Hope. A word with one meaning and far too many significances based on the person you ask, based on that moment in time, based in that frame of reference as a result of struggles, experiences, joys.

WIthin each of us resignates some form of hope. For some moments in time, the hope can be buried in the depth of our soul as we quest to receive an understanding of our own adversities. Latino, black, asian, middle-eastern, woman, age, foreigner, poor, undereducated, educated, gay, mixed race, orphan. The list could go on and on for our adversities which may be inflicted upon us everyday. Inflicted to point in which open wounds are left that continuously try to heal but never can due to day to day infliction. Despite the infliction, we can find a way to rise up in a hope. A hope in which things will get better; in which change will bring progress of equality and a better life.

It resignates within each of us through different means, some have more hope than others but it is still there.

Here I am 15 months into my peace corps journey. I reflect open my thoughts when i was applying to peace corps. Grandeur thoughts of grassroot community change. Inspiring hope among those around me that if we believe and work hard enough, poairive change will better our communities. I had hopes that emerging into another culture the support and different perspective I offered would assist in new creative ideas brought together by the community.

15 months later....

What hope I had in creating this great positive idealist change!! Don’t get me wrong, a great deal of change has occurred...within myself. As I reflect on my service I think of what i have done or haven’t done, the famous roller coaster ride of peace corps. I am astounded by the amount of hope retained within myself and in a culture so foreign to my own where i can get myself out of bed to do work. Peace Corps can be taxing on a volunteer because we serve as our own motivation, there is no one telling us to get out of bed, no one to tell us what to do, no one running up to us jumping with excitement to learn about the consequences of burning your trash or how to instill grassroots community change. The number of hours a volunteer puts in wandering aimlessly to clap at someone’s house, share some terere and explain what a Yanqui is doing in their community and despite popular belief, not spying on the community (Thank you Wikileaks). With this said, a plethora of hours are spent getting to know people, sharing gallons of terere based on the hope that we can create some small positive change.

It is beyond miraculous to see the hope that still lies within us during those dark times where we don’t find a reason to get out of bed but after a time, we get up and continuously give it a new try.

This is what my experience thus far has given me. Despite how dark of a place I am in, the adversities I face, hope is what keeps me going. Not the hope particularly that I will create a revolutionary type environmental program, but the hope that someone will be positively affected by me. The hope that my experiences are evolving me into a better person through wisdom obtained from Paraguayans or other volunteers.

Everyone wants to make a difference in the world but developing this difference is the most difficult challenge. Within each of us lies the hope and it is up to each of us to use this to inspire ourselves and those around us that positive change CAN occur. How do we think Obama is so successful, he founded his campaign and his career on the ideals of HOPE and ‘Change we can believe in.’

Sometimes books we read help to keep faith that the small successes we have are really worth it in comparison to the immense challenges faced.

Happy New to year to everyone, 2011, the year I will be home...

There comes a time in everyone’s life in which we ask ourselves the purpose and what lies ahead. In this way, we question the strength of our convictions, if it really is worth what I may say, “fighting the good fight.” As we go through the numerous adventures throughout our life, episodes occur in which our existence or ideals are validated. In this way, I am speaking on more of an intellectual level. As humans, it is innate to believe in a life worth living based on the sheer love received from our families and close friends, but I question, why lies beyond this? Is it expected to live day to day accepting the capitalist consumerist lifestyle, the way the government runs, that poverty exists on a worldwide scale, exploitation is to be accepted, or climate change is not induced by humans along with other widescale environmental change? I think that everytime people, or my parents especially, read a blog excerpt of mine, they enjoy reading it, but also question how it is I am so politically and socially motivated to write about such things when maybe, I should just be writing about my day to day tasks and cultural predicaments that differ in relation to U.S. society. Wait, I think that is goal #3 of Peace Corps, “Create a better understanding of your host country to people of the United States.” Woops. I guess I analyze and question too much...but here is the run down of my life the past few months as I continue to dive into the depths of what my life holds in the future, what meaning I can make of it, and how can I as one person create the change that I wish to see in the world as Gandhi so brilliantly stated.As I have mentioned the many ups and downs of my Peace Corps experience, they are due to cultural norms that differ from my own usually, but most recently in a sense of work. The valorization of the skills I bring can at times become hidden in a place where education is of a low value, a place where just because I do not understand the culture 100% or speak spanish perfectly without an accent, I am apparently not smart enough to understand the greater scheme of things...Who knows, it probably is because I am a girl, and we have known since early history that men are scientifically proven to be smarter than women....nonetheless to be a 23 year old educated women...anyways...I suppose I can stick to being a secretary or acting like I know nothing....As I began to question my place in society, my work, and gaining a better understanding of Paraguayan and world culture, a good friend of mine, Bor, another Peace Corps Volunteer who was placed only a 30 minute bus ride away from me in another barrio, opened up my world to some people based on his contacts through the Harvard Alumni Association. This is when my world changed, for better and worse. For the better, through Bor, I had the opportunity to meet and spend time traveling with Doctor Benjamin Fernandez Bogado, renowned Paraguayan leader fighting for valorization and higher education for all and expert in media and communication. He Studied at universities all over the world including Syracuse, Harvard, Oxford, UNAM, among many others and is the founder of Radio Libre. Needless to say, he took his opportunities and passions to learn more about the world, further his studies, and returned to create positive change in Paraguay. Hearing him speak to crowds at universities, on the radio, on tv, or in front of any audience is a breath of fresh air. The wisdom he has is unlike what I have found in Paraguay up until this point. Beyond this, to spend time with a scholar like this and to witness his pure generosity and how humble he is is beyond explanation. Doctor Benjamin has opened new doors to me in which I am witnessing people committed to socially just change in Paraguay, something that is sometimes hidden beyond the depths of Paraguayan society. Beyond this, his wife, Lizza Bogado is a renowned singer worldwide, and I had the pleasure to watch her perform; a performance to remembered for my lifetime. Needless to say, this family is extraordinary and I am beyond lucky to have met them and to establish further connections among other educated Paraguayan elites who are enthused by Bor and my work, and wish to support and help us.

After meeting these individuals who have inspired me and my work to go and do greater things, Bor and I also came to a greater conclusion...being overwhelmed by too many powerful contacts and frustration of Peace Corps for not establishing great contacts for us or supporting us in our ideas outside of just working to give presentations a few times a week in the schools. This is something complicated that I can not particularly explain in a blog post as far as my frustration goes, but it has been said to me before, the government is about media perceptions and not what actually is going on...With all this said, big plans are brewing up as I work with Bor and we plan these things with or without the help of Peace Corps, but are looking more into the connections of people we have gotten to know over the past month. On a brighter not as well, the Zero Waste Campaign that I spoke of before is doing well. I have been giving leadership trainings at each of the 11 participating schools. My contacts and I also presented our project to the state governor and he has agreed to fund the entire project for the rest of my time here, with about $8,000, AND he thinks that this project has so much potential, he wants to find a way to put this project in every school throughout my state. My contacts and I are also creating Paraguayan Leadership Day to honor youth and adults contributing to a better society on October 26th. More to discuss in the next blog when I speak of the projects being developed currently, when more is to be described.

I want to point out an interesting aspect about being a volunteer and having some of my best friends in Peace Corps throughout the world, Michelle in Panama on a remote tropical island with no electricity or running water, Brooke in a small beach town in Ecuador with not many resources not at Her fingertips, Toby with internet in his apartment in Kavarna on the Black Sea, the Rock & Roll Capital of Bulgaria with murals of Billy Idol and AC/DC in the city, and the newest edition, Roger in Mali in West Africa, one of the poorest nations in the world, who will most likely be living in a mud hut. When I talk to my friends in each of these countries, there is one thing that never changes, we all go through the same frustrations, difficult cultural adaptations, missing home and friends, and the roller coaster ride of emotions that volunteers seem to know so well. We understand each other in ways no one will ever be able to understand unless you are a Peace Corps Volunteer. One thing is for certain, we can all have some sort of contact with each other and home, and know that at the end of two years, we can return to our comfort zones back in the states to everything we know. In the Peace Corps, we are considered professionals who are well respected and as I pointed out in the past blog, sometimes lose part of our identity to integrate into our culture, but nonetheless, people seek upon us as our knowledge is different and accepted in ways, which would never really occur in the U.S. Thinking about the way we are accepted into other countries and loved by the locals and reading current events in the U.S. led me to reflect on the Immigration issues brewing. This has always been an important issue to me as it is so misunderstood and until recently, added along racial profiling under the terminology of “immigration reform.” Hearing the news of this brought tears to my eyes as I think of the many innocent people, the majority from Latin American countries, migrating to the U.S. in hopes of creating a better life for themselves, and possibly their families. Many immigrants come to work in extremely harsh conditions, such as in the agriculture industry, bent over for hours picking strawberries, risking pesticide poisoning, almost no access to health care, sometimes even no access to running water or proper sanitation, even food. Many may say, they came here by choice. I agree, I came to another country by choice as well, the difference, I am here on part of the U.S. government as a professional, and the underlying privilege which is often disregarded, that I was born and live in the U.S. Because of this, many people want to know you, they believe you, no matter how little money they have, there is always a offering of food or something for you. This makes my life easier as it is a struggle to try to grasp the language, understand the different cultural norms, be in another country in general, especially when you are far from everything you know, especially your support system, family & friends. I could never imagine immigrating to the U.S., getting the most physically demanding jobs, struggling with a new language, adapting to a new culture, being away from family and friends, and top of this all, being incredibly discriminated against. The way people even talk about illegal immigrants, which mostly happen to be from Mexico and Central America, and how stupid they are, even how they don’t deserve anything sickens me. Think about it, these people are often learning at least their second language, and dealing with a whole new culture, one where most families will not open up their arms and doors to these outsiders to share a meal with them. It hurts to hear here in Paraguay how often people ask me about racism in the U.S. Mainly because of the sort of media shown here, people ask me if we still hang African Americans, and they see on the news the way illegal immigrants are always sent to jail just for trying to work. It is really unfortunate that this is a common view, that we, as in people from the United States are extremely racist. Understanding the power and privilege the U.S. wields, as a country, we should strive to create a good example, not one based on being racist, creating unjustified wars, violent and tortuous, or everyone being rich, but a place that is just to all. The name of the blog is entitled “Heart of a Lion” based on the Kid Cudi song, because I feel that this encapsulates what must be endured by immigrants, especially in a society in which racism is becoming more institutionalized day by day. I urge everyone to think and take action to stop the politicians acting irrationally and educate people around you because everyone deserves the right to a better life, and especially to be treated equally.I dedicate this blog to any person who has immigrated to the U.S., or tried to live in another country, especially my mom who has endured more racism, and discrimination than many people will ever know or have to go through.

