three days on a donkey

Fuerza Paraguay!

2010-07-02T23:41:00.005-04:00

As a shout out to Paraguayans everywhere! Mi corazon esta con ustedes.
It is the eve of the biggest futbol game Paraguay has ever played. World Cup - Quarter finals. I am thrilled and quite nervous. Should Paraguay advance it will create a flurry of excitement in Paraguay that I can't even begin to imagine!

Here are a few facts:
Paraguay is the only country in the world with a flag that is different on each side.
Albiroja: The name of the Paraguayan soccer jersey-see photo
As one of the underdogs in the World Cups - some have wonder what powers the Pyan team. Here is an explanation of Terere.

Three very excited Returned PCVs from Paraguay after the PY victory over Japan on Tuesday.

Jiffy-GUAZU

2010-03-06T22:27:00.002-03:00

While in Paraguay one of my favorite foods was Chipa-Guazu: a corn, corn-meal, cheesy delight. Since returning to the U.S. I have made an Amiercanized version of chipa-guazu. Here is the recipe - try it, you'll like it!

JIFFY-GUAZU
1 box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1/3 cup milk (the wholer-the better)
2 eggs (maybe 3)
3 tbs butter
3 tbs olive oil (because I didn't have pig fat)
1 chopped onion
1/2 can of sweet corn
bunches of graded cheese - I used cheddar but anything will work!
Follow the baking instructions on the box. I made muffins but I would imagine it would be just as delicious in loaf-form.

Enjoy! Its delicious!

Wonderful Company

2010-01-29T14:28:00.003-03:00

These are the delightful ladies I have been spending so much of my time with! I couldn't ask for better company!

The Sights and Sounds of Paraguay

2010-01-21T15:53:00.003-03:00

I have tried throughout my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer and since my return home to the United States, to show and tell people what Paraguay is and was like for me. I wrote about the people I have met and the relationships that formed. I posted pictures of my house, my community, my friends and even my wash bucket. I posted a few YouTube videos of what my house and neighborhood looked like. But even though all of these things can help people gain a better understanding of Paraguay and the effects it had on my life, I am sure there are still millions of things to be shown and explained.

This YouTube video was produced by a small group of Peace Corps Volunteers in Paraguay. It was for incoming volunteers to give them a better idea of what they can expect if they decide to go to Paraguay. It is another way to learn more about PY. I hope you watch it and enjoy it. I still get a little teary eyed when I watch it.

The song that is played in the background was written and performed by PCV Nick Bayard and his community contact Senor Bogado on their album El Duo de Oro (The Golden Du0). The song is titled, "Cuerpo de Paz Paraguay" (Peace Corps Paraguay) and speaks to the spectrum of activities that Peace Corps Volunteers do with and within their communities.

Travel hot-spots!

2009-11-24T21:52:00.002-03:00

And you thought all of my travel adventures were over. Oh, no. Not even close! Here I am in the "mighty" small town of Nemaha, IA. Home of the tractor promenade - where tractors know how to square dance!

notes from america’s heartland

2009-11-20T14:40:00.001-03:00

It is my conclusion that: the people who cover the world, are exactly the same. There are still many corners of the earth I still have great desire to see and know. Recently, my through my homecoming and reconnection to people, many things have made me chuckle to myself in the last month that I feel can only be expressed to a point – which is a great pitfall because of the richness that I feel about the “sameness” and universal-ness of people. It is only now that I have seen it first hand in a foreign land and come home with a new kind of vision (even though my eyesight has worsened). I can try to tell you a few of the things that have made me giggle-and only hope to convey the feelings they make me feel.

• Stealing water
While in Paraguay, I tried to convince Paraguayans that I was not spending two years in their country to figure out a way to steal their water. What a crazy assumption I thought, Americans would never think that. Well today at the public library, as I filled my water bottle up at the drinking fountain (an amazing novelty in the US), said to me, “Stealing our water, are you?” I almost fell over and spilled my water. I wanted to tell her how Paraguayan she sounded to me, but I knew I would not able to explain myself completely with out taking a good 10 minutes, and I didn’t think she would find it nearly as amusing as I did.

• So they say, storms come when something happens for the first time. Really?
I had never heard this term. Danielle explained that it was a phrase that campo-people use when someone does something very out of the ordinary (or out of their norm). That today it will for sure rain, or there will be a storm. It seemed like a strange old wives tale to me. Until yesterday, when Wanda of Wanda’s Beauty Salon (located next to my grandmother shop) said, “there is going to be a storm today, Francis was late for her appointment this morning – and you know that never happens!” Shocked I asked her to repeat what she said and asked if that was a common “american” phrase to use? She said, “Well, yeah. You are just a city folk. That’s why you haven’t ever heard it.” But I guess campo-paraguayans are very similar to campo-iowans!

• Who is he? Oh you know, he was in Philips class.
I am sure this is a phrase you have heard tossed around at family gatherings. When families are talking about a, somewhat known person in the community, informing the others about the latest gossip on him/her a phrase like, “Oh you know, he went to kindergarden with Paul. Usually the other family members need a frame of reference to identify this individual. Paraguayan and Americans alike use this technique to jog memories. it makes sense, it is highly effective form of “clueing” someone in. It has made me chuckle lately because this simple phrase can become a conversation of its own in any language.

• Mis-understandings happen in all languages – no matter your native tongue.
I knew that living in two foreign languages made me prone to misunderstandings. and I guess in the back of my mind I had hoped that upon my return, all confusion would subside and that clarity would come thanks to my native tongue. There would be no more random mix-ups about what kind of meat or how many kilos of onions I wanted to buy. That I would make perfect sense to everyone, and them to me! I was wrong. No such luck.
I was thrilled to be home for fall. I was planning on spending Halloween with my grandmother and great-aunt. I have always loved carving pumpkins and want to take full advantage of the “normalness” of Halloween, even if I was the youngest kid at our house that would enjoy it. The trick with carving a pumpkin is that you have to have one before you can carve it. Tricky, right? On the road to town, there was a farm that had lots of pumpkins and squash for sale on a wagon by the road. I pulled in, knocked on the front door, asked if it was true that the pumpkins were for sale and was told I could have my pick, pumpkins cost 3$ each. I found a cute one that looked like it would be well-suited to have a face. I also found a cool gord that looked potentially carve-able if I could convince it to dry right. As I walked back to the house to pay the woman she said, “oh that squash, its only a dollar.” “Great,” I said, “I love when I have cheap taste.” So I walked up to the house and handed her a 5$ bill. She took it and disappeared into the house. I waited a second, assuming she would return with my $1. She didn’t come at first so I decided to load my pumpkins into the car. I waited a bit longer by my car. Walked around the yard a bit. Still no change. I was confused to say the least, in my mind three dollars for one pumpkin plus one dollar for a squash/gord should equal four dollars. After a good 10 minutes, I threw-in the towel and called it even. No change, but I wasn’t charged 3$ for each pumpkin at least.

I hope my shark isnt dead

2009-11-19T19:04:00.003-03:00

Mom and Mick in Grand Marais - Lake Superior behind them

I was informed through the grapevine of world wide communication, and a dear peace corps friend that blogs are like sharks. if they don't keep swimming - they die.

My blog hasn't swam in some time. It has not been due to lack of activity to report - but by a lack of knowing where and how to start to tell of my adventures.

Since my last post -
I went to Colombia, met up with two fabulous friends, tour, ate, danced, swam, laid on the beach, took pictures, picked up sea shells, drank tropical drinks on the sand, met phenomenal Colombians and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

I then continued my adventure - and made the big return to the United States of America. Welcomed into Atlanta, GA by the "balloon boy" CNN coverage, blackberries and paper-thin laptops! Slightly overwhelmed, I continued my journey to Chicago, Midway Airport. Where I was greeted by the most amazing of welcome-wagons!
I spent a week in Chicago, enjoying fall, spending time with wonderful people and soaking in Chi-town. My mom was under the impression that I was still in Colombia on a jungle trek. My plan was to surprise her and my "jungle" turned out to be more of an "urban jungle".

My brother and I made our way to Minneapolis by Megabus - through snow and sleet. We hoped the LightRail - to a stop close to home and Mick picked us up. Still on the down-low. Willie was sitting in the living room when mom got home. She walked in and here is how it went:
M: "Oh willie, you arent supposed to be home."
W: "Yeah, I know, I just thought I would come home and surprise you and see how you are doing. Is it ok that Im home?"
M: "Oh yeah, I was feeling tired and worn out at the end of the week, and now that you are here I feel way better."
and then I walked in...
r: "Is it ok that Im home?"

she just stood there and sank into the floor a bit.

M: "Oh, Oh rachel, you arent supposed to be home yet. Its a mess here, I haven't cleaned anything yet."

She was surprised, delighted at first, until she found out that everyone knew before she did. And then the only thing she could do was call all of us, naughty. Naughty, naughty, naughty. Which lasted about an hour.

We headed north to Grand Marais to spend a weekend at Lake Superior! It was fantastic. We talked the whole way, saw (but did not hit) 12 deer and got to ride in the fancy new van!

I have been home about a month now. It is still strange that everyone speaks English (especially in public), I am still very excited about the fully-equipped (free) bathrooms and even more so about spending time with the people I have missed.

I have been spending time with my grandmother and great-aunt. Being together and doing whatever it is they ask. Tonight is my turn to make dinner.
Until soon.

Back together again!

The first time I saw snow in three years!

Content with a cup of chai!

2009-10-05T10:50:00.005-04:00

If only I could find a good place to start to explain the adventures I have had in the last week! But im afraid no matter what I say, it wont do it justice. But ill give it a go anyway.

I am sitting in the Lima airport, drinking the largest cup of starbucks chai tea I could buy! I am more than content with life! (Starbucks isnt my favorite local coffee shop - but man does my chai taste like home!) It was a bit of a splurge - my PC readjustment allowance is running out fast! Its amazing how many cool and delicious things one can find to spend their money on, when on vacation!

Alright - about my adventures!
It all started last monday (my first day in Cusco). I arrived on an over-night bus from Arequipa (my new favorite Latin American city). After finding a hostel and dropping off my stuff, I left to see some of the city. I met a travel buddy on the bus and we were staying at the same hostel so we decided to explore a bit together. We walked around the city, visited the Plaza de Armas and went to visit the Inca fortress up on the hill. Cusco was orignially spelled Qosqo in Quechua - but like most indigenous langages when translated to spanish (or english or whatever) lots of things get changed. According to the Incas, Cusco was the center of the world - its ombligo or belly-button. It is located in a valley and it is said to have been designed in the shape of a Puma.

It was a full day of walking around and seeing the sights. Due to the altitude (and the fact that I was on antibiotics) and even with a few coats of sunscreen, I managed to get a bit toasted by the sun. I took the morning to think about my options for my week. There are tons of outdoor activities to do in and around Cusco (hiking, rafting, parachuting, bungie jumping - the last wasnt at the top of my list...but the others were!) I was undecided how would be the best way to spend my 6 days in Cusco. I knew I wanted to do some hiking and definately wanted to visit Machu Picchu but didnt know what woudl be best. After some serious thinking I decided that a longer hike to Machu Picchu was what I had been needing.

After lunch I started looking for the right tour agency that would take me on the Salkantay Trail to Machu Picchu, a 5 day, 4 night ¨trek¨ (see my explination of trek below) There are millions of tour agencies in Cusco, ranging from small outfitters to huge tour companies. Most of them offer pretty much the exact same tour for almost the same price. The trick about booking a tour (at least now, during low season) was to NOT book ahead. If i have booked my tour in advance it would have cost about 450$. But because I just arrived and started asking around, it was only 180$. (A pretty serious difference - which is good on a tight budget and when you find out the transportation at the end of the day story)

By late afternoon I had talked to bunches of tour companies and gotten the scoop on prices, departure dates and what was included in a tour. Because I was a solo-traveler, tour companies were hesitant to take me because they prefer when you travel with a friend. Which is fine, but didnt help my self-esteem when they asked, ¨well, couldnt you find a friend?¨ (I thought to myself: Um...no. Im traveling alone. Dont you have other people that want to hike and make new friends?? Please, it is unnecessary to make me feel like shit. Thank you, Ill find another agency.)

I found a company that was: 1. nice to me 2. had good prices 3. A departure date for the next day 4. an all inclusive package. It seemed like a winner to me. So I ran to the ATM and got my mula and signed up. I just need to make a few arrangements, pack my bag and get some sleep. Easy I thought.

Not so slick.
I needed to book a bus ticket to leave sunday (the day after my return from the ¨Trek¨) to Lima (a 22+ hour bus ride, 40$) I was sure there should be a bus leaving sometime in the moring that would get me into Lima on time for my 12:30 flight to Bogota (the one Im waiting for now). The people at the hostel were unsure of the departure times so I had to run (take a taxi) to the terminal and check out the bus schedules. At the terminal I found out that there was only one bus, leaving at 8am that was ¨scheduled¨ to arrive by 7am the following morning in Lima. However, Peru is entering its rainy season and there can often be bus delays. And the only bus that was leaving was very similar to Paraguayan (shit-excuse me) buses. The other option was a one-way (130$) flight to Lima. Considering my options, of maybe having to cancel my (already paid) for trip to Salkantay to get back for the bus or bite the bullet and get a plane ticket, I decided on the plane ticket.

It was already about 8:30pm at this time (remember I only half slept on the bus the night before) and was needing dinner, still didnt have my plane ticket bought or bag packed for the trek, needed to buy some snacks and toilet paper. I was starting to get a bit wigged out. I tried to buy my ticket online but the prices jumped 70$ when LAN found out I wasnt Peruvian and the only way to get the ticket for the lower price was to pay for it at the LAN office the next day. (My tour was scheduled to pick me up at 4:30am the next more...no time for an office visit). I was lucky enough to be staying at a hostel with highly helpful and friendly employees who said he could run and pay for my ticket the next day. Saved.

All that was left was packing and sleeping (and emailing my mom so she did worry about me while I was gone!)
Packed and in bed by 12pm. Unfortunately I had swolloed a bit of tap water while brushing my teeth and my stomach kept me up most of the night with its dance marathon.

4:15am rolled around, and the bus arrived early to pick me up. I threw my clothes on and hoped on the bus. My stomach was still prepping its Cir de Sole routines as we picked up the other members of the trip. Closing my eyes and praying to anyone who would listen that it would pass. We picked up 15 other people and headed to Mollepata (the start spot for our trek).

