...And now I have a new pet. This is Canela (Cinnamon). She is a carpincho (think: "Rodent of unusual size" from Princess Bride). I was sipping scalding hot mate with Kai Eligio last Thursday when his son Rafaelito pulls up on his moto. I wandered off to find a hoe for my garden and when I returned Kai Eligio starts telling me about a carpincho that has been caught. He tells me it would be excellent for my engagement party when Jeremy is here. I'm skeptical at first, but then I think why not. When else in my life will I have to opportunity to buy a large rodent. It will be a nice surprise for everyone. That same day the docile little creature arrives. She makes little grunting sounds, but not harsh like a pig. Jazz is crazed with its presence and won't stop barking. We keep chasing him off. Almost as soon as he arrived Kai Eligio and Rafaelito determined that he was going to be a lot of work and that we should sell him as soon as possible and get a pig instead. To date, Canela has escaped twice and now resides in the pig pen at Kai Eligio. Jazz still seeks her out to go bark at her, but everyone else is impressed at her cuteness.

Between grandfather Eligio exclaiming,” foto! Foto!” every time he finds something beautiful or unusual and just the ordinary scenarios that I find beautiful I have a memory card full of everyday memories. I have pictures of armadillos, a one day old baby sheep, an orange tree loaded with juicy fruit, a bird with a white band of feathers and more. the best part is that Eligio also has figured out the camera. Sometimes the photos don't turn out the best, but it sure is fun the watch him with the tiny red camera and hear him shout "oikopora" (it came out well) and give me a thumbs up. The snapshots I captured are of Kai Eligio helping his granddaughter, Dalila try on new tennis shoes he bought for her in town. Dalila’s grandmother, Naty broke her arm a few weeks ago and Dalila is focused on helping send a text message. I decorated her cast with my permanent markers and before it comes off I hope to have it entirely colored. The hard part is getting her to sit still. Even with a broken arm she’s always busy.

All the students from 5 area schools joined together to celebrate Independence Day. It was filled with traditional dancing, a giant torch being lite. Since May 15th is also Mother's Day, there were a half dozen poems either read or recited by the students. To close the event every school marched down the street carrying flags or banners. The high school students kept it festive with a drum line and baton twirlers. You are probably wondering why I was in it. Because I participated in last years dance class that was sponsored by the district cooperative I was asked to wear my dance costume and represent them. The entire event came together and was enjoyed by all in spite of the summer-like heat.

The bunch of bananas. Jeremy wanted banana flower pictures. Which lead to the last photo and many more and 70 bananas! I have about 2 dozen left.

Mini Banana Cream Pies for Mother's Day.

Beautiful banana flower.

Today was laid back compared to most days. I decided to skip the Bicentennial Independence Day Celebration in O’Leary to transplant my fast growing vegetable seedlings. (One celebration was enough. More on that later). A stormed moved in around 9:30am, but not before I spread the lettuce and beets to new beds. I also picked up the last of the passion fruit and a few plump lima beans. I gifted this to my Paraguayan grandparents. They had given me milk and fresh cheese that morning after grandfather Eligio and I shared anis infused mate. The real reason I am writing today is because I wanted to make your mouth water for mini banana cream pies. A few weeks ago, Kai Eligio gifted me an entire bunch of bananas (over 70 bananas! I counted.). Right now they are in their peak ripeness and besides eating them just as they are I have been experimenting too. While baking a cake with my neighbor across the street, Ña Kike, I got the idea to make the little pies. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and I will give them to the hardworking señoras who have blessed my life and without them Paraguay wouldn’t mean what it does to me. The crust is a toasted peanut crust. I baked it first and then layered slices of bananas. Next I spooned in a creamy layer of homemade vanilla custard. To finish I topped it with hand whipped meringue and baked it until the peaks were toasty.

El Patito y Su Cepillo. (L-R) Carmen, Lara, Angela, Noelia, Diana, Mavel, and Cristina

Alejandra presents the flip chart on dental health.

All the kids with their certificates!

Sing-a-long: (L-R) Me, Alejandra, Amelia, Elmer

“Me cepillo los dientes, cada día, cada día…” The sound of children singing and Elmer picking the notes on his guitar drift over the humid air. It’s Saturday afternoon and about 45 kids have gathered to learn about dental health. My parents brought me a load of dental goods donated to me by our generous dentist, Dr. Wintersteen. I did not want to just hand out the toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss and that is how I found myself leading a group of kids in a sing-a-long with three other volunteers. After the song icebreaker, a group of teenage girls presented El Patito y Su Cepillo. It’s about a duckling’s quest for his misplaced red toothbrush. All the animals he asks offer him a different red item that is good for your teeth until he finally finds his toothbrush. The girls had worked very hard coloring the pictures and attaching sticks to the props and I was bursting with pride as they each stepped onto the “stage” to read their lines. My closest Peace Corps neighbor, Alejandra, captured the children’s attention with a colorful flip book. One little boy was all smiles as he brushed the giant teeth I held. The terribly decayed teeth I passed around to the group helped hit home the destructive nature of sugar and soda. They were real human teeth that a local orthodontist had gifted me. While Alejandra explained flossing I asked for volunteers to represent teeth. Laughter filled the air as I pulled out my “floss” and flossed between the kids with the purple jump rope. We had scattered learning checks by asking questions. The reward was a mirror for the children to see their pretty smiles. Another fellow agriculture Volunteer, Amelia, read a short story about Sylvia and how she cares for her teeth. She asked a few more questions to award the final mirrors and then we presented the Colgate certificates with charts to mark when they brushed and flossed. I passed out the dental supplies while Professor Victoria read each participants name. The kids were all smiles as they carried their bag of loot home. The next day, my 5-year-old neighbor, Dalila, sang to me the entire song that began the presentation: Me cepillo los dientes Cada dia, Cada dia Despues de comer y antes de dormir Toda mi vida Toda mi vida (sung to the tune of Farajaka. Thank you Amanda Baranowski)