This posting is ESPECIALLY not connected to the U.S. government, but my own views.The View from my apartment over the river.

Here in South America, winter has been entered upon. Although most must assume that winter is not “real” here in Paraguay since it is one of the tropical countries, let me assure you Paraguay is a subtropical country, and it has been ever so hard to leave my bolsa de dormir (sleeping bag) since the start of July due to the coldness.

July started with a trip to Asuncion, the Capital and into the Chaco to a self sufficient agricultural high school is located for a 4 day training. This school was amazing because they produced their own food and created their own income through selling the goods created at the school. This was during the World Cup, so needless to say, training had to be stopped mid-training to watch Paraguay play.

Being in Paraguay during the World Cup was really amazing. Paraguay was one of only 6 Peace Corps countries that qualified, and as they made it into the Semi-quarter finals besides Ghana. So, basically Paraguay was going crazy. School was basically cancelled on the days that Paraguay was playing, and most businesses shut down to watch the game. As goals were scored, I could hear fireworks, horns, and screams of joy erupting all over the town. As soon as the game was over and Paraguay had either won, or tied but was to advance, many rushed out of their homes into their cars covered in Paraguay flags, wearing their soccer jerseys, to parade up and down the streets blasting music, yelling for joy, and many, celebrating by drinking beer while doing all the other things. Things were exciting needless to say, and you really felt left out if you weren’t wearing some article of clothing related to Paraguayan soccer.

The main plaza in Asuncion on game day.Needless to say, it was exciting time here as there was Paraguayan pride to be found everywhere throughout the country. It was an exciting time as Paraguay is usually an unknown country in the heart of South America, but the World Cup and the Paraguayan National Team really did start to put Paraguay on a map as many were surprised to see such a small country advance so far. Who knows, maybe Paraguay will win next World Cup in Brazil, 2014!

Watching the Semi-Finals in AsuncionBeyond this, the coldness has coincided perfectly with the teacher strike and the 2-week winter vacation. The week before the vacation was to begin, teachers went on strike due to low salaries, this occurs often here, as it has been the third one this year. However, this cancelled school for that week, and is said to go for another 45 days. This was also besides the winter vacation. Now, besides the strike, the Ministry of Education and Culture gave another week of vacation off because it has been so cold.

You might think Paraguay being cold is a joke, but in the past few weeks, the temperature dropped to 30 degrees one night. I know that this temperature is weak and nothing really in comparison to the winter temps in Lake Tahoe, but imagine this…30 degrees in a country where heaters only exist in the wealthiest houses in the country, fireplaces are more rare, where the houses are built to endure the heat, so they are all cement or plywood buildings with single pane windows if there are windows, and cement or tile floors, with many holes for open air to come into your house. So basically I never left my sleeping bag, which is equipped for 25 degrees. Best and most useful present my mom and dad have ever given me. I lived in long underwear with another pair of pants over, record was up to 4 shirts with a heavy jacket on that was worn inside and outside as the temperatures are the same. Needless to say, it was also painful to take showers or even go to the bathroom. I laid in bed seeing my breath as I was breathing. Beyond this, I happened to get a horrible cold so was stranded in my sleeping bag too sick to leave, and listened to lots of music.

Besides the cold factor, washing my clothes was not really an option either. Besides the fact my hands would freeze off from leaving them under the cold running water to hand scrub all my clothes because washers and dryers are few and far inbetween, due to the humidity, clothes would never dry without the sun and would only get moldy and get that awesome musty smell I love my clothes to smell of. Laundry just makes my life so much more difficult sometimes, but hey, it is relaxing to wash my clothes outside on a nice day.

I talk about the weather often because this country for sure has some extremes, which are even more prevalent as every building you walk into is not equipped with air conditioning or heat. I becoming better, harder, faster, stronger….or maybe just more comfortable with whatever happens, happens. It shows me what I, or humans in general can endure and how much of that is lost back home, or maybe how much I wish Lake Tahoe was here in the summer and my fireplace in my room these past few weeks.

The common view of the Peace Corps in the U.S. is one that shows volunteers building schools in these poor countries, installing running water, or overall very large-scale projects. However, the reality of life and work of a volunteer is very different from this. Things vary greatly depending on your country, and especially within your country to the site you live in. Each one of my friends experience different types of work because of the different needs in each community, to the money available, to the resources the volunteer may offer or have interest in, to the size of your community. I live in a more urban site so there is more money. However, along with more money, there is great need as the gap between rich and poor within my city is very prevalent.

As the school year began in the end of February, I started attending school to get to know the teachers and have an idea what types of things they are interested in. My main contact is the Coordinator of Projects for the middle school aged kids. She is extremely motivated and has many ideas for big projects, but just does not have the support she needs in terms of expertise of subjects, development of projects, and how to continue the project. This is where I come in. She has wanted to create a project entitled, “Zero Waste Campaign.” However, her hopes for this project are not only for this school of 1,200 students, but she wants this to be institutionalized within every school in my city, and later into all of Paraguay. This makes sense because trash is a big problem and this project includes the maintenance of schools, consciousness of environmental problems so that students learn to value and keep the environment healthy, a school garden to promote nutrition as students are encountering many problems with health here, and environmental leadership though a youth forum in which all schools can attend. Needless to say, this project is large, but since I have experience with large projects, I am excited and motivated. I have already completed with my contact the budget and proposed project, which will soon be presented to local and state governments, but also other organizations in hopes to receive the funding.

As I started with my school, I was introduced to a NGO named PREVER, which focuses on drug addiction, but also other threats to creating and/or maintaining healthy communities. This NGO gets their funding from Spain, but the funding is for their community center and to pay the salaries of the main workers who are a combination of social workers and psychologists. This NGO works in the most marginalized neighborhoods of Encarnacion to promote sustainable development through helping to find health care at reduced costs, classes to promote new jobs like cosmetology, computer science, etc, and many youth leadership groups. The women who work there are amazing and are eager to use my knowledge in the environmental field. With that said, I work mainly with a Social Worker named Francieli who is Brazilian, but grew up in Paraguay. She is about 26, studying to get another undergrad degree in Psychology and wants to study somewhere else in the world for her masters. Anyways, I spend a lot of time with her and we developed a family gardening project. We surveyed about 50 families about if they had gardens, would like one, have health problems due to lack of nutrition, and/or have space for a garden. Essentially we narrowed this group down to 12 families in which we will be providing technical assistance by me on the gardens, and we are still asking for funding so each family can receive tools, seeds, and other resources necessary for the project. This project spans from my class last Thursday until this October. Many of these families once lived in the country and had land, but due to outside pressures and lack of economic resources, were forced to sell this land and move to the city in search of a better life. Needless to say, many of them lost their knowledge about gardens, and many suffer from malnutrition since they can not afford vegetables. In this sense, I am teaching them some biology, ecology, social sciences, and nutrition throughout the course of this project. I am super excited about this project because it is all older women with a couple younger women around my age and although they have spiked their curiosity in me the foreigner, they want to have gardens to empower themselves and their families for a healthier lifestyle. In this venture, I have been inspired to begin my urban gardening as I will begin to garden on the roof of my apartment, probably the first in Paraguay that isn’t just herbs…

Both of these projects have taken a lot of my time to plan, but are finally underway. I am really into both of them and have some other great ideas for projects, which will soon become developed, and I will let you all know. Another thing I am spending a lot of my time on right now is making recycle furniture and crafts for my new apartment…Take a gander of my pic of the trashcan I wove out of newspaper…ballin!