Upon arrival I visited the restrooms a number of times and seriously considered throwing in the towel and heading back to Cusco. But after such an ordeal the night before and my excitement for the hike I didnt want to think about not getting to hike. So I took a bit of stomach meds and drank a bunch of water and hoped for the best. By the time the group had eaten breakfast, sunscreened-up and bought their last snickers bar - I was feeling like a new woman! I was shocked how fast the meds kicked in and I was ready to take on the trail!

(The following post will have details about the actual trek...and MACHU PICCHU!!!)

Trek - it might just be me, but i have noticed that among travelers (the outdoorize ones) like to discuss their past and future trips and adventures when they first meet. But there is an underlying competition that isnt directly discussed but arrises out of the conversation about TREKS. What is a Trek? I have poled a few fellow travelers and the definitions vary, but if you ask me its just a pumped up word that means ¨walking in the woods¨. But you can have a discussion with other hard-core travelers about, how many days they ¨walked in the woods¨ because that would sound wimpy. Its much better to talk about your ¨trek¨ to Machu Picchu or your ¨trek¨ through the jungle. Clearly as outdoor-adventurers, trekking is the thing to do because we are not just strolling through the park.

Im having a blast!

2009-09-28T22:39:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note...

Im having a fabulous time! I spent the weekend in Arequipa, Peru. (my new favorite south american city) I just arrived to Cuzco this morning and had a packed day of walking around, ruins visiting and searching for a tour to Machu Picchu.

I found one! I am off to hike for 5 days to Machu Picchu on the Salkantay Trail. I will have lots to share when I get back!

I am safe and (almost well from my terrible cough-thanks to my email Dr. Michelle)

Love to all!
r.

Some rest time in the mountains!

2009-09-25T18:45:00.003-04:00

I have just spent a very relaxing 5 days (Until wednesday) in the Cordillera Blanca of the Peruvian Andes! It was wonderful and phenomenally beautiful! I did a few day hikes but no serious trekking. It was great for reading, reflecting and enjoying nature!

I also got to visit a Peruvian Peace Corps Volunteer living in a tiny village (30 families) in the mountains outside of Yungay. I got to meet her host family, see her community and eat some delicious home cooking! It was very interesting comparing PC-Paraguay and PC-Peru.

Flight to the past...

2009-09-25T18:35:00.005-04:00

This was the size plane I rode in....and the reason I got a little woozie!

This morning I took a flight into the past...
I arrived mid-morning in Nazca, Peru - Home of the Nazca Lines. The Nazca lines are these crazy drawings in the desert. No one really knows why they are there or how they got there. There are many theories explaining their exsistance ranging from alien landing pads to underground irrigation ditch markings. But there is no general theory of explination that is agreed upon. So, I (and you) get to think whatever we want about why they are there!

This morning we took about a half-hour flight to see the images outside of Nazca (there are also lines in Palpa). And they were just as amazing and incredible as you might imagine. They were a little smaller than I thought they would be, but still impressively large!

The plane did a lot of leaning to each side to give us the best view possible - but mostly just gave us all the tummy shakes. I was very glad to have seen them, but the motion-sickness didnt have me lining up for another flight opportunity!

Here are a few of the designs

The spider

The Monkey - my favorite!

For more information about the Nazca Lines - visit wikipedia.
These are also not my pictures, I will try to get mine up soon!

The most fun, I didnt plan to have...happened yesterday!

2009-09-25T17:59:00.005-04:00

After my time in the mountains (Huras, Peru - about 8 hours north of Lima). I headed south - with the end goal of making it to Cuzco and Machu Picchu but with a few great stops along the way. I had heard of Huacachina, a desert oasis just a bit in from the Pacific Ocean coast. Its fame is spread over all Peru - thanks to its apperance on the back of the 50Soles bill. I almost decided mid-bus trip to pass it up and keep on the move to Nazca, but luckily I didnt change my mind.

Huacachina is about 2km from the town of Ica (which is an actual city). It is this crazy little oasis, the former playground for the Peruvian elite. Now it is just a tourist destination - pero CON RAZON!

My Lonely Planet had mentioned the sand dunes and the potential sandboarding. However I wasnt sure that it would be for me. Was I WRONG!!! I took a dune buggy tour, which turned out to be the thrill of a lifetime! It was like a roller-coaster but with the added adrenaline that there was actually nothing but gravity stopping us from tumbling/flipping down the dunes! It was crazy wonderful! I laughed and screamed harder than i have in a longtime!

And then if that was not enough of a thrill, we got to go sandboarding. It was like snowboarding - but on sand. I tried it standing up two or three times, but i was kind of a chicken so I went down on my stomach on the board (like sledding!)all of the rest of the times. But the crazy thing was, was that the hills were almost vertical drops. So I thought I might die...but luckily...i didnt!
It was SOOOO much fun! I now want to try snowboarding when i get home.

These are not my pictures. I wasnt able to download the pictures I took - but I will try to get them up soon!

Oruro, Bolivia

2009-09-13T21:42:00.003-04:00

Still with a little sleep in my eyes - I arrived safely to Oruro via TRAIN!!

The mom from the family I stayed with came to meet me and went to the Aguas Termales to have a medicinal dip!

Uyuni, Bolivia

2009-09-13T21:27:00.005-04:00

Check out those ups!

This cactus could be my twin - they grow about a cm a year!

Some of the cacti on the island are over a1,000 years old!

Salt of the earth?
Salty or sweet? Or together?
The only salt flat in the world viewable from space (not that I can verify that) is in Uyuni, Bolivia. And I was there yesterday!

It looks like a lot of snow! But it doesnt melt. 12,000kilometers squared....thats a lot of salt.
The flats were formed many many many moons ago when most of south american was still under water. A lake was formed as the continents rose leaving a salty lake. The water has over millions of years, evaporated! Leaving miles and miles of salt.

I got to spend a day taking in its beauty!

Potosi - Home to the world´s largest silver mine

2009-09-13T20:30:00.013-04:00

When I arrived in Potosi, I headed to the center of town - up hill for the first time in all of Bolivia. Usually the center of town is at the bottom of the hill or in a valley. My first stop was the Casa de la Moneda (House of Money) where the silver from Cerro Rico (the mine) was manufactured into coins. It was a huge building, lots of old coins.

Cerro Rico was discovered to llorar lagrinmas de plata (cry tears silver) by an indigenous man (Inca, I believe)...and the story goes: Señor Inca was a sheep herder and had lost a sheep. He had to go up on to the hill to look for it, but he wasnt able to find it before nightfall. So he had to spend the night on the hill. He made a fire and was spooked by the shiny rocks. He ran down the hill and tell his friend who lives close to the bottom of the hill. They go see it together and realize that is plata (silver). For them plata does not have a monetary value, it is only used for decoration. When the Spanish white man came the friend of Señor Inca tells the Spanish that the Cerro cries plata as a peace offering. In about 1530 the spanish start to mine for silver. (By they I do not mean, the actual spanish men were doing the work!) They became the owners of themine and enslaved thoursands of indigenous and brought african slaves to work in the mine. The african slaves died within a day of working within the mine and were used then to work outside of the mine to process the minerals and manufacture the coins.

They say that you could build a bridge of silver from Potosi, Bolivia to Spain with the amount of silver that has been extracted. Btu they also say that you build a bridge from Potosi to Spain of bones because of the number of people who have been killed in the mine and with the processing of the silver. Terrible.

The mine continues to be mined to day. Now (during a slow period-when there isnt high demand for silver on the market andlarge pockets of the mineral arent being found) about 1,000-1,500 men are working in the mine everyday. In high times, there can be up to 5-6,000 men working in the mine. There are 3 shifts that are worked in the mine: 7am-1pm, 1pm-7pm and 7pm-11pm. (Sometimes, howeverthe men stay and sleep in the mine). Men (boys) start working the mine at age 12 or so. And then are only able to work until age 35 because their lungs are shot.

I heard varying details on how much the workers are paid, all depending on how much they extrat at any given time. It can be anywhere from 70Bolivians (1dollar) an hour to 70Bolivians (1dollar) a day.

Men and only men work in the mine, because the Cerro (hill/mine) is a woman and she gets jealous if other women are working in her. The men work for cooperatives, each cooperative cworks certain mine shafts (the mine has over 400 different shafts/tunnels). Most cooperatives provide no health care or respadtory mask.

Hard work, we are lucky that there are other typesof work in the world. And it makes me think twice about silver jewlrey.
The adventure of getting a mine tour was a story within its self. There are tons of tour companies offering certified safe tours. I found one offering a tour that afternoon which would work perfectly with my bus schedule. I was alone so the guiding company offered me a female guide so that I would feel comfortable. When I got to the office for the time of pick-up, the office was closed and locked with the worlds biggest padlock. Uh.o. So I waited a bit and the organizer showed up eventually but the guide hadnt comeout of the mine yet from her morning tour. It was now already 2:30pm...NOT a good sign. So it looked for a bit that there would be no mine tour. Bummer. But then I wouldnt have to force myself to do the scariest thing of my trip so far.

Deep breath, I thought I was free. I had given it a good go and could say I tried and goutten out easy.
Wrong.

They founda guide from another agency who could do it. A little more waiting and she arrived. Ceila Santos, la unica - (Celia, the one and only) she presented herself. I liked her from that first moment. A tiny woman, at least a head shorter than me, with a seriousness about guiding that put me at ease. She talked to the goofy tour organizer ike she knew her stuff which was encouraging. So we started out.

We started to head up the hill to the equipo (outfit) rental place (a butch shop named Hong Kong in the front, equipment rental in the back - normal...right?)

We bought water and cigarettes to give to the miners (and el tio) and headed into the mine. They didnt have coca leaves (to give as an offering to the tio) to buy but we decided to risk it and went in anyway. When we got about 75meters into the mine there was the tio. The guardian. The god of the mine. Miners make their offerings to him for protection, strength and a safe return out of the mine.
2 cigarettes - because tio smokes
Coca Leaves- for their scared value as an offering to el tio and to the La Pacha Mama (mother earth in Quechua) the giver of all things as an offering of thanks
Alcohol drops on the ground that they might find the mineral
Alcohol on his shoulders that they might have strength and not tire
Alcohol on his penis that they will be fertil and roduce offspring to continue to live in Potosi

All the time asking for a safe return out of the mine.
They take a wig of alcohol/whiskey and pass it around their compañeros. They do this when they can (not everyday, but often) We did as well. Minus the drinking alcohol part.

We walked into the mine. Pitch black, cool and damp. Having to bend a bit so not to hit our heads. We had to get out of the way 3 or 4 times to let the little train cart pass. We saw large holes in the wall where they had used dynamite to blast through the walls to extract the mineral. And tunnels to deeper shafts to bring the mineral up from lower levels.
The higher on the hill the cooler it is inside. The lower down, the hotter it gets.

A little shaky (only from the altitude of course, and maybe a bit from the mine) we walked deeper. There were some places where there was standing water almost to our ankles. Water that comes when it rains. There are drainage pipes so that it doesnt get to deep, but the water levels can get to be waist deep.

Possibly my favorite part of the tour was when Celia said ¨Bueno, solo hasta aqui - tenemos que regresar ahora¨ (Ok, only to here, we have to go back now).

I made it out safe and sound. A little shaken, but happy to have had the experience.
On our walk down the hill Celia and I started to talk more and realized we have lots in common. She wants to travel and tour guide in other places and loves studying cultures and peoples and wants to speak more english. I volunteered any english that I can teach via email and the deal was sealed.

We went to find api (the most amazing bolivian drink) Sweet, cinnamony corn drink. Wild but wonderful. WWe had our snack before my bus. She took me to pick up my things, and then to the bus stop and waited with me until I got on. I felt like I had founda kindered spirit. And she agreed to teach me some Quechua (it will have to be an online course, of course.)

Sucre -Bolivia´s Other Capital

2009-09-13T19:46:00.008-04:00

Dinosaur footprints from about 75million years ago!

AHHHHH....Dinos!

El Mercado Central de Sucre
Lots of Fruit

Masks from around Bolivia

The Bolivian Declaration of Independance

Me in the Silver Expo

Bolivia - On the way to Cochabamba

2009-09-13T19:17:00.004-04:00

I arrived in La Paz, Bolivia on September 4th. I didnt have any problems getting my Bolivian visa, all of the paper work was in order. It was just a matter of forking out 135$ to get through to customs. But I can now say that it was worth it!

I spent one day in La Paz, finding it surprisingly hard to walk and talk. The altitude did affect me luckily in some ways more than others. I had a bad headache but never had to see my lunch make a return apperance. I stuck around La Paz long enough to see one of the main plazas get a bite to eat and scope out the terminal for the upcoming trips.

Saturday morning I left La Paz (and the nausia behind) and headed east to Cochabamba. It was about a 7 hour bus trip but the scenary was spectacular! Deserts, hills, straight road, super curvy road, llamas, sheeps and lots of people with brightly colored clothing. I was riding in a double-decker bus and had the extreme pleasure of having the front seat of the bus!
It was wonderful!

Sunday, the day after I arrived was pedestrian day - no cars allowed. So Alvaro and I went on a bike tour of the city. It was the perfect way to get to know the city, breath some fresh air and ride a bike! It was perfect!

When I arrived in Cochabamba, I was greeted by Alvaro a good friend of a friend of mine from the PC.
Now, you may have heard of Latino hospitality, but I have been schooled in what it means to invite someone into your home and treat them as a long lost best friend. Alvaro, his mom and sister took phenomenal care of me for 5 days. I was able to rest, see the city, visit some museums, try many amazing new foods! learn to cook some new foods! (see the Sopa de Mani below). And just hangout with real Bolivians and not be a tourist, just a human.

The road to Cochabamba - the flat part

Some sights from Santiago

2009-09-13T18:51:00.004-04:00

From the top of Cerro San Cristobal - I didnt know that there was something looking out for me while I was in Santiago!

The fountain at Santa Lucia Park

The reading room at the Santiago National Library! Since my time in Horqueta, I am drawn to bibliotecas!

The new me...

2009-09-02T19:58:00.001-04:00

...with my mate.

Dad found this highly entertaining. It seems very normal to me.

Salto de Petrohue, Chile

2009-09-02T19:51:00.006-04:00

me and my first travel buddy!