Today (January 25) was a busy yet relaxed ay all wrapped up in one. It was the certificate ceremony for the students that finished the typing course that began last October. I have an amazing community and without everyone pulling together it would have been a different story. Yesterday, once the power finally returned around 11:30am, I jumped up from the terere circle at Kai Andres and Ña Marina’s house and headed for Ña Asuncion’s to make soy milk. I needed the soy milk for the cupcakes I wanted to make. Even if I wasn’t happy about the power outage it was for the best in the long run because it gave me a chance to ask Kai Fernando to mow my lawn. Abuela Naty made faces of disgust while exclaiming how feo my yard was and telling me who to ask to cut it. While pasteurizing the soy milk I made lemon bars. Alejandra and Diana arrived just in time to help with the cupcakes. Alejandra squeezed a half a liter of lime juice and also kneaded bread in preparation for tomorrow. My boss, agriculture technical trainer, and volunteer coordinator, Gloria, Homi, and John, respectively, were joining me for lunch and the ceremony at 5:00pm. At 6:30pm, yesterday, I walked across the street to join Ña Asuncion and some other mothers to marinate the 100 pieces of chicken. It’s amazing what soy sauce, lemon juice, fresh chopped garlic, and lime juice can do to chicken in one night. After I returned I finished baking bread and flat bread. This morning I finished hoeing my garden and around 9:30am Diana and her sister Lorena came over to finish the cupcakes. While they topped them with Chantilly and colored sugar I finished making lunch—Mango/passion fruit juice, Guacamole, and tubule (a Middle Eastern dish made with cracked wheat, tomatoes, garlic, lime juice, and lots of parsley. It’s very refreshing for these hot humid days.) to go with the bean burgers I prepped yesterday. Gloria, Homi, and John arrived around 12:30pm followed shortly after by Alejandra. We feasted under the shade of the orange tree. Ña Asuncion, true to her words of not to worry, covered all the details of cooking the chicken and chipaguasu in the tatakuaa (brick oven) while I sipped terere with my company and completed the questionnaire regarding my 1 year of service in site. Around 4:00pm I joined my other neighbors, Mavel, Lara, and their grandmother to make 8 liters of passion fruit juice. The ceremony finally began around 6:00pm, but it was worth the wait because Kai Javier (my host Dad who is now the secretary for the mayor of O’Leary), the Mayor, and the Director of the High school and grade school all showed up. I was so happy to have so many guests in attendance. I did not have to do much talking since Mayor Amado took over by talking about the importance of getting the entire community involved in forming committees in order to improve everyone’s life. He talked about improving the roads, water, and electricity. At first I was worried it was turning into anything but a ceremony for the students, but after everyone spoke their piece, Mayor Amado, Prof. Edgar, Prof. and Secretary Javier, and congratulated all twenty students individually while Prof. Javier announced their names to the audience. The food was devoured in a matter of minutes. I didn’t even get a cupcake or lemon bar, but I didn’t care because I was happy that everyone else was enjoying themselves. After saying goodbye to all my guests and snapping a few more pictures with my students I retreated to my hammock to reflect on my day and the past year while the dropping sun painted the sky in vivid orange-pink hues.

Its a few days past Christmas and I can hardly believe that I spent another Christmas in Ka’a Jovai. I swore I wouldn’t be in site after I was so miserable last year, but it’s amazing what a whole year can do. Spending it with a different family and having a house packed with Americans sure changes the story. I have been planning for Christmas since my first green beans fruited and I was gifted a large Libby style pumpkin. I promptly put them away in the freezer. As the date got closer, my refrigerator got fuller. I was gifted several pounds of fresh Paraguayan cheese, liters of beans, a dozen eggs, and a live chicken. Great kindness was shown to me by the same gentleman who gifted me the eggs. Sandia or watermelon and Christmas are synonymous here. You can bear the Paraguayan heat any day if you can dig into a sweet, juicy watermelon. Last year watermelons were everywhere. I could eat watermelon with one family and then walk to another family and eat more. Since it is not allowed to be mixed with terere, I ended up drinking more water in sandia form than strained through yerba. I didn’t think 1 dozen eggs would satisfy 8 people so I made the 2 k walk to buy 18 more eggs. I was bemoaning the fact that I didn’t have any watermelon to Don Ignicio and he told me there was plenty just 5 K from here. The next day, the kind man and his nephew road over on their motos to bring me four of the largest watermelons I had ever seen. I was so excited. Thankfully, Teresa and I had just finished making scones and baking bread which I gifted back to him Five friends travelled out to my site in spite of the scattered showers on Christmas Eve. One walked 5K and Teresa came from the far southwestern corner of Paraguay a few days early to help with the food buying and preparing. The married couple brought a tent and four slept on the floor. Teresa and I claimed my bed. I borrowed a bunk bed from my neighbor, but it wouldn’t fit through my door, but tranquilopa there is always a place to sleep. Teresa and I had fixed spaghetti and garlic bread for our weary guests (Tk and Jenny came the farthest having just flown in from Costa Rica that morning. They arrived in Asuncion by 7am and came straight out). This isn’t your ordinary spaghetti dinner. It was fresh herb flavored tomato sauce and spicy sausage. Fresh baked bread topped with real butter, more herbs from my garden and the aged Paraguayan cheese. Homemade has a new meaning here. Thanks to the Romaine lettuce seeds from my Dad, we also served a colorful salad. Christmas Eve dinner was Chipotle chicken fajitas. Ña Lourdes showed me how to kill the chicken and I tried to wring its neck, but alas it was a tough old hen and Lourdes even had a bit of trouble. I plucked all the feathers and helped to cut it up. The chicken was full of eggs, or rather the yolks that were still forming. I threw all the random parts in the pot too—heart, gizzard, liver. I did turn down the feet. I didn’t think that would go well in a fajita. Christmas Day we shared with my Paraguayan family. Three tables were lined up together under the shade of the citrus trees and loads of food was placed in the center. Cheesy corn Sopa, rice salad, potato salad, clerico (fruit salad soaked in soda and wine), mandio, and coal roasted beef were the Paraguayan contributions. Lemon-herb marinated chicken, garlic roasted green beans and lima beans, pumpkin pie, and salad were the American additions. A prayer was said and everyone feasted. My Paraguayan family must think that all Americans like spicy food. The salad had a Hungarian wax pepper tossed in and Marcelo (cousin) started talking about how spicy the chicken fajitas from the night before were. He was sweating and we were unfazed as we shook extra Tabasco sauce over our plates. Around 6pm it was finally cool enough to walk to Rio Monday. A whole gang of us sauntered down the red, rutted road. I called out Felizidades to everyone and thought how strange they must think it is to suddenly have so many Americans walking down the street. We arrived at the river and after much begging Teresa talked me into jumping in with her. Jenny jumped shortly after. The current was swift and it took a lot of strength to get back, but that didn’t stop us from jumping over and over again. The water was refreshing and it was amusing to watch the expressions of the Paraguayans since everyone I know is afraid of water over their head since they can’t swim. After the last jump, I joined the game of Po (guarani version of 500) and promptly coated myself in sand when I dove into a sand hill. Walking back was exfoliating. Dinner was biscuits and gravy and scrambled eggs. Leah and Alejandra made the biscuits while TK used the drippings from the Christmas chicken to make his specialty. Of course it was spicy with the addition of the spicy sausage. Several rounds of card Monopoly were played after dinner. After losing all afternoon, I was finally able to win. It’s so much better than regular board game Monopoly. It has plenty of strategy in that it reminds me of Settlers of Catan, but it moves quickly and doesn’t require money. Everyone except for Dan, Leah, and Alejandra left on Sunday, but not before the cinnamon roll breakfast and real coffee. My old host family down the street was able to give them rides to O’Leary. After having a really random pop-pops war with the kids, I returned to my company for a relaxing Sunday. I like a Christmas that lasts multiple days. Presents are unnecessary with the presence of friends and family.

