"Two Amanda's!" -Don Poli

She made it!

Long story short, Marissa came down to Paraguay for 2 weeks this July

and we had a phenomenal time. I think she will return home more exhausted

and sick of buses/airports/Spanish than ever before, but hopefully it was all worth it. :)

Here are some short summary photos of our first week in Paraguay, mostly spent at my site in the countryside. I attempted to introduce Ris to the finer points of Paraguayan culture and cuisine, and I think it was a success. Check it out...

2:30am arrival after a 24 hour layover in Lima, Peru. Que guapa!

And doesn't she look fantastic, Ladies and Gentlemen.

We terere-ed and washed our clothes by hand.

That's idodine pill water, NOT my well water, no worries.

Tranquilo time in the hammock.

Nothing beats some hot mandi'o right out of the pot.

At first, Marissa was very reluctant to believe that digging with a machete actually was much easier than digging with the shovel.

She soon learned.

And we planted and transplanted some flowers and trees. This is a sunflower.

We ate hot chipa at the neighbors'. She "knows how to eat it!"

(Direct translation from Guarani)

We spent July 4th at the American Embassy. Look how festive our cupcakes are.

We took long walks down dirt roads.

Marissa learned some key Guarani phrases and the all-too-important "al Pelo!" or Thumbs Up.

This can rectify any awkward situation.

One thing Marissa told me was, "Amanda, if Mom met the people here in the community, and saw how much they care about you, she wouldn't worry half as much as she does."

That was an amazing statement to hear, especially considering how apparent this fact was to Marissa after only a few days, and after meeting just 4 or 5 neighboring families. I know that I am surrounded here by a lot of amazingly warm and hardworking people, but it struck me that already I am starting to take that for granted. And I don't want to.

It was incredible to be able to share some of my day-to-day life here in Paraguay with my sister. She adapted much more quickly than I had ever imagined to the "rustic" realities of my site, and it was truly a pleasure just to hang, catch up, cook, laugh, and reminisce - just as it always is. As the saying goes, life is in the details, and it can be difficult for me to share these details that make each day here worthwhile, because to fully explain their significance, I usually have to explain vocabulary words and cultural situations and basically give a lot of uninteresting backstory that bores the person I'm speaking to even before I get to the heart of the subject. So sometimes I just try to keep it short. Simple. Uncomplicated. Individual. But that's not life here at all. It's about the interactions between people and across boundaries of culture, language, age, gender, etc. Like how my 12 year old neighbor now shouts "Bara-no-ki!" as a greeting to me across the field, how Na Venancia always winks at me to let me in on the joke as we're mate-ing around her fire, or how I now know and can join in on the constant gossip about the weather, the foot traffic on the road, and the price of cheese. And just by being here, Ris got to take that in for herself, and I could never really explain in spoken or written word. Hopefully she can share a taste of that with you back home as well.

What a blessing to have my sister here with me. Che avy'a!!!

Oh, and as to the title of this post, yes that is a direct quote from one of the señores as we walked up to his house. Contrast that with Argentina, where fellow hostel dwellers couldn't even tell we were sisters!?! Weird, eh.

World Cup and fun things to come

So the U.S. has made it to the next round, and Paraguay plays today. FUERZA PARAGUAY!

I haven´t been able to watch too many of the games. The channel that they´re on comes in really fuzzy and black and white on my neighbor´s tv. Plus... people in my community don´t really care THAT much. Sure, they want Paraguay to do well and to win, but everyday work takes precedence. There´s still work to be done in the field... and so they go.

This weekend is the festival of San Juan (Saint John). It´s a big fundraiser for the school, and I´m looking forward to seeing the kids doing some Paraguayan dance, eating lots of chipa and sopa, and getting my own groove on at the nighttime party. Should be fun!

One week from tomorrow, my sister will be HERE. With me. I still can´t quite believe. And I´m SO EXCITED!!!! We are planning on celebrating the 4th of July at the Embassy in Asuncion, coming back and visiting my site for a few days, and then travelling across the border to Argentina and exploring around the city of Salta in the North.

Alright, gotta run for my VAC meeting with other PCVs in my area. We are, apparently, making hamburgers and watching the soccer game. Go Albiroja!! (the Paraguayan colors)

Come Rain...We Plant!

Rain is to rural Paraguay as...

A) fuzzy : slipper

B) peanut butter : jelly

C) blizzard : Michigan

Answer: C. While rain in rural Paraguay can make things interesting (like fuzz to a slipper) and is integral for good eats (like peanut butter to jelly), the most obviously fact is that rain here shuts everything down, just like a Michigan blizzard. School is cancelled, no one leaves to go work, public transportation doesn't run, and only the "crazies" brave those kind of elements.

