Pilgrimage to Caacupe (Sadly, The Most Exercise I've Gotten in Paraguay)

We were all sweating and breathing hard... would this uphill never end? For about an hour now our crew had been marching uphill on what would turn out to be the toughest stretch of our 20K trek from Ypacarai to Caacupe. And this group moved fast, even with backpacks- on the uphill they turned up their 4mph clip to around 4.5mph because when Paraguayans see a hill, all they want to do is get it over with as quickly as possible.

I was participating in one of the most unique national events here in Paraguay- the annual pilgrimage to honor the Virgin of Caacupe. People from all over the country come to Caacupe, (located maybe 60K outside of Asuncion?) to make their personalized pilgrimage to the church at the center of the city where the local divine virgin statue resides. This miraculous virgin is rumored to have granted innumerable miracles, including the feeding of hungry people and the curing of sick people. She is rumored to grant miracles to those who promise to complete the pilgrimage annually (as in: "Dear Virgin, if you help my sick mother get better, I promise I will do the pilgrimage every year, amen." Then your mother ought to get better, and you are obligated to complete the pilgrimage every year until your death.) Paraguayans of all ages take this very seriously. They will move sea and earth in order to make it to Caacupe to do their pilgrimage. Dec. 8th is the virgin's day, while Dec. 7th is the evening of the pilgrimage.

So on that haku pyhareve (sweltering Friday morning) Ever started preparing our backpack as I was cooking up some tortillas and banana bread muffins to take with us (no way were we going to spend extra money buying food along the way). We got on the bus in Villarrica and took it past Caacupe, so that we could meet up with our friends 20K down the road and do our pilgrimage together.

Everybody defines their own pilgrimage. We did the standard 20K (13 miles) from Ypacarai, the neighboring town. Others did twice that, or half that. There were teenagers booking it in flip flops & beach clothes, married couples power walking in their workout clothes, entire families slogging along with small children, and some very old people carefully placing one foot in front of the next. The one thing that is consistent for everybody is the time of the walk: Evening. Depending on the distance of your walk, you will start between 5 and 9pm, the idea being to get to the church by midnight for a midnight mass. Ever and I went in a group of about 9 young people, including my host mom Laura, his cousins Chiki, Belen, & Miguel Angel, and close friends Erico, Mono, & Diana. A few stray friends joined the group along the way.

                                              Me with host mom Laura at beginning of walk at 6:30pm

                                     Ever, Mono, Diana, and another friend after an hour or two of walking

The path is filled with interesting sights- vendors selling everything from food & drink, to clothing & shoes, to candles, to toys, and towels to wipe your sweat. There are now medical stations along the common routes, after the death of a small boy a few years back took people by surprise. They also hand out free water, and we got a free popsicle, and a free piece of bread with dulce de guayava on it. Political and religious groups line the course handing out brochures.

                    You can see the line of people starting to form- later it became much more crowded

                                    OK, we spared 30 seconds for picture with the nice military officers

                                                                     Sweaty and very happy for our free popsicles!

                                               See all the vendors along the side of the road.


Our little group did not stop at all along the course, minus a 3 minute group bathroom break towards the beginning of what was ultimately a 4.5 hour trek. The first two hours were easy breezy, whilst the following 90 minutes uphill were absolutely killer. The last hour after completing the uphill was the longest because our feet hurt and we just wanted to be there already.

After arriving to find the church plaza filling up for the midnight mass, we decided to first go find a place to sit down and eat our home-brought meals and buy some drinks to rehydrate. All the people who live in Caacupe were renting out their bathrooms and showers, so after eating and drinking, everybody who had brought a change of clothes went to look for a shower to rent. By this time it must have been around 1:00am and we then wandered around looking at all the street vendors' crafts until exhaustion overcame us (like 30 minutes), and found a cozy place to lay our blankets on the ground and sleep in the plaza. (A challenge, since people were packed like sardines from head to toe!)

                 The cathedral in Caacupe- plaza already filling up for mass when we arrived around 11:00pm

             People sitting and some sleeping already in the plaza in front of the cathedral when we arrived.

                                                  Pushed some tables together to eat & drink.


P.S. EVERYBODY sleeps out in the plaza under the stars; it is part of the pilgrimage tradition. You walk, eat, drink, shower, pray, and sleep outside on your blanket. That is simply how it's done. (Prayer & shower optional.)

Perhaps the most challenging part of this whole trip (besides the explosive diarrhea that kept me running to the bathroom every 30 minutes all night) was trying to get out of Caacupe the following morning. We walked 1K to the place where all the buses were supposedly passing by, but every single bus was absolutely full-to-the-brim, with people hanging out the windows and sides of the vehicles. So we started walking towards the direction of origin of the buses. And we walked. And we walked. After at least an hour of walking we got to this place and still there was no room on the buses. Check out all the people and vehicles crowding the streets behind me:

But luckily just down the road we found a bus heading for Villarrica which I was able to get on, and Ever found one to go back to Villeta where he spent the rest of the weekend with his family in Guazu Cora.

Ironically, after a 20K walk, not sleeping, having explosive diarrhea, and walking more to find buses, I arrived in Villarrica with no other option but to walk the 10K back to my house. Thank you, Peace Corps anti-motorcycle rule. I collapsed in my house and slept the rest of the day.

THE END!