Springtime in Pictures

As I said before, it's spring here in South America, and it has been a busy one at that. Here are a few of the highlights:

Although I live alone and am regularly out of the house, I get a surprising amount of visitors. I like to think it's my sparkling personality. ;) Here, Carmen, Ña Merarda and I share some tereré on my patio. I store my water in old glass wine bottles... and they get a kick out of it every time.

The crotchedy old grandmother neighbor had her 80th birthday party in September. Oh, and she`s not crotchety to me (She loves me because I´m guapa, so she says), but to all her kids and grandkids. Anyway, it was the first all-family party I`ve been to, and it was a fantastic time! Instead of waiting around awkwardly for hours for the party to begin, we all began dancing right away and continued the rest of the night, taking mini-breaks for barbeque, pasta, sopa, and delicious cake. Here I am with Carmen on the left and Silvia on the right, ready to go get our groove on.

I went to a nearby city to help a neighbor Environmental Education Volunteer with a Bird Festival for elementary school kids. We basically took them on a short field trip and played games to learn about migration, deforestation, bird species, etc. It was an exhausting day but rewarding as well. The kids had a great time getting out of the classroom and being active!

I travelled out to the eastern part of the country with 2 friends, Amelia and Emily, to help fellow Croppie John with a World Map project. John lives on a peninsula which is generally only accesible by boat. So here we are arriving at his site, a rowboat as our final form of transportation...

First, the wall is painted, the grid is marked out with plumbobs, and then the map is drawn out in pencil square by square.

After careful checking, it is ready to paint. We outlined the countries and then helped students from 1st through 6th grade to paint inside the lines and learn a little bit of geography. The teachers at this school were very excited about the map and already including it in their curriculum. Many Paraguayans, children and adults, can't pick out even the continent of South America on a world map. This kind of project is helping to change that, one school of children at a time.

John readying the boat to row us across for our departure... que guapo!

These are my neighbors with whom I have my garden and demo plot. Here I'm standing with Ña Rubia, Derlis, and Isa in front of the LARGE compost pile space we just created.

These are my closest neighbors, both geographically and emotionally. They are an awesome family, so very generous and open with me. I regularly go there multiple times a day, to tereré, maté, eat lunch, make chipa, borrow something, etc. Here I am beckoning 10 year old Silvia to get in the picture, with 16 year old Richard behind me, 19 year old Imelda showing off her very pregnant belly (it´s a boy!!), and Ña Venancia on the right.

The new group or "G" of Agriculture and Environment Peace Corps Trainees have arrived in Paraguay, meaning I am now an "oldie." Crazy how fast a year can pass! I hosted a Trainee named Lorena this past weekend to share with her what my life is like as a Crop PCV. Here we took a really long walk to a neighboring community to see some exemplary contour planting on the steep hills. This is what I'd like to get done for more people in my community as well. Left to right- Me, Lorena, Diana, Nora's brother, Carmen, Don Ceveriano. Talk about a "3 Hour Tour." Great views but we came back exhausted.

That's all for now folks! I'd love to hear what you're up to, so drop me a letter or an email if you get a chance. My local post address is

Amanda Baranowski, PCV

0983 548 543

Ybycui 4390

Paraguay

And you know my email. :)

Two months from today, I will be arriving in the USA to spend a few weeks for the holidays. Bwwaahhhh, CRAZY! Hope to see you then!