Los Saltos de Petrohue

loving it!

me...being a REI model

Casa Silva, Vineyard

2009-09-02T19:47:00.008-04:00

Being a caballera

Our super fancy hotel room (ahh the difference of traveling with a parent)

Writing on one of the most comfortable couches in south america!

Courtyard

Our private resturaunt

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the polo grounds.
how ridiculous!

The Pacific

2009-09-02T19:46:00.000-04:00

Valparaiso, Chile

2009-09-02T19:43:00.004-04:00

Because Valparaiso is built on bunches of hills, the roads are crazy steep!

Public art! That you can sit on!

Brightly colored houses are the trend in Valpo. I loved them!

Santiago, Chile

2009-09-02T19:36:00.005-04:00

Me with dads snack, look at the cute powdered sugar fork

Me and La Señora Peche, she was teaching me to cook. And threatened my life if i didnt like cooked artichoke!

Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas

Parque del Cerro de Santa Lucia - beautiful!

some notes from santiago

2009-09-01T15:49:00.003-04:00

I applied for my bolivian visa in paraguay about 2 months ago. and when i picked it up they told me that i could just get the actual visa at the airport, no problem. But sometimes when they say, ¨Ya esta todo¨ they dont really mean, everything is ready. So, since i had a little extra time, and i wanted to double check. I decided to head to the Bolivian Embassy to make sure that they would let me in to Bolivia. But it turned out to be not a quick trip. Mapquest made it look pretty easy to find and I figured i could ask for directions but it turned out the be ab bit of a crazy search for the bolivian embassy. i found it, but walked ALOT! It was a lovely walk, but i got off the metro about 4 stops too soon. so i was WAY out of the way. but didnt really know it. i was on the right street. But due to the funny numbering, I kinda keep thinking that it was just around the corner! it was eventually, just around the corner. They were very helpful and said i should have no problem getting my visa at the airport. (because neither in paraguay or chile do the embassies have visas to give out-how weird).

im staying in a really cute, hip hostel. I have meet some wonderful people and crazy travelers. I keep meeting Aussies who are on an around the world trip-for a year! i cant even imagine that! I think 2 months is a long time! I have had two very international dinners so far - that kind of sound like the beginning of a bad joke: so there are french guy, a chilean guy, a canadian guy, an australian gal and an american gal in a bar...
But it is making for great fun and wonderful convesation!

Being on vacation has a danger of forgetting what the date is and what day is what. I just realized that I get another day in Santiago! I thought i was to fly to bolivia on Thursday, but it turns out that its on friday! So a little more Chile time! Not half bad!

im staying in a really cute, hip hostel. I have meet some wonderful people and crazy travelers. I keep meeting Aussies who are on an around the world trip-for a year! i cant even imagine that! I think 2 months is a long time! I have had two very international dinners - that kind of sound like the beginning of a bad joke: so there is a french guy, a canadian guy, an australian gal and an american gal in a bar...
But it is making for great fun and wonderful convesation!

Being on vacation has a danger of forgetting what the date is and what day is what. I just realized that I get another day in Santiago! I thought i was to fly to bolivia on Thursday, but it turns out that its on friday! So a little more Chile time! Not half bad!

im going to read and journal this afternoon. i had a big walk around this morning so i dont really feel the need to go anywhere now.
I have made friends with the cleaning lady and the handyman that work here at the hostel. I got to eat lunch with them! and had my clothes washed!! HOW AMAZING! i turned them in at 1030 and they just came back clean and dried. amazing! i love technology!

The Travels Begin!

2009-08-23T19:16:00.002-04:00

Leaving Paraguay on Friday morning was sad. I cried as the plane took off - knowing that so many of my friends will never get to see Paraguay from the air or have a chance to see what I will see. Being a tourist now, is fun. But there is a part of me that is pained with the harsh reality that many are not as lucky as I am. I wish, as hard as I can wish, that i would be able to take them (my friends and most of all, kids club) with me on a giant field trip, to see the world. But unfortuantely, I dont think that is very managable, at least for now. So in the mean time, post cards will have to do.

I am in Valparaiso, Chile. It is on the Pacific Coast.

We got here this morning around noon. Its beautiful. Its a pretty industrial. It had its big hay-day between 1883-1915. And died down after the Panama Canal, because it didnt need to be the stop off point between Cape Horn and California. It is built on a hill, and all of the houses are brightly painted (i dig it!). And it is sorta like San Fransico, in the sense that all the streets are steep and windy. And houses are precariously placed on the hill and look like they might fall off. (I doubt they will, but the streets are soooo steep they are tricky to drive on).

The ocean is beautiful, looks like Lake Michigan, but smells salty! I feel like I can almost see Australia. We are staying in a very cute neighborhood. There are many little artisan shops! Tons of them have great wool products and felted wool (I havent bought anything yet, but Im not sure how much longer i can restrain myself??).

Send off team

2009-08-20T11:50:00.002-04:00

This is who came to see me off last wednesday night.
Post this picture there were lots of hugs and tears. We all cried.

Petunia Plana, Flat Stanley`s cousin!

2009-08-20T11:45:00.005-04:00

Maura and Matias with their letter from Carol!

Morelia with her letter from Fran

Karina with her letter from Camp Stanhope

As part of my final push at the end of the miracle mile. I wrapped up the Petunia Plana Project (Flat Stanley). The letters got temporally hidden in my house, but the cleaning process uncovered them! These are kids getting and reading their letters! They loved it!

Thank you! to Laura, Carol and Fran for helping with this project! The kids loved their pictures and said they might write...we will see!

packing and moving

2009-08-20T11:29:00.004-04:00

There were lots of things (and people) i wanted to take home with me. This one being the big one!

There would have been NO way we could have moved all the furniture in less than 5 loads without a truck! People think pcvs dont have a lot of stuff...that was not true in my case!

matias helping move!

Wrapping things up

2009-08-19T12:40:00.003-04:00

I fly out of paraguay on friday. Thats two days away! WOW!
Its hard to believe that I am now an RPCV (returned peace corps volunteer) even though I have not technically returned. I feel like I have over stayed my welcome in Asuncion and its time to go home to Horqueta. Even though when I start to really think about it, I remember that there is no more home.

The watermelon house has been emptied and locked up. The owner of my house has decided not to rent it out anymore and that her son is to move in and start a bakery. (Se dicen). Last monday and wednesday we moved all of my furniture to barbara's new house and gave away everything that wasnt absolutely necessary for my travels over the next two months. Most things went to PCVs with a few prized items to my close Pyan friends.

I am homeless.
I feel a bit purposeless.
Hopefully neither will last too long!

This past weekend we had our group Despedida and Close of Service Ceremony. We celebrated with the most amazing cake in all of paraguay at the office on friday. The Director and our APCD (boss) said a few kind words. We were given certificates and PC pins, and it was over. It was pretty anti-climatic.

I am spending my final hours with my host-family from trainning. They are who helped usher me into paraguay and are helping usher me out. They will help take me to the airport on friday. There will be many tears, i image.

From here on out i will be traveling through the end of october/beginning of november. I will be maintaining my blog with updates on my latest adventures. Please keep reading if you are interested.

Thank you to everyone who has kept up with me and commented about my adventures! It has made my life richer and my experiences more fufilling knowing you are sharing them with me.

Despedida!!! = Goodbye Party!

2009-08-15T14:33:00.005-04:00

My apologizes for not writing sooner. It has been a crazy, crazy, crazy last three weeks!
These pictures are from my good-bye party, Aug 9, 2009.

It started off as a rainy cold morning, which made me nervous that NO ONE would come. But after an early mate session, kids started showing up to help set-up. There were tons of balloon-blower-upers, errand runners, table assemblers and setters, and random helpers! It was awesome!
Here are a few of the specs:
5 tents (emergancy borrow from the farmers market ladies-due to rain)
10 rented tables
50 rented chairs
50 rented plates, knives and forks (actually 100 knives and 30 fork...unfortunate)
13 2liter bottles of gaseosa
70 liters of beer
50 kilos of carne (MEAT!)
10 kilos of chorizo
14 kilos of mandioca
1 enormous cake (including: 2 kilos of flour, 2 kilos of butter, 2 kilos of dulce de leche, 22 eggs, 3.5 kilos of sugar and sprinkles!)
1 moonwalk/globoloco - for 1 hour (pictures to come)
1 HUGE sound system

Fany and me! (with my new library uniform)

This is just one of the MANY skewers of meat! (these are ribs)my palengana full of meat (most of it was already on the grill at this point)
more meat!
the amazing cooking team! The Agro-engineers!
The servers! These guys were amazingly helpful - Liam, Danita, Jonathan and Barbara
Babs, me and Analiz!
The girls table - enjoying their gaseosa. (See the sound system behind them??)
Dishin out food!
Kai and his dog M'bae teko? (means how are you doing in Guarani)

Na Silveria, me and THE CAKE!!!

Last kid club meeting!

2009-08-08T23:42:00.000-04:00

It took a lot of tries to get almost all of them to look and smile!

Kid time!

2009-08-08T23:34:00.003-04:00

Packing in kid-time before I go!

Last batch o' chipa!

2009-08-08T23:31:00.001-04:00

Me and Na Ameila making chipa! This is our finished produced! It rose very nicely! I made a Chipa of her!

Friendship Day!

2009-08-08T23:28:00.000-04:00

July 30th
To celebrate friendship Paraguayans have picked one special day a year when they spend extra money text messaging their buddies, get together to share snacks or maybe a bbq.
One of the most popular friendship day activity is Amigos Invisibles (Invisible friends or Secret Santas). My neighbor ladies decided they wanted to celebrate together! We organized a name-drawing and invited all of the Senoras over for shared muchies at my house last Friday. It was a blast! We had 19 Senoras (two girls ages 12-13) come to share gifts, snacks and friendship! It was a lovely get-together!
Here are all of the good-looking ladies!

Training begins

2009-08-08T23:13:00.004-04:00

Mark your calendars! End of July 2010...RAGBRAI...get ready! I have already started my not-so-intensive training program!

Brasicue

2009-08-08T23:00:00.002-04:00

This was taken while sitting in Danita’s hammock drinking mate as the sun starts to make its long trip across the fiery sky!

A Different Kind of Cultural Intercambio

2009-08-08T22:33:00.008-04:00

In addition to two peace corps volunteers, Horqueta is home to one KOCIA volunteer! Kai, as he is locally know is from South Korea and has decided to spend two years hanging out, culturally exchanging and teaching computer classes! In adition to being great for Paraguayans, we think its pretty great too!

Two weeks ago Kai invited Barbara and I for a Korean dinner! Oh man was it phenomenal!

Amazingness!

Eating directions

The cutest kid around

2009-07-18T20:05:00.001-04:00

Glasses from Bottles

2009-07-18T20:01:00.001-04:00

Glass bottle + bicycle brake cable + a lot of elbow grease = glass

Necklaces

2009-07-18T19:53:00.004-04:00

Friendship bracelets

Noodle Necklaces

More noodles

Leaders helping kids

Making shampoo!

2009-07-18T19:22:00.003-04:00

1 bar glicerin soap, 1 liter of water and 1 egg = shampoo

Danita and giggling kids!

Talking about TEETH!

2009-07-18T19:17:00.002-04:00

Danielle came to camp to teach us about healthy foods and teeth brushing!

And what happens when you get a cavity!

no good! (look at her face!)

Egg Drop

2009-07-18T18:40:00.009-04:00

Friday was science day! We did a team activity where teams had to make some sort of contraption to protect their egg!

Barbara the big dropper!

What happens when there is no protection!

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Team 4

Team 5

Team 6

The big drop!

So how to girls become teenagers?

2009-07-18T18:13:00.008-04:00

Faster and whether their mothers want them to or not?

Taking this into consideration - Barbara and I decided we might be able help ease the process a little bit. We decided to take advantage of the winter vacations by putting together a three-day workshop for girls ages 12-16. We discussed: Self-esteem, Leadership, Decision-making, Health and Protecting Ourselves. The pictures below are mostly from the last day when we discused the changes that happen with our bodies, knowing ourselves and protecting our bodies. At the end of the work-shop the girls all recieved Certificates for their participation and then agreed to help us run our ¨Little Kid¨Camp.

On our health day we had Danielle Murry as our honored guest speaker. She came to explain the uncomfortable topics of bodies, changes and protect with delicacy and most importantly...in GUARANI. This made our girls far more comfortable than Barbara and I ever could in Spanish. Some of these pictures are a little ridiculous - please remember we were trying to be a little goofy to take the edge off (ie. see my EEE cup size).

I experienced puberty - fast (and again)

Pre-workshop. Getting things ready. This would be one sad man!

Learning to identify all of the parts of the female body and why we have them

A little humor...and a new take on ¨pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey¨

Proud Profes - and our lindo Certificados!

This is just a small representation of the activities we did. (and the more humorous photos). Self-esteem is just kind of hard to photograph!

Ahecha Opens at the AF

2009-07-18T17:49:00.007-04:00

Ahecha Paraguay made it 4th appearence on its National Tour at the Alianza Francaise (French Cultural Center). Here are a few photos of the evening.

(The actual photo exhibit might look familiar....it was previously in exhibition at the Paraguayan/American Cultural Center, Villa Mora Shopping Mall and the United States Embassy and soon to come...The Terminal of Asuncion)

Welcome to Ahecha Paraguay

The Exhibit and snacks!

Some photos

Words of Welcome and Thanks!

L to R: Jen Cheng (Ahecha Founder), Natalie Bloom (Current Ahecha Coordinator), Director of the Board of the Alianza Francaise, Giselle Pasamonte (Dedicated Ahecha Board Member), Fernand Defournier (Director of the Alianza Franciase), Me, David Schmitz (Dedicated Ahecha Board Member)

Giving words of Thanks!

http://www.alianzafrancesa.edu.py/cultural_detalle.php?key=129

Simple Things

2009-07-18T17:41:00.003-04:00

I have had some incidental learning (well LOTS actually) happen since I have been in Paraguay. But one of the biggest things I hope to take home with me is my Simple Things Calendar. In mid April of 2008 I reached a low point in my service, I started to feel like things weren´t adding up and I wasnt accomplishing anything. I was busy but it didnt mean anything. I decided that if I could write down all of the little things that happen in my day I could visualize all the things I was doing. So thanks to the PC office I had lots of poster paper at my house that I was able to make into large calendars. At the end of each day - I started to write down all the good things that happened in my day. And at the end of the month it was possible to see how many great things had happened.

