayed in 3 different hotels.  We also encountered 3 different types of bidets.  I knew what a bidet was but not how to use one.  I'm still not entirely clear on that part.   I had no idea there were different kinds of bidets!  The first one was simply a hose with a sprayer on the end, like one might find next to a sink. I feared I would spray the ceiling so I left it.We stayed overnight in Argentina at a really cute little boutique hotel.  The bathroom was long and narrow with the shower at one end, opposite the toilet and the sink was in the middle facing the door.  This bathroom had an attachment on the toilet with dials and buttons.  I walked over and leaned over to look at it and touched one of the buttons.  A stream of water shot across the room and into the shower!  Very impressive.  I didn't attempt that one either.

Finally, after a long bus ride back to the city where we'd catch our flight home, we checked into one more hotel and found a third kind of bidet, the kind I had expected to see, a separate throne of sorts.  It was very late, I was tired and grumpy and I did not touch that throne once!  I look forward to more international travel in the future and I'm looking for a class on bidets.