What's with Sarah and Ben wearing those Scouts uniforms?

One of the first contacts we met in site was Daniel Dominguez. He is a member of the Lion's club and a part of a group of people who are starting up a Scouts group in our community. He invited us to a dinner and we met all of the leaders, and Dani said that we were already Scouts, so get used to it! Since we didn't have too many projects going on, we decided it would be a great experience.

We started by going to a lot of their initial planning meetings each week. Every leader takes turns having a meeting at their place, and we take care of business first, then we eat snacks! Yum! Usually pizza or empanadas or some kind of desert, or all 3! That's our favorite part.

After a bunch of planning meetings, it was time for all of the founding leaders, including us, to swear-in as Scouts. We adapted ours a little; we had to say I will serve my countries instead of country. We thought we were really smart for adding that. We had just swore-in as volunteers about a month before, and here we were swearing-in to another organization. I wonder how many we can swear-in to in 2 years. The ceremony was again in Cristina and Albertos living room. We went one by one saying the promise, then we all say down and watched a movie about helping motivate people who don't feel like they belong. It was called The Butterfly Circus. Then we got snacks again! Here's the oath we took:


Prometo hacer cuanto de mí dependa para amar a dios, servir a mi países, trabajar por la paz y vivir la ley scout.


The Scouts group is the same as Boy/Girl Scouts in the states, except, you know, everything is in Spanish. In our community, they started a cub scouts group (lobatos) for the younger kids and a Scouts group for the 12-15 range. As they already had 2 guy leaders for the scouts and 2 girl leaders for the lobatos, they decided to put Sarah with the scouts and me with the kids. All the leaders wear the official grey uniform shirt with the official uniform badges of the World Scouts organization, the Paraguay Scouts organization, and Troop 99 of Coronel Bogado. We also get to wear a bandanna around our necks. Each troop designs their own bandanna. The red, yellow, and green colors of our troop bandannas mimic the colors of the flag of Coronel Bogado.


After a few weeks of planning, we had our first meeting. We started with a lot of scouts basics, we all stood in line, wearing our uniforms, as the Scouts flag was raised along side of the flag of Paraguay. Sarah and I sang Mami Loro for all the kids. The kids were really enthusiastic and everyone seemed to like it. The next meeting I read the story about Robert Baden Powell and how the scouts was founded. Sarah's group practiced Scout formations and played a few team-building games.

The leaders are all really excited to get our name out there. Our town had a big event called the sounds of the world and a bunch of school orchestras came from all over the world. Our Scouts group volunteered serving food to people and cleaning up afterwards, in our uniforms of course to show a connection to the community. Sarah and I even went around collecting all the plastic bottles so that we can reuse them for eco-ladrillo projects. Everyone was asking us what we were doing and what are uniforms meant. Some people even recognized us as scouts and greeted us with the Scouts salute.




After several meetings of helping with icebreakers and generic Scouts related activities, we have worked out a different niche in the group. While we enjoyed being leaders, we have decided to shift gears and act more as the environmental experts of the group. Sarah and I are going to be working together presenting environmental activities to the kids each week. We will present twice each meeting, once with each group for about 20-30 minutes. This change to our role in the group came right after we had our site presentation and our bosses finally brought all our training and activity manuals that we had put in long term storage. So, good timing! Now we can use our manuals to plan environmental activities for both the Lobatos and the Scouts.

All-in-all, we love working with the Scouts, and we hope to support them throughout our entire time here. We can't wait for our first camping trip! Siempre listo!

You can keep up with our Troop 99 on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ScoutsDeCoronelBogado?fref=ts.

Painting the World in Jesus

The day before Camp Itapua, we headed up Ruta 6 to visit our fellow environmental conservation volunteer, Anna, in the city of Jesus. Anna has been working with students to grow a school garden and has been helping the community develop sustainable tourism. To get to Jesus, you can take any bus heading to Ciudad del Este from Encarnacion. Make sure to ask the driver if they can drop you off at Trinidad. Buses that say "Rapido" in the window will not stop for you. Jesus is about 12 Km from the ruta once you get to Trinidad. Here you can either wait for the little bus (7 mil/person) or take the taxi (6 mil/person). We piled in the taxi with three Paraguayans and a baby in the back seat, and I sat on Ben's lap in the passenger seat. Since the first half of the ride in downhill, the taxi driver will get out and push the car until it begins to roll. Then, jump in for the ride and off you go! Our driver didn't turn on the engine until we were well underway.