This kind of massive halt shocked me at first. After all, in the U.S. we just throw on a raincoat, run out to the car, and try not to park in a puddle when we get to whereever we're going. No one would ever imagine saying, "Oh...it's raining outside. Guess I won't be going to work today!"

But the longer I live here, the more it makes sense to me. Poorly drained dirt roads turn into mudpits and rivers with a bit of precipitation, and the constant lakes turn into oceans. Those clothes you just got soaked in? That is one of 2 pairs of pants you have. And when it rains here, the rain is usually here to stay for at least 3 days. That means no laundry, because nothing will dry anyway with no sun and all of the humidity in the air. Hot shower? Your showering area probably doesn't have a roof, so even if you do heat up a pot of water over the fire for a warm bucket bath, it'll just mix with the cold rain and wind coming up from the South, whipping at your exposed body, leaving you just as chilled as you started.

So while this may be a little dramatic, you can see that there are plenty of understandable reasons why Paraguayans do not usually leave their houses when it rains.

And so maybe with this preface you can better understand my amazement, bewilderment, and great pride in regard to the following story.

Last Friday, June 4, 2010, despite drizzly conditions, a late start to the morning, and no prior plan involved, 13 adults (including myself) and a whole mess of kids walked an hour through rocks and mud to the womens' comité's newly designated community plot up on the hill. We planted 3 different winter "green manure" or "abono verde" crops - Avena Negra (Black Oats), Lupino (Lupine), and Nabo Forrajero (Forage Turnip).* All in all, we planted almost 80 pounds of seed, and because it was too muddy to use the simple planting machine, we did it all by hand. Señoras left their kitchens and hence their responsibility of feeding lunch to their families, señores left their work in other fields and around the house, and the kids... well they gave up their free "rain day" of no class to come work in the field. There were no tereré or lunch breaks. We left at 9am and got back at 3pm. Can you say GUAPO/A!?!

And oh man, did people have fun as well, joking around and hassling each other. It doesn't hurt that almost everybody in the community is related in some way or another. I swear it was like a neighborhood block party... but in the cottonfield! And it was amazing to see people so dedicated to the idea of working together that they would work on a day like this, against so many odds. I still don't really understand how it worked out, but I am very impressed nontheless. It will be fun to watch how the field comes up, and of course see what people think about it. The oats and turnips are already sprouting, as of yesterday!

*Green manures are crops that you plant for the purpose of recuperating or protecting your soil. They fix nitrogen, break up hardpan, and provide essential cover to keep soil and nutrients in place. Promotion of green manures are one of the key areas of the Agriculture sector of Peace Corps Paraguay. However, it is difficult to convince farmers to plant green manures for a number of reasons. It is a something "new" and strange, seeds can be hard to find, seeds cost money and don't provide a quick turnaround profit, etc. My community's seeds were loaned to them by KOICA (Korean Overseas Volunteer Association) on the conditions that they prepare a plot ahead of time, attend a daylong workshop about green manures hosted by KOICA, and return twice the amount of seed borrowed (half of the quantities mentioned above are planted for seed for next year, and half for demonstration of the benefits of green manures.) If everything goes well, each family in the comite will have the opportunity to plant abono verdes next winter, at no cost, from a source within their own community. Sounds like a start to… sustainability. YES!!

When I woke up that Friday morning, I had no idea what the day would bring. I thought to myself, “Ok it’s not great weather, but we really need to get these seeds in the ground.” So I texted my community contact Ña Merarda and went next door to talk to my neighbor Ña Venancia. Both were giving me the “Ikatu / Puede ser / Maybe…” and asking what the other thought, until I got a little huffy, called my contact, put her on speaker phone, and BAM. Before I knew it, we had an ox cart coming to pick up the seeds from my house and were soon on the road, walking barefoot through the mud, picking up people at just about every house we passed. I still can’t get over how amazing it was. I guess it’s a good lesson for me to remember as well. Just because I want to work with Paraguayans, respecting their social and work culture, this doesn’t mean I shouldn’t push a little, ask the questions no one else is, suggest an idea even when I suspect it won’t be popular. After all, look what can happen. J Rain day success!

Let's talk about poop...

Here's my big news of the month: I am building a composting latrine. I knew the water level was relatively high in my site and around my house when I moved in, but I didn't know quite how high. Also, we have had significant rain in the past month. Technically, the idea of a normal latrine is that the "solids" stay in the hole, and the "liquids" filter out through the sand and dirt. However, my latrine is currently filled with watery poop mixture up until about 1 foot beneath the cement floor. To give you some reference to what I'm speaking of, Cape Cod is notorious for its high water table and hence easily contaminated aquifer. The water table at the Bourne House ranges from 3-4ft. on average. My water table is comparable to Scraggy Neck or Wings Neck, one of those little peninsulas jutting out into the bay. I will spare you the really gory details, but can you say...backsplash?

