“My trip to Paraguay 2015”

In January I got to welcome my dad to Paraguay and show him around for a couple of weeks.  Below is the story in his own words followed by pictures and my commentary about his wonderful trip here, the time always flies by but we got a lot accomplished and had a great visit!

What a great time of year to get away from cold weather and travel to visit my daughter in South America. I have never traveled to this part of the world and it will always have a special memory in my heart and mind!  It was amazing to see Kaitlyn again and had been way to long since she left us. She is very blessed with her school house that she has made here home and close knit neighbors and community. After seeing her home I can only imagine what it looked like before she moved and the hard work required making it her home.

I enjoyed our time together doing a few projects that she wanted done and amazed at what it takes when you’re working without tools that we have her every day. No power tools: drills and bits, saws and even finding lumber to make a little table. I was able to make a stand for Kaitlyn’s new wash machine out of a tree for legs and nails that she had purchased in town. You can most likely find stuff you need but it is a 2 hour bus ride and you can find a hardware store but you have to tell them exactly what you need. Not as simple as getting in vehicle and running to Lowes or Westlake’s hardware. Things can be done but it takes time and patience!

I am amazed at the little money the locals make and the physical labor required to make a living! The men work fields all day, hard and physical labor, and make maybe $8.00 and that's if there lucky to find work. Most of the times they are working own fields of cotton/ sugarcane/ mandioca and other vegetables they eat or sell in town.

I really like Alcides who is Kaitlyn’s boyfriend and very hard working young man. It has been a long time since I have seen Kaitlyn so happy. He is a provider and great with all the neighbor children.

His parents who live a few minutes’ walk from Kaitlyn’s home have a beautiful yard/farm with banana and numerous fruit trees to share and live on. It amazed me that every day the women would rake the sand to get every leaf out of it and how well they took care of what little they have. You can say they are poor but take care of what they have. I love Alcides’ parents and family they made me feel very welcome and part of family. I will always remember drinking terere, cana and drinking beer with his mom. I am not used to sharing my beer and there you take a sip and pass it around. If you’re worried about germs Paraguay is not the place for you.

The night sky is remarkable with big sky and different stars. No dippers but you have the Southern Cross!

You never know from one minute to next if you going to have power or water so you keep up with it daily. Here in the US we have 2 fridges and chest freezers and usually full of something.  When power goes out you keep fridge closed for days so things do not spoil. Kaitlyn has it figured out and is able to cook on two burner stove and has a small oven for baking. She makes her own bread from scratch and better pizza then shakespears. I found out for the most part even when power goes out that she is able to fix a great meal and not be hungry.

I am totally amazed for such a poor country where only 1 in 4 have a fridge how everyone has a cell phone and majority have television. It blew me away one morning to see man on back of an oxen team probably surfing internet on his cell phone going down the road. I guess being connected is important for everyone.

I miss the roosters waking me up every morning starting @ 2am. Setting around for hours daily drinking terere and watching children play. I did not know that children still played outside all day and really no toys to speak of. No inside water for bathing or teeth brushing!  All children play football which is soccer and very happy kicking the ball.

Needless to say how proud I am as a father to see Kaitlyn live her life like this. She has and will continue to be able to do anything that she desires and put her mind to. You can tell that the children love having her as a teacher and friend.

I miss my time playing bingo with children and throwing around football. Having fresh fruit for breakfast, and soup for lunch. But most of all will always miss Kaitlyn!

Our first photo together taken in a café in Caaguazu.  When we got into Caaguazu that day the intention was to go straight to my site but due to the large amount of rain we ended up staying in Caaguazu for the evening, luckily I have some good PCV friends that we were able to stay with and then we got back to my site first thing the next morning.  

The afternoon in Caaguazu of rain but we still managed to get some good fruit and veggies from vendors that were brave enough to be outside selling in the storm!

The wide selection of “meat” you could buy in the local grocery store.  To me I guess it is just normal by now to see the various things ranging from pig heads, cow hearts, stomach and many other things.  I guess if this were in a super market in the US though some people would have some problems I think!

On the bus finally being able to head back to my site.  I think one thing dad was able to take away from here was just a new sense of the word patience and that you can’t ever have a set schedule here because it is completely dependent on many things, but most of all weather.  But we made it back without any problem and he got to experience the campo bus ride!

The first evening back to site we had a large asado (BBQ) with Alcides’ family.  This picture is of Alcides’ mom and my dad making up sopa.  Here there are more defined gender roles, meaning the men, for the most part, don’t help with cooking so she had a good time when he was willing to get his hands dirty and covered in pig fat to make up the fresh sopa for dinner!

The completed meal with lots of great chicken and pork with fresh sopa, rice salad, and cucumber and onion salad.  As always not enough chairs and plates to go around but we all made it work!