The picture above is me and (maybe hard to see) but lots and lots of Simple Things Calendars laid out on the floor. These calendars have made a huge difference in my morale and have inspired me to keep going on the rough days! I have had a few fellow volunteers tell me that they have started their own Simple Things calendars and they are making a difference in their services as well! How awesome!

Maybe you want to try it too?

Vacation in Paso Yobai

2009-07-18T17:33:00.004-04:00

I took a mini-vacation for the 4th of July to visit my good G-buddy Andrea Smith. Andrea lives in a small town, about two hours on a dirt road in the middle of almost no where. Paso Yobai is surrounded by beautiful rolling hills and reminded me a lot of the town from the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast (minus Guston).

We cooked a ¨traditional¨ 4th of July feast: cheese burgers, potato salad, pasta salad, chips and dip and Coca-Cola! And carrot cake for dessert! We were able to share our great traditional food with Andrea´s neighbors! It was delicious!

Andrea and Leti (her neighbor) cooking up a storm!

The bus to Pasa Yobai

(I actually took a different one - but isnt this one beautiful??)

Another Chance to Participate!!

2009-07-18T17:11:00.002-04:00

ARe you interested in participating in another fabulous project happening in Paraguay? The PC-Paraguay is putting on its 4th annual Library Management Workshop! Last year, Fany (my best friend and Horquetas only public librarian) went to this workshop to give a talk about how our library works and the ups and downs we have had! It is a great opportunity for communities who are starting libraries to see how it works, get ideas and get modivated! Fany will be speaking at this year`s workshop - unfortuantely I will not be able to accompany her!

If you are interested in donating....please visit: Peace Corps website (www.peacecorps.gov), click "Donate Now" on the left side button, and find the project by entering the information:

Project Number: 526-195

Library Workshop

Amy Dickinson (Coordinator)

New York

Paraguay

Your donation will be tax-deductible.

Thanks!

some news!

2009-07-15T17:47:00.000-04:00

Things are good here, we are in the middle of winter vacation and running kids camps all over the place. Today we just finished a 3-day older girl camp where we talked about self-esteem, leadership, decision-making and health. It went great! and we are really tired but super pleased with how it turned out!

Tomorrow we started little kid camp where we do more art projects, games, songs and fun fun fun! I am running things with my site mate, Barbara (fellow peace corps volunteer – she is working in urban youth development!) She is a funny gal – really sweet and a fun time! She has been living in my city since the end of April. We are getting along quite well and really enjoy each other’s company!

I feel like I am in my last miracle mile and im sprinting to the finish line. My worst fear is that I am going to reach the 14^th of august and feel like I could have done XYZ or been better at XX?? I want to leave nothing left to give!

pictures to come soon!

More fun!

2009-07-08T00:17:00.005-04:00

Racing with grapefruits

Sisters racing with grapefruits

Rabbits and houses....

Playing games with moms!

We got uniforms!

2009-07-08T00:15:00.000-04:00

Aren't they a handsome bunch?

Goal for Aug 14th

2009-07-08T00:08:00.002-04:00

Matis, age 8
We are working on his reading skills. They are a little rusty - but he is a hard worker!

Super Panchos! Second Foot-long hotdog sale!

2009-07-07T23:36:00.010-04:00

Double checking on the budget!

So with a few members still needing uniforms and with huge desires to own their own soccer ball we planned and executed our second foot-long hotdog sale! It was a success all around!

Bargain shopping

Hanging out at the grocery store

Checking out and paying!

Post grocery shopping goof-balls!

Dog prep!

Enjoying our product!

Loving selling da dogs!

We reached our goal!!!

2009-07-01T12:14:00.002-04:00

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! To everyone who donated to the Ahecha Paraguay field trip! We reached our goal faster than we thought we would! But isnt that good news?? The kids will be coming to Asuncion on th 24th of July! I will post pictures!

I believe there will be another Ahecha Paraguay Grant Project to participate in coming soon! I will keep you posted!

Thank you again!

$390 TO GO!!

2009-06-29T13:05:00.001-04:00

Please contribute to the Ahecha Paraguay Project!
Deadline ASAP.... https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-194

Saludos, Update and an Opportunity to Participate! (what more could you ask for?)

2009-06-29T12:50:00.000-04:00

Things are good in
Paraguay, I have started the final count down and have about seven
weeks left! My close of service date is August 14th! (see very bottom
of the email for post COS plans) Wow! Time has flown by! Things have
turned colder and a bit rainy - which is very much welcomed after the
brutal summer heat! (I just have a disgustingly large pile of dirty
clothes that are waiting for a sunny day)

To give you a little update I wanted to tell you about one of the
biggest projects I have worked on during my time in Paraguay, it is
youth photography project called Ahecha Paraguay, which means, “I see
Paraguay” in the native language of Guaraní. I have been working on
Ahecha since the it’s conception in 2008. The project consists of five
camera kits have been loaned to more than 40 communities throughout
the interior of Paraguay. Ahecha provides young Paraguayans access to
digital photography; access that almost none have. The workshops we
teach are designed to be fun and interactive, and provide students the
chance to develop their creativity, self-confidence, and
self-awareness all through the lens of a camera. The project also
includes photo exchanges between communities as a means of fostering
understanding of other communities and pride in one’s own work. Ahecha
Paraguay culminates annually with national exhibition tour of selected
photographs from each participating community.

The inspiration for Ahecha Paraguay came from the film Born into
Brothels, in which the sons and daughters of Calcutta’s red light
district were given cameras and taught the basics of photography.
Through the lenses of cameras these children were able to look at
their lives in a new light, try a new form of creative expression and
raise their self-esteem. Like Born into Brothels, more than 300
Paraguayan youth have participated in Ahecha Paraguay and received
individualized attention from their PCV, developed their creativity,
self-esteem and awareness as well as been empowered the technical
skills they have learned through their participation in the project.

This winter (southern hemisphere style) Ahecha is hosting the Second
Annual National Exhibit Tour in Asuncion, held at the Paraguayan
American Cultural Center, Shopping Villa Morra, United States Embassy,
the Alianza Francias and the Bus Terminal of Asuncion. As the final
element of the Ahecha project cycle the national exhibit provides an
arena for sharing creativity, artwork, and youths abilities from the
interior of the country; while providing an opportunity for the youth
participants to see their work displayed on a national level and gives
them an extreme boost of pride and confidence in their work. In
addition to viewing their work the youth photographers are in Asuncion
they will participate in a daylong workshop focusing on taking their
new knowledge and abilities to the next level and practice ways to use
them in their communities.

(This is where you can participate......)
Due to the fact that most participants come from families with few
resources for extra curricular activities they are only able to pay
for a portion of their trip into Asuncion to see their work displayed
in the Terminal of Asuncion. In order for the youth participants to
have the opportunity to see their work, we need your help!
Interested individuals can directly contribute to projects such as
Ahecha Paraguay through the Peace Corps Partnership Program (please
see instructions below). As a current Peace Corps volunteer living and
working in Paraguay, I can personally attest to the impact you can and
will have if you able to support us.

All donations are tax-deductible, and contributions of all levels are
appreciated. Our goal is to raise $926.27 by July 5, 2007. For project
budget and more information, please visit our blog at
http://cocumu.blogspot.com.

If you are interested and able...this is how to support Ahecha
Paraguay: (please follow the directions listed below)

1. Go to this official Peace Corps Website link (either click on the
link below, or copy and paste it into your browser).
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-194

2. If the above link does not work, you can access Ahecha Paraguay via
the Peace Corps website, www.peacecorps.gov. From the Peace Corps
homepage, select “Donate Now,” an option located midway down on the
left-hand side. Next, select “Donate to Volunteer Projects,” located
in the center of the screen. Then, choose Latin America as your
region, Paraguay as your country, and Ahecha Paraguay as your project.

The finish line is in sight!

2009-05-29T12:38:00.004-04:00

As I Tortoise my way through the Peace Corps “race,” the finish line has become visible on the horizon. Its hard to imagine that it was actually two years ago yesterday that I arrived in Paraguay! I can still remember my first night at the Sanchez-Mendez household! Na Olga was waiting with the group of anxious senoras trying to guess which blond American would be their host-kid for the next three months. After an, “Hola, soy Raquel, encantada” and two Paraguayan cheek besos – we were set. They helped me pull my wheeled (ridiculous for Paraguay) suitcase down the cobble stone street, then to the dirt road to their amazingly adorable house at 163 I don’t knw the stree name. It was chilly and I was unprepared for a cold Paraguay. Everythin I had read had said, HOT, HOT, HOT!

Na Olga made pizza for dinner and they thought it was strange that I wanted to shower #1. post dinner and #2. at night? Was I crazy, showering happens in the morning! Over the next three months they put up with all of my weird quirks and loved me through and through. I talked to Na Olga yesterday, they have a new trainee living with them. She is vegetarian, not Na Olga’s preference, but asi es.

Time has flown by, Im almost done! I CANT believe it!

Cast of one of the Chicos Unidos Skits!

A review of the latest:

COS Conference (Close of Service): I was dreading my heals about COS, after being on vacation I was liking just hanging out with my neighbors and being in Horqueta. But the temptation of a fancy hotel and someone else’s cooking (and the obligation from PC), made resisting impossible. It turned out to be a wonderful 2+ day conference about all of the important papaerwork we have to fill out, how to readjust to the US, and how to measure the work we have done in the past two years. It was nice group bonding and amazing food! I started to get me thinking and adjusting my outlook to prepare me to go home. home-what a weird word. I feel like I have so many. How can one word mean so many places? Los Chicos Unidos: Parade, Community Clean-up and teatro-i s Horqueta celebrated its 216th birthday on May 10th. Los Chicos Unidos walked in the parade to prove it! We had a little neighborhood clean up…see pic. Two Saturdays ago we did some skits. It started with Barbara (my new sitemate) and I doing a “bad skit” and then a “good skit” about how to make desiciones and treating people with respect. We thought the kids would think it was kind of funny but then not be that into it. But! Then they all decided they wanted to do skits too! We used all of the “extra” clothing/gear from my house as props and let it rip! They took our lead and did bad/good skits, where in the first they would be mean or behave badly and the second be the good example! When it was finally dark we had to send them home, but I think they would have stayed acting and acting until they were sleeping standing up if we had let them! It was great!

This is us in the Parade-checkout those green sashes!

Los Chicos Unidos: Parade, Community Clean-up and teatro-i s
Horqueta celebrated its 216th birthday on May 10th. Los Chicos Unidos walked in the parade to prove it!
We had a little neighborhood clean up…see pic.
Two Saturdays ago we did some skits. It started with Barbara (my new sitemate) and I doing a “bad skit” and then a “good skit” about how to make desiciones and treating people with respect. We thought the kids would think it was kind of funny but then not be that into it. But! Then they all decided they wanted to do skits too! We used all of the “extra” clothing/gear from my house as props and let it rip! They took our lead and did bad/good skits, where in the first they would be mean or behave badly and the second be the good example! When it was finally dark we had to send them home, but I think they would have stayed acting and acting until they were sleeping standing up if we had let them! It was great!

Library Donations:
We received a very generous donation from the Bill Kelly Library Foundation (BKLF) through Peace Corps Paraguay. We were able to buy $840 in university level textbooks! They are beautiful and amazing. Even though Paraguay is a developing nation, books cost about what they would cost in the United States. So as you can imagine they are highly inaccessible to Paraguayans. Even most universities use photocopy handouts as their textbook materials. Thanks to the donation from the BKLF we were able to almost double the amount of university textbooks that the Horqueta Public Library has on the shelf! WoooWHOOO!!!

Ahecha Paraguay Opening at the CCPA!!

2009-05-26T10:07:00.009-04:00

Friday May 22nd, 7pm - Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano (CCPA)
The Ahecha Paraguay 2° annual National Tour kicked off on Friday night, with the presence of 8 youth photographers, their volunteer contacts, Peace Corps Paraguay Director-Don Clark and the presence of many hard working dedicated CoCuMu members and volunteers!

I had the honor of being the MC for the evening, giving the opening welcome, project description and introducing Sergio Galeano (youth speaker) and Director Don Clark (all in spanish-there will be youtube videos soon-if i ever get to faster internet). I was a little nervous but everything went smashingly well! The exhibit was beautiful and everyone was highly impressed!

Take a look...

Takuára-Bamboo, This year the Ahecha exhibit was designed to use the fast growing renewable resource...bamboo or Takuára in Guarani!

Sha-zam!! Amazing!

The reasons the Ahecha exhibit turned out so well: Sadiya and Courtney!!

Art

Youth from Emboscada, Cordillera with his photo

Dream Team = Sadiya and me!

Surprise!!

2009-05-22T07:53:00.003-04:00

Paraguayans don’t really ever do – surprise parties. So when I found out that Bonnie “fabulous girlfriend” Arendt was going to throw a surprise party for her boyfriend, I was inspired! It took a little bit of planning and a lot of text messaging, but was all worth it on Monday night when Christian showed up at my house, confused why I was wearing a skirt and mad at me for leaving my backyard light off..again. His face almost fell off when 8 of his friends, bunches of Peace Corps volunteers, his brother and parents all came yelling into the backyard!!

He was shocked! I was convinced that his older brother would have spilled the beans and let the cat out of the bag. But he said he had no idea. He said it was the best surprise of his life and the thing he couldn’t believe the most was that his parents were in on the secret! Little does he know, not only were they in on the secret; they were LOVING being secret cohorts!

I think it is safe to say it was one of the best parties thrown at my house, which actually has some pretty tough competition. There were lots of college drinking games played (excellent cross-cultural exchange), dancing, eating and fun had by all!

let me review the surprise party – because it was just that fabulous! The numbers don’t tell it all – but they might give you a good idea.

Here are the datos:
# of Pyans present: 13
# of PCVs present: 14
# of heavy duty sound equipment: 1
# of Games of Beer pong played: 8
# of games of Flip cup played: 10
# of liters of beers drank: 40
# of liters of Caña drank to “pre-party”: 3
# of pans of Chipa Guazu: 2 – big ones!
# of kilos of chorizo: 3
# of Brownies ate: 30
# of balloon arches: 2
# of surprised Christian Ojedas: 1 – and oh, was he surprised!!!
# of parents who were scheming with me: 2

More pictures from Arrrr-gentina

2009-05-11T10:39:00.008-04:00

No smoking - for the love of art!

This means vacation!!

