A Time of Change

Sorry I haven’t written another blog post for about a month now; things have just been very busy and crazy lately.  This past month though seems like it has been a transitional time with many different aspects here in Paraguay so I figured that this post will cover a few different aspects of change.

As the United States is gearing up for Spring and warmer weather we are preparing for Fall.  We have had an increase in storms and rain as well as a cooling down of the temperatures which has just been fantastic.  I have really loved the weather with it cooling down nicely most nights but warming up during the day.  Also the storms here are just fantastic with great amounts of thunder and lightning so have provided for much entertainment, at least for me, most Paraguayan’s I know don’t like storms.  Unfortunately though with the storms come a loss of electricity and water which has lasted for just a couple of hours to a couple of days.  Also with the US springing forward and Paraguay falling back I am now only one hour difference from home and now on east coast time.  This is a lot better than the three hour time difference that we had before and makes it a lot easier to communicate with everyone back home.

Also this month I have had even more problems with my housing situation here in site.  So as of right now I am still trying to get my housing situation taken care of and working closely with PC and others in my community to try and get this figured out.  I have to say by far though since I have been in Paraguay this housing situation has been my biggest source of stress.  I know that it will all work out in the end but at this point it is all out of my control so I am just trying to take it day by day.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my host family here in my community but so far I have been living with three different host families for the last six months and have been living out of a suitcase, so needless to say it is starting to get old.  I am just looking forward to having my own space and being able to cook for myself and to set my own schedule.  I will keep you posted though as I figure stuff out, which should hopefully be sometime within the next couple of weeks!

As many of you have probably already heard we lost a PCV down here in Paraguay this past week on the 25^th.  His name was Porter Knight and he was from the other environmental group (G-40) that is serving down here in Paraguay and will be finishing up and leaving Paraguay this Nov-Dec.  I visited Porter my first month in country for PCV visit so I stayed with him and his host family for a week.  I encourage you to go back through my blog post from that week called 3 de Noviembre which was the name of his site.  I had a wonderful time at his beautiful site and met a lot of wonderful people; Porter also had some great projects going on there and was very passionate about what he was doing. 

Porter’s death has been a shock to all of us down here and around the PC community worldwide.  I can honestly say that this is just not something that I ever imagined having to deal with when I joined PC and not something that is even common among PCV’s worldwide.  Sadly though it was a very tragic death and they are still trying to figure out exactly what happened.  PCV’s and PC staff, as well as many others from all over the world have been pouring in letters, posts, and words of encouragement this week and it is just great to realize that even though I am a PCV in Paraguay I am part of a much larger family that is spread around the globe. 

This week on April 2^nd we will be holding a memorial service for him in the PC office with volunteers coming in from all throughout the country.  I think this will be a great time to just remember Porter and all he brought to Paraguay and his community as well as share stories and just to comfort each other.  Some of his friends from his G are also putting together a wonderful video full of pictures and remembrances from people down here to send to his family back home.  I just can’t even begin to imagine what his family is going through back home as well as his community here in Paraguay.  He was very well respected and loved in his community and I know they are also in shock and trying to move on.

So as you can tell March has just been a month of change from the wonderful change in weather to the tragic death of a friend.  I have decided to share some picture below from this month, so please enjoy.

 

 

These first three pictures show some of the wonderful food that we have coming in this late summer/fall time.  We have just had endless avocados it seems like just falling from the sky.  So one day I made my family some great guacamole which they loved and had never tried before.  I have learned that they don’t eat many avocados and when they do they just eat them with sugar.  At first they were timid to try the guacamole but once one person tried it and liked it they all soon followed suit.  Also the avocados here are HUGE and about the size of my hand.  Since we have had so many falling I decided to try and freeze them (recommendation from FB friends) so I figured I would give it a try.  We just have so many more falling than we could eat so I will try using them as a butter substitute in cooking. 

 

 

 

The sunsets lately have just been outstanding with the storms coming through and then leaving behind some breathtaking sunsets.

 

The next pictures is just a flower that has been blooming recently around my community. 

The next two pictures are of some insect larva and insects I have found around my community for you insect lovers out there.

 

 

 

This is a picture of one of our many rain storms here in site.  I am just amazed at how fast the rain storms come in and then drop A LOT of rain before quickly heading back out.