Being rained OUT of site was a new one for me. In the midst of the unexpected extra time, I realized just how much of a blessing in disguise it was to be stuck in O’Leary. It also helped that my PCV neighbor Mike’s host family has plenty of room. Through the course of the extra day, I stumbled upon a lady who is active in reforestation work. Less than a week ago my contact/host dad, Javier, approached me with the idea of replanting trees in the well pilfered remnants of forest. I said I would check into it, but had not put a whole lot of thought into it because I was not sure I could keep up with another project. But lately, I had been obsessed with the Chivato tree that grows here. Its vivid red-orange blossoms stand out against the rich green leaves. While biking with Mike to his English class, I noticed (it’s hard not to notice this tree) a Chivato tree with fallen seed pods. While picking up seeds, the lady at the store across the street approached me. She informed me of a woman down the street that often sells plantitas. And that’s how I met Ña Chichi, an energetic grandmother who travels to Itapu (about 1 ½ hrs east) to request free trees and thus far has reforested some 7 hectares. I returned to my site the next day with a beautiful little Chivato plantita and the promise of an invite the next time she makes the trip.

Above the falls.

the hike down.

Amanda and Amelia, my cropee girls...the ride out to the falls

The beautiful Salto Cristol, Paraguai, Paraguay. Secluded beauty...best Halloween ever.

November 21, 2011 It’s finally raining and I actually get to enjoy it because I am here in my house. Just because I haven’t posted in ages does not mean that nothing is happening. On the contrary so much has happened that I am having a hard time collecting my thoughts so I can report on the most important events. The past seven Saturday s and Mondays have been devoted to a typing course, supervised by myself and my 15-year-old host sister Noelia. To be honest, at first it proved to be more of a frustration that took me away from my agriculture work than something I was genuinely excited about teaching. But now that the students are getting the right idea and looking at their hands less I have realized just how many good Saturday mornings I have had because of the class. Don’t get me wrong it still has its frustration points. I have had to explain why every key is being typed wrong because Caps Lock was accidentally pressed to nearly every student. I wish I could disable that key now. I also wish I had blank keyboards so looking down would be pointless. Yesterday was beautiful because I brought my Spanish children’s books from the Peace Corps library with me and by the end of the day a half dozen children or more didn’t have to just sit while their sibling tapped away at the keyboard. It was the sweetest site to see my host grandparents and their granddaughter, Dalilah, enjoying stories together. (The classes are held at their house) Other Saturday typing class memories include an armadillo that stole the show. Kai Eligio even gave it a bath for its photo op. I always get to enjoy Terere with Kai Eligio. Yesterday, Cynthia brought a whole plate of hot sopa (cheese corn bread) her mother had made and Na Carmen served empanadas for lunch. Na Naty made papaya juice and I got to take the rest home since no one else wanted to drink it. I didn’t think the day could get any better, but after classes ended around 4:30pm I stopped to visit Na Asuncion. My garden is doing well, but I want to experiment with some homemade pesticides. After talking to Na Asuncion we journeyed out to the fields in search of the plants. We were joined by her niece and by the time we returned a good portion of the community was talking about it. Tomorrow we are going to smash up the plants for the pesticide. Every day has been a whirlwind of activity between keeping my house clean, my garden watered and weeded, planting green manures, making homemade pesticides and fertilizers, and keeping my compost pile at the optimal temperature there has not been time for relaxing in my hammock. But the temperature has been hovering in the upper 70s and lower 80s and I am not complaining one bit about the unusually cool spring and summer. I have so many other stories I could share, but I would like to hear from my faithful readers what they are curious about? Do you want more detailed stories and less of an overview? Do you want to know about specific work or more about green manures? I would love to hear your thoughts. Just send me an email at chowie86@gmail.com. It’s getting late and since it just rained tomorrow is going to be busy…like always.

Today started off like any other--cleaning up dog and rabbit messes, but then began filling with everyday happenings that remind me exactly while I love this place. When I arrived at the school, Professor Victoria and the 9th graders were already busy preparing our cooking project. Project goal: teach them that vegetables are delicious and nutritious. Most have never tasted broccoli or cauliflower, much less the leaves.

Vegetable soup (carrots, onions, oregano, corriander seeds, beets, swiss chard, broccoli and cauliflower leaves--and a bit of queso paraguay), cabbage salad (with fresh broccoli and cauliflower), parsley juice and beet juice. The students loved it!. We were using everything from the garden the students planted before I left for the states. I knew it was a

success too when the Professor's 5-year-old son had to be begged to try the

soup...and then ate two whole bowls!

I wrote the following haiku on my hand while waiting for the soup to boil. Naturally, the students were curious and immediately went to work diciphering the English to Spanish. Once I explained the significance they loved it.

Mango tree shadows.

Rubies, emeralds, pearls, and death,

9th grade cooking class.

