A few sneak peaks!

Winter is warm in Paraguay! Here are some pictures from the last week!

Home-made Pizza!

Me and my favorite neighbor Na Rubia (Mrs. Blond) after we dyed her hair!

Me with Carrots and Parsley from my garden!

Wonderful Farmers Market Ladies

Sweaky Clean!

Ingredients for successful clothes washing

While you may look at this and be horrified by the fact that I cant just throw my clothes in and switch them to the dryer in 45 minutes; Its not as bad as it looks. However laundry in Paraguay is one of the main reasons that women do not have free time, don’t get to play with their kids, read the newspaper or visit with their friends. At times over the past year washing my clothes has been an annoyance but has hugely helped me appreciate the guapa-ness (hardworking nature) of Paraguayan women.

Pileta: A sink

While many campo volunteers will tell you that a large wooden board will suffice – I very much enjoy my sink. It is a little low – which means I get a good thigh workout when washing clothes!

Palengana: a really big bucket

This is essential! It doesn’t matter where in Paraguay you live – to get your laundry done you must own a palengana! It serves as the “wash basin” if you will – without the agitate cycle.

Canilla y agua corriente: Faucet and running water

There are many days I am unable to do laundry because the water goes out! And while I do own a well, and have lots of respect for volunteers who get their laundry water, bucket by bucket from their well – I wait for the water to come back on!

Jabon en polvo: Laundry detergent
(can be powder or liquid – liquid is cheaper and gets the job done)

This is actually an old milk carton – but I have found that it works wonders as a soap shaker! When I have clothes with stain or an extra stinky part, a little extra soap is key!

Cepillo: Scrub brush

The kind that you use on your bathtub. Yes – that is what gets the real dirt out of things…and may be why all of my clothes are three sizes bigger than when I got to Paraguay and in slightly rougher condition!

Enjuage: Rinse Cycle

This is the rinse cycle - probably not what the Whirpool engineers have in mind for their new Neptune washer. There is a little faucet and its where the soapy clothes go before they get their final rinse with suavesante. There are lots of cords and tubes (they just came from motor in the well - do not be alarmed).

Suavesante: Fabric Softener (de-soaper)

Until recently, I thought fabric softener was for wimps. I don’t like slimy clothes – but I have found that instead of softening fabric, suavesante helps take the extra soap out of my clothes! Brilliant! It may look like a 2liter of milk…but it’s a trick…its not! And my friend Mila and the women in one of her women’s group made this bottle!

Piola: Clothesline

Without this, I have wet, stinky clothes – which just means I did a lot of work for nothing. Yes, those are my undies out to dry!

Note: This is a part of a new series that will try to give you a better look into my life and the life of Paraguayans. I was asked to show the regular everyday stuff – please send me suggestions on what you would like to see and learn. Email me at rachelknewby@gmail.com Cheers!

Horqueta Home Tour

Have you missed me? Have you ever wondered what my little house in Paraguay looks like? Now you can come over for a tour! Check out my new YouTube video - I feel so techno-savy!
Let me know what you think! Buen Provecho! Enjoy!

Tour of the Casa de Sandia!

Its a lil dorky - and I dont like listening to myself talk. But if you can get over those two things, I hope you like it!

Fresh from my garden

Fruits of my labor! These are the first tomatos my garden has produced! I have had a few troubles with the tomato plants, more came up than were expected and I might not have made it a priority to transplant and stake them. So my garden looks more like a tomato plant jungle than anything else!

They were delicious!

I also have carrots, green onions and lots of parsley!

Ahecha Paraguay Exhibit in Asuncion!

This is the project that is consuming my life - in the best way possible! This weekend was the opening show for the national Ahecha Paraguay Photo Exhibit. It was hosted at the CCPA (Paraguayan American Cultural Center) in Asuncion. Participants from the 12 communities that participated came to see their work. For more information follow this link: www.cocumu.blogspot.com

Artist and her photo

Artist being interviewed

Project Participants, Volunteers and Vice-Director of Peace Corps-Paraguay

A wonderful visitor!

I was one lucky kid on June 18th. My mom took the more than 24 hour trip down to Paraguay to spend three weeks with me! It was an absolutly wonderful time. Now normaly spending three weeks with your mother, is no one´s idea of a good time. But I cant say one bad thing about it! She jumped into Paraguay with two feet and did everything she could to communicate with Paraguayans. And when they didn´t understand her, she just talked louder!

We spent three days with my original host family in the community of J.A. Saldivar (where I lived for my first three months in Paraguay). We then headed up to Horqueta to meet and spend time with my gente (meaning neighbors, friends and fellow peace corps volunteers). She was able to visit the municipality, the public library, the carpenter and the welder. She took advantage of the services that the shoe maker and the jewelry maker had to offer - and left with cute new sandles and gold hoop earrings! The crowning moment of her time in Horqueta is probably when she set the bar so high for PCV parents, when she showed off her amazing dance moves at her despedia bbq (good-bye party). And not to mention, gave a speech that left no dry eye in the house (ni Paraguayan or american) about how much she loved seeing my life, meeting my people and how proud she is. (I turned pink!)
She decided that she loved spending time in my community so much that she didn´t want to visit Iguzu Falls (the ONLY toursit attraction that Paraguay has to offer!). Paraguayans were impressed and honored that she wanted to spend so much time with them! In the middle of the trip one morning out of no where she said, ¨This is unlike any summer vacation I have ever had!¨ Which I took as a compliment!
We finished our adventure with a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We shopped til we dropped, slept in the most comfortable beds I have seen in over a year, ate great beef and capresi salads everyday, had hot showers and were able to flush our toilet paper; it was kind of like heaven! Mom said she was glad that we did the luxurious part of our trip second, because it made her soft and she didnt know if she would have been able to handle Paraguay otherwise.
But in all seriousness she was a fabulous travel companion without even one complaint!

The world travelers! On our way back to Paraguay after a non-stop week of fun in Buenos Aires, Argentina!

Mom, Ña Olga (in blue hat), Lorena (9, in green hat), Gloria (5, in pink hat), Paola (13, in pink hat too!) and me (in green with the twins hat!)
This is us with my first and most wonderful host family. We stayed with them for three days and mom brought my ¨other¨ mom a sewing machine so they could share passions! Translating sewing machine terms was a new activity for me!

Here she is after she made it home. She is wearing her Ao´poi (traditional Paraguayan shirt) that Ña Olga made for her, with Will in his new Paraguayan soccer jersey.