 

 

I know that it is hard (if not impossible to see this on the computer) but there was a beautiful rainbow after our big storm that came through and I was trying to get a picture of it.

 

This is a picture of one of those cool mornings and after my mom had made breakfast on the wood stove all of the dogs were fighting over space underneath the stove to get warm.   

I have also included two pictures that I had taken when I was visiting Porter at his site in October.  The first one is of him after we had picked a bunch of peaches and the second is a picture of a beautiful sunset from his front porch.  Although he isn’t with us anymore I have lots of wonderful memories of him here in Paraguay and will be remembering him throughout my service as a constant reminder of how precious and fragile life is, but at the same time how he did and how I can make a difference here in Paraguay, no matter how large or small. 

Paraguay Verde- Part 3 (Our Trip Home)

We finished with the camp on Saturday morning down in Ayolas and unfortunately the last bus to get us home into the community left Caaguazu at 4 in the afternoon so it was just impossible for us to catch that bus.  We also don’t have any buses that run to my site on Sunday so since we were not able to get back to site until Monday morning I decided that we might as well take our time getting home as well as show Romina some other places in her country.  So by the time it was all said in done Romina and I had traveled a complete circle around the southern half of the country.  Below you will see some pictures of our fantastic travels to Encarnacion and the Jesuit ruins in Trinidad.  Enjoy!

We left Ayolas about noon and went about 45 minutes north and got off the bus on Ruta 1.  From there we just had to wait a little while and caught the bus over to Encarnacion.  Encarn is located right on the Rio Parana (the same river the dam was on) and across the river you can see Posadas Argentina.  The beach from the river here looks like you are on a huge lake.  This picture is looking at an old factory with the city of Posadas in the distance.

This is just a picture of me with my feet in the river and it almost seemed like I was at the ocean.  Don’t worry mom I got you some sand for your collection!

Romina and I enjoying the cool water with Argentina in the background.

This is just a picture of the beach itself which is actually very touristy and since it was a Saturday it was very crowded.  The volunteers I talked to that live around here say that during the week is the best time to come because there isn’t anyone there.  Can you imagine being a PCV here, I wouldn't ever want to leave the beach!

After our wonderful afternoon in Encarn we then traveled with one of my G-mates to her site which is located in Trinidad.  She lives about a five minute walk from the ruins themselves and her project involves with working in sustainable tourism so she knows all of the park guides and guards so we were able to get a special and FREE tour.  This is a picture of me and Nari (the environmental volunteer in Caaguazu- my closest neighbor) standing in front of the ruins.  We arrived there right before sunset so I wasn’t able to get great pictures but I tried my best and I’m sure I will be back at some point again.

This is a watchtower and also known as the Torre de Atalaya.

The next few pictures are just of different areas around the ruins.  It was just amazing to see the stone carving that was just so beautiful and I can’t even imagine how long some of this stuff took and how they could have built these huge structures back then.

This is a picture of Romina in the front of the church.  Can you see her?  I was just amazed by how tall the structure it was and could only imagine how grand it used to be when it was first built.

This is a picture of the huge and beautifully carved pulpit.

This is just a picture that I took looking out from the church out into another part that had a beautiful huge tree and with sunset it looked like a great picture!

This is an artist’s replication of what the church probably looked like when it was first built.

After we took our self-guided tour right at sunset we had a hour to look around before we went on the night tour.  So we had time to visit with some of the artisans that sold their crafts outside of the front gates as well as tour the small museum.  Once it finally got dark enough they started the night tour which was just FANTASTIC and pictures just can’t do it justice.  It was a clear night and the stars were just so beautiful and seeing the ruins at night just made it seem like a completely different place.

This is just a picture that I took inside the church itself with some of the intricate carving.

This is another picture of the watchtower just at night.

We had a fantastic trip in Trinidad and were able to see so much in just one night.  On Sunday morning we got up and got on a bus to go back north through Cuidad del Este and then back west to Caaguazu.  We spent Sunday night with a wonderful volunteer married couple and had a great time cooking enchiladas and had a movie night.  We arrived back into site on Monday morning about 11:30 and we both had a wonderful trip and saw a lot but were also just ready to be back home again.  

