Beware the infamous Southern Wind

Dear avid readers,

I apologize for not posting earlier, as I had promised. In Paraguay, the viento sur, or southern wind, is the cause of many trials and troubles.  For example, the southern wind brings the cold and many sicknesses; I’ve even heard that the southern wind is responsible for Dengue fever.  While I can’t back up those claims, I’m sure that the southern wind is responsible for my own bought of mystery illness that struck Thursday night and took me out of commission most of the day Friday.  (Especially since we've already established that there are no germs in Paraguay.)  But now, with the aid of some rehydration packets and non-FDA approved medicine, I'm well on my way to a full recovery.  So while I’m apologizing for the delay, which I know was very hard on all of us, you’re going to have to take up all complaints with the southern wind.  Thank you!

And now on to other matters.  Today I’m going to give you all a real treat—a double post!  This post will catch you up on some goings-on, including long overdue photos of my training community and family (which I will be leaving all too soon, with mixed feelings). 

Post 1 of 2:

A Quinceñera that I went to with my family!  Here you can see the birthday girl, Pabla, as she greets her guests and accepts gifts.  Off to the right you can see the very elaborate,very well-lit, and also very pink birthday cake arrangement in the distance.  (Nayeli is in the bottom right corner.)

Erwin! With his brand new camioneta/truck set that he got as a gift from two of his aunts who just returned from a relative’s wedding in Argentina.  Boy, does this kid love his trucks.

And here is a photo of the house I’ve been living in since arriving in Paraguay.  :)

The increasingly popular “rock climbing in a skirt.”  I hear it’s becoming all the rage.

The morning of Site Assignment day, we were taken to Aregua as part of a cultural excursion.  Here we are, learning some traditional pottery techniques in a city known for its pottery (and especially Nativity scenes, around this time of year).

There are several national soccer “clubs” in Paraguay.  The two most popular teams, with the most intense rivalry, are Olimpia (black and white) and Cerro Porteño (blue and red).  There are also several other clubs, including Guaraní (yellow and black), Libertad, and Luqueño, among others.  Now generally, a family tends to stick together, rooting for the same team.  However, in my family, Papá Ever, Nayeli, Tia/Aunt Karen, and I (sometimes you just gotta pick a side) are all Olimpistas; Edu, Mamá Lourdes, Abuela/Grandmother Lela, and Tia/Aunt Lourdes are all Cerristas; and Erwin and Abuelo/Grandfather Membi are Guaraní.  As you can imagine, this produces some very entertaining game watches.  As fascinating as this all is for you, the reason I bring it up is that in my house we have several small statues of dogs and pigs wearing particular club colors.  My mamá Lourdes had a Cerro Porteño dog that was tragically broken (an accident, I'm sure) by one of the kids.  Pictured above is the replacement Cerro pig that I got her as a gift from the Aregua pottery markets.  You wouldn’t believe how hot a commodity these little fellas are.

It’s hard not to enjoy a good glass-bottle Coca-Cola on a lake beach in Paraguay.

Not exactly the sturdiest dock I’ve ever been on, but that’s half the fun.

Album cover?

If you got to live in a castle, you might become a nun too.

What? Posed? No, never…

In the last agonizing hour before finding out our site assignments, we did get to listen to some really pretty, traditional Paraguayan music—often polkas, played by a harpist and one of our language teachers, Aurelio, on guitar.

And then our Env Program Manager Eli (who, along with Alistair, matched us with our sites), who also happens to be trained in traditional Paraguayan dance, showed us some really cool dances in a gorgeous dress made out of the very intricate traditional Ñanduti lacework.

Our sites! Finally!  There’s me, in the Southwest corner, hanging out.  As you can see, there’s a noticeable absence of Env and Ag volunteers up in the Northern region of Paraguay, which is called the Chaco.  The Chaco covers about 60% of the land mass of Paraguay, but only about 3% of the population live there (if I remember correctly).  It’s a rather inaccessible, arid region that receives very little rainful and is partly covered in dense thorny forests.  There have been Env and Ag volunteers stationed within the Chaco in the past, but at the moment we’re all concentrated in the much more heavily populated Eastern region of Paraguay.

That's all for this post!  I've got a few random videos and some more pictures that I'll put up on Facebook...some day... :)