The new plan, currently under construction, is a composting latrine. Instead of digging a hole into the ground, it is constructed by building 2 brick deposits above the ground. You defecate (no urine) into one of the deposits for 6 months, or until it is relatively full, adding a small amount of dry organic material like sawdust or leaves every time you use it. Then you leave it securely topped and use the other deposit for the next 6 months. By the time that side is full, the previously used deposit will have composted and can be removed from the brick box by a small door in the side. After being spread out in the sun for a few days to kill any potentially remaining bugs or viruses, the remaining material can be used as very rich compost for trees or flowers.

I know it sounds gross, but doesn't it sound a lot better than contaminating your acquifer or trying to use a soupy "toilet"? It sure does to me! Maybe if it goes well, other people in my community will be interested in building similar ones as well. Right now, the people who do have latrines dig them very shallowly and then move them often when they fill up. However, they are not very sanitary because they lack a top for the hole, and hence can attract a lot of insects that can spread disease. Also, they don't smell so pretty. Other people have modern bathrooms, with a rudimentary septic tank called a "poso ciego". However, this can contaminate the acquifer as well because the waste just sits in the cement well and can leach out as well.

Maybe this isn't the blog post you wanted to read today. But think of how many times you use a bathrom in just 1 day. Where does your waste go? In the States, most of us are fortunately enough to know that wherever we use the restroom, our waste is securely flushed and transported to a place where it is treated. Yes, we have responsibility to get our septic tanks pumped and protect our acquifers from other sources of contamination. But we also have the infrastructure to be able to get clean water every time we open the tap and to be able to hook up septic systems to our houses.

I am just getting a little bit more of an intimate view of what to do with waste, a question that involves all of us, no matter what kind of bathroom you are using.

...and here are some pictures. Pictures not uploading but I will try again later.

Croppie Girls' Weekend

Last weekend, my friends and fellow Crop PCVs Amelia and Rachel (Raquel) came to visit. It was SO much fun. We mostly just hung out, chatted, made really good food, did some stargazing, met some neighbors, hoed some for the garden, watched some soccer, and chatted some more. Thanks to our Moms for making the pumpkin pie possible! (Cream of tartar for the meringue from my mom, canned pumpkin from Rachel's.) Happy Mother's Day!

It was wonderful to be able to share my daily life and my site with some of my good friends. "Rustic," "beautiful," "tranquilo," and "cool arquitecture" were key phrases mentioned in describing my house/site. I hope to return the visits in the near future.

In the Cold, Cold Night

I have officially broken out the long underwear to sleep in. ...Cheers!

I will write more soon, but the internet is super slow tonight and it's late. 9:35pm. Dear me. Too cold to stay out of the sleeping bag any longer. Tomorrow I've got shucking a huge bag of beans that I helped harvest so that I can store them for the winter. I'm feeling a little Little Home on the Prairie. If only I had some sassafrass and salted pork. (f.y.i. That is not a real wish list.)

Buenas noches. Hi'ante nde eketa pora. G'night!

To eat well or to work...sometimes that is the question.

Sautéed Veggie Sandwich on Garlic Herb Bread

Garlic Herb Bread

½ cup warm water

3 T yeast

1 cup milk

dash of salt

2 T Italian spices

3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup oil

¼ cup flax seed (optional)

3-4 cups flour

Add yeast to warm water, mix well, and set aside for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients except for the flour. Add yeast mixture to large bowl mixture and stir. Slowly add the flour until you get a good dough consistency. Then, knead the dough for 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with a towel, and set in a warm place for 1 hour (pre-heated oven works well for cooler days). After 1 hour, knead the dough again for 1 minute. Form into loaf shape and place, well-floured, into bread pan. Cover and set in a warm place for 1 more hour. Then bake in moderately hot oven for 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Sautéed Veggie Sandwich

2 thick slices of Garlic Herb Bread

Mayonnaise

Carrot

Onion

Green Pepper

Tomato

Olive Oil

Garlic Powder (or 1 clove, minced)

Parmesean cheese

Chop onion, carrot, and green pepper and sauté lightly in olive oil, with a dash of garlic powder. Slice the tomato and place in pan with sautéed veggies. Sauté for 20 seconds, just enough to warm the tomato slices. Spread mayonnaise lightly on both pieces of bread. Place tomato slices and veggies on the bread. Top with a generous amount of parmesean cheese. Enjoy!