On my way home, I stopped at Kai Pedro's and Na Lalita's house. I joined the terere circle and was immediately asked by Na Lalita if I could teach her how to bake bread. She wanted to sell it. Kai Pedro agreed to help with the wild hive capture on wednesday and wants to

plant abonos verdes when there's a full moon. To end the visit--a dozen bananas to enjoy later!

Now I'm home, enjoying pizza bread and fresh squeezed orange juice,

but before this I said hello to my good friends down the street. I

wanted to know if they were ready to build the compost pile (tomorrow

afternoon we have scheduled). We also chatted about the

school cooking class because their daughter, Angela, had just returned

from school. Her Mom is motivated to learn how to use the oven more

so she doesn't have to eat so many fried things. She also wants me to teach her how to make vegetable soup (am I really still in Paraguay? this is far from typical). The electric oven is better

because she won't have to gather firewood and cook in the heat and

smoke.

Just now I got a phone call from the lady i was supposed to visit

yesterday, but never had time for it and she said her son is coming to

the typing class this afternoon. Well, those are today's little

blessings--and it's only 1 in the afternoon.

I was waiting for a good rain to put everything on hold long enough for me to collect my thoughts and write another post. Spring is here and it’s a flurry of activity here. In an effort to give you a picture of what has been happening here I am going to give you my top ten favorite things that have happened since the last time I wrote (in no particular order).

1. Neighbors who bring me bananas. I love baking banana bread to give away and they fuel my supply of bananas. Tonight I plan on showing my Paraguayan siblings the classic camping dessert of bananas, marshmallows, and chocolate wrapped up in foil and heated over the fire.

2. Typing class. Noelia and I are teaching about 30 students of all ages using a typing program. Everyone is really excited about it, but the part of the story that touches me the most is how my community pulled together. One of the computers wouldn’t load the program at all and the other two had tons of viruses. Professor Lilian recently acquired a laptop and generously offered to allow the students to practice on it. Another professor, Professor Enrique, is good with computers and was able to correct the computer problems. Now we have 3 working computers.

3. Pumpkins, green beans, and other garden related things . My garden is sprouting and all the pumpkins I planted with my community are breaking through the ground too. Getting others to work with me has never been so easy. Yesterday, I had a breakthrough. I have been talking up “compost tea”, compost piles, and homemade pesticides. Na Marina and I gathered everything together to make some “compost tea” or liquid fertilizer and just as we were putting the finishing touches on our concoction her husband, Kai Anres returned. This lead nicely into talking about his pineapple plants. The fuchsia babies look perfect now, but I am afraid the hot Paraguayan sun will scorch them. Thus we are going to plant Luceana which is a fast growing, leguminous tree which will provide shade for the pineapples and the foliage can be feed to animals. Also, the wood can be used for burning fires in the fagon (wood burning brick stove) which they cook over daily. Hopefully, we can also plant Crotalaria because it will germinate before the Luceana. Crotalaria is another green manure which is nitrogen fixing.

4. Honey harvesting and wild hive capture. I have three people waiting for the weather to warm up a little more so we can work bees. There are always volleyball games before any work happens.

5. Jajapota vaso de vidrio de botella. Does teaching thirty 9th graders how to break glass bottles using wire and cold water sound like fun. Besides the bottles that were lit on fire using gasoline, everything went surprisingly smooth. By the way, soaking cotton string in gasoline, wrapping it around the bottle, lighting it on fire, and then dunking it in water will also break the bottle…but it also makes the resulting glass more brittle. I wonder why they even let me work in the school sometimes. Next week…let’s make volcanoes erupt.

6. Making Tofu. And serving it to Paraguayan. It must by something in my character and smile because people will always try what I ask them to eat and a large majority actually like it. The most popular way of eating it is when I mix it with herbs and make it a spread for bread. You would never guess it is soy!

7. Che ho’ukuaa brocoli hogue. I know how to eat broccoli leaves. Here’s a fantastic recipe. Let’s home the students are also impressed. I tried it out on my Paraguayan family first.

Here’s the recipe:

Roasted Broccoli leave, Cauliflower leaves, Kale, Swiss Chard, or other greens

Leaves

Soy sauce

Green onions

2-4 cloves of garlic

Sesame and or olive oil

Salt and pepper

Fill a pot 1/3 full with water and bring to a boil.

Wash the leaves and chop coarsely. Discard the tough parts. Place in boiling water, cover, and steam until tender. Drain. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet and toss everything else in. Add more soy sauce and salt and pepper as necessary. Top with sesame seeds. Enjoy!

8. Jazz. I have a new puppy. He’s just over 6 weeks old now. He loves to get into everything. Imagine a little white fluffy teddy bear. This pet loves sleeping next to Lila, the rabbit I am watching for a fellow volunteer.

9. Quinceañeras! And birthday’s in general. Lot’s of delicious food and dancing! There was one two Saturdays ago and this coming Saturday is Noelia’s. Today, my family butchered their hog in preparation and we enjoyed some organ meat and chucheron (the equivalent of bacon although more of the fat, delicious) with mandi’o of course.

I celebrated my birthday in Asuncion with a lot of my fellow Peace Corps friends. We had appetizers on the roof top pool deck (pear and gruyere cheese and caprese salad). We dressed up (thank you Mom for my birthday outfit) and headed out to a delicious pizza place that faces the President’s house. An exquisite white columned building that just glows with all the lights reflecting off it’s ivory surface.

And to conclude the night we ducked into a little ice cream shop on the return walk to the hotel. Catching up with good friends made the day memorable.