Travel Buddies

Novel idea!....trash pick-up!

Vino!!!

My favorite combo - mozerella, basil and tomatoes

What is a pirate’s favorite South American country??

2009-05-06T11:49:00.014-04:00

ARRRRR-gentina!

I went on vacation! If you count more than 70 hours spent on buses a vacation? I DO! I had the phenomenal opportunity to go to Cordoba, Mendoza and Salta, Argentina! Two fabulous travel companions and fellow Peace Corps Volunteers, Ms. Andrea Smith and Ms. Mary Kennon Walker, accompanied me. We decided that we needed a little break from the everyday-Paraguayan-excitement and figured the most famous vineyard land in south America wouldn’t be a half bad option – we packed our bags and headed south and west!

I always knew that Argentina was a fairly large country – compared to Paraguay at least. But it wasn’t until our 3rd over night bus did I really start to appreciate its enormity!

Asuncion, PY to Rosario, AR ~ 16.5 hours
Rosario, AR to Cordoba, AR ~ 6 hours
Cordoba, AR to Mendoza, AR ~ 10.5 hours
Mendoza, AR to Salta, AR ~ 19.5 hours
Salta, AR to Clorinda, AR ~ 17 hours
Clorinda, AR – through customs to Asuncion, PY – 1.5 hours
Just a little bus time…huh???

While the buses in AR are a bit fancier than the buses I usually ride – and to our pleasant surprise – they served food! Very similar to airline food – but still better than nothing…we thought…at first! Until we realized that they ALL served jam and cheese sandwiches. Which is good. I like ham and cheese. But it was weird because there was jam and cheese on a bun, ham and cheese on square white bread and ham and cheese in a spiral roll. All delicious…separately…at different meals. But when, on the same tray you receive 3 kinds of ham and cheese sandwiches, it seems a little repetitive-the first time. After 4 bus rides of 10hours or more – it becomes a little ridiculous! (sorry I don’t have a picture)

We had a great time! Saw lots of beautiful country! Drank great wine, ate delicious chocolate! Drank Submarinos (hot milk with a chocolate bar – best kind of hot chocolate EVER), ate out, walked through parks, people watched, mountain climbed, and most of all took deep breaths!

Here are some of the pictures of great things seen, done and eaten! (I will post more soon!)

Wine tasting!

Me with a REALLY big barrel of wine (They dont use this size any more - bummer!)

Old mule bridge...the Incas used it!

Me and the Chile sign...does this count for visiting the country? Some blue sky...huh?

This is CHILE!!!

Can you think of a better combination? Churros can be deep friend dough sticks - or in paraguay it can mean attractive men. Goodlooking fellas and chocolate? I cant think of anything better!!!

Look...its a puma. Or just a big yellow rock!

On our way back from the mountains!

Cathedral in Salta

Cathedral in Salta, AR - Looks likes Masons works to me!

Get `em while they`re hot!

2009-04-13T16:34:00.010-04:00

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!

Maura and Danaide with their big money!

Matis, practicing with fake money

Practicing making change

Super Pancho sellers! From L to R: Diana, Maura, Oscar, Clarisa, Tito, Matis and Ariel

Would you like mayo with that? From L to R: Maura, Oscar, Matis and Morelia showing off our toppings!

Ariel modeling our product...and tempted to eat it!

Me, Leti and Danaide enjoying the fruits of our labor!

CHIPA DAY!!

2009-04-12T10:48:00.012-04:00

From 7am until 5pm we were mixing, massaging and cooking chipa! Since then...we have been eating it!

Semana Santa (holy week) is full of Paraguayan tradition, the most well known and possibly most important is Wednesday, Chipa Day. Every señora, her mother and daughters get together to make kilos and kilos of chipa that is then saved to eat for the next 3-4 days.

The amount of chipa you make is measured by the number of kilos of almidon (mandioca flour) you use. The average (city dwelling señora, with 3-6 kids) will probably make about 6kilos (would be my guess). 6 kilos is only the almidon, it doesnt inculde the 30 huevos caseros, the liter of grasa (pig or cow fat), little bit of water or milk, anis and 1/4 of a cup of salt or so. So, the actual yield of chipa turns out to be even more kilos than the numbers of kilos of almidon you start with. Making chipa might be comparable to make christmas cookies in the states, except for EVERYONE does it on the same day. Imagine making 6kilos (only flour) of christmas cookies and eating them for 4 days straight. Does your stomache hurt thinking about it? Well, mine does...but its because all i have eaten for 4 days...is chipa!

The trick to making chipa is to massage it lots! Almidon changes its consistancy after it has been worked and worked and worked. So your hands can get kind of tired after a while!

This year I wanted to really get the full chipa experience, but i thought i could be clever. I invited myself to make chipa with a few of my favorite señoras, and there for wouldnt end up with 6kilos chipa all for myself. However, thanks to paraguayan generocity...i still ended up with more than my fair share. I started early with my best friend, Fany and her family. We went to the campaña (country side) where her grandmother lives and made the starting 6 kilos of chipa. Most of the pictures below are from the first chipa batch of the day...i got worn out as the day went on! We then returned to Fany´s family´s house to make an additional 3 kilos. I then returned home only to be bossed into making another 6kilos with Ña Rubia next door, and then topping off the day with a final 3kilos for the other Ña Rubia who was too sick this week to make her own chipa. Needless to say...my hands were a bit sore at the end of the day!

Inside of the tatakua (mouth of fire, brick oven). This is before it is lit and gets hot!

Los huevos caseros, home-made eggs. Chipa should only be made with home-made eggs. Any señora will tell you that if not...no va a ser rica(It will not be delicious)! So you better use eggs from a chicken near you!

Prepping the cheese! (and of course, cheese made by someone near you too)

The cheese!

Fany, mixing in the almidon (mandioca/yucca flour with the eggs, pig fat and cheese)

Fany, me, Fany´s grandma and her sister Sady! (Her mom refused to pose!)

For some reason, I couldnt flip this photo or delete it. So please turn your head to the side to see the pre-baked chipa!

Fany, queen of fire is testing the chipa to see if it is ready yet! She is uwith a long stick with a metal stabber on the end-used for poking the chipa to put it out easier.

Don Chalo, covering the door to the Tatakua (mouth of fire-name for the brick oven)

Final product!

Easter bunny, a little man, butterfly and in honor of my homeland: snowman

(my shapes of course are anything but traditional!)

Eat your greens

2009-04-05T21:57:00.011-04:00

Before you can eat your greens... you have to PLANT THEM!!

Pre-garden! Look at those guaupo kids! Sweat bands and all - they were ready to work! They showed up an hour early to start diggin!
Carina (13), Leti (9), Diana (8), Morelia (11), Maura (12), Danaide (10), Ariel/Julio (10)
Back row: Christian Ojeda

Leti resting after digging garden beds

Ariel (or Julio - he changes his name) shoveling abono (green manure) I swear it wasn't child labor!

Morelia and Leti sorting seeds!

Sowing the seeds with love!

We planted: Tomatos, peppers, onions, brocoli, colliflower, radishes, beets, carrots, lettus, swiss chard and parsley!

A job well done! Look at those muscles!

Post gardening --- a little bit of PC-Craziness! (please note this was a posed picture, we did not feel that a helmet was necessary for the picture - there is no need call PC-Washington to report us! :-))
Bikes and mattresses??
Well, when we cant drive cars or ride motos - bikes are the best option!

A few glimps of Paraguay

2009-03-07T20:09:00.002-03:00

Here are a few of the latest videos from my life

The Road to Tacuati: 35km of crazy road
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT_mzWetrUo

Honey harvesting with Ms. Danita Camper and Ña Juana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFToL_WdERw

The farmers market on christmas eve - serious butchering happening here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyHeqeBn7R8

Me and my boyfriend dancing the night away at Mila´s despedida:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK4PmWFDzOs

Iguazu Falls and my cousin Maria!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVYFqFjLjB4

More Iguazu (It does mean Big WATER!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3xLe_mXgug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MG8HrhBvo0

Raining - not sure this is video worthy but I liked it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXPN7vfvbuY

Turning 25!

2009-02-16T07:39:00.002-03:00

I am officially a quarter of a century old! I feel like I have passed into a new epoca of my life. When I was younger I always used to think that when I would be 25 I would really be a grown-up then. I am not so sure that I have transformed into a grown-up but I might be on my way! While, I do sit with the Senoras when ever there is a social gathering and not the teenage girls, I don’t think that I will probably ever graduate from the kid table at grandmas though!

I had a blast of a party on Tuesday night. It started by me telling my two closest PCV buddies that I wanted to do a little something; grill a little and maybe drink a few beers. It transformed into a neighborhood wide party with the guest list including my kids club, all surrounding volunteers, all of the senoras on my block and a 15+pound cake! I have never felt so loved in all of my time in Paraguay, and what better time to feel loved than on your birthday! It was wonderful!

Ña Silvera (the plaza gardener and beer vender as she is better known to PCVs) gifted me a 6+KILO cake! Cakes are expensive to make, and a big one even more so! She had told me weeks ago she wanted to make the cake, to which I had no arguments. She is by far the most admired cake baker on my street and a sure-fire crowd pleaser. When I went to talk to her about what she wanted me to bring her or how much I could pay her, she said we would settle the bill after she had made the cake. Birthday rolls around and she comes over with a cake that is bigger than most wedding cakes with green sprinkles on top! She wanted to gift it to me she told me. I insisted on paying for it, but there was no changing her mind! It was deeeee-licious!

We ate chorizo (spicy and non), veggie and beef shish kabobs and of course lots of cake! We played Corn Hole (Ohio-an Bean Bag Toss), Darts, Jill and Luke fire danced and then the rest of us got our grove on! It was an excellent way to celebrate ring in the next quarter century.

I also got AMAZING presents: please see the picture below to note all of the goodies!

Starting bottom left: new deep dish pan (it came with Mary Kennon’s home made lasagna!), watermelon/flower table covering (Na Rubia, next door neighbor), KOICA backpack from my Korean volunteer friend Kai! On the chair (L to R): Pink girl bank (next door neighbors), R-ring (Na Lucy, her husband is a jeweler), Metal/beaded braclet (Oscar, kids club), beaded braclet (Danielle, PCV), Dress watch (Christian), Cutie keychain (Jill my site mate!), Rubix cube and two decks of cards (Travis, PCV), Green embroidered towel (Na Selva, neighbor lady, borrowed us her grill too!)

Chair arms and background: White/black painted worm made from curved stick (Ariel, Kids club. because last week at kids club we made pudding cups with gummy worms!) Heart and vase (Tito, kids club – his present delivery was the first time I met him!) Magic Shell Chocolate (Travis, PCV), Yellow tshirt with Nanduti lace (Jill, site mate), White bowl (Na Rubia, neighbor infront of my house), Super ripe papaya (Maura, English student)

Chair back: Pink necklace (best friend Fany, the librarian), Thermos leash/holder (travis, PCV), Red lady painted towel (Na Nidia, Christians mom), Sexy undies (Na Belleza, neighbor on the corner) Not pictured: blow-up doll (Liam, PCV)

Guaiguî is the guarani word of the day, meaning old (for women).

A review of everything else!

2009-02-07T11:05:00.005-03:00

Summer Camp: San Roque Rocks 7

Its summer, everyone knows: its hot. and there are kids everywhere! All the time! Its not hard to figure out that most kids get pretty bored during the summer and need some good organized fun! My site-mate, Jill Anderson is an Urban Youth Development Volunteer. Which means she is good at all things youth and kid related! It would be too much to say that the camp is a shared project, Jill plans everything and I just show up and do whatever she tells me to do! We held camp for two weeks/four days a week. We use the canch (soccer field) that is in front of Jill’s house and an open space in her host family’s house to host activities. We have 3-4 dedicated youth who help run things and kids under control. Jill’s barrio (neighborhood) is much poorer than the barrio that I live in and kids tend to be extra wild! The kids were divided up into six teams and stuck with their team to participate in various activities. Each day a charla (lesson/educational activity) was given (usually by a pcv), topics ranged from trash management (done by the secretary of environment from the muni and myself), to math games, to dental health. Tree planting was one of our activities and we were able to plant at least 40 trees around the cancha. (Jill and kids have continue to water them, to give them a chance to make it in PY summer)

girl scouts

One of the new great things in my life is Kids Club! In my heart its actually my secret Paraguayan girl scout troop! Its amazing! For the past 5 or 6 weeks, every Saturday a group of 8-13 kids has been getting together to play handball, soccer and cook. It started out as an all girls group, but for the past 3 weeks, we have had three 9-yearold boys come. The kids range in ages between 6 and 15. The 15 year olds are more like co-advisors, but they love playing and handball too! So far we have had two cooking days and made Sugar cookies (with cutters!) and banana bread and play dough (not mixed together). They are much more tranquilo (chill) than the kids in Jill’s barrio! They are good at taking turns and sharing the jobs of getting banana bread made! I am really surprised how much they like to make. This Saturday we are going to make fruit salad and dirt cups (which are actually a surprise!). Dirt cups: cup filled with layers of Oreo cookie crumbs (there are no Oreos in Paraguay…they will be some other sort of cookie) and chocolate pudding with gummy worms mixed in! And YES! I was able to find gummy worms in Concepcion, Py (miracles do happen!) Here are a few pictures of cookie/banana bread making and play dough playing!

Reading the recipie!

Cookie cuttering

banana bread maza!

MORE! Cookie cuttering

Enjoying our banana bread!

Successes with the Secretary of Children
I believe in my last post, I expressed my excitement for finally finding someone in my municipality who wanted to work with me! I am still thrilled about it! Her name is Liz and is 22 and a 4th year psychology student! She is super guapa (hard working) and totally on top of her game!
We had a very successfully uniform and school supply donation drive. We are in the process of doing a census to see where the most need is. In the last 3 weeks I have worked at my muni more than I had in the last 16months put together! Amazing!
The next steps include some serious job training, working on getting kids birth certificates and cedulas (identification cards, kind of like what we use a drivers license for– but without the right to drive). There are many, many children that are undocumented and without documentation they cant get grades in school. Which means that even if they end up going to school it wont end up counting “legally” because they do not have an ID number. So it is really important to get them their papers!