Many times people from the U.S. symbolize their country with freedom. In other words, the U.S. is synonymous with freedom. Freedom of speech. Freedom to choose. Freedom to be an individual. Freedom to create your identity without the fear of being persecuted…or wait, is this really true?

The Peace Corps has given me insight of what sort of context portrays in my everyday life.

In terms of neoliberalism, free trade is the utopian type of hyper capitalism with a side of freedom for those who operate in this system. The freedom to exploit women and children for labor. The freedom for corporations to cross borders freely to pursue lessened labor laws and environmental laws. The freedom to pollute air, water, and people, as much as you want. The freedom of consumption. Although I could go on, elitists in power also have the freedom to pick and choose the freedoms allowed to everyone else.

The freedom to live without persecution based merely on the color of your skin doesn’t exist, just ask Arizona…The freedom to choose an alternative economic system because apparently exploitation of people and nature are the ultimate model of freedom. The freedom to stand up for what you believe in without being reprimanded in society. The freedom to say that 22,000 people dead in Mexico just based on the past 3 years due to the Drug War initiated by the U.S. is not worth the lives of innocent people it has cost. With this said, all I am asking for is the freedom to be me.

The Peace Corps has presented a fair amount of challenges and questions as I beg for the freedom to be me. We join this government organization in helps of helping to sustainably develop a country in the global south. What I have I realized? The inability to be ourselves.

The first day of training we have 3 rules drilled into our head from Peace Corps Paraguay. No riding motorcycles, no drugs, and no crossing into other countries without telling Peace Corps. I do understand that these rules exist for our own safety, but I am just providing another outlook. These may not seem like such big problems until you understand that motos are to Paraguayans as adderall is to college students during finals week. Crossing into other countries, I live a 10 minute bus ride over a bridge to get into Argentina. I have to take vacation days to go there for a day. As for drugs, they are prevalent as Paraguay is a major exporter in the world of Marijuana. I am not saying that I have a desire to do any of these things or even will if I didn’t have these rules in place, but the freedom is taken away instantly.

Another part of being a volunteer is adapting and integrating into the culture and especially within your site. Peace Corps volunteers are supposed to be the epitome and example of a U.S. citizen. In many of our communities we may be the 1st or only person from the U.S. these people may meet. With this said, people form opinions easily based on this one volunteer that they meet. I find myself trying hard to fit in and being nice to everyone so I am well rounded and liked with no hard feelings. It is nearly impossible to express my opinions or many of my ideas because this could harm my relationship with many people that I need to have relationships with.

This really has affected my mental and emotional state. With this said, the family I was living with literally drove me into another state of mind, and where I usually speak up for myself, I found myself restricting and suppressing my emotions because I had to maintain this relationship for my jobs sake. I suppressed those emotions to the point in which I almost came home because I was in such a bad state. The thing about peace corps is not only the fact that job and home life is the same thing, but that we continue to go through extremes of emotions, a great amount of ups and downs, the 2 year roller coaster. The fact that my job depends on my relationships and vice versa, it was really hard for me to pack up and just leave, beyond this, it was hard to be me and speak my mind.

My solution to this dilemma was moving out because I could not bear to stay in that house a minute longer. As my search was intense to find a place of my own within my peace corps salary, I had to compromise things, but anything was better than being in that house. I needed some space that I could call mine and not worry about being constantly supervised. 5 months into living in my site and I finally got it.

Freedom is something we take for granted the way I took washers and dryers for granted in the states where now I wash everything by hand. To me having the freedom to be my own person is very difficult as I strive day to day to adjust to this culture. The freedom I have to be me was taken away and with that, my mental health. I still ask myself if this job is really worth that? Is it worth losing my identity to be here? As I go on questions persist, but I realize how much exponentially happier I am to have a place to call my own. I know this blog is slightly intense, but it is something I think about here a lot and I think it is an important part of all of our lives. As Bob Marley says, “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”

Til next time, Lots of Love from the heart of South America….

So i have not updated my blog in awhile, but I am in the process of writing about my happenings. Needless to say, I have encountered many changes recently in everything I am getting involved in, and new challenges. I would also like to add that the earthquakes were not felt here, Paraguay is not known to have any natural disasters, but thanks for thinking of me anyways. I look forward to updating you, but here are a few pics from my trip to the Jesuit Ruins of Paraguay which are about 1 hour away from my site...

So I will dedicate this blog post to a more environmental perspective on Paraguay and my site of Encarnacion.

So, I tend to talk a lot about the heat these days whenever people ask me how im doing. I suppose this is me becoming Paraguayan because my conversations with Paraguayans usually go like this, “Its really hot today,” “Yup, I’m really sweaty,” “yup, want some terere?” “yes,” “so you really don’t eat meat? Not even chicken” “nope, not even chicken.” “It is really hot out today.” “Yea, I hope it rains.” “Its hard to function when its this hot.” “Yea, I think I am going to go walking right now for a bit.” “Are you crazy? It is way too hot out there!” “Yes, but I cant stand sitting in the heat anymore, at least I will be moving” this is proceeded by many strange looks and confusion as I walk through my neighborhood and receive long stares as I walk by in the middle of the day as everyone is sitting in the shade drinking terere. This is how they realize that my looks are deceiving and am actually not Paraguayan, but a loco norte.

Many Paraguayans believe that this year is one of the hottest that they have experienced, which means I have great luck! Or not at all…But anyways, I have heard a couple, litereally, of Paraguayans say, I heard that it is more hot because we keep cutting down all the trees in the country…BINGO!!! Let my role as an environmental educator proceed. So, I continue to explain that this is true, trees play a vital role in the climate and are making it much hotter than ever before experienced. This is interesting because Paraguay has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world for a country of its size, and continues cutting trees. My site is situated in the Atlantic Forest of the Alto Parana (BAAPA), which is a major ecological and economic resource. Sadly, little of this forest is left and on the drive from Asuncion to my site, you can see the forest islands all around with either agricultural plots taking the place, or simply grazing land. I have heard of these forest islands in my environmental classes, but actually seeing them really gave me a new realization of what they actually mean, and how devastating they look.

Another important issue here I encountered the first day in Paraguay is trash. I gasped in horror when I saw my first Paraguayan take their soda bottle and throw it out the bus window…I suppose I got used to it after this happened repeatedly when they were walking down the dirt road to throw their candy wrappers on the floor, lots of soda bottles, and plastic bags. Many of the houses where my friends lived didn’t even have trash cans. The reality is, there is not an adequate trash management system in general, so most Paraguayans either throw it on the ground, place it in a hole in their backyard, or put it in a pile across the street to burn. Burning is the most popular method of controlling trash since digging holes can be labor intensive, especially in the heat.

There are also the problems brought about by the dam. These problems are large and include things such as water contamination as the lower parts of the city become inundated, lowering of fish populations, and new climates as the river expands in size. The dam has so many problems associated with it, not only environmentally, but socially. I have been researching the history, and this dam was largely funded by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, which really makes me question the whole project. It is owned by both the government in Argentina and Paraguay, and the contract was created while both countries were in dictatorships, so they largely benefit outside companies, and a lot of the loans given by the international institutions has been “unaccounted for.” So, the Entidad Binacional was created in hopes of mitigating social and environmental problems created by the dam, such as my neighborhood, where they built all the houses for those displaced. I am pretty sure a statistic said the Entidad has actually only barely used about a third of its money with the rest being “lost.” On a side note, because I have a lot of academic interest in world institutions such as the World Bank and their “development” aid throughout Latin America, I am working to research this more and hopefully write a paper about this with the help from a generous professor at UC Santa Cruz. Needless to say, it couldn’t be more of a perfect site as I live in a displaced community as the inundations are still taking place and about a 5 minute walk from the Entidad.

So, there are a lot of environmental issues, beyond the extensive social issues, going on here in Paraguay which I am trying to learn about day by day. I know my thoughts are too radical for the politics and role of the Yacyreta Dam, in this country as Peace Corps volunteers are supposed to remain neutral, it seems like I need to help in some way to show people that not all development projects are bad and can actually help the people, especially in terms of the environment. Currently I am trying to work with the Red Cross here in the city on AIDS education and am hoping to start help leading discussions with adolescents about environmental issues and self-esteems, drug addiction, things that are affecting them currently in this border city. School will begin at the end of February, so I will have more work then as well.

Another side note, there was another Churro siting as I was on the bus and the man next to me was selling them…Yes, I bought one, it was fate….

Also happy birthday to some people I wish I could be celebrating with: my dad, Chuck Norris!!! Wahoo, A certain Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria who goes by the alias of Tobias Highlander Hewitt, and a new adult to the world, Dempsey.

So, on this blog post, I have decided to include various lyrics of songs and song titles because well, I have a lot of time, and music is close to my heart these days as I am by myself in a foreign country with more time than I have ever heard before.