10. Rainy days and time to read. I am not sure where my list went, but I have read several dozen books. Currently, I am reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

(pictures will be posted in a few weeks)

I was hoping to report a smooth return to Paraguay, but now I know that all the other hectic travel I have experienced were merely training for what I faced in my return flight. Peace Corps scheduled my flight and I was only too grateful to be flying directly out of Willard. I had an 11 hour wait in Dallas/Fort Worth, but even that passed quickly enough. I can tell you exactly how to get to each terminal via the Skylink tram and I must have look knowledgeable because I was asked for directions on more than one occasion. I even had an opportunity to go to a chapel service—who knew they had such things at airports. When I finally boarded the plane for Buenos Aires, I was relieved to see how spacious the exit row seats are. The lady behind me wondered how I possibly could have reserved it. I told her I picked it out yesterday. The flight went smoothly enough although I did accidentally fall sleep on the guy next to me. In my groggy state I realized my mistake and quickly shifted to the other side. He was sounds asleep himself and I don’t think he was even aware what happened. It was a 10 ½ hr overnight flight. We arrived in Buenos Aires at 8:05am local time. My flight to Asuncion: 9:00am. As I followed the yellow line for connecting flights it dawned on me that I was not ready to board my flight. I did not have the next boarding pass and my luggage had only been tagged as far as B.A. I did not think much about this when I was in Champaign, but now I realized this might get complicated. I was not disappointed. Instead of continuing through to the gates, I went to customs with my flight itinerary. Because my bags were not checked all the way through I was technically entering the country and therefore required to pay the 130 USD entrance tax. “Al mismo, al mismo Senorita (minimal, minimal, Miss) ,” the customs agent said when I asked how much. I kept explaining that it was not my fault and tried to look innocent as I stood in the little office while more agents got involved. They were all drinking mate(the hot tea like drink) and I wished I could have some too. Finally, someone made a phone call, they had me fill out some forms, stamped it, and I was free to proceed, free of charge. By this point I had 40 minutes until the flight left. I knew I was in trouble. My grabbed my waiting bags from the carousel and loaded them onto an empty cart while searching for the shortest exit line. After asking for Aerolines Argentina Airlines I jogged with my cart to the counter. Breathless, I slid my itinerary to the agent. “Why are you so late?” she wanted to know. “I just arrived,” I explained. I gave her a rundown of my transfer problem. She made a phone call. “I am sorry, but the flight is boarding now. We can’t let you on. You were supposed to be here 2 hours before the flight. We can get you on a 3pm flight.” I exchanged some Guarani’s for pesos and purchased my bus fare. After 1 hour and 40 minutes of driving through downtown B.A. we reached a small airport by the ocean. My 3pm flight was supposed to board at 2:15pm and after running from gate to gate they finally called my flight at 2:45pm. I finally arrived in Asuncion at 4pm local time. I had only been traveling since 7am Sunday morning. Now I am back in site. It’s beautiful here and projects are starting to pick up again. Everyone was overjoyed to finally have me back and wondered at my extended absence. Yesterday, I visited Ña Asunción. The abonos verdes (green manures) I planted with her husband and brother-in-law are just starting to flower. There are still a plethora of vegetables from the garden we planted together. Most of the broccoli was flowering and I learned that they did not know how to eat it. I snapped a good head off and offered her a taste while explaining that you can also boil it. We shared it with the other women and kids who were also hanging out with her at that time. They were all impressed and just loved it. This afternoon we are going to plant some sweet corn and pumpkins from the states—and more broccoli. When the corn is about knee high I want to incorporate some summer abonos verdes in between the rows. It’s just another average day here in Paraguay.

This past week I had training out in the Chaco with my Paraguayan contact (not the isolated part, but far enough away that I can say I’ve been to the Chaco). When I arrived at the training school in Cerrito on Wednesday, I checked in with Gloria and Doug. They asked for my contacts name.

“Andres,” I said.

“Last name?”

“I can’t remember. Maybe Dominquez”. Gloria wrote that down.

Right after I asked Andres and he told me his last name is Insaurralde. I told Gloria and she said she’d change it.

Jump forward a few days to Friday evening. All the classes are over. We spent every evening adding to our farm maps brainstorming how to incorporate new ideas. To conclude Gloria, Doug, and Homi announced everyone’s names and gave certificates. Amid the applause Kai Andres shows me his certificate and to my horror it said “Andres Dominquez”. Kai Andres straight faced and serious simply states, “That’s not my name”. He doesn’t seem offended, but I feel terrible because I know how much Paraguayan’s love certificates (hence why I have a certificate for decorating shoes and I am sure I will get another when I finish my dance class). Later, I can hardly tell Doug and Gloria about the mistake because I am laughing so hard. They all agree that it’s a bad mistake, but it is pretty funny at the same time. Gloria said she could print another one. It serves me right for guessing at his name at the beginning.

In trying to make my life less difficult I often end up making things more complicated and stressful. Let me tell you about getting home this past Monday.

On Monday morning I made it to O’Leary around 8:30am. The weather was threatening rain, but when I asked about my busses I was told both the 10:30am and 1:00pm busses were running. My 1pm bus was not in its usual position up on the side road in all its decrepit glory, but I decided to try to make the early bus since it would pass directly in front of my house.

After buying Saraki’s rabies vaccine (they packed it on ice--nothing beats do-it-yourself vet work), I climbed the hill to Nathan’s house. It’s hard to see volunteers leave and Nathan is heading out, although not home. Since he’s not having a follow-up he gave his things to all of us current volunteers. Kristen (a new early education volunteer) helped me carry all my things down to the terminal at 10:30am. Sure enough that bus wasn’t running after all. Rather than carry everything back up to Nathan’s we put it on the back of the 1:00pm bus which by now had resumed its position. I talked to the kid to verify the leave time and gave him some money.

The weather was looking more and more threatening and I was nervous they might leave early. I ran a few more errands and would have been on the bus much earlier, but waited to walk back with Nathan and Kristen around 12:30 pm. My heart stopped as I saw that the bus was neither in its place on the hill nor across the street at the terminal. After asking the guys at the terminal we learned the bus had left about 5 minutes ago. Taxi! The taxi driver dumped a 2 liter Niko soda bottle of gas into the engine in the trunk and after a few false starts was able to get the engine going. It chugged and shuddered and I didn’t think we were going to make it across the Ruta much less all the way down Tape Monday fast enough to catch the bus. “Ipya’eve, IPYA’EVE”. Go Faster! “I have to CATCH the bus! All my things are on it,” I explain to the taxi driver again. I made a call to Kai Javier (my community contact and closest neighbor) and explained the situation so he could stop the bus if I didn’t catch it in time. By now the road is just a mud hole, but after fifteen agonizing minutes we see the rusty back of the bus. The taxi driver flashed his headlights. We argued about the price. I threw the money at him, thanked him, and jumped out. All eyes were on me as I found my seat and placed a crate of things beside me. I glanced towards the back and all my other belongings were just where I had left them. I prayed the rain would stop and that Kai Javier’s kids would be at the cruce because I had more than I could possibly carry. We almost got stuck at one point because a sliding moto caused us to lose our momentum while going uphill. It was still raining when we got to my stop. The bus could not go any farther because two large trucks were stuck in the mud at the turn in the road. The man from the sugar cane truck in front of the bus helped me carry all my things to the other side of the road. I just stood in the rain and tried to call Javier. My phone had connection problem. I was trying to figure out what to do when all of a sudden I saw a head emerge from the house at the corner. Soon she and her sister Rocio helped me drag everything up to the porch and out of the rain. They offered me a seat in from of the t.v. and I offered them bananas.