Ahecha, Ahendu, Cocumu
So a little something that I have been working on, quietly from my laptop and close by cyber is the management and manejo (driving) of a PCV organization called CoCuMu (Compartiendo Cultura Mundial – sharing world culture). I cant remember how much I have blogged about it – but I has consumed lots of my time and energy. It is considered a secondary project because it doesn’t necessary fit into the “Muni Vol” role.
Ahecha – “I see” in Guarani, Digital Photography Project
http://www.ahechaparaguay.blogspot.com/
I hosted camera workshops and did the project here in Horqueta about a year ago this time. But also have managed the checking in/out of kits and the volunteer maintenance that accompanies the project.
Ahendu – “I hear” in Guarani, Concert
The first of hopefully many concerts was hosted last December and was a collection of amazing Peace Corps Volunteer talent! Among the 170 volunteers that are in Paraguay a very high percentage of them are incredibly musically inclined! It was a blow out success and a great fundraiser to support Ahecha! The next concert will be for the COS of G-23 on April 23rd! Should you be in Paraguay, you should be there!

The biggest and best news that I could give anyone regarding CoCuMu, is that we just had a meeting (once every two months), and there were lots of new people and they were all interested in participating and taking on leadership roles! I don’t know how to truly express my excitement!??? What it means is that I can start to transition out as the knower and keeper of all important information and begin to pass it on to other people who are passionate about what I am passionate! Translation: sustainability!!!!

Library
My dependable source of rewarding work has become slightly less dependable these days! Fany, the librarian is still my favorite Paraguayan and just as guapa as always! But things with the muni and our location are a little shaky. The building we are located in now, is up for sale. The owner didn’t like that muni never paid their rent on time and thinks it could be more profitable to just sell it. With is a bummer for the library, because it is in a great location!
The good news, this is an opportunity for the muni to step-up, build a building and show the community (and me) that they really value the library. It has never been a very high priority because (like libraries everywhere) it isn’t a big money maker! However, don’t lose hope yet. We have plans drawn for a new building and a location that would be just about as great as where it is currently located, the only trouble is that the budget for the new building is 62,000,000Gs. (which translates to about $12,400) The muni is only able to put up about half, so we are left standing with a big unpaid bill! There is an option that from the federal government we might receive some funding, but that is shaky! The option of a Peace Corps SPA or Partnership grant is a possibility as well. But we were hoping to get the entire building paid for by the muni and the federal government so that we could use a SPA grant to buy just books! University level books are what are really needed in Horqueta and it is what is missing the most!
I will keep you posted on this dilemma, as it develops!

English Class
I am going to do the unmentionable. Teach English. My class starts next week and runs for two-weeks/every night, a crash course/English Survivor per say. I never wanted to teach English, but I am going to bite the bullet…and just do it! Ekk! I’m a little nervous!

I have pictures of all of these activities too, but the internet is super slow!

I had a visitor!

2009-02-07T11:02:00.002-03:00

I have had the incredible luck or crazy ability to convince people should visit Paraguay. From December 29-Jan9, I had the great pleasure of hosting my cousin Maria; famed world traveler, ironman athlete, rocket scientist and future Girl Scout troop leader! Maria lives in L.A. but as she explained to traveling acquaintances, she is from Uuu-ston, TX.

We had an absolute ball together, Maria was a great travel companion and so tranquilia that I had to force her to make a few decisions. She understands loads of Spanish, so I didn’t have to do much translating at all! When she first arrived, we headed east to Ciudad del Este and then crossed the boarders (through Brazil) and into Argentina. We stayed in Puerto Iguazu (Port of big water!). The main goal of visiting AR was to see the falls, known for being the most amazing in the world! This was my second time visiting, and they were still shockingly phenomenal! If you have a list of amazing things to see before you die, you should add Iguazu Falls! However, if you have a list, we decided you should throw it away and go meet people! We stayed in a really cute hostel called Timbo Posada that had a great art store next-door, where Maria found a spectacular pair of sandals! (visit their website: http://www.timboiguazu.com.ar/timbo_arte_english.htm) For an extra “rest” day, on New Years Day we visited sitio de las tres fronteras (Three boarders). The Rio Alto Parana and Rio Iguazu run together to form the Rio Parana – is the connection point for Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Each has staked out their territory with an extra large post/pyramid painted with their country’s flag colors. (Paraguay’s looks more like super huge piece of PVC piping) We made a point to eat ice cream as often as possible and I felt like I was on a mini-vacation too!

After our time in Argentina, we came back to Paraguay (without any boarder crossing troubles). We were able to get a direct bus back to Horqueta, it turned out to be not exactly direct. Because, it was the only direct bus north to Concepcion, everyone, their mother and their 5 children were on our bus. So the bus that was built to hold a maximum of about 60 people, probably at one point had close to 90+. We did make back to my house in a total of 14 from the time we left the hotel until we arrived at hotel watermelon. We spent the next four days seeing horqueta and meeting some of my people! We were able to make chipa, butterflies with my “girl scout troop”, work bees and talk on the radio! We were also to take a trip down the Ypane River! It was like a 6-hour vacation from my world! We floated down in tubes (with a cooler of cold beer and great food close by!) It was Amazing!

The only down fall of our entire trip, was an unsuccessful adventure to find leather bags for Maria to take home as her Recuerdo de Paraguay. But I think its safe to say that, on both of our parts, we had a wonderful time together!

highlights of my life

2009-01-14T18:27:00.002-03:00

Here are some of the greatests things happening in my life! I wanted you to know...cause its not all just sitting around and sweating!!! (even though I do that alot!)

Girls club on Saturday played ultimate frisbee...and while it wasnt handbal (which is what they always want to play)...i think they still had fun! This week we are going to make sugar cookies (and borrow the cookie cutters from Ña Lucy, ps, she loved the snowflake cutter you sent mom!) They girls are super excited and all said they wanted to bring the ingredients to help make the dough! How awesome!

I have had the two most amazing days of my Peace Corps Service, Monday and yesterday were phenomenal! Make that three...today too!!!

Monday, the Sec of Environment and I planned a charla about trash management and then she came to our day camp and gave it! She led the opening activity! Was great in our skit! And help manage our trash relay-race! It was incredible! I havent been able to convince her to do anything with me (almost ever!) So that was phenomenal! I realized that with most Pyans you can only plan for things that are going to happen TODAY! Otherwise there is no incentive, why would they EVER want to plan ahead! (This has been a hard realization to come to...because I LOVE planning ahead!)

There is a new Sec. Of Kids at the Muni, and she is totally on top of her game! She was the receptionist but got promoted, because the old sec of kids, got demoted to receptionist...cause well...she was less excited about work and more excited about drinking terere and reading magazines! But the new one, her name Liz and she is a fourth year psycology student and has lots ganas to work! We started to talk and plan yesterday, today we have a school uniform drive, practically set and ready to go! NOTHING has ever happened this fast (ESPECIALLY WORK!) in all of my time in paraguay!

YESTERDAY! I also had the most amazing meeting with our mayor. I told him how much I loved the new Sec of Kids and how guapa the Sec of Enviro was on Monday! And that I am really excited, after all of this time to find people who want to work with me! THEN, he asked me to put together an all day workshop for all of the muni funcionarios to plan for 2009, to find out what their mission is and to help them be better funcionarios, and better serve the people! I almost fell out of my chair! The sheer joy that overtook my body left me slightly dumbstruck. And I think all I could come out with was, ¨Ah, ah, ah...me encantaría!¨ SO! That is in the works! And then he said he would come and visit our summer day camp next Friday on game day! And that they would pay for our budget so that we can buy art supplies and give out a snack! Cha-ching! Then we talked about the new library building, and that he is still infavor of the location, the land and construction. The arquitect still needs a document that says the Mayor said, ¨ok¨ and what the measurments are of things and we can start to draw plans! Awesome, and we are going to try to do a SPA grant to get 5,000$ in books because that is what it really needes!

SUCCESS! Amazing! Just plain awesome!

And today, Liz (New Sec. of Kids) and I spent the whole morning putting together our project plan for a Uniform Drive, to recycle school uniforms that are too little for rich kids and give them to poor kids. That might not be the best way to discribe it...but its about the jist! She is incredible, we marcared fechas con trabajos especificos! GENIAL!

AND!!! I got an email from The International Book Project and they sent us a box of 30 (amazing) books for our public library! And they are ALL in SPANISH!!! (They will arrive in 4weeks-6months...so maybe some waiting...but still!)

Summer camp started on Monday and kicked off with a bang (Normas trash charla!). Yesterday was good too, but the kids were a little more out of control! Today is the day off and we will be back at it on Thurs and Fri. Then same 4 day schedule next week! It is exhausting but wonderful! I come completely filthy! Kids (especially in barrio San Roque) are really dirty!

Last night, I also went on a ¨caminata¨ (exercise walk) with my first Horqueta host mom, Ña Carmen and her daughter in law! It was way fun and turned out to be farther than i imagined, but still good. I was just really hungery when i got home after an hour1/2 walk and camp! We got to talk and I got to listen to them talk. We teased and talked about good food recipes...I explained mexican tortillas. They wanted to talk about more than just the weather, which was wonderful! They are good listeners and ask hysterical questions – like, why do american (and spanish) families stay at hotels when they go to visit their families in other cities. I tried to explain that many americans like their space and dont like sleeping on the floor. And they said, well, what if you put mattresses on the floor...and I had to say that even then I couldnt imagine even some of my relatives sleeping on the kitchen floor, mattress or no mattress!

We have radio tonight, not sure what we are talking about yet – but we will figure it out before we go on hopefully!

Those are certainly the most exciting things in my life. I love and miss you all like mad!

Christmas does COME! to hot places!

2008-12-28T21:58:00.006-03:00

Tons of fruit - to make Clerico [Fruit salad mixed with red wine] the traditional Christmas drink

It wouldn't be christmas dinner without the Roast Beast...or Pig head!

La Familia Ojeda-Gonzales (Christians Family) Christmas Eve dinner, with our champagne cider to toast! (L to R: Alvaro [oldest brother], Na Nidia [mom], Noelia [Alvaro's daughter], Osvaldo [brother #3], Adilson [brother #4], Don Nicanor [dad], Christian [my boyfriend, brother #2] and Me!

Our American Christmas Dinner!

Christmas Socks for Liam, Luke and Christian

Christmas doesn’t come to hot places!

2008-12-19T18:59:00.002-03:00

That sounds bitter and scroogie – but its not! I swear! There is a feeling, a belief or a proven fact (up until this point in my life) that Christmas comes but once a year – and its only when its cold and snowy. Last year I defied reality just a little and took a vacation to Montevideo and Buenos Aires to spend the holidays. But this year there is no escaping to a colder climate – and its certainly not going to snow in PY anytime soon. However, Din din don (Jingle Bells in Spanish) has been blaring from every tienda all over town for the last few weeks. Palm trees are covered in pica-pica (Christmas lights), and I have a sneaky suspicion that the Na Rubias (my neighbor ladies) are trying to decide if I am on the Naughty or Nice list.

But it doesn’t matter how many times I hear jingle bells or try to imagine a White Christmas on the top of the world – I am still not convinced that we are just six short days away from Santa’s Arrival! And to top it off, Paraguayans love firecrackers – even for Christmas. What does that mean? I feel even more like we should be celebrating the 4th of July, because its over 100 degrees out!

Despite my denial, I am looking forward to spending Christmas in Horqueta, Paraguay. I have received a few invitations from my neighbors to pass by their houses for a traditional glass of Clerico (Paraguay fruit salad, with grapes and red wine!) Many PCVs decide that their once-in-a-peace-corps-service-trip-home will fall over Christmas. Which has, in addition to practically leaving me friendless – has given me EXTRA points as a Peace Corps volunteer in the eyes of my neighbors. I don’t mean to brag (cause really it probably just comes down to the fact that I am broke!), but I am a pretty guapa volunteer! (Just teasing!)

Santa isn’t a big Paraguayan Christmas. Like many (I think) Spanish speaking countries (Spain, at least), Christmas is just all about Jesus. No presents. No reindeer. No stockings. No gingerbread houses. All Jesus, all day. The presents and the party come on Three Kings Day – pretty smart, huh? Why, you ask? Well…the Kings brought the presents to Jesus…not a fat man in a red suit!
So its not looking like St. Nick will be stopping by – but to hold on strong to my Sac City, IA traditions – I might nail my sock to the top of my well and hope that somebody drops by to leave me a sweet or two!

My denial has been eased a bit thanks to some great decorations that were sent to me last year by the generous Laura Walker. (but thanks to the unreliable mail…got here at the end of Jan…not really Xmas tree time!) I have been saving them for just the right season. And it has definitely spiced up my kitchen!

While you are sitting around carving the Roast Beast on the 25th, please know that I am raising my Clerico glass to you, wishing you well and being thankful for all that I have, know and have been lucky enough to experience. Probably never again will I be able to eat Chipa Guazu out of a Tatakua made by Na Rubia on Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas to All – enjoy the moment!

Heading SouthEast

2008-12-10T08:08:00.011-03:00

Now...isn't this a good lookin' group of peace corps volunteers?

Me, Danita Camper, Jill Anderson, Danielle Murry, Luke Keeler, Mila Wilmoth and Lisa Chimelli

About every two months we have a monthly VAC meeting (Volunteer Area Coordination - or something like that! Its when all of the volunteers that live in my department meet). We get together and discuss the latest happenings, what people are doing in their sites, announcements from the director and other general business. There is always good food eaten, alcohol consumed and a dance party had! Our last meeting was at the beginning of November (I have been slacking on updating....sorry). We headed to Tacuati, San Pedro, which lies about 35km east of Horqueta, but unfortuantley it happens to be on the ugliest road in all of Paraguay.

Like much of latin America, paraguay runs on Hora Paraguaya - meaning things never happen on time or when people tell you they will happen. This holds true for most events, meetings, bus schedules and almost anything else you can imagine. Church is the only event I have ever been to that starts on-time. Our adventure to Tacuati started about 15 minutes before the bus was supposed to arrive - we headed to the bus stop and started to wait. And waited and waited and waited, until we found out that the bus had actually left a 1/2 hour before it was scheduled to leave! But with lots of ganas for group bonding, Mary Kennon's cooking and official peace corps business-we couldnt give up on our trip to Tacuati so easily! We were able to hire a truck that took us out, over bumpy and flooded roads!

