Kaitlyn's Paraguay Adventures!: Christmas Down South

Well I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas back in the US. Down here in Paraguay we had a slightly different Christmas with VERY warm weather the last week or so. Here in Paraguay the majority of Christmas celebrations begin on Christmas Eve. We all got up early on Christmas Eve and went over to Hugo (my host dad’s) parents’ house where preparations were underway. I worked most of the morning in the kitchen with the women while the men took care of butchering the cow. I had never seen a cow killing done before, in the US, but here it is very primitive with everything done using machetes. I decided to not watch the killing itself but worked inside instead and then came out when it was already skinned out.

It was quite the operation with the women working in the kitchen, the men were butchering the cow, and each of the children ran back and forth between the butchering and kitchen transporting every part of the cow to the kitchen for the women. The kids were just so proud of what they were carrying and comparing with each other which part was the most important. The women worked hard in the kitchen sorting out everything with most of the organs going into a big pot of water. The meat was just divided up into the four legs and the rib cage and was brought into the “dining room” and was hung up for a couple of hours. Once they had everything cleaned up the men sat down at the table and began eating mandio and the intestine, but once again I decided to not participate. There was also a lot of watermelon consumed throughout the day.

After the mid-morning snack most of the men loaded up on the ox cart and went out into the fields to harvest some fresh corn, watermelons, and melon. One of the men stayed behind and was supervised by his mother as she told him what parts she wanted cut up for the big dinner. After the men got back we all sat around in the shade for a while and talked and then went back to our house for the afternoon. We all tried to lie down and nap but it was just simply too hot for that, so we settled outside under the shade tree for the afternoon. Around seven we went back over to where we were in the morning. By that time they had dug a big pit in the ground and filled it with wood and charcoal where they also had big skewers holding all the meat and were cooking it over the big pit. Here in my community the water and electricity are not the most consistent and sure enough around 8 pm the electricity went out, so it was a good thing we were cooking over a fire for all the food because it didn’t come back on until right before we were to eat.

As Paraguayan custom the men and women sit in different circles separated from each other so we sat around and talked for a while. The volunteer that was actually the volunteer in the community we were in (about 5 km from my community) Ted who is finishing up his service and leaving in March came over. So we were able to sit around and talk for a few hours so it was great to just get some pointers about his PC service and some things he found that worked/ or didn’t work. It was also great to just be able to speak English for a chance, especially when celebrating such an important holiday. So we were able to talk for a few hours until around 11:30 when we were all summoned to a big table to eat. We had just huge piles of beef, mandio, and sopa (which is similar to corn bread). So we all sat around eating dinner until midnight when we all got up and wished everyone a Merry Christmas, which took a while with around 30 people. Once dinner was over we all sat around for a little while and then everyone quickly went home because we had a lot of young children that were falling asleep all over the place.

On Christmas morning we all slept in since we were up late the night before but it just seemed like a normal day here in Paraguay and the heat had us all out of the house by about 9 am. Here in Paraguay they don’t do gift exchange, and in my community no one really has a Christmas tree, lights, etc. Christmas is mostly just filled with watermelon, fruit salad, sparkling cider, and shade trees. Luckily in the afternoon though my host family said we were going to the creek. So I was really excited because they were telling me about how beautiful it was and about twenty minutes later when we arrived I thought they were joking. It was just simply a low water crossing that was more just a large ditch but sadly was in the middle of large production agriculture fields with no trees in site. Normally I wouldn’t even think about swimming in that water because it was dirty just looking at it but the only other alternative was getting scorched in the sun so I jumped in, and the water was surprisingly cool and we played around for a while. When I got out though I had turned very brown with all of the sediment and who knows what else but I guess it was worth it, the cold water felt so good. When we returned I immediately took a shower and got most of the brown off (but sadly not all) and went to work in the kitchen.

My dad had sent me a wonderful care package in November with cake mixes, among other things, so I was able to quickly whip up a cake as is the tradition with my mom, making a birthday cake for Jesus every Christmas. So I was able to get that done and in the oven quickly since it was so hot inside and was able to sit outside until it was ready. I tried to watch the Planet Earth ice world’s episode to try and imagine that I was somewhere cold, but sadly it didn’t work to well. We also had a very rare bird show up at my house today that mimics the end of a branch and unless you’re really paying attention you will miss it. So you should be able to see some pictures of it and it also had a very cute little fur ball baby under its wings

Right around sunset I took a walk through my community towards the church and there was a fantastic sunset that I was able to get some pictures of. Overall I had a great Christmas down here and I was able to talk to my family and friends back home, so it was a great time. Next year though when I have my own house I am going to try and actually have a tree and lights so I can try and spread some of my American culture down here!

A lot of you are also asking about my address so here it is again.

MY NEW ADDRESS:

Kaitlyn W. Bradley, PCV

Correo Paraguayo- Caaguazu

Caaguazu, Paraguay

Codigo Postal 3400

Sudamerica

0984664378

Also my internet in site doesn’t work enough to upload pictures so I am only able to do so when I come into town a couple of times a month, so please be patient with me I will get them up as soon as possible!

The men butchering and all of the kids standing around and helping.

I thought this was cute with a momma hen taking care of ducklings, they said their mother died and then was adopted by this hen.

The meat hanging in the open air kitchen!

One of the cute little boys in my family eating watermelon.

Some pictures of all of us at the dinner table.

A picture of me and my host sisters swimming in the hole. In case you didn't recognize me I'm the girl in the green hat trying to not get fried in the sun!