While they watched the soap opera I tried to reach Javier again. Rocio was finally successful and after the show we stood on the porch and waited. Through the mist 3 powder pink ponchos appeared and together Noe, Carmen, Rorro and I slipped and slid through the muddy street with all the things back home—at last!

I bought some more cow lung. Check out the cow head strapped to the 'moto'.

Enjoying some fresh papaya with Rorro.

Saraki is a waterdog! She loves to jump in the takamar (stock pond).

The school garden is growing fast!

Marcos and Tania...walking home

1 moto for a family of 5!

Displaying our soy food creations!

Na Lourdes and I make bread! (It was a little chilly that morning)

This past week I have been involved more than usual with all things soy. It started off my teaching the women from San Francisco (the next little community over) how to make bread and cookies with soy. This was in preparation for the great giveaway on June 9th by the organization that donated the soy processing machines. Over the next 3 days the ladies in my Mother’s Committee baked bread, cookies, empanadas, pudding, croquettes, and Pelotas---all with soy of course! The bread and cookies were stored in my house to keep hungry children at bay. My house smelled delicious. All the food was a huge hit at the final ceremony were 250 frazadas (blankets) were given to the poorest families of 7 communities. Tio Tom is the organization as we know it, but it is under the Taiwanese organization Buddha’s Light International. They had a camera there so I just might end up on TV in Taiwan. The best part about the day was when one of the women that I had taught how to bake bread came up to me all smiles and handed me a plate with the soy bread they had made using my recipe. She was so proud and it tasted delicious!

It's a Thundercats shirt!

Angela and Marcos show off their new blankets

The pile of blankets from Tio Tom

Carmen, Nora and I practice dancing. Saraki gets a kiss

My little shadow, Dalilah, turns 5.

The loofah sponge is finally dry! Miquel tests the internal heat of the compost. The water is hot.

Running to the disc. Look at that backhand form.

The sand barge. Mi abuelo took this photo

(above left) taking a hike with Jordan and Miquel

(below) Miquel and I build a compost pile

(left and above right) We all cooked dinner! Jordan was the photographer

Miquel and I bought 5 kilos of garbonzo beans...we keep forgetting that a kilo is 2.2 pounds.

Fellow Crop Extensionist PCVs Jordan and Mike came to visit in May. As you can imagine, I enjoyed playing hostess. We ate all kinds of delicious food, explored the forest (poor Mike got stung on the eyelid), Mike demonstrated his compost pile building skills, we visited Rio Monday, and even managed to film my house (video soon to be available). Here are a few pictures from their visit.

One of the most memorable parts of their visit was at the river. Mi abuelo, Kai Eligio, happened to be down by the river and offered to take pictures of us. You would not expect a 70-year-old Paraguayan man who has never used a camera before to be so willing to take pictures. But I felt like my Mom had taught him. He was telling us to move to different spots and he would take several pictures from different angles. It was too funny. After the photo shoot, we invited him to toss the Frisbee around. He was surprisingly very good. His did a wind-up action for his backhand. Jordan got some good actions shots. Oh, it was all too much. I was laughing uncontrollably. I love mi abuelo!

Granola

2 cups regular rolled oats

½ cup finely chopped coconut

½ cup coarsely chopped peanuts (not roasted)

½ cup shelled sunflower seeds

¼ cup sesame seeds

¼ cup wheat germ (optional)

¼ cup carne de soja (optional)

½ cup molasses or honey

1/3 cup sunflower oil

Mix everything together except the molasses and sunflower oil. In a separate bowl, stir together the molasses and sunflower oil. Pour it over the oat mixture and stir until evenly coated. Spread evenly in a greased pan (15x10x1 inch baking pan). Bake for 30-35 min at 300˚F until lightly toasted. Stir after 20 min. Let it cool on a large piece of foil before storing. Enjoy with your homemade yogurt and fresh fruit!

...Make granola to go with it. I´ll post my recipe next time. But here I am enjoying some homemade granola with the yogurt I made.

Fall is finally here. I couldn´t be happier about the change in weather except that the lack of sun makes it really difficult to make yogurt the way I did all summer long. I recently discovered a much easier and (more or less) error proof method. First, gather your supplies. First you need a thermos (it doesn't have to be for hot water because you never heat the water too high), glass jar that fits in the thermos with room for water to surround it (I use a Belén instant coffee jar), two pots, thermometer (optional, but much easier and more reliable results), and of course a stove (with 2 burners is best). You also need milk (already pasturized or just pasturize it and wait for it to cool down) and yogurt without preservatives and unpasturized (Lactolanda, Doña Angela, and LP are great brands). Now that you have your supplies, heat the milk and water to 45C (113F). Separately! You don´t know how many times I have had to emphasize this point. Next, remove from heat and slowly stir in 2 Tablespoons of yogurt per liter of milk.

Pour the milk and yogurt mixture into the jar and cap tightly.

Place the jar in the thermos and pour the heated water over it.

Screw the top on the thermos. Wait 3 hours. Refrigerate and enjoy. Sweeten and flavor to taste.

There's no need to buy more yogurt. Simply save enough from your first batch to use as starter for the next.

May 25, 2010

I’ve mentioned before the liquid detergent making kits my Mother’s Committee has been making and selling. I might have even mentioned how color is a must have to increasing the lindo factor and thus the ability to sell it. Well, last time I was in Asuncion the committee asked me to buy the colorante in addition to the kit. Today, we all assembled for some chisme and soap making. When it came time to add the dye Ña Kike diluted the 5 grams of dark blue powder and then added it to the bucket of detergent. Wouldn’t you know 5 grams goes a long, long way. I watch with part amusement and part fear that my entire community is now going to have bright blue hands because it’s staining everything as they fill the empty Niko bottles with the detergent. I am surprised that no one seems to be worried that the soap is now an inky black with bright blue foam. I comment on how fuerte the dye is and then I can’t take it anymore. I just start laughing. Laughing because it reminds me of an April fool’s day prank my sister Carissa and I played many years ago and because there is nothing I can do about it. They laughed to and then assured me that the color did indeed wash off. What relief, but oh now I know it’s possible to have soap too lindo.