Enjoying the ride: Crossing the Ypane River
Danielle, me and Jill

Rio Ypane
Beautiful and fast - the Ypane is home to some exotic wildlife! On a river trip down in October, we were able to see tocans, monkeys, carpinchos and many great birds

If you ask Mary Kennon and Liam Winters will both attest to the general lack of excitment that goes on in Tacuati! However, one spring night that all changed! There have always been rumors floating around that they are out there - or that there used to be anacondas - but no one has seen one in over 25 years. Two Tacuatenos out for an afternoon fish happen to come upon one of the great wonders of the Ypane river; a 20+ food anaconda. Needless to say it created quite the stir in town, and is still be talked about!

21+ foot Anaconda - dead, after being bashed on the head by some lucky fishermen. The large bulge in the mid-section (arent snakes...all mid-section?) is a full grown Carpincho. The only reason it wasnt able to escape = cant swim on a full stomache!

Anaconda skin - to be taxidermied and mounted on the inside of the lucky finders house - will probably cover all four walls of his living room.

Being the Anaconda!

Won´t you be my neighbor?

2008-11-17T19:36:00.002-03:00

Hi gente!

I have a new YouTube video, a lil tour of my part of Barrio Inmaculada.
Click here: Take the tour!

Let me know what you think!

Waukala - Gross in Paraguayan Spanish

2008-10-20T18:37:00.004-03:00

I think, generally speaking I am a pretty clean human being. I shower at least once a day, and up to 6 or 7 times a day when its really steamy! I brush my teeth twice daily (at least once with prescription strength fluoride), I always wash my hands post-bathrooming and pre-eating. I am a good dishwasher. I am not a finger licker, I don’t eat dirt, I don’t have animals in my yard. I have running water and a modern bathroom – all things that would point to good hygiene. Right? I thought so at least. So, when about a week and a half ago I went to a fellow volunteers site to help with a parasite charla, I thought showing kids how to take the chewable anti-parasite pill was just a demonstration and not something that my doctor would recommend. Wrong!

It turns out that if you have a parasite, more specifically Roundworm, it takes about nine days to kill and discard. I was utterly shocked yesterday afternoon, when out of chance and the corner of my eye, I saw a little something extra in my “water”. Since I hadn’t eaten spaghetti in at least a week – that was not an option for what lay before me flowing, as to be enjoying the same luxuries a sun-bather would on a hot day in a cool pool! With a slightly closer look and adrenaline pumping through my veins trying to remember if I still had a pair of rubber gloves left in my PC-Med Kit or if I had used the last pair to dye Na Rubias hair? Luckily her roots haven’t grown out too much – and there was one pair left! A strategic maneuvering of a gloved hand a handy Ziploc (thanks mom!), I was able to remove the 6+ inch worm from its afternoon swim and tuck safely into my refrigerator to be able to describe in detail to the doctor!

Roundworm can grow to be up to 30cm, so my +/-10cm friend, is really nothing! According to Where There is No Doctor, A Village Health Care Handbook, Roundworm (Ascaris) are spread feces-to-mouth, this does not mean that I was intentionally eating poo. It was most likely spread to my through uncleanly hands to food contact, by myself or any one of the 25+ people with whom I shake hands with, drink terere with, eat lunch with, mutually touched doorknobs, or you name it!

If you are ready to be really grossed out – read the following:

Once the eggs are swallowed, young worms hatch and enter the bloodstream; this may cause general itching. The young worms then travel to the lungs, sometimes causing a dry cough or, at worst, pneumonia with coughing blood. The young worms are coughed up, swallowed, and reach the intestines, where they grow to full size. Many round worms in the intestines may cause discomfort, indigestion, and weakness. Children with roundworms often have very large, swollen bellies. Rarely, roundworms may cause asthma, or a dangerous obstruction or blockage in the gut. Especially when the child has a fever, the worms sometimes come out in the stools or crawl out through the mouth or noses. Occasionally, they crawl into the airway and cause gagging. (Where There is No Doctor)

Thank GOODNESS! I have had no such symptoms! I may have been a little extra sleepy – but I have just assumed it is my body adjusting to the heat again. I am probably already cured but am taking a preventative extra three days of parasite pills. And will be even more attentive to my handwashing, veggie washing, hand shaking and thumb sucking! (just kidding!)

It has turned out to be a wonderful teachable moment! Its a great conversation starter, ¨so you know what fell out of me yesterday?¨ I am able to talk to Paraguayans about better hand, veggie and dish washing. And have the opportunity to offer them an anti-parasite pill provided by PC-Paraguay, the same little pill that killed the above worm!

a general update: the day to day goings

2008-10-18T19:23:00.001-04:00

Friends Running Marathons – I have very guapo (hard-working in paraguay and good-looking in all other spanish speaking countries….I guess my friends are both!) friends! Three of my VAC buddies just completed the Buenos Aires Marathon this past Sunday! Not only did they train for a marathon they did in Paraguay! You can read about Jill Anderson (my site buddies experiences at www.jillinparaguay.blogspot.com) and see for yourself how amazing they really are!

Life in Horqueta – its going! Today is the day of the Liberal Party, not exactly its birthday but a good excuse to show patriotism, barbeque and drink some beers with fellow Blue party members. The firecrackers started the morning off on a festive note at about 6:30am! Horqueta is known for being a very Liberal town, and show their spirit by driving pick-ups through town with big blue flags and blaring the Liberal Party-Polka! Thanks to their generosity in music sharing, everyone in Horqueta gets to celebrate today!

We have had lots of rain the last two days, which has been more than welcomed. Spring is usually known for its dryness, being coined the, “Epoca de la vaca flaca” or the season of the skinny cow. While people still are pretty sogue (broke) now, rain is good news for the kokuekuera (fields). It is slightly worse news for the dirt roads both within and outside of the city, its pretty muddy everywhere and most roads get washed out and harder to navigate (if driving a car, moto, bike or ox cart).

Pretzel Goldfish – I am the unbelievably happy recipient of an amazing care-package from home! Mom sent a box of Target goodness! Among the most horded items are a 4lb bag of Crazins and TWO bags of Pretzel Goldfish! I am one VERY happy camper!

What does Ña mean!?!?! I have mentioned the Ña Rubias, with whom I drink mate every evening. I have mentioned Ña Juana who works at the farmers market. And on many occasions I have written about Ña Olga my beloved first host mom, who is now more of a best friend than anything else! Ña is a term of respect that a woman acquires when she gets married or has kids. It is used almost identically to Mrs. in English!

En el nombre del Padre....

2008-10-11T09:53:00.013-04:00

The Sanchez-Mendez household was a flurry of activity this past weekend getting ready for the First Communion of Lorena, my middle host-sister (age 9). Cake to be picked up, house to be cleaned, new curtains to be hung, ceiling fan to be cleaned with toothbrush, cleaned curtains to be ironed and hung, the ‘visitor’ bed-spread to be put out, many groceries to be bought, three darling girls and their mother to be sent to the beauty salon to get their ‘brushing’ done, balloons to be blown-up, party clothes to be ironed one more time, and of course many kilos of meat to be grilled.

I had the opportunity to be there for it all! And the best part about the whole thing – is they let me help! The Sanchez-Mendez family received me with open arms after my 24-hours of transit to get to Paraguay and have squeezed me tight and treated me like their own since day one! However, I was not allowed to cook or clean. Not this last weekend! I was a full family member – made dinner twice, picked up party clothes from the tailors, washed dishes, served mate and blew up balloons! It was the most wonderful feeling.

It was also the first time I took a boyfriend to a family event. And while it probably wasn’t as ruff as it would be as feeding a boyfriend to the Walker/Montag pack – it was another first! We had a wonderful weekend. Christian acquired a few new younger admirers and yucked it up with man-talk about work and futbol!
Here are a few pictures from the party and the prep!

Dishes dishes and more dishes!

Lots of FOOD prep!

Yard prep work!

Lorena, serving mate with her newly styled hair, waiting to take out all of the curls!

Paola and me!

Four beautiful ladies
(Paola, Ña Olga, Lorena and Gloria - all had a trip to the beauty salon sunday morning!)

Gloria (Hollywood) Sanchez-Mendez

Head Griller

Me and Lorena

Lorena, Ña Olga and Don Oscar (and the CAKE!)

Family event! L to R: Ña Juana (maternal grandmother), Carly (other PCV host sister), Paola (13 year old host sister), Don Oscar, Ña Olga, Alberto (Christian´s cousin), Christian and me. Front Row: Gloria (age 5) and Lorena (age 9)

The key to blogging

2008-09-29T15:30:00.000-04:00

People say timing is everything, and they might be right but after more than a year in a country where “Otro dia” (Another day) is one of the top-ten most popular phrases – timing becomes inevitably: less important. In almost all things; not blogging. Its not only blogging it has become any sort of communication with the outside world. I know there are highly professional bloggers out there and I don’t want to make sweeping general statements about the entire “blog community” but for this PCV in PY – blogging is all about when my fingers hit the keyboard!

To blog “appropriately” in my opinion requires two important elements that if the wrong time is chosen the blog could be a bust.
1. First and most importantly one must be in a relatively good mood. This may seem silly at first – but if you were to blog with the blues – your grandmother might read your entry and become highly concerned, even if it was from a week and a half ago and your outlook on life has highly improved – its out there, on that great old WWW for all of the world to read.
2. I believe that the good mood directly affects your sense of humor – when I am crabby I am NOT funny. And really who wants to read a blog that has no humor in it…well I am sure humorless blogs are out there – but they probably have low readership and are boring. (tal vez opinion personal!)

Please be quicker to jump of a problem of a lack of #2 if you haven’t heard from me in a while. Some days I just don’t think I am funny enough to write something for all of you to read.

Field Trip to the Chaco

2008-09-08T20:23:00.011-04:00

I had the opportunity to take a few days and head west to the Chaco Desert! It wasnt really a rest holiday from insanity but very fun and educational! I was traveling with Mila Wilmoth one of my favorite PCVs! After a few minor transportation troubles (Mila missed the bus and had to chase it in a taxi!) we were on our way to Filadelfia in the department of Boqueron in the western part of Paraguay. It was hot. It was windy. there was lots of blowing sand! There was tumble weed. The only thing that was missing was the background, "Oooh oooh wooo ooo" (Imagine a old western movie). We went to investigate the lives of the Mennonite Colony that has settled in the middle of the Chaco.
A few things were learned:

Not all Mennonites wear bonnets
or churn their butter at home
They have been paying taxes since 1940 (contrary to what Lonely Planet says)
They DONT pick cute PCV hitch-hikers
They run one tight ship - the bell rings at 7am and then again at 1130 and they start again at 2 til 6. What the bell says, goes.
When a Indigenous Tribal leader heard about starving people in Africa - he asked why there arent Mennonites in Africa? The Menno community works closely to support the indigenous tribes that live around the colony.
Most Mennonites are very white and seem to burn easily under the sun - odd since they live in the middle of a desert!
They make amazing milk, yogurt and butter! (and DULCE DE LECHE!)
The colony in the Chaco is composed of Mennonites from Russia, Germany and Canada.
For the past 300+ years they have been fleeing communisum and military service, looking for a place where they could have religion in schools and be left alone!

We had a fabulous time! Here are few of the pics!

Mila and Me - travel buddies!

Samu'u - Bottle Trees - they look like Dr. Seuss trees!

Jaguarite - Paraguayan Jaguar

Nandu Guazu - Paraguayan Ostridge

Old Butter Churn-er - They don't use these any more!

Indigenous weavings and an armadillo shell purse

Indigenous tools and feather-somethings!

Kisses!

Using some old Mennonite machinery, looking something like a shopping cart!

Me and Mila - eating Trebol soft-serve at the end of our trip! Ice Cream is amazing!

A few sneak peaks!

2008-08-31T13:48:00.006-04:00

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!

2008-08-24T18:19:00.010-04:00

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

2008-08-18T07:10:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-17T18:58:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-08-03T18:57:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-08-03T18:28:00.005-04:00

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.

Fun with Libraries!

2008-05-27T20:07:00.005-04:00

The Book Mobile!

(Laura) Pin the tail on Clifford!

Johny coloring his Clifford name-tag.

A few photos from Mother´s Day!

2008-05-27T19:52:00.005-04:00

Mother´s Day in Espajin, 3k outside of Horqueta

Just look at that cake!

Tally of the past year

2008-05-27T19:06:00.003-04:00

This was inspired by my good friend and closest G-buddy, Mary Kennon Walker!

Number of bucket baths: 24

Number of charlas given: 6

Days attended the municipality: 235

Days something important happened at the municipality: 15-17

Number of pets owned: 1

Number of pets that died: 1

Number of boyfriends: 1

Visits to the dentist: 4

Number of seeds painted onto my house: 206

Letters written home: 21ish

Letters received: 40+

Packages received: 9

Monthly rent: 250.000 Gs or about $40.00

Electric Bills paid: 5 (ranging from 10.000 to 80.000Gs ($2.50 to $20.00)

Host families: 5

Number of languages attempted to be spoken: 3 (none of them well)

Hours of violin/English intercambio: 15

Trips out of Paraguay: 2

Number of times I have seen an airplane fly over my community: 2

Number of rides in cars: under 20

Number of times I drove a car: 0

Hours waiting or riding buses: 250+

Approximate number of hours spent on my bike:

Number of ice cream cones eaten: 38

Number of camera classes given: 10

Number of Photo exhibits held in Horqueta: 1

Number of times I was asked when I am getting married: 90

Number of American visitors I have received: 3 (will be 5 post mom and neal!)

Number of Bagel cravings: daily

Snow days: 0

Rain days: 8

Sweat your face off-hot days!: 200+

Greatest questions I was asked:

My six year-old host brother asked if my down vest was a life jacket.

How should I move my body in bed with my boyfriend?

Is that your airplane? (Referring to my sleeping bag)

Do all Americans use weird towels? (Quick dry camping towel)

Do you have parents?

Why are you here?

And what do you do?

How long should my mom cook Sopa Paraguaya in the microwave, it doesn’t say in the instructions? (Imagine cooking cornbread in the microwave…it wouldn’t work)

A year ago...TODAY!

2008-05-27T18:53:00.003-04:00

One year ago today I got on an airplane headed to Miami for Peace Corps –

Paraguay

one year ago today. I have had many wild and wonderful things happen in my life! Each and everyone of them was a teachable moment. And while unfortunately I probably have not learned from all of them…I have learned a few things

things i have learned about myself since living in Paraguay:

Ø I have a strong hate of ants.