One of the many large toads that we have around here, I guess I have just gotten used to the size but my dad was so amazed so we took a picture using my hand as a size comparison.  I also have one of these that lives on my porch and I encourage it to because it eats so many insects at night under my light so saves me a lot of trouble every morning sweeping off my porch!

Some of the handy man projects he helped me complete while he was here with help of course from Junior, my three year old nephew who practically lives at my house as well!

Dad giving my adopted dog a much needed bath.  He is actually my sister’s dog but ever since I moved in has decided to become my protector, even in his small size, but he does a great job and never ventures far from my porch!

Dad with one of the family cows!

One afternoon we walked with some of my friends to the local waterfall.  It was a hot afternoon so by the time we got there the water felt great.  We also picked up some fresh mangos off trees along the way so dad got his very first taste of fresh mangos!

Standing under the falls for a nice photo op!

One day we decided to go fishing with Alcides and his uncle which involved an hour walk to a nearby community before walking through a wetland and into the forest.  The weather was very spotty and many strong storms around us but provided some great photos!

Standing around in the wetland while the others were turning over termite mounds to find worms to use as bait.  I never realized how hard they worked to find bait, it isn’t like at home where you can just go to BPS or a store and buy a dozen night crawlers!

Well the storm finally came in while we were out but luckily only lasted about 20 minutes.  Luckily I had brought my umbrella so I set up camp under it and helped keep everyone’s stuff dry.

The mess of fish that was caught.  I sadly only caught one to add to the pile but at least the other guys knew what they were doing so we had plenty for lunch!

This is an experience that I will never forget.  Once we got the fish cleaned they made a small bonfire in the woods and before I knew it we had fresh fish soup complete with my homemade bread and were sitting in the woods eating.  It was just such a wonderful experience and one that I had never had before!

Alcides and my dad laying a brick pad in front of my bathroom.  Before when it rained I just had a huge mud puddle in front of the bathroom which was then tracked on the porch and into the house.  Now I have a wonderful brick pad that allows the water to run off and keeps my house a little more dirt free!

Dad and Junior working on making the stand for my very own washing machine!  Even though they spoke two different languages they still managed to communicate fine and had a great time together!

Life changing!  My very own washing machine that saves me a lot of time and energy, something I for sure took for granted in the US.

Dad holding one of the neighborhood babies that I spend a lot of time with in his brand new outfit courtesy of my mom.

Me with two of my students and Alcides’ nieces Diana and Adriana.  

One of the other large projects dad helped me with which was cleaning all of my windows in my house, which there are a lot of.  So we got all the windows cleaned both inside and out and new window decorations put up.  

The completed brick patio in front of the bathroom!

His last night in my site visiting with Alcides’ parents at their house.  

When we left my site we took a bus into Cuidad del Este and went and did a tour of Itaipu Dam.  This was my third trip to the dam but a first for my dad so we both had a great time.

From the dam we went and walked through the chaotic mess that is the border crossing of Paraguay into Brasil and Argentina.  They sold anything and everything you would ever want.  Unfortunately they were doing construction on the bridge so it took us a couple of hours before we finally got a bus that took us into Argentina.   

Our first fabulous dinner in Argentina filled with their wonderful steaks!

Dad so happy with his very large and juicy steak!

The next morning we got up early and caught the first bus to Iguazu Park so we were there ready to go when the gates opened to see the falls.  Below you will see many of the hundreds of wonderful photos that we took that day!

This was taken from Devil’s Throat which is a lookout that looks right down into one of the largest drops of water.  Last time I was here with my mom this area was closed due to flooding but luckily this time it was open and ready for us to explore!

Another look at Devil’s Throat which was just so beautiful with the sun reflecting off the water.  

A view of the falls as well as a boat that you can take to go up underneath the falls which we did later in the day when it was nice and hot out. 

A coti family which we saw all throughout the park sadly because many of the other tourists were feeding them but this mom had taken up on the boardwalk to nurse her babies.  

Dad and I on the boat with the falls in the background just a few minutes before we got absolutely soaked.  Such a fun and memorable experience!   

Just a picture perfect falls with the sun shining and the trees.  We picked a great day to go and were there early so were able to avoid most of the crowds around the park.  

One of the other smaller falls but really beautiful with the rainbow midway down.  

Dinner the second night full of wonderful salmon, I want to go back just for the food alone!

Dad and his second wonderful steak of the week!

While we were in the park this man was carving these beautiful wall hangings out of wood and we watched him for a while and learned a lot more about it.  So that evening he came to the hotel and brought dad one to take home as a souvenir which was just so unique and worthwhile.  

So I hope that you can all see that I had a fantastic trip with my dad when he came down.  We had a good couple of weeks in my site with him getting to know my community and certain people better.  He also helped me out with many projects that I needed to get done around the house thus making my life that much easier.  It was sad to see him go but I know he learned a lot and I’m sure will be back to visit at some point!