1. Saraki is 5 Kilo´s now!! (in the background are my basil plants)

2. New play structure for the orchard? Haha

3. Party in the attic of Los Aples hotel. (we found blue cheese at the grocery store and Carlos had summer sausages some kind family member mailed him)

4. Amelia and I visited Amanda´s (far left) site. This is our pumpkin merengue creation! (thank you for the canned pumpkin!)

5. Amanda´s house. And her dog Rufio.

Tomorrow it is suppose to drop to 7. Thankfully that is in Celcius. So far the change in temperature has been wonderful. Even though I know colder weather is looming and my house is poorly insulated from the elements (my roof still leaks too) I just keep remembering how oppressively hot the summer was. (Now a professor is standing over my shoulder as I write. I’m jotting thoughts down in my planner as I wait for the 8th grade professor who I am working on the garden with).

These past few days I have been experimenting with oranges. I have quite an abundance of them. I just wish my internet was fast enough to look up more ideas. If anyone has any suggestions let me know. At a store that sells used goods in Asuncion I found a muffin pan and promptly made some orange muffins. Those sure have been popular. I even had my first host grandmother, Ña Vinda give me eggs, flour, and sugar so I could make more. (My secret flavor enhancer has boiling the orange peels with water until it was highly concentrated. My purpose was to see if I could extract oil from the rind. That didn’t happen, but I used up all the concentrated orange flavoring anyway). I am also attempting to ferment it like I would apple cider.

Yesterday, I went to visit Don Ignicio to see if he had finished the bataea style beehive. He was in the process of making a chain-link fence. I was intrigued by the simple little hand-cranked machine and asked him for a demonstration. I wish I had a picture to explain better. It was just a simple set of gears that when cranked fed the wire around a flat piece of metal that would bend it and thread it along the previous row of bent wire. Crank. Cut. Bend. Reattach hooks. Repeat. I don’t know how many meters I ended up making I finally told myself it was time to leave after lunch. That’s when he showed me the hive. I was so impressed and happy I wanted to give him a hug. He had followed the directions I had given him down to the centimeter and it was just falta the bamboo for the top of the panals. Now if it would just warm up enough so we can do the wild hive capture.

1. This is how I determined my dog weighs 2 kilos

2. Vaccinations!

3. and 4. More School garden photos. Muy lindo tablons!

5. Butternut squash plant from my garden

Top to bottom:

1. Pumpkin seeds from my Dad. They’re just starting to sprout.

2. Fresh squeezed mandarin orange juice.

3. Making detergent with my Women’s Comite

4. The cow’s lung (cooked)

5. The cow’s lung (before cooking)

6. The elementary school and high school had a talent show to raise funds for new desks

7. The delicious chicken we volunteers cooked at Amelia’s site

8. Grosella flower (they’re edible and taste like cranberries)

9. homemade wall hanging

10. Amelia and I went horseback riding!

11. Another picture from the school dance

April 22, 2010

It’s been almost a week since I returned from our 4 month reconnect. Everyone in my group of volunteers returned to Guarambare for language training and other technical information. It was great to catch up with everyone (many who I hadn’t seen since swearing-in), but by the end of the week I was ready to return home. It’s been a whirlwind of activity since I got back.

Getting back was exciting (when is it not intense). Somehow, I managed take a bus that didn’t leave until after 8 even though I was there in plenty of time to catch a 7am bus. But that’s just how it is sometimes. I was hoping to buy a few groceries and check my mail before heading back to the campo, but I was lucky I didn’t miss my bus. I lugged my bags over to the appropriately nicknamed Rusty Butt bus and stashed my stuff in the back. I nearly fell thru the rusty steps in my hast to exit. I ran up to the grocery store and made quick work of grabbing everything on my list. I usually don’t buy from the Economia grocery store because they follow me around and I hate that, but today I took advantage of that by asking for things on my list while I grabbed the rest. As I was returning to the bus a women who I had spoken to earlier when I first stored my belongings in the bus was rushing towards me. She didn’t want me to get left behind since they were ready to pull out. I was grateful for the help. On the ride home I learned she was from Anne Kenney’s site that was a few K before mine. I took the steps as gingerly as possible with all the extra weight from my pack and campo bag. Thankfully, I didn’t have to carry my campo bag very long because a guy pulled up on a moto and asked where I lived. I handed him my bag, but told him I couldn’t ride when he told me to hop on. As I neared my house my contact’s 4 children all came out to great me since they knew I was close because the guy had dropped off my bag.

Within an hour of getting back into site Ña Lourdes showed me to soy beans she had soaking. I ate a quick bite and helped her process the soy. She was so excited to finally have the dish detergent kits and after the soy we made one of them. Because of the time flipping back, it was already dusk when we finished.

This past week I have spent nearly every day at the school helping with the school garden. With the 9th graders I did a tablon planning activity. I presented them with a chart of companion plants and plants that don’t go together. I showed them the seed packages that I got from ABC Color (newspaper) and in groups they drew the vegetables for their seed beds. Lastly, each group presented and talked about how they use the vegetables (Remolacha por jugo—beets for juice).

In spite of the soil being hateterei, the guapo 8th graders dug all 6 of their tablons. Today, it finally rained and next Wednesday we will plant.

Tomorrow, the 9th graders will plant in bottles the vegetables that need to be transplanted. And on Monday we will dig 6 tablons together.

I’m excited about using the garden to facilitate other topics: health, cooking, homemade pesticides, building a compost pile, planting green manures, etc.

Besides the school garden, I’ve been tutoring kids in English. I am trying to make it fun and free flowing like my language training was here. We played Simon Says to conclude the day. You know you made some progress when 4 year-old Dalilah asks you for the English word for the part of the cow intestine that they use to make cheese. I had no idea. Teaching English is great because I always pick up new guarani and Spanish words. Yesterday’s word was ronroneo. Purr. You just never know when you might need that word.