The heat in Paraguay…Killing me softly, even though this probably isn’t what The Fugees were talking about when they wrote this song. The heat is beyond my wildest dreams of anytime I was in Tahoe praying for the snow to go away, well, I would gladly sit in that coldness. Lets talk about the heat, it is about 95-100 degrees everyday with lots of humidity on top…Well I know everyone probably is thinking it must cool off in the evening, well, no, it gets to about 90, and lets just say, I cant sleep many nights because it is too hot. Also, we must remember that this temperature does not seem all that bad when it occurs in the U.S….the difference in Paraguay? There is not air conditioning in every building you walk into, actually air conditioning is a rare commodity, as most cant afford the expenses, so most sit outside hoping for a breeze and drinking ice cold terere or sit under their fans…Something I cant go to sleep without. In other news, since I go on long walks, after about 20 minutes there is usually sweat dripping down my face uncontrollably with a rather moist shirt and on occasion, some sweat through my pants. Life is fun, but it would be better if Jimmy Buffett delivered me a nice cold Piña Colada. So this is why Paraguay has made me fall in love with ice, carrying a sweat rag everywhere to wipe down my face, and my fan.

The Smashing Pumpkins smash hit, The Beginning is the End is the Beginning pretty much captures my first month in Encarnacion. I came here extremely eager to start my work as a Peace Corps Volunteer, meet new people, and integrate into my new community…One obstacle….the dreaded holiday season. So I arrived in site December 15th, perfect timing to move in with a family you barely know, to share Christmas and New Years, two extreme family holidays together. Bring on the awkwardness. As I sat, Christmas Eve finally came, I was told to bring my own food because Paraguayans just eat meat, usually, but especially for the festive dinner at midnight. So I prepared bean salad in my tupperwear to bring and baked apple empenadas for everyone. Paraguayans eat lots of empanadas, but they usually consist of meat, eggs, cheese, or mixtures of those three, so I was going out on a limb here. When we arrived, I don’t think I have ever seen that much in my life…I thought my mom’s family and others from mexico were carnivorous, well, Paraguay makes them look vegan. There was a lot of awkward moments as people just stared at me because clearly im an outsider at a all family dinner.

Random moment of Paraguay that makes the world small, and a break in my awkwardness. So, after finding out that my host moms family have traveled to several places in the world, I was talking to their daughters, and one kept asking me the city I lived in in California, well I finally was like a small town in the mountains with snow and a big lake called Lake Tahoe, as if she would have no idea where it is. WELL, little did I know, last year she was one of those foreigners that comes to Lake Tahoe to work at the ski resorts for about 4 months. I couldent believe it, she talked about Cabo Wabo, Vex, the street she lived on in Stateline, it was so surreal. Who would of thought…

So anyways, after a HUGE meal at midnight, champagne, pan dulce, and lots of kissing and hugging at midnight, it was about 2:30am and we went home. The next day, Christmas, nothing is celebrated so there is lots of sitting in the heat. It was a really hard day for me the moment I woke up as I couldent smell the delicious breakfast my mom makes, my dad blasting Mexican music, and my brother saying how he has perfected my mom’s recipes. And last but not least, there was no smell of a pine tree, or a decorated tree and no SNOW!!! I couldent down the minutes for the day to be over, and talked to my Peace Corps friends to reflect on our homesickness and how much happier we would be the next day.

New Years was quickly approaching and I didn’t think I could make it again in awkwardness, so I arranged to visit my friend Jessica about 2 hours away in Ayolas for about 5 days. This made my life complete. So much english to be spoken, homemade tortillas for tacos, French toast, pizza, bruchetta, That 70’s Show, life was good. We celebrated New Years Eve with her contact’s family with another large dinner at midnight. This was nice to just have a friend to celebrate with, and get some texts from home with a New year message.

So now, I sit around, so happy the holiday season has ended at last, even though the heat will continue for a few more months. As The Beatles said, I am gonna get through all of this with A Little Help from my Friends.

Hey! here is my new mailing address...I will also update my blog soon! Happy Holidays!

Jessica Wackenhut Lomeli

Correo Central

Encarnacion, Paraguay

South America

About a week and a half ago on December 7th, my friends Jessica, Brenda and I decided to go on the pilgramage with Brenda’s family to the Basilica de Caacupe. Caacupe is the most important religious symbol in Paraguay and the dedication to the Virgin de Caacupe resembles that of the Virgin de Guadalupe in Mexico. This is one of the more important days in Paraguay, which is why most people get off work the 7th at mid day and have the 8th off. December 8th is the holiday and when the actual mass is held at the Basilica. However, since this is the beginning of a ridiculously hot summer in Paraguay, everyone begins walking for miles and miles from their towns on the 7th to arrive in Caacupe for the morning mass. We began our journey at 9:30pm on the 7th. Guarambare on a bus to the basilica would probably be about 2.5 hours, but we took a 2 hour bus to a city called Ypycarai which is where most people begin their walk. All of the buses were extremely packed and there was barely room too breath…Soooo happy it wasn’t as hot that night as it had been the previous nights. So we arrived in this town at about 11:15pm and began the long walk.

We started out happy as the streets were completely packed with people, and there was plenty of food to be found along the way as were medical and health checks. Around 2am, we began to get tired from continuing walking and the crazy younger kids who were jumping around with reggaeton blasting and beers in hand. Yes, weird many people were drinking heavily on a pilgrimage to see the virgin. We stopped to rest at a gas station and sat against a gas pump in pure joy to rest our feet. Brenda’s mom saved our lives as we gained much more energy with the Trader Joe’s Energy Trail Mix we brought with us. So we began again, more delirousness as the walk went on…and then we saw a Churro stand….CHURRRROOOOOS IN PARAGUAYYYYY!!!! Never thought that would happen, I thought it was a mirage until the 3 of us ran up to the stand at about 4am and stared at the man selling them to see if they were actually Churros…They were…at this point, I had never been happier. As we indulged in the Mexican goodness in Paraguay, we continued to walk up and down many long hills and begged to rest as Brenda’s Paraguayan family marched on.

They kept telling us we will rest very soon…Yea, we should of known that when a Paraguayan says that, it means 1.5 hours later when our feet are numb from walking. I guess the wait was worth it as we arrived in the city with hundreds of thousands of people at about 5:45am in a park with free bread and cocido. Never have we been happier. After this, we walked into the city to look for a random sidewalk in front of someones house to sleep. It was so random that since there are no hotels, everyone brings a sheet with them to lay on and take naps in front of people’s houses…So there we were, Brenda, Jessica, and me and cuddled to sleep on the sidewalk for about an hour and a half, with many blisters on our feet and tiredness. Never has an one hour nap felt so relieving. People who actually live in the city basically rented out their showers and bathrooms for all the people walking in to use because there are soooo many people there. We didn’t bother getting close to the basilica as it was impossible due to the amount of people who had been there for days, so we began our journey back to Guarambare.

When everyone who walked into one city and then all try to leave the next morning, there is bound to be major bus problems. We waited for about 3 hours after walking to random places, talking more impromptu 5 minute naps on sidewalks in hopes of seeing a bus with space, or just watching people hang out the doors of the buses just to be on…soooo not safe. Out of sheer luck, we finally got on a bus, although we were all basically on random Paraguayan men standing, it didn’t matter as long as we were heading back to Guarambare. After 2 hours packed like sardines in the heat on the bus, we got off to take one last hour ride to our town. Never have I wanted to sit down so bad. When we arrived in our town, we were too tired to walk the 25 minutes home, so we sat in a plaza to rest. We were so happy to be back because we hurt so bad, but it was a great experience to be had as it was amazing to see the sheer amount of people walking such a large distance to this church.

Also, I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays in the U.S. as Christmas begins, and hopefully a busy tourist season for the sake of jobs in Tahoe. I also want to tell Kelly Wysong, Michelle Aguilar and family, and Bruce Doherty, that I am thinking about all of you a lot and hopefully the new year brings you happiness and health.

For 8 weeks Peace Corps trainees worry on end about where they may reside for the next 2 years as their fate is in the hand of their APCD. As we wonder where we may be placed, we not only wonder about whether or not we will have running water or not, or if we will have a supermercado, but how close we will be to our friends we had become so close to the past 8 weeks. Week 8 arrived with lots of stress and anxiety as we each received our envelopes with our future site information. Breath in, breath out…my site is in ENCARNACION!!!! Yes, I am aware this probably means nothing to anyone who does not know about Paraguay, but it is an amazing city…I believe I am in the most urban area out of everyone in my group.

Encarnacion is the 3rd largest city in Paraguay with about 70,000 people long the Rio Parana, only a 10minute bus ride for about 50 cents into the major metropolitan city of Posadas, Argentina. I love my life. This city is in hills, with the centro being on the highest point overlooking the large river to see Argentina and the amazing sunsets. It somewhat reminds me of San Francisco, except for the fact that I am in a developing nation with less accommodations, but nonetheless, SOOO MANY SUPERMARKETSSS!! I even have a delish Japanese restaurant with sushi (yes weird, in a land-locked country), a plaza made to just exercise in (sooo rare in Paraguay), and gyms on end. Side note, my city is also well known for hosting Carnival for various weeks from the end of January to February after the Brazilian Carnival, awesome. I am so in love, but only became more in love after I went off to visit my future site for 5 days.

