I stopped posting to my blog during the last two weeks for a
couple reasons. First, because I wanted to experience everything I could in my remaining
time and not tie myself to a computer. Second, after my last post I was pulled
in to my supervisor’s office; she had heard about the blog through other
co-workers who were concerned that based on my post it didn't sound like I had
a work-plan. While this was partially true because my work plan had changed, I
wanted this to be a space to share my experience with people back home, not
something that got anyone in trouble (myself included). As a result I do not
plan to post this to any type of social media and realize not many people will see
it. I guess that’s the good news bad news of making friends in the
world of social media in 2015.
The last two weeks of work a group of boys from a German
High School volunteered on several different homes in the town of Arroyos y
Esteros. While the boys a lot of spoke German on site, they were all born in Paraguay.
I didn't go out to site with them every day, since Arroyos y Esteros took 1½ to
2 hours to get to, depending on traffic. Since the boys all spoke Spanish, and
some even spoke Guarani, I questioned somewhat my purpose on site. Laura
needed to be there some days to help with tools and logistics, but she couldn't
drive, so I functioned mainly as her driver. Regardless of feeling somewhat
useless, I still enjoyed my time on site, helping the kids of the future
homeowners work on their handstands and other gymnastics skills, sitting around
and drinking Terere with the masons because it was too hot to work for much
more than a half hour at a time. The rest of my time in the office was fairly
uneventful, but it allowed me time to start reading St. Vrain e-mails closer
and re-integrate myself back to the real world. I also gave about a half hour
presentation on St. Vrain Habitat (in Spanish) to the whole office.
Saturday, a week before I left, I went to play soccer with a
group of women. Playing soccer I immediately felt comfortable and confident. I
think this confidence translated off the field as well. After playing we sat around
sharing beers and chatting for the next 4 hours. They seemed genuinely
interested in what I was doing in Paraguay and conversation was not as
intimidating as other large groups of people. I could tell this was the kind of group I would have been friends with if I had been around longer. Probably my
biggest regret about my time in Paraguay is not finding this incredible group
of women sooner. I played with them again on Monday night, and hung out until almost 1am for someone's birthday, and then played with
some people from Habitat on Tuesday.
Chicas Futbolisticas.
The last week Mary went to join Basilio down in Encarnacion
for their 25th wedding anniversary. So I was in charge of dinner for
a couple of nights and also had access to a car. I made latkes for Katrina,
Yohanna and both boyfriends for the first night of Hannukkah. Yohanna and Dani
took me to eat Lomito one night, a large traditional Paraguayan sandwich.
Yohanna and I also took the bus and met up downtown to do some Christmas souvenir
shopping one day after work. It was nice to have a little bit of freedom.
The beast that is Lomito.
My last weekend in Paraguay I traveled to Iguazu Falls.
Iguazu is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, it lies on the boarder of
Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. I had heard the best views are from the Argentina
side, which you had to cross Brazil to get to. I went with Katrina and her
boyfriend Jose. Since I had had an end-of-year dinner with the Development
Department on Saturday night and my flight back to the states on Monday, we
decided to take an overnight bus to the Falls. It left at midnight on Saturday
and 5 buses, a scare that I wouldn't be able to cross Brazil for lack of a
Visa, and 11 hours later, we arrived. On one of the buses I met a Japanese
woman who lived in England and was travelling by herself in South America for
two weeks. Shigeko and I were fast friends and walked around the Falls together
for a couple hours. The Falls were absolutely breathtaking. I have more photos
than I know what to do with and none of them do justice to this natural beauty.
It was probably about 4 times the size of Niagara and all natural, walking
through a jungley forest to get the best views. This mini-vacation was a wonderful
treat and a great way to end my time in Paraguay.
I never did learn how to say "Cheers" in Guarani. But every time I asked it sparked an interesting conversation, which is what I really wanted out of the question...I guess I'll have to come back to figure it out!