Ø I love growing my own fruits and veggies (this is still a work in progress…slow to germinate)

Ø I don’t mind picking my nose in public

Ø Siestas are good for me

Ø The girl scouts taught me to leave a place cleaner than I found it – I wish everyone had been a girl scout!

Ø I love having a compost pile

Ø I like company – and I really like alone time

Ø I am still the worlds worst speller

Ø I can learn to like almost any food

Ø I don’t mind hand washing my clothes….but I really love having a washer/dryer!

Ø I actually kind of like PDA

Ø I like being busier (I am a much happier person when I have a full schedule)

Ø It might actually be my life goal to have everyone love me.

Ø I still haven’t figured out how to be in two places at the same time

Ø I feel much better and like my life is under control, after sweeping my porch

Ø I love being with people even if I have no idea what they are saying

Ø I don’t like lazy people

Ø I love getting mail

Ø I love sending mail

Ø I show love in present giving

Ø I am happy as long as I have at least 2 pairs of clean underwear

Ø I don’t have any verguenza (shame) about paying someone to wash my sheets and my jeans

Ø I hate the night bus, but I still take it.

Ø I love taking pictures, but I don’t like showing people I have a nice camera

Ø I love soy meat!

Ø I can eat pancakes every night for dinner for a week and still love them!

Ø I want to do things in my life (like play the violin, row, speak multiple languages) but sometimes get lazy and don’t really like practicing.

Ø I don’t like having my toenails painted (even if its with blue sparkles)

Ø Kraft Mac & Cheese makes me really gassy (the kind you think might burn a hole in your underwear!)

Ø I want to be a good reader, and read a lot – but I get bored easily

Ø Regulating my temperature to be livable is one of my highest priorities

Ø I love popcorn with Lawry’s seasoning salt

Ø I have a low tolerance for people telling me they are going to do something…and then don’t.

Ø I really like physical activity

Ø I hate cat-calls

Ø I often would like to be invisible (being stared at a lot – is tiring)

Ø Art projects and baking have the ability to calm my nerves

Ø I love nailing things to the wall (kitchen utensils, nails for hanging clothes, garage items or desk supplies)

Ø I value hard work

Ø I realize how important parent involvement is in the raising of children

Ø I think I could be a campo volunteer on two conditions: I wouldn’t have to look at the maggots in the latrine and there would always be toilet paper

Ø I have so much respect for Paraguayan women

Ø I hate machismo

Ø I am not really a dog person

Ø I realized that every person gets to choose how lazy he or she wants to be, and the rest of us can’t really do anything about it!

Ø I actually like Minnesota weather, it just took coming to PY to figure it out

Ø I love long-underwear, down sleeping bags and beanies (this isn’t really a recent discovery)

Ø I have a lot of respect for homeowners; it’s a lot of work!

Ø I love making diadactic materials-I don’t want to be a preschool teacher, but I do want to make their teaching supplies.

I have learned I love making my own tortillas - look it looks like a cartoon bubble...what do you think I am thinking?

its time for a blog.

2008-04-26T11:09:00.002-04:00

This was written about two weeks ago....its just getting to the world wide web today.

I sit here, in my local public library! (I am pre-typing) I love it – my safe haven. It is where I run to when I don’t want to sit in the municipality and do nothing. It is where I come when I just want to be. It is where I taught camera class. It is just a wonderful space. But most of this week, it is my safe haven. I am hiding from the “politicos”. We are about 10-12 days out from the presidential elections and people are a bit crazy to say the least. I work (or am supposed to work) in a political institution. But this week it is nearly impossible. It is almost like I am a ghost – when I walk in, it is almost like they can see through me. I am not doing much in terms of work within the Muni.
However there are a few great things happening! Libraries! Lets talk about books baby! As I mentioned above, I love our library! I had the opportunity to go to a library workshop put on by the Library Committee within Peace Corps. There were about 15 volunteers and community contacts that attended and were excited about getting books in the hands of Paraguayans everywhere! My librarian presented about our library, the troubles we have had and also the great things that have happened and services we provide! Our library was probably the most advanced of all of the libraries in attendance. Which was very cool, but it would have been nice to talk to someone who is a few steps ahead of us!

Here are a few of the successes and struggles of public libraries in Paraguay:
Lack of:
Building
Funding
Books
Administrative Support
Increasing the quantity of users
The troubles of reading not being a part of the Paraguayan culture

Successes:
Great community support
Creating a community space that can be used for night classes, classroom reading hours and general study purposes
Mobile Libraries (boxes of books that travel)
Library CARDS! (I am currently witnessing a new kid getting his card!)

To my librarians out there! I feel like we are kindred spirits now!

Something else great!
AhechaParaguay: (I see Paraguay) Digital Camera project! We are finishing up our photo exhibit now. The photos are hung in the Municipality and will be through this Saturday. The third step in the process is to exchange photos with another community that completed the same project, which our class will be completing soon!

What looks like a balloon with legs and smells really bad?
Not only have I worked in burying dogs, I can now add frogs to the list! That alone is not entertaining however. But the conversation leading up to it – was a little more so!
Neighbors: “Rachel, you have GOT to do something!”
N; “rachel, its huge!”
N:“Rachel, you have got to bury it before it explodes and we all get sick!”
N: “Rachel, cant you smell it, its huge?”
R: “I don’t know what you are talking about, I cant see anything unusual”
N: “Its right their, the inflated dead frog. You HAVE GOT to do something about it.”
N: “What are you going to do?”
R: Well I guess ill bury it.
Ns: yes and FAST!

End of story, I buried the frog. However, I am still suspicious about whether that frog died in my front yard…or my neighbors kindly moved it to my front yard so I would have the pleasure of taking care of it. Your guess…is as good as mine.

One more thing! Theres this phrase.
Si dios quiere. If god wants. Its used for everything. Things will happen…but only if god wants. For instance, “Si Dios quiere,” the trash collection will start April 15th. However, I have a bit of a tif with the phrase. I am about 99% sure that god (where ever he/she/it is) does not want people burning their trash, throwing it in the street or encouraging street dog plundering and would MUCH prefer organized trash collection…so really saying “si dios quiere” is really (I think) ridiculous! And…last time I checked creating some sort of organized Anything requires a little human work. So maybe instead people should say, “If we get our act together, our funding located, and the schedule set, trash collection will start April 15th.” But that might be assuming too much responsibility!

Site buddies!

2008-04-26T10:34:00.002-04:00

You want to know what my friends are up to?
Here are a few of my closest pcv buddies and their blogs!

www.marykennon.com
Mary Kennon was a member of my original group of Muni and Coop volunteers. She lives about two hours on a very feo (bouncy, dusty) dirt road outside of Horqueta. I get the pleasure of seeing her about every 3-4 weeks when she comes in to use the internet, restock her supply of veggies and do all the other great things the big city has to offer.

www.jillinparaguay.blogspot.com
Jill is my site mate! She is an Urban Youth Development volunteer and specializes in talks on self-esteem, communication and decision-making. When she is not inspiring youth to believe in themselves, get along with each other better and lead more positive lives, she is training for the Buenos Aires marathon! She is my closest compatriot and most loyal beer drinking buddy.

www.beesinparaguay.livejournal.com
Sarah B, as she is known in these parts! One of most beloved Bee volunteers! She is currently teaching kids about gardening and tree hugging! B is an amazing gardener, honey producer and phenomenal musician. Not only is B known for her amazing vocal cords, but she plays a mean guitar, banjo and mountain dulcimer! (if you are lucky…all at the same time!)

www.nappi896.vox.com
Gina Nappi is a good buddy of mine who has helped me fulfill a few of my childhood dreams here in Paraguay! Gina was my roommate in Miami where they told us to wear our bike helmets and not go so crazy that we start nailing pancakes to the wall. Gina is a sassy muni volunteer that lives at the opposite end of the country! Luckily we have the opportunity to meet in Asuncion occasionally for margaritas!

We went out for a surprise birthday celebration in Calle 10, Danielle's (bright blue tank top) community!
(Luke, in cowboy hat, Danielle, Mary Kennon, w/ bandana, Lisa, gray t-shirt, and me-back row)
And of course a whole but of really happy Paraguayans!

¿Garden Party?

2008-04-01T18:54:00.006-04:00

The week of Semaña Santa, myself and some fellow volunteers prepared our selves for Pascua with a (w)holy cleansing. We machete-ed my back yard! It was a truly liberating experience! It went from a jungle of pumpkin vines and mandioca plants to three beautiful tablones (garden beds). Below you will find a few pictures showing the fun we had!

Mary Kennon, Travis and myself, before the work had started!

Jill Anderson, site mate, urban youth volunteer...with new machete.

Danita Camper, beekeeping volunteer...showing her brut strenght.

Ready to PLANT!

Garden cleaning team! Look at that lindo tablon!
Me and Danita with Bananas, Jill with machete, Mary Kennon with da hoe, Mary with rake and Travis modeling with da shovel! All were incredibly hard workers and generous with their time!

Photos from AhechaParaguay

2008-03-11T07:34:00.005-04:00

Here is a sampling of the photos that will be posted in the Horqueta Photo Exhibit that were taken by our Photography class!

(taken by Tania)

(taken by Daisy)

(taken by Fanny)

(taken by Daisy)

(taken by Fanny)

(taken by Maria)

(not sure)

(taken by Gino)

(by Fanny and Alex)

(taken by Alex)

(taken by Gino)

GAD (gender and development) leadership camp!

2008-02-25T10:50:00.019-03:00

Feb 8-11th, myself and 4 Horqueteno youth headed to the east! It was a weekend filled with learning about self-esteem, leadership, self-identity, decision making, gender roles and much much more. We visited Itapu, the hydro-electric dam! And celebrated my birthday!! It was phenomenal! My youth were great, they participated in everything and loved every minute!

Travlers ready for the road!

Gino and me! with our tickets in hand - ready for adventure!

Fanny with her bus ticket - ready to go!

fishing for shells in the man-made lake created by the Itapu dam. Tatí Yupi Nature Reserve, Alto Paraña, Paraguay!

Itapu: worlds largest hydro-electric dam...until the one in China is completed! Built over the course of 15 years, 140 people died during construction and produces 95% of Paraguays electricity today! We went for the ¨light show¨, which was all of....turning the lights...on!

Me and the gang!

These are the Horqueta Youth that went with me! L to R: Fanny, Gino, me, Augustina and Alberto! That is the damn behind us!

Statue of progress and industry!! My youth loved this! Photo by Gino!

The big white tubes are where the water rushes through huge turbines to generate electricity. They are about 25 feet in diameter (or something like that!)

feet!

more learning!

Youth charla-ing (teaching) about personal identiy and decision making! woo-whoo!

Concepcion youth, Mila and me! after our youth recieved their certificates of participation!

waitin for da bus in Cornel Oviedo (our wait turned into a 6 hour wait!)

chew on ´dat!

2008-02-25T10:48:00.001-03:00

cockroaches- they are everywhere in my house. But there is good news – Darwin was wrong. The fittest have not survived!!! The new generations are a hell of a lot slower than the forefathers. This is great news for me – because I am getting a lot better at stepping on them. Or I suppose the other option is that I have just become so practiced – that they only seem slower – but actually I have become more agile and fiercer. Ill leave the decision up to you!

da posh life of this pcv- alright, through talking the phone with my mom and listening to all of the great ‘mom things’ she had to say about how proud she is of me and how much she loves to talk to grandma about me and just what great things I am doing. did I try to explain that, life aint so bad! It is an interesting discussion point with my friends and family “back home” and my new pcv buddies. I feel that most people at home are overly impressed with my “PC service” that there were huge sacrifices made and great hardship endured. And while the initial jump into the very wide and deep blue of unknown took some gutz, my life is pretty great now! I am a municipal service volunteer, which means I live in a relatively large city, have running water, electricity, daily access to fresh veggies, internet and regular cell phone service if I want it. I also decided to invest in an air conditioner. I have all of the basic needs covered. I am living at higher standard than most Paraguayans. (Which is something that I am not comfortable with) But I sitting here typing my blog entry – it seems ridiculous to me that people think I am making a great sacrifice or doing large amounts of good. Most days “doing good” seems like something that would be great if it happened but it’s a little hard to know if it is happening!

my three worries about moving to py – If you are an avid ‘three days on a donkey’ reader you will remember that I had three concerns about moving to Paraguay, they go as follows:
1. I would be hot and sweaty for 2 years straight
2. I would never understand or speak guarani
3. It would be a three day ride on a donkey to the internet!

well, number one is currently true, I have experienced winter in Paraguay and know that is possible to be chilly. but it does currently feel like the heat might never break!
number two…iffy still. while its comin – there is still tons of work needed
number three – how lucky that I can walk to the internet in under 15 minutes if I ever want it – any day any time.

So if you really look at it – life aint so bad!

Hey, now im 24! I turned the big 2-4 on feb 10th! Mom said that in MN it was the same kind of day as it was on the day I was born! I got to celebrate at GAD (Gender and Development) camp with 4 youth from Horqueta, 18 other volunteers and about 30 youth from all over paraguay. We were on a nature reserve close to Itapu (the worlds largest hydroelectric dam) It was a great weekend filled with charlas about making decisions, self-identiy, auto-esteem and other great things! Playing games and learning how to be good youth leaders – what else could you ask for for a birthday? The night before my birthday we got to visit Itapu, da dam! And let me tell you damnnnn, it is one big dam! It is enormous, generating 95% of paraguays electricity and a bunch for brazil too! But the weirdest part is that it is a tourist attraction. Our youth loved visiting it! They were blown away by how lindo (impressive, beautiful, really nice!) it was! But, it is kind of like the Miller Brewery tour, there is a lot of hype but not a lot to see. Sure a lot of liquid passes through both and both can give you a buzz, but besides that – not crazy impressive! But never the less, something I haven’t ever done on my birthday – and made it memorable! It was cool to see it – and even cooler to see it through the eyes of our py-youth!

camera class! the thing I am the most excited about these days! CAMERA CLASS!! I am teaching a AhechaParaguay (meaning I see Paraguay, the name of the PC project) class every Monday and Friday. It is held in the public library for two hours each class. We have had three classes so far and the forth is tomorrow! The youth love it! They are still in the early stages of taking pictures, and all like taking pictures of the same things, putting the subject in the dead center. So there is room for improvement but they are really liking it! Their pictures should be up soon on the http://www.cocumu.blogspot.com/ website. Ill keep you posted!