After a 5 hour asphalted ride on an air-conditioned bus (asphalted rides ARE NOT common in Paraguay), I arrived in the beautiful city of Encarnación. I was greeted by the Vice Principle, Principle, and a few Professoras from the future school I would be working in. They were overwhelmingly welcoming and happy to work with my vegetarian diet…soooo much more accommodating than my previous experience during training.

I will be living in Barrio Buena Vista, just outside the city and my school I will primarily be working in has about 1300 students. What makes my site different is that it is a displaced community as a result of the Yacyreta dam, which is a partnership between Argentina and Paraguay. This dam, just up the river, is causing inundations throughout the city as the low points are being covered and becoming part of the Parana River. The dam has bought land, built basically suburbs and moved the people from the inundated areas into these new developments.

I feel very lucky I got this site chosen for me, and can’t wait to get settled in there despite being far away from my good friends…On a better note, I will be swearing in to become a Peace Corps Volunteer this Friday at the U.S. Embassy, equipped with a gym AND pool we can use…haha, so random.

Until next time when I am in Encarnacion, Chaumante!

Sometimes as citizens of the U.S., we understand that there is a deep amount of poverty found throughout the world, especially in what we may refer to as developing nations or the now more politically correct, the Global South. As I venture through my Peace Corps service to live in one of the poorest countries in South America according to GDP (Gross Development Product), I learn more about how poverty affects people throughout the country and how the U.S. defines poverty in comparison to the poverty within that nation. With this said, I will go into my refurbished view of countries that are transitioning from subsistence based living into a capitalist economy and how this effects them and my role in development work.

This past week our Environmental Education group of 12 was split into 3 different groups because we were going on our weeklong Longfield Practice. In this practice, three different volunteer sites were chosen that we could stay in to know another area with different ways of living, and how to work in the schools in another area. As our groups we re predetermined by our tech teacher, I learned that I would be going to the most campo (country/rural) site, where there were no stores, and the closest high school was a 45 minute walk away, and very few families in the town. There were only 2 other trainees in my group because there were not enough families for us to stay with if more people came. I also found out that this town, for the most part, does not have running water and exotic fruits and vegetables are nonexistent except what you have your own garden.

After an hour drive on a paved road, then 30 more minutes on a bumpy dirt road from the nearest pueblo, we had arrived in Tapytangua Guasu. As I arrived at the house I would be staying at, I quickly realized that my family barely spoke Spanish, but always spoke in Guarani. They inhabit a large piece of land with A LOT of cows, ducks, roosters, chickens, pigs, 2 dogs, a cat, many frogs, a variety of tropical fruit trees, and a large garden. Needless to say, they produce most things in their home, creating what North Americans would call a Permaculture home. I basically drank milk straight from their cow everyday in my Cocido (a traditional warm drink of yerba mate, burned sugar, and milk), fresh cheese, acerola jelly, miel negra (made from sugar cane), used a latrine and bucket bathed. Since latrines and the showers don’t have running water, they are outside away from the house and very out in the open, so you feel all wind and if people walk by, they can see all…Needless to say, an interesting experience, nice in the heat, horrid in the rain and cold. With the luck we have, as soon as we arrived in this site, it began down pouring rain with lots of wind everyday. The thing about rain here is that well, everything gets shut down, especially schools. So, basically, environmental education is put at a stand still as it rains. The first day it was sunny so we were walking to a school about 45 minutes away and about 35 minutes into our walk, the weather changed and we were caught in the storm, me in my vans, best shoes ever. After hiding out in a random house for half the day due to the severity of the rain, we walked back through rives and lots of mud…My shoes have done it all and I am proud to say they have 4x4. I really think vans should sponsor me during my Peace Corps service….haha. I wish…

So beyond this, I had a 16-year-old sister and 17 year old brother here who both went to high school. The difference between a high school student here, and basically one anywhere else, is that these kids walked an hour each way to school everyday to begin class at 7am, so they left the house at 6am. When they came home, they didn’t come to play video games or watch TV, they helped around the house to help cook, clean, or take the cows to graze. A different lifestyle. The way to cook was in an outdoor kitchen with a fire on the ground. The blender goes by turning it, no electricity required. There is literally no trash whatsoever in this area because the little that does come that is packaged is re-used throughout the house in a variety of ways from a roller pin from a glass soda bottle for rolling dough, to plastic soda bottles or old boxes to be used for growing trees or plants. Something really clicked in my mind as I saw how this subsistence family had to integrate into a capitalist system. While many kids aspire to go to college in the U.S. despite your socioeconomic status due to help from the government in the form of loans or scholarships, in Paraguay, this is not the case. My sister and brother really wanted to go to college to continue studying, but my host parents both supporting this decision also were stuck because they barely had money in their living situation, let alone the high cost to send their kids to live in a city for school. This in itself to me represented the struggle in many developing nations in how families in the transition of these different types of economic situations may struggle in many ways if they wish to pursue education. Maybe this is why it is that only about 5% of Paraguayans actually go to college, and most likely a significantly lower portion actually graduates. This realization really struck me hard as I understood the privilege we have in the U.S. and the dualities and hardships that these people face on a daily basis to survive with little to no help from the government. On a brighter note, this week gave me more of a context and understanding of the different ways people live in various regions throughout Paraguay.

This Wednesday, I receive my site assignment for the next 2 yearsssss!!!!

Oh...and I will add my pics soon, once I get the tools to do this...

Random facts that I love about Paraguay:

1) Instead of doorbells, you stand at the gate of the door and clap your hands

2) Driving by a random house in the country to see a cow being born…Yes, it is awkward to see two hooves coming out another cows butt.

3) Learning how to make soy milk and soy meat out of soy beans

4) Everyone loves to play not only soccer but volleyball

5) Since my friend has linda blue eyes, our project gets more attention from the local government

6) Beef, fat, noodle, soup. Add obscene amounts of salt and sugar to everything else.

7) Our Peace Corps doctor being in a major soda commercial for Paraguay

8) Hearing Red, Red, Wine on the way to school

9) Watching a family of 5 drive by on a moto

10) Walking around in 100 degree weather zig-zaging back and forth on the street from shade spot to shade spot

Where to start….Training is still going on as we learn more Guarani…Mba’echapa! This language is actually pretty difficult, but the nice part about it is that just about everyone mixes in Spanish words to it so I can understand some of it better. Technical sessions of training are going well as we are learning so many new things everyday from creating didactic materials in schools, to making gardens, to teaching nutrition, to making recycled paper and glasses from old wine bottles. Last Wednesday we went on a technical excursion overnight to another volunteers site to learn more about what they do. It was great to see another place as we met the kids in the school he worked in, equipped with separated trash canisters, and a garden, and got to go to the famous Basillica de Caacupé. Caacupé is the most famous virgin in Paraguay and has a very similar story to that of the Virigin de Guadalupe in Mexico, yet she is celebrated December 8th. The church was very impressive, as were the surroundings.

We met the President of a reforestation NGO and saw his vivero (I guess this translates to a tree nursery) where he grows all his trees and gives them to groups or cities who will plant them. It was beautiful there and he had so many different types of trees. That evening, we all went to separate families to stay the night with. Only in Paraguay would a family randomly allow a stranger into their home for the night and give them food for free…My family was awesome with a ridiculously large 5 month old baby. Random story, I have never witnessed breast feeding in the same way, my host mom for the night just whipped out her boob at the dinner table to breast feed the Michelin baby…nuts. The next morning we all met up once again to go on a fieldtrip to a national park with about 40 high school students on a Saturday. I thought it was amazing that the students were eager to come on a Saturday for Environmental Education….So we went and hiked to see overwhelming views of Paraguay. Apparently this is the only place like this since Paraguay is mostly flat. The secretary of the Environment also went with us to help educated all of us. When we were hiking down, naturally, it started to downpour rain. Well, that made things interesting as a part coming down was a rock straight down where we just had to slip on our butt, but then all the rain water was forming a river down this rock. Fun times. At least when we got to the bottom, and were all completely drenched, we had an hour bus ride back to Guarambare.

Time goes by so quickly, I can not believe we are almost halfway done with training. In about 3 weeks we will be told where our site will be for the next two years which is very exciting.

Yes, I am aware that I am a slacker, but here is my mailing address while I remain in training. Send me fun stuff like love letters, almond joys, and almonds. Seaweed too so I can make sushi. mmm.

Jessica Wackenhut Lomeli

Cuerpo de Paz, CHP

162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. Lopez

Asuncion 1580, Paraguay

South America

Training

Training is what I am here in Guarambare for the next 3 months, until I move to my site for the next 2 years. We have it Monday through Friday from 7:45am-5pm with a break at 12pm for lunch everyday as that is the most important meal of the day here in Paraguay. The morning session consists of language training. We were split into groups the first day as the trainers assessed our Spanish language skills. Since I passed out of Spanish, I moved straight into Guarani.

This is another interesting part of Paraguay, it has one of the highest levels of bilingualism in the world, and is only country in the Americas with one of the original indigenous languages as the official language along with Spanish. My family, and about every other person I have met here, is fluent in both, which is amazing. So, needless to say, I am learning it right now, which is no easy task. The best part however, is that there are 4 other people in my group so it is basically 3 hours of private lessons.