I also got a nice pique again on my foot and I know many of you got grossed out by the picture of the larva itself so I just decided to take a picture of what it looks like on the outside before I took it out.  It honestly just looks like a blister and feels like one.  I am becoming a real pro at getting these out which I don’t enjoy doing but I don’t really have another choice.  I have also learned that there is an opportune time to get them out of your foot but I am still working on this and hopefully will not have too many more to base my observations on.

I am still living with my second host family that I have lived with for two months already and it sounds like I will be living with them until PC can come back out and inspect the new house that I want to rent.  The original house that PC had approved fell through when it came down to it but now I have another house very close to the other one that is beautiful and already has a lot of furnishings. 

Over the next few weeks I will be working on the house mostly just cleaning and organizing everything so I can start staying there once it gets approved.  I am also starting to look at prices and will be buying a fridge, oven, stove, and other things soon.  It feels weird doing all of these things when I have not even done them in the US and I am learning that they don’t post prices here but rather is a system of going back and forth until you decide on a price.  It isn’t like Lowes or somewhere where you just walk in and pay that price.  I guess it is nice because I can barter a little bit but at the same time frustrating.   I am learning that if I buy all of my appliances at one place not only will I get a better price but I can also get them to deliver it 30 km to my house which makes my life A LOT easier.  Hopefully I will be posting pictures soon once I get the house looking better.

I am also beginning to start all of my surveys and have given all of my surveys out to the school teachers so I should be hearing back from them over the next week to see what they would like help with in the school.  I am also walking my host niece and nephew to school every day since she goes to class in the afternoons.  My nephew is only two so he can’t go to school but sadly he still cries every day when we have to leave for school to start, but perhaps he will figure it out soon.  Also I should be starting my community survey soon where I visit every family and ask questions.  I hope you all enjoyed all of the blog posts!  Also many of you are asking what I need and the best thing to do would be to contact my mom because she has my ongoing list of things that I need.  

Thanks!

Paraguay Verde- Part 2 (The Camp Itself)

This year Paraguay Verde was held down in Ayolas which is the southernmost part of Paraguay right on the border of Argentina.  The camp was held at the Yacyreta dam which is a huge hydroelectric dam on the Rio Parana which separates Paraguay and Argentina.  When they were building the dam they built a massive camp (very similar to a series of college dorms) for the workers.  So we were able to stay in those facilities for the duration of the camp so we had plenty of space for everyone.  The camp started on Thursday and went through Saturday morning.  I will just be going through the camp and tell about it through the pictures.

Once we arrived into camp on Thursday we had lunch and then had a welcome from PC, A Todo Pulmon, and the dam Entidad Binacional Yacyreta.  After the introductions we had an ice breaker activity for the campers to get to know each other.  We had campers ranging in age from 11-30 and then all of the volunteers as well with approximately 130 participants.  In the afternoon we had three different sessions the kids could choose from including worm composting, eco bench, and how to form a local environmental group.  I attended the work composting session which is where this picture was taken.  

Romina, the girl I took from Yukyry Central attended the session on an eco bench.  This eco bench involves stuffing two liter plastic bottles with a bunch of inorganic trash (basically anything plastic) which we all brought to the camp.  They use these plastic bottles filled with trash as eco bricks and are actually just as strong as bricks if they are done correctly.  So once they had all of the bottles collected they used them as well as regular bricks on the edges and concrete and made a bench out of them.  This is a very common project in just about every PCV’s community just because it is an easy project and a lot better than just burning the trash which is normally done here.  After they got it all together they added various scraps of tiles for the top and smoothed it out. I have a picture later of it actually all done and put together.

Can you see him?  This is a picture of a rather large lizard that was hanging out on the tree supervising the eco bench.  

The next two pictures involved a session where the kids were learning about thinking both locally and globally.  Ten campers were given an object such as fruit or something else and they had to arrange themselves by how far that item had to travel to get to them.  For example a banana just came out of the backyard of most houses where apples are all imported from Argentina and so on.  The point was just to get kids to realize both were some of their food comes from as well as the resources used and needed to get it to them.  Romina was always the first to volunteer for everything so here she is acting out being a house with the other objects at differing distances depending on how far they had to come.

