three days on a donkey: Get `em while they`re hot!

pancheada – hot dog sale
a word that 2-years ago was totally foreign to me. but since living in py for about two years now it has become a word that I know and now (since this past weekend) have great appreciation for.
My kids club (or girl scout troop) had a hotdog sale this past Saturday and Sunday evenings. The plan was only to have it Saturday night but we didn’t sell quite as many “super panchos” (foot-long hotdogs) as hoped so we decided to set-up shop again on Sunday night and give it a go to see if we could convince our neighbors that they were hungry for hotdogs. We sold them all, 29 hotdogs for our first entrepreneurial attempt! We consider it a success. The kids were super hard-workers, excellent dog preppers and change givers. They practiced their customer service skills, learned about making change and made a little money! They loved it! They want to do the next one, tomorrow. I however, am a little pancho-ed out!

A hotdog in Paraguay doesn’t have all the traditional toppings, that a good ol’ American picnic would have. There is no mustard, pickle relish, onions or fries on the side. A hotdog in Paraguay comes with Catchup (a sweeter version of Heinz ketchup) and mayonesa (yep…mayo! How gross!) But they love it! The more mayo the better. On my order, I asked them to hold the mayo and they couldn’t really understand why??

Saturday night was a hoppin’ evening in Horqueta, the Saturday before Easter is a big party night because at midnight – it is Easter. But that does not mean that the Easter Bunny pays a visit to all well-behaved children. Quite the opposite actually – everyone puts on their heals, make-up and gets a “brushing” (when you go to the salon and get your hair done…the English term is actually used. I prefer to not talk about “brushings” I had a rather scaring experience in Montevideo with a brushing, but we can discuss that another time) and then hits the avenida (main street). First about 3-5 hours of “scooping the loop” happens, to see who is who and strut their stuff. And then after midnight the party starts. Because of course you cant party before midnight, Jesus was still dead before midnight, but after the clock strikes 12, he gives his blessing to let the dancing beginning.

This year I did not attend the Pascua bash – I was pretty wore out long before the clock stuck 12. But the Pascua bash was very helpful in giving our hotdog stand a lot of business!

Here are a few pictures of Los Chicos Unidos, practicing making change and selling hotdogs!