The other part of my day is based around a tech session for Environmental Education, my sector of work in Paraguay. The four sectors in our group are Crop Extension, Beekeeping, Agroforestry, and Environmental Ed. In our group, we have learned about different teaching materials to use in schools, structure of Paraguayan schools, making recycled paper, glasses, made gardens, learning to transplant vegestables or trees, and the list shall continue throughout training. We also assess case studies from past PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) projects and how to create sustainable development. I really like everyone in my sector, which is 12 people, who all come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, which is great to have.

Tapeapovo.

So the site where I live is about 1 hour away from Asuncion. We were paired up and given certain places we needed to go for each pair and find our way by ourselves to Asuncion using the bused with limited help from the training staff. Well, I was instructed to go to the Centro to check out all the Government buildings and more importantly, visit one of the popular newspapers to see how we can get educational materials for free. My partner and I took two buses and arrived safely in the centro with the help of the bus drivers and other random Paraguayans. We then walked around aimlessly in the centro to see Argentina right across the river which was pretty cool. The major governmental buildings were also interesting as one is pepto bismol pink, and the presidential palace has architecture that resembles both Buckingham Palace, the White House, and a few other important buildings in the world.

Beyond the major structural buildings and Argentina, we noticed the great disparity between rich and poor in this city. I heard Asuncion has one of the greatest disparities between rich and poor in the world. We saw a large encampment of shed type, temporary housing, like the shantytowns seen in City of God, or outside Mexico City, all along the river besides the governmental palaces. Very interesting to see.

We ended our journey at the Peace Corps office in Asuncion, which is near the U.S. Embassy, both are like fortresses. The Peace Corps office is amazing because it has so many resources to utilize like a large library with both reading books and resource books on just about everything…

Volunteer Site Visit

A way Peace Corps helps us learn about our job is sending us to visit another PCV already in a site within our sector to see what they do. Interestingly enough, I got sent to closest, about 1 hour away while some of my friends got sent 9 hours away on buses. I went to Aregua, a pueblo on a really nice lake, known for its art. I think the Peace Corps knows me. Even more crazy, was when I arrived at my volunteer’s house and we started chatting, we realized that we both went to UC Santa Cruz and were Environmental Studies majors. More strange, he grew up in Sacramento…It really is a small world.

So the town he lives in is on a beautiful lake, and is known for the best strawberries grown in Paraguay. Good thing I am allergic to strawberries. More awkward, I went the weekend of the strawberry festival. What are the chances…

Other than that, my volunteer has done some amazing work around community environmental education and development. This gave me a lot of ideas and secured my ideas of why I joined the Peace Corps. It was great to see the possibilities of work in my field. He even is teaching hip hop to Paraguayans. The possibilities of my Peace Corps work…

I started my journey after Staging in Miami with a lot of questions and confusion to what I had actually signed up for. After a full day of introduction to Peace Corps Paraguay, the 42 people in my group were left to explore Miami for lunch until we were going to the Miami Airport later that afternoon for our departure. Being in Miami, of course we had delicious Cuban food…Then the journey began as all of us filed through the airport and got special treatment to cut certain lines because we are government employees. As we waited in Miami, we all dispersed to talk to our loved ones, the last time for awhile. Eight hours later, we landed in Sao Paulo, Brazil and another two hours later, we were in Asuncion, capital of Paraguay. All of us were groggy from our all night lack of sleep on the plane flight, but we were greeted with enthusiasm by Peace Corps Paraguay staff. We then headed to Guarambare, the site we would be living in for the next three months with our trainers. We were greeted in our training center, most humorously named, “Center for Human Potential.” Well, I am definitely coming back with a t-shirt saying that…haha. After about 3 hours of welcoming, each of us were sent to our respective communities to meet our host families. We were all nervous and hearing our names called to meet our families was tremendously awkward. I was greeted by my mother, Idalina, who is a housewife and about 54 years old, and the grandchild, Bianca, who is 10. I soon learned that she looks a lot younger because she was born after 5 months. My father, Christino, also met us to drive our luggage to the house. He used to work at the sugar factory in town, but is now retired.

Other important part of arriving at the CHP training center in Guarambare. Apparently I am very famous…The staff as we arrived were all asking who Jessica Wackenhut was because well, the security apparently for the Peace Corps in Paraguay and most U.S. embassies around the world is Wackenhut Security. I was immediately asked if I was related. So I am pretty famous upon my arrival here…

Integration into the Community

The main consistency of integrating into the community is through joining a terrere circle. Terrere is basically what Starbucks is to some people in the U.S….You don’t leave home without it, and there are groups of people gathered chatting over terrere. This drink is made of Yerba Mate, but is cold due to the heat here. It is often paired with jujos (herbs) to refresh or basically a different type of herb to cure any type of problem you may have. Overall, this is what has satisfied me on the days of heat as the summer is only beginning right now…

Food

So, if you have seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, well the part where he tries to explain what a vegetarian is…well, that’s how I feel everytime I say I am a vegetarian. People say oh, no meat, so you want pork? Hmm. Interesting. Well after 7 years of being vegetarian and the amount that meat consumes the culture here, I decided I would be too stressed out not trying to eat it.

Meal one of my house, beef. I think my host family noticed the sweat building on my forehead as I stared at the meat and poked it with my fork. Or maybe it was the fact that o they were talking to me, and they heard me choked up with tears in my eyes as I tried to chew the flesh in my mouth and swallow it. I tried to explain that I don’t eat meat because in the U.S., the meat isn’t fresh. Well, the next day to prove how fresh the meat is, my house mom was excited to proudly take out like half a cow out of the fridge with blood on it, to show me how fresh it was…uhm.

Step 2, I tried tell them that I don’t eat meat because it makes me feel sick. Hmm, that seemed like a great idea at the time until I told them. They just told me, oh, the jujos in terrere make it so you don’t get sick.

Mission failed.

Step 3. I just told them I am not used to eating meat because I don’t like it and avoided the meat on my plate. I think they now understand as I saw how rica the comida is when there is no meat in it and it has lots of vegetables.

I think I also get a little sad everytime I eat meat because it probably is one of the animals that was once our pet in the backyard…It doesn’t get more local than that…

Beyond this major difference to my diet, the food is rather different here. A major part of the diet is around manioca and fried things. Manioca is a tuber vegetable similar to potatoes, and is in every meal like how the tortilla is to a Mexican meal. They also eat tortillas, which is usually deep fried vegetables, sometimes with meat, or Empanadas, also filled with meat…and eggs. Other than that, mango, papaya, guava, watermelon, and avocado season is coming up so I think I can live off of that alone. Yesssss.

Exercise

Well I think I will leave this part blank….

Ok, exercising is not a part of the culture, you really need to seek a gym out, but most are in Asuncion. I went running and got an abundance of stare downs like what is she running from? I think I just will try to ignore the massive stare downs as the pueblo has accepted that Americans are weird because they go running…

However, I will say that Volleyball and Soccer are big parts of the culture as well which I am sure to try to be involved in.

Today at 4:30am I embarked on my upcoming new journey in life. My parents drove me to Reno airport so my flight left at 6am to LAX. After a rushed goodbye and tears from my parents, I boarded the plane. After I arrived, I had a hectic run around to find my gate to depart to Miami at 9:15 because the people in Reno gave me the wrong gate. So I arrived to the real gate at last call to board my 5 hour nonstop flight to Miami which is where my staging is taking place. Staging is basically an orientation to the Peace Corps for all the volunteers going to the same country right before you actually depart so you meet one another. So I arrived in Miami greeted by the sounds of Cuban music, spanish spoken everywhere, and the uncomfortable, hot, humidity. But so pretty. I arrived at airport where we are to stay and turned in forms and met other volunteers. All of them seem awesome and we shared our anxieties. One girl has even lived in North Lake Tahoe the past three years...what are the chances?

So....I am here in Miami, probably last luxury hotel with air conditioning in awhile. Tomorrow we will have orientation from 8am-3pm then depart to Miami International for our 8 hour flight to Sao Paolo, Brazil, followed by a 2 hour flight to Asuncion, Paraguay. I know that I will miss my family and friends dearly in the states, but I am anxious for this upcoming journey with my new friends, working as an environmental educator...

Until my next update in Paraguay, nos vemos...

ps. my email is: jwacky@gmail.com

I have no words for this trip because the pictures do it justice....But, I will mention my discontent by the mere fact that spanish is not spoken here and it is becoming beyond developed with too many condos for rich Americans and Canadians...Now, off to Guadalajara to spend time with mis padres!

9 de Octubre, 2008

Saturday the 20th of September began by waking up at 5am to leave at 5:30am to go to Tula and Queretaro. Tula is home to an archeological site which has some pyramids and ruins from before the colonial period so we hiked around there for a bit. I hiked to the top of one of the pyramids and noticed the spectacular view of an oil refinery polluting like non-other off in the distance…So much for pollution controls in México because I could actually see the vibrant colors of the pollution being emitted just beyond the ruins…AWESOME!!! Later we went to Queretaro, which is a city where lots of important historical things happened, especially among indigenous people. This city was large and had a really different type of food but was still amazing. Needless to say, after going around in tourist trolley receiving a city tour of the aqueduct, too many old dead guys who are all important, and too many churches, we had fun taking pictures of our shadows….