On Thursday night we had a recycled art night using materials that can be found all across Paraguay and we had about ten different stations ranging from making glasses out of glass bottles to tire chairs, and even to a broom made with plastic bottles.  This picture is of one of the stations where the kids were making beads out of different magazines by rolling up slips of paper around a stick and then putting them on the jewelry they were making.

This station involved using two old tires (which can be found everywhere here along the road) and cutting the bottom tire a little while and putting the other tire in it making a very nice chair.  I have another picture later once it is painted and they look really nice and all the kids loved it!

This is a picture of Romina working with a PCV making a jewelry box out of bamboo.  I had not seen this project before but it is actually a very fun project for the kids using bamboo which can be found just about everywhere and a little wood glue and two small nails.  She made it for her mom to give it to her for mother’s day this month.  

On Friday morning we went and toured the Refugio Atinguy and the Yacyreta dam itself.  The next few pictures are of our group touring the beautiful sand dunes.  The last picture of the dunes is the group from my original training community.  

This is a picture from a distance of the dam itself that we got to have a mini tour of.  Unfortunately they were doing some maintenance the day we toured but we were at least able to tour some.  

These pictures are of the dam itself looking into the dams with the 20 turbines and they produce 19 thousand million kilowatt hours per year.  I actually don’t really understand how much that it but they made it sound like a lot!  Also just about all of Paraguay’s electricity comes from hydroelectric power between this one and another larger dam on the eastern side.  

This is a picture of where they fish come out of their special passage through the dam system.  They have a special lift that sends a signal encouraging the fish to come into the lift and then they move the fish then either up or down the dam and this picture is where they come out and if you look closely you should be able to see some big fish in the water.  They talked about the fact that it isn’t working as well as if the dam wasn’t there but between the fish lift and some more regulations the fish populations are on the mend.

This is a picture of the backside of the dam where the water is flowing out with all of the campers looking over the side.

This was another icebreaker game we played in the afternoon after lunch to get everyone moving.  It involved everyone getting into a big circle and holding hands and then winding all up together forming like a giant cinnamon roll or a giant hug.

In the afternoon we had two different sessions.  The first involved talking about water issues here in Paraguay and abroad as well as learning about different parameters that can be used to measure water quality for example pH, turbidity, temperature, etc.  Each of the campers then was able to assess the water they had brought from their community using a simple testing kit.  So although this might not measure more in depth water quality issues like contaminants it at least got the campers thinking about water quality in their community.  Also all of the test kids are free to volunteers down here so I have ordered some so they should be here soon so I can work with all of the kids in my community on this important issue

The next session was with A Todo Pulmon which is an organization that formed here in Paraguay with the intention of planting trees all over Paraguay and was also one of our major sponsors.  The campers learned about the deforestation here in Paraguay which is just astronomical and then learned what they can do in their communities to be a positive change.  After the short session and video the kids were then able to go outside and learn the proper way to plant a tree.  

This is just a picture of one of our amazing meals and I helped out getting set up for all the meals so when the campers arrived all the food was set out and ready to go.

On Friday night we had a talent show where campers and PCV alike could share different talents whether they are acting, singing, or whatever.  We also had a small bonfire which all of the kids enjoyed.

Our breakfast consisting of fresh fruit, bread, and dulce de leche (similar to caramel) and jam.

On Saturday morning before we left we had a wonderful session on leadership and how anyone can be a leader and what it means to be a leader.  We had an activity where we were taped together with masking tape and had to walk together with 5 people and walk all the way to the line without breaking the tape which was actually super hard but trying to teach about working together.  

We then had time to sit down with the PCV’s and their campers to talk about what they want to now go home and do in their communities with what they learned about at camp.  So this is us with my friend Aubrey who helped us come up with various ideas for our community.

This is a picture of Romina sitting on the finished tire chairs which were surprising comfortable.

This is the finished eco bench using the eco bricks that has a beautiful small mural painted on the side of a tree. 

Right before we all left, we had a closing ceremony where all of the campers and volunteers received nice certificates which are super popular here in Paraguay so Romina was so proud of hers!

This is a picture of everyone together at the sand dunes. My next blog post will cover our wonderful trip/ mini vacation getting home!