Perfect Day in Paraguay Post

Well today (Wednesday) was our Cultural Excursion Day. Each of us got to sign up for one of two different trips around Paraguay. One trip was to a large lake and the other was to 3 different places, so I participated in the 3 different places. Our first stop about an hour away took us to the train museum. Paraguay claims they had the first trains to go across South America (evidently is historically disputed), all of the materials and trains were sent here from England at the time along with the engineers. What we toured was the old train yard and the place where they worked on the maintenance of the trains. I am in no way an expert on trains but we saw many old locomotives as well as large industrial equipment they used for the metal working as well as a small museum that showed the old seats, windows, log books, etc. It was interesting because the log books written were in English because at first all the engineers were from England and they were the ones that we in charge. There was a lot of history to be learned but given a limited time as well as a limited knowledge of written (mostly technical) Spanish it didn’t take too long to go through the museum. We also had to wear bright yellow hardhats for some reason through the museum, I think mostly just for the looks since we couldn’t find out any overhead safety concerns. Overall it was really interesting to see the old trains and the museum. You should be able to see pictures below of some of the trains, the parts of the train in Spanish (in case you wanted to know), as well as some of the tools they used.

Our next stop was to a smaller artisan town where we were able to see women and men making hammocks. It seemed like a lot of work and really made me appreciate them even more when I was able to buy mine later on. I learned that it takes about 2 hours to make one hammock and the more complex the design, colors, etc. the longer it takes. After we were finished with our tour we were given about half an hour in the town market to look around and buy different crafts. So of course I bought a beautiful hammock for only 45 mil Guaranis (about $10). We also saw many different crafts but at this point I don’t really have a need for them since I will soon be moving. We then traveled and stopped at a large gas station for lunch where people could buy lunch if they didn’t bring it but of course my host mom packed me a wonderful lunch so I just treated myself to ice cream.

After lunch we traveled up the large hill in the town to a beautiful overlook point where you could see 360° around. It was so great to be able to see both the small city as well as the beautiful green lush countryside. There was also a set of stairs that you could walk up to get even higher that had a white cross at the top, such as beautiful site. We then traveled back to the training center but stopped at a beautiful large church along the way. There is a lot of history in the church (established in 1755) and it just amazes me the sheer size and I wish the walls could talk because I’m sure they would have a great story to tell! The door itself just amazed me; it is the original door to the church that is about 20 feet tall and about 6 inches wide of just solid wood. I don’t understand how it can stay on the hinges or how they can open and close it but it was phenomenal none the less. It was a great stop to just sit down and breathe and reflect before we arrived back at to the training center to learn our site.

When we arrived back at the main training center the training staff had completely decorated everything up and had beautiful decorations everywhere as well as the main room rearranged with a huge map of Paraguay in the front with a pin pointed to each location that one of us would be going (without our names of course). They made it up into a large ceremony where our director of training gave an opening address just reminding us that we were just receiving a name of a site with basic characteristics but then it is up to us to make the site our home and our community. All of the staff here both Paraguayan and American are all just super supportive and you can tell that they honestly are cheering for our success. After her address all of our names were put into a hat and one by one we were brought up to learn our site name and then put our face on the map next to our site.

So my new community and home where I will be working and living for the next two years is YUKYRY CENTRAL which is located in the providence of Caaguazu. I am still in the process of practicing how to say it with all of the ‘y’ pronounced different in Guarani. In case Caaguazu sounds/looks familiar I visited the capital on my long field practice so I will be about 30 km north of where I have already visited, the wood capital of Paraguay. I have attached a photo of my placement letter that you can look at and hopefully read. When I talked to my technical trainer (who has been to my site) told me while introducing my site to the group that he hoped I brought a few good pairs of hiking boots but that it was a beautiful site.

Here is what else I know about my community as of right now from what my contact wrote down for me.
-I am a first time volunteer which means I will be the first in the PC cycle of 3 different volunteers. So my main “job” will just be to fully integrate into the community and to tell them about Peace Corps and then go through the process of community assessment and find out what the community is interested in doing. I will be able to work on projects but my main task will just be to learn about the community and make contacts and inroads for my follow-ups. Also I have the job of finding a house to live (hopefully not build!) in the community and to get it furnished and ready for my follow-up. I am super excited about being a first time volunteer, but also a bit nerve wrecking.
-There are 50-60 houses in my community with about 300 people. So here is considered a small pueblo. This is also one of the smaller communities when I talked to other members in my group who have much larger communities.
-They do have electricity (YES!) and some, but not all, have running water in the house and evidently many people do not have what we would consider modern bathrooms but rather holes in the ground (outhouses for some reason are not common here). So this aspect should be a fun adventure but I will know more when I go on my future site visit!
-Where I will be able to catch/get off the bus is 5 km from my site so I will be hiking in and to get groceries for the most part I will have to go into Caaguazu about 30 km away by bus. Also if it rains the bus doesn’t run and even if the bus is running I can either only leave at 5 am or at noon, so advanced planning will be important, and praying for good weather!
-It seems like the majority of my work at first will be done through the school where they already have a large organic garden and small scale tree nursery. It seems as if my community is super interested in agroforestry and reforestation because there is widespread logging in the past (and somewhat currently) so they are interested in replanting and learning about forestry!!! Also they are interested in me working with the local women’s group and teaching about deforestation, abonos verdes (green manures), and agroforestry.

I will be visiting my site starting on Friday through the following Wednesday so after that point I will be able to tell you a lot more about my site and hopefully to have some pictures.

And if my day couldn’t get any better I came home and found the Michi (my wonderful host family cat) had her babies today so we have 3 small new additions to the family (2 black and 1 red kittens). They are so cute but I am trying to not become too attached because I know there is a good chance that they will all not survive but I am staying hopeful. And just to add to my perfect day…I also heard from Thad last night and I am so proud of him because he received a wonderful forestry internship so he will be moving down to Arkansas in January to start his internship! I am so proud and happy for him!

Next week I will get back on Wednesday and then Thursday is Thanksgiving so we will be going to the Ambassador’s house for that. I have to honestly say that it is hard to get into the “holiday spirit” when it is 100+ outside, everyone is starting to put up decorations for Christmas and it just doesn’t feel right. Also I have just thought about the fact that my birthday (July 25th) usually at home is the hottest day of the year but here will be freezing! But I will be able to swim in the pool for Thanksgiving so I can’t say that I have done that anytime in the past.

Also I just wanted to thank those of you for sending me so many wonderful cards because they are just absolutely wonderful to receive. I also have a change of address that I will post in a few weeks so you can continue using my old address until I get my new address confirmed. Also I have found that with regular mail service (ie no government shut down) I can get a letter here in about 2 weeks in case anyone was wondering.

I hope that you all are having a great time back at home and I pray that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families, there is a lot to be thankful for this year! Although I will not be with my friends and family back at home in the states I will be with my new PC friends and will be thinking of my friends and family back home.