The following Saturday we woke at 8am to hike the cliff on the outside of the city, which is named La Bufa. The hardest part of the hike was definitely hiking up the callejon leaving the city because it was sooo steep. After arriving at the top, we were greeted by firemen from the city who all happened to be between 18-25 years old and were strapping us up in our gear to repel down the cliff. Haha. Well, the day was beautiful and very warm, and I put on the gear and was going down at the same time as my friend Roger. He went a lot faster than me and after I went over the side of the mountain, I started getting really nervous. You always have to keep one hand behind you to control your speed, especially on the part where you are no longer by the cliff. All of a sudden I look down and Roger had flipped himself upside down and was going down that way. I was super nervous suddenly and everyone was yelling for me to flip upside down and I shrieked a nervous NOO! Really suddenly. Haha. When I reached the ground, I was shaking more than I was at the top….Beyond this, the view of the city was amazing, and I will post pics soon of the view.

Today the International Cervantino Festival starts here which lasts for about 3 weeks with an abundant amount of art, movies, music (CAFÉ TACUBAAAA!!!), and other activities…Downfall, the population doubles to triples on weekends which means a) not enough bathrooms so guess what happens in every alleyway in the city!!! (Especially with the drunkards) 2) A high crime rate, but don’t worry because if you get mugged and they don’t assault you, its totally ok 3)There are no taxis to get home, but if you do find one, their rate is at least doubled 4) Due to all the threats from drug cartels, there are going to be tons of police, soldiers, military here with their massive riffles and dogs who are as big as me…Don’t get me wrong, I am super excited especially since I am leaving this weekend to go to the beach in Puerto Vallarta! YAY!!!

September 16th, 2008

It has been far too long since I have updated my blog and there has been so much stuff I have experienced, so I will try my best to describe everything. August 31st we went to watch a soccer game in Leon, which was Leon vs. Atlas who are from Guadalajara (my team). Unfortunately, because we were in Leon’s stadium, I had to cheer against my own team. Katie came with me, which was pretty sweet, and she got interviewed by the newspaper at the game (she was probably the only blond girl at the game, haha). So, Leon beat Atlas 2-1, which was a really exciting game.

The next week, I had so much work because we had many essays, presentations, and tests for school, which really sucked. But to make matters worse, I got sick AGAIN on that Wednesday night. I was so sick again, but this time, I didn’t eat anything but drink Pedialyte and Gatorade for 4 days. YAY!!! FUN!!! Haha. On Saturday the 6th, we went on an excursion to San Miguel de Allende, which is about 1.5 hours away. For about 3 hours when we first got there, we went to Hot Springs and some pools, which was amazing. I really miss lying out in the sun and hanging out in/by water. Even though this was amazing, I still was sick so it had made my body especially week, which proved to be a huge challenge for walking around the city which is not especially flat. The city was beautiful and very clean with a different type of architecture. However, it was more expensive and was strange because very many people from the United States, and other foreign countries retire here, so you could see all their influence and so many people speaking English. I really liked this city and want to go back again since it is so close but very peaceful.

The next week at school I have more presentations, essays, and tests, but I was looking forward to the 4 day weekend. I finally ate my first meal on Monday morning, but was still feeling sick and other weird problems were happening to me. Finally, on Friday after my test, Katie and I met up to take a bus to Guadalajara for the weekend to stay with my uncle. We took a nicer bus and it was AMAZING! It was basically nicer than 1st class in an airplane with lots of room, large seats, movies and headphones, and they gave us lunch and a drink. We were pretty stoked and we saw some fantastic 80s movies. Haha. It took about 4 hours to arrive in Guadalajara, which is the 2nd biggest city in Mexico, and were greeted by my uncle. Guadalajara in Jalisco is where Mariachis were known to originate, is known for the city of Tequila where most agave is grown, and home of the Chivas soccer team. YES!!! My uncle lives a 10-minute walk from the centro, so we ate dinner there, which overlooked one of the 4 main plazas which are shaped in a cross around the main cathedral. Everything looked beautiful because all of the buildings were decorated with lights and festive decorations for Independence day. It is funny because since the beginning of September the decorations have been up and I kept getting confused because since Mexico’s colors are red, green, and white, I thought they were already putting up Christmas decorations since a lot of decorations are made out of tinsel…hahaha. On Saturday, we woke up early because my uncle took us to this amazing canyon outside of the city. It was ridiculously green and beautiful with a river and town at the bottom, but unfortunately, you cant go in the river because it is so horribly polluted. We hiked down which was difficult since it was all rocks and very uneven. We only went about ½ way down because it was very humid and it was a steep hike back up. All of the views were beautiful and the air was so fresh just like home. At the top Gatorade girls with free Gatorade greeted us. Yes! After we got home and showered, we were tired but went to eat lunch at the Mercado. My uncle took us to a place where they made fresh corn tortillas and it was one of the most delicious meals ever because everything was made in front of us and it was so cheap for a huge meal with as many tortillas as we wanted (as in cheap I mean for 3 huge gourmet meals it was about $10). Later that evening after a long rest, we went to a town on the outskirts of the city called Tlaqupaque which is an artisan town especially known for glass blowing. It was beautiful, but unfortunately, as soon as we got there, it was hurricane like weather and was downpouring. Good thing Katie and me bought out awesome $3 umbrellas, which were slowly degrading quick in the weather. We hung out at a really cool café then walked around and saw some breakdancers in the main plaza which was pretty sweet. It sorta reminded me of breakdancing in Venice Beach in the 90s. haha.

Sunday, Katie and I met up with some friends from her language school and went to a rodeo. Pretty sweet since everyone dresses up in crazy dresses and outfits with live mariachi music everywhere. That evening, we went to the centro and hung out while there were tons of people and music since they were preparing for Independence Day. Monday morning, we woke up to walk around the centro more before we came back to Guanajuato. We went to San Juan de Dios, which is basically known to be one of the largest markets in Latin America and has EVERYTHING or ANYTHING you are looking for from birds, crazy weird animal meat, tons of clothing, movies that haven’t come out yet, you name it, it is there. Katie and me had fun buying sugar cane juice and coconut milk in which they just take a machete to open the top of a coconut and stick a straw in it to drink. After getting back we had lunch with my uncle, packed and embarked on our journey to guanajuato in time for the grito for Independence Day at 11pm. My uncle told us to take a bus, which was 5 blocks away, and as soon as we left the house, it started down pouring so Katie and me got soaking wet for the bus ride and walking across the quickly formed lakes in the street praying cars wouldn’t drive by fast because we would get even more drenched. After jumping on a bus (literally jumping, because in Mexico anywhere you want is a bus stop so you just have to know when to get off ahead of time and jump off quick), I had to keep asking people where to get off because we had no idea. We finally had to jump off with our luggage and walk in the pouring rain again to the station in which we realized we missed a bus by 5 minutes, so we had to wait an hour. We finally got on the Bus and embarked on our journey back to celebrate. We arrived at about 9pm in Guanajuato to pouring rain and there were no taxis because so many people come there. Guanajuato is the 2nd most visited city for Independence Day since it had such a crucial role in the war for independence. So we jumped on a city bus, and where many people got off, Katie and me did too since they let you off in the underground tunnels they drive in and you have no idea where you are most of the time. We got out, had no idea where we were, but finally realized it and got off too early so our journey began. As we were walking with our luggage, there are tons of people in the streets and it is starting to pour rain harder and harder and there were no open taxis, so I knew we just had to hike up to my house. As Katie and we started up the stairs, it had already turned into a huge waterfall/river in which the water basically was splashing us up to our knees. Katie was carrying an umbrella which only had ½ working and the other ½ was just flopping and hitting her in the face while I had my rain coat on, but since it was pouring so much rain, all of the water finally made its way through the material, same with through my suitcase and all of our other bags/purses. As we are struggling up the steps/waterfall/river the rain keeps pouring harder and harder so our pants are getting wetter and wetter, therefore, very heavy, therefore falling off and we had no free hands so basically our butts were hanging out walking up the stairs and my converse I was wearing, well, they were very squishy, and as for Katie, she was wearing slip flops and she almost lost one from the current on the way up. We finally made it into our house after a 20 minute hike up and were completely soaked and to make it better, my host parents had family over and were all in the main room when we walked in lookin real good. Haha.

After a few showers, we decided to change and to trek on out again to the celebration even though it was raining harder than previously and I don’t even know that was possible. We got ready, and at about 11pm, the grito started and there were fireworks which we had an amazing view of from the balcony of my room. After watching them and having a glass of wine from a bottle that we had to ghetto rig to open with a pair of tiny scissors used for facial/body stuff, we strolled downtown. Tons of people were out, and we bought the most delicious corn on the cob on the street which is covered in mayonnaise, cheese, and chile at about midnight and probably on of the better investments Katie and me made all night. Haha. We strolled around to many bars and met up with many friends, and next thing we know, most bars are closed and it we look at the time, and oh that’s cause it is 5am. Haha. Woops. So then we went salsa dancing to cap of the night and could barely move cause there were so many people. Most would think by the amount of people of the street it was about 10pm, but it was like 5:30am. Haha. So yes, after waiting for a taxi for an hour and not one was open, we strolled back home. Independence day here was basically a crazy experience and was concluded by Katie and me covered in festive green, white, and red paint all over our faces and arms and waking up Tuesday morning or afternoon at about 2pm and listening to people putting off fireworks all day from their houses and the thunderous booms.