Top to bottom

Anne came to visit me. She is taken with puppies in bags. This is how I transport Saraki whether I’m riding my bike or I’m taking the bus.

Nora wanted to bake with me. We made coffee cake with a peanut topping!

Easter afternoon fun: swimming in the river. It was very refreshing!

Easter dinner: fried fish from Rio Monday, bean salad, sopa, tortillas (Paraguayan style), chicken and pasta, mandi’o.

Semana Santo. The following 7 pictures all involve chipa making.

1. Spreading the egg shells in the street.

2. Chopping down banana leaves. The chipa will be placed on banana leaves for baking in the tatakua.

3. Slicing the useful part of the leaf.

4. Of course we brought some banana’s home for a snack too (and later a banana peel war. I’m not sure how that got started, lol)

5. Kneading the chipa. We made an entire trough of chipa

6. Lots of chipa.

Teaching Nora how to make Mexican style flour tortillas

Taco’s (well sort of)! The kids even ate them with hot sauce. I think I’m rubbing off on them. Ingredients: Flour tortillas. Fillings: carne de soja and beans with onions, garlic, and spices. Fresh tomatoes. Soy sour cream (more like a garlic sauce, but delicious), and hot sauce.

Saraki. Is she getting any bigger? She’s 3 ½ weeks older than the first pictures.

I’m sitting on my bed in my little house and the strains of music coming from the church across the street reach my ears. It’s the last night of Pascua Joven and I opted out of it. Apparently, youth is up to age 26 so it doesn’t really work when I try to pass 23 as an adult. The past few nights the activities have ended at midnight, but tonight is an alnighter.

I just finished catching up on J. Wo’s blog about U of I’s women’s ultimate team, Menace. It was incredibly entertaining, even if getting to San Diego was a disaster and the actual tournament didn’t leave my team well ranked. Ultimate is so much more than the end numbers and I am so glad they had a great time. I can’t believe J. Wo forgot her cleats in the car! I don’t feel so bad anymore, but at the time it was terribly humiliating. I think the worst part was that I also forgot my shorts, but of course I didn’t notice that I was also missing my cleats until after I had found a solution for my shorts. How embarrassing.

My first American visitor just left this morning. Anne visited me. She extended her service an extra year and I am basically her follow-up although I’m in a site she recommended which is a few K from her site. I had so much fun playing hostess and I was so happy to find a fellow soy lover. We made sloppy joe’s (I might have gone a little heavy on the worcestershire sauce) and baked sweet potatoes and for dessert that night I made bread pudding with a cinnamon vanilla hard cream sauce and fresh fruit. We spent the better part of the afternoon paddling around in a little row boat out on Rio Monday (mun-dow-oo). It was hilarious trying not to look like idiots. “Yes, I know how to row a boat,” I say, but this is always dangerous because it usually involves being watched by everyone and of course being no expert I don’t immediately smoothly pull out to the middle of the river. I get the hang of it eventually and at one point we realize just how afraid Paraguayans are of deep water. Anne and I were not entirely sure who was in trouble, but once things calmed down and the kids were out of the deep water Noelia’s face was pale white. I wish it was possible to teach swimming lessons.

Well, I’ll let the pictures show you the rest of this past week. Unforntately, I don’t have a picture from my banana peel war with Favie, but I’m sure you’re not surprised at me. We finally called a truce once the peels were beyond disgusting. Favie pulled out a glob of peels from his pocket. All this happened with the grandmother not minding in the least.

Top to bottom:

1. Sometime they get along (notice the Niko bottle dog dish)

2. …and sometimes they don’t (Saraki and Miliki the kitten)

3. Nora enjoys the cake I baked for Na Lourdes’ Birthday by candlelight (we lost power, again)

4. The delicious cake filled with homemade chocolate pudding and drizzled with dark chocolate sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

5. Post-rainy day fun. A raft with Niko bottle for the buoyancy!

6. Processing soja with the Señoras

7. Kai Javier and I planted over 40 pineapple plants or pups as they’re called

8. The kids and I harvested beans and corn!

9. Saraki fell asleep in my boot

10. Day 1…new puppy

11. Diana and I made pancakes with cinnamon vanilla syrup!

12. Painting the world map with the students in John’s site

13. Explaining how to transfer the map by following the grid

One of the great aspects of Peace Corps is working with other volunteers. Not only is it a nice excuse from the daily activities, but I always come away with more ideas. This past week I trekked out to John’s site to help him draw and paint a world map on a school in his site. I was joined by Carly and Lyn. While I was there we finished drawing the map and even got a number of countries painted. It was neat to see the kids point to Paraguay and really study the map. I hope to eventually organize the painting of the world map at the school in my site.

A few hours after I got home and unpacked Favie and Rorro biked up and presented me with a little puppy. The kids were all excited and tell me how 2 puppies had been found in the cruce or intersection. Carmen and Nora were smitten right away and asked me if I wanted her. I knew it was fortunate that she was even alive because normally the female puppies are killed outright. She looked fairly healthy too and I was pretty sure I knew who the parents where. I agreed to take her if their parents said it was alright by them because they would be the ones to care for her when I left. Caring for pets is a little different here anyway, but I still didn’t want to there to be a misunderstanding or frustration.

And that’s how I got Saraki (sar-ra-key) or juguetona or playful. It took forever for me to decide on her name, but by the evening of the second day I finally agreed to Saraki. I am guessing she is 4 or 5 weeks old. She’s been eating well. There is no dog food in site because people just give their pets scraps.

I was gifted a solar oven from a Crop Extensionist volunteer who just finished his service. Yesterday I set it up and baked biscuits. I would try it again today, but it’s been raining. It is just cardboard and one side had a reflective surface that concentrates the suns heat. The pot or pan is then placed in a plastic bag and placed in the center of the folded cardboard. Hopefully I can use it to make yogurt too, but I need the temperature to not get as hot.

This morning I biked to the school for my Paraguayan aerobic and dance class and noticed that the fence for the school garden was being constructed. I guess they really want me to work on building a school garden after all. This is excited although I must admit I am a little nervous. It’s great to see my community being proactive and hardworking. The garden is huge which is great because I should be able to turn part of it into a demo plot for abonos verdes (green manures).