August 24, 2008

This past week, has been straight up downpours, so on the way to school I must wear sandals because I walk through a river/waterfall down the steps in which the water is up to my ankles basically. Strong current too. That is always fun, cant wait till my sandals are taken away…

The days are starting to go by much faster with my homework, especially since I need to understand everything really well. My Latin American Literature class is really interesting, but imagine AP English but all in Spanish…takes me a while to understand everything. I also am about to start my first novel in Spanish for the class, which we have to analyze by Isabel Allende entitled, “La Casa de los Espiritus.”

This weekend I went to Diego Rivera’s house which is now a museum of some of his work, to the Don Quijote museum, and to Alhondiga which was a grain warehouse but is now a museum because of its crucial importance in the first major battle for Mexican independence. I enjoyed all of the museums, especially seeing the house of Diego Rivera, which also had many pictures of Frida Kahlo.

I have been watching soccer games on tv a lot especially on Sundays since that’s all that’s on, besides today when there was major coverage of the Olympics closing ceremony. But don’t worry, I got some sweet notebooks for school, Chivas de Corazón fo sho! Haha. Mexico got 2 gold medals and a bronze which was a huge deal and I think I saw all of these playbacks at least 100 times…haha.

August 17 2008

We all went out to dinner together and then followed by going out to a lounge that always plays coldplay and dave mathews, followed by salsa dancing at Cuba Mia and some intense clubbing at Guanajuato Grill. After dinner, we were walking in the Jardín Union which is the main garden plaza where everyone is all the time and saw a guy hire a mariachi to sing to his girlfriend as he proposed. It was adorable to say the least. I would love to be a waiter at cuba mia because after they take your drink orders, the waiters all know how to dance and ask everyone to dance with them….I wish I could do that. Don’t worry though because when you go out to here, things are usually just starting to get busy at about 2am and most places close at 5 or 6am. Saturday started out with waking up at 8am after a long night and going to the famous Mummy Mueseum, Hacienda del Cocheros, and then to the Mina Valenciana. The mummy museum is filled with mummies from guanajuato and is a bit creepy and unreal. Hacienda del Cocheros was by far one of the creepiest museums I have ever been too. This hacienda was invaded by the Spanish inquisition and was turned into a torture chamber for those who didn’t believe in Christianity. The walls were also built extremely thick so no body could hear the screams of those being tortured and they also showed us the torture devices and how they were used. Creepy…Mina Valenciana was one of the most productive mines in this region and we hikied down into the actual mine about 60meters. It was very hard to walk because the steps are so step and uneven and the tour guide proceded to tell us about the slaves who were indigenous people of this area and had to carry the huge rocks containing the minerals up the stairs, and they had to carry this up double what we walked which was hard enough. This mine is also right next to the Valenciana church which is considered to be the 3rd richest church in the world because of how much gold it has inside. It was ridiculous because everything around the alter and the walls was pure gold.

I later met up with Katie to hang out on her birthday…so much for turning 21 in mexico…haha. We went out to dinner then went to Bar Ocho to get a Wiki Waki Woo which is a ridiculous drink in a huge margarita glass that is a liter of alcohol. The bartender then made Katie her birthday shot which was also ridiculous because whatever alcohol they put in the shot, they also doused on the bar and the bartender drank it and lit up everything. While the shot was still on fire, Katie had to drink the shot through a straw. Talk about an intense shot….After a few more bars, we ended up going to a typical banda music bar called Colorado. Katie and me decided to go dance even though most people dancing were couples. We ended up dancing with these guys but it was funny to see the switch in music from techno to reggaeton, then all of a sudden it switched to banda so the guys who wernt even close to touch you before pulled you in close to dance. Katie and me were just glancing at eachother cracking up. However, near 2am, a cumbia band started playing live which was pretty cool. I have to say after all this salsa and other types of dancing with Mexican men, I never have seen so many guys shake their hips as well as they do here. Hahaha. Love it.

Today I went to eat what my señora had prepared me and I couldent even bare to eat it. Although she has made it before, today I could not even smell it. However, this causes major problems seeing that in Mexican culture, it is extremely disrespectful if you don’t eat all of the food on your plate, even though they always serve way too much food and keep offering more. I think my señora saw me picking through the food because she asked if I liked it…It is probably the hardest thing to say no, so I said that fried everything makes me fill sick….besides tacos and flautas….haha. woops, oh well.

14 de Augosto, 2008

This week I started classes which was really exciting for me. I go to La Escuela de Idioms and I am taking 5 classes; Advanced grammer, history, literature, conversation, and a seminar on U.S.-Mexico border relations. They all seem very interesting, except I had to miss the 3rd day of class due to finally getting sick. I basically thought I was going to die. But after missing and sleeping the whole day, my senora fed me pedialyte, tea, and veggie soup to make me feel better. I have also been taking Zumba classes which is basically a cross between intense jazzercise and latin dancing for an hour long (probably on of the most intense workouts I have ever done). Today I had a different instructor than usual, and he was a man that was laughing and making fun of the women because they couldent get the rhythm and steps since we were of course dancing to Fergalicious, Yeah by Usher, and of course we couldent leave out Low by Flo-Rider. That was fun cause I knew all the words and could for sure keep up more than most women in my class. Haha. They probably are like who is this weird American girl considering that these classes are a block away from my house, and none the less, most women attending are native to Guanajuato. Don’t worry though because here in Mexico, during Zumba, they also play Come on Over by Christina Aguilera in Spanish. That’s right, Ven Conmigo, Ven Conmigo Baby. Haha.

1-3 de Augosto, 2008

The first weekend we had, we had our first intense excursion. We went to the state of Michoacan and hiked up to 2 amazing waterfalls and swam in the 2nd one on the first day. The next day we went for a 6 hour horse ride to the top of a volcano. The village where we got the horses did not speak Spanish but spoke purepecha so the horses also spoke that language. The man who took me to my horse asked if I had ridden a horse before and I said no, so he helped me on, smiled and hit the horse so it would take off with me on it. Great, no instructions. Haha. Then our tour guides thought it was hilarious to come up behind us hit our horses on the butt so they would take off running and we would scream. Every once in awhile you would see another student come out of nowhere because their horses decided to go the wrong way so the tour guides would have to take off after them. When we were at the base of the volcano, we climbed the rest of the way up which was really hard because it was so steep and volcanic ash. This meant that everytime I took a step up, I slide ½ a step back. The top had an amazing view and the rocks were almost too hot to touch from the ground. As we climbed down it started raining, then pouring, then hailing….Then a really intense lightening storm started and one lightening struck probably 30ft away from us and many people got thrown of their horses. Needless to say, I thought I was going to die besides the pain from the hike and riding the horse. When we arrived back, none of us could walk, and I have never been so sore/in pain in my life. I still had bruises all over my legs for a whole week.

Besides this 3 day trip, I also visited Christo Rey which is a giant Jesus statue that is on top of a mountain and is positioned exactly in the middle of México. There are also cliffs in the city, which are named La Bufa. One night, many people were celebrating a saint so everyone was climbing up this mountain with torches so I could see the whole mountain lit up through my window. My host dad, Raul, said that they stay there all night and the whole next day and drink the whole time. Haha. Well it looked really cool with all the torches.

31 de Julio, 2008

Guanajuato, which is the capital of the state of Guanajuato, is the city where I am living. I live in a Callejon, which are what make up the city and are basically tiny alleys with stairs, because the city is extremely hilly and callejons make up most of the city surrounding el centro. I live in a bright yellow house at the top of a hill so I am getting a good work out every time I go to school or downtown at night which is only a 5-minute walk. My host parents are both retired from working for the government but we carry good conversations about the government and other social issues because they worked with natural resources and water. My senora, Lupita, makes me 3 meals a day and prepares way too much food but buys me organic soymilk. Haha. I usually have pancakes for breakfast with fresh fruit and juice followed by a huge 3-course meal at 3 then a very small meal at 9pm, which is usually quesadillas or cereal, but I am too full to eat from the lunch.

A lot of the people in my program are from the Midwest, which is interesting but makes language barriers more fun. Haha. Great. Beyond this, one of my first impressions in the beginning of the program was one that scared the crap out of me. So, coming to a city was a little hard for me considering I don’t usually lock doors, well forget that, and anyways, I can’t even carry a purse at night. A week into the program, another American girl that was in the summer program who was living with me had a knife held to her and her whole bag was taken. I was like great, what am I doing here? Well, now I know to not carry anything of value with me and although I live 5 minutes from el Centro, at night, I always have to take a taxi home which takes a lot longer. Oh well…Our leaders just keep telling us our life is worth more than 35 pesos which is how much a ride in a taxi is home.