In town, we met up with Anna, packed our gear, and headed to the primary school. There, Anna had arranged for us to help the students paint a map of the world on the wall of one of the classrooms.



Here's how we did it:

1.Paint the entire area of the wall light blue (the lighter the blue the less coats you will need for the countries).

2. Use a projector to display an outline of the world on the wall.

3. Trace the outline with permanent markers

4. Decide what colors you will need to paint the countries (Look online for examples)

5. Mix the paint to make the colors you need

6. Mark each country with a dot of the color it needs to be painted (This will save you a lot of trouble if you are working with kids.)

7. Delegate one color to each kid. Pour the paint into a smaller cup to minimize spills. We cut up egg cartons to make little paint trays.

8. We painted the outside of the world black to look like outer-space.

9. Once the paint drys, use a permanent marker to trace all the borders and label the countries.

10. Add details: compass rose, label the oceans, have fun!

All the paint for the project was donated by local hardware stores. It took us about 4 hours to complete steps 2-8 and it looked amazing! Painting the world map was a great opportunity to teach the students about geography. While we painted, we talked about the countries we wanted to travel to, which ones were the largest in size and population, and where major landmarks were located. We had a blast! We can wait to bring this activity to the schools in Coronel Bogado.


After a long afternoon of painting we cleaned up our supplies and walked down to see what Jesus is famous for, the Jesuit ruins. The ruins are considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Although the park was closed, Anna convinced the security guard to let us take a quick look around. We arrived just in time to see the sunset over the ruins. Beautiful shades of orange and pink softly illuminated the giant pillars and walls of the old church colony. The view was breathtaking! We will definitely be returning here with my parents in May.

Bike Ride to "the Beach"

Peace Corps volunteers in Paraguay are given an allowance to buy bicycles.  Peace Corps gives you enough money to buy your bike, helmet, and the remainder can be used for repairs and maintenance. As soon as our allowance came in, Ben and I went shopping! I bought a pink Caloi with a basket and Ben bought a red Polo. The number one rule about bikes is that you have to wear a helmet every time you ride. Since no one in Paraguay wears helmets, even when riding motos, we get plenty of stares from the community as we peddle by.

Soon after buying our bikes, we decided to go on an adventure. The Parana River passes about 15 Km south of Coronel Bogado, and somewhere in that area there is a little "beach" or "playa" where you can swim. Ben said, "Sarah, today we are going to find the beach!" We filled our water bottles and began our trek south.  It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun was up and the sky was blue with not a single cloud in sight. The dirt road was long and so straight that we could see for miles. We peddled along passing mostly cattle fields with only a few houses here and there. As we rode farther south, we noticed fewer and fewer houses. We also began to notice the lack of shade, the heat of the sun, and the sweat dripping down our backs.

Finally, we came across a little wooden sign pointing in the direction of the "playa." We like signs, because not only does that mean we are going in the right direction, but it means we must be getting close! We eagerly peddled down the slightly rockier road. After about a mile, we came across another "playa" sign. Good! That means we must be almost there! As we continued riding south for awhile longer, we started to get a little bit worried. We began asking the few and far between people we passed along the way, "how much farther until the playa?" Every single one of them, no matter how far we had traveled  said, "dos kilometros."

By this time we felt we were too far to turn back without seeing the river. We had to keep going. We turned off the main road onto a slightly smaller dirt road. Passing through a herd of cows, we road a little faster now because the land began to slope downward.  We passed by a few houses and a little cemetery. Still there was no river in sight. We decided to turn back and ask a family that was drinking terere in their patio. They told us that the beach wasn't far, just 1 kilometro down the road. Well that sounded good so we took the bait and continued on. We asked a woman, who walking along the path, for a second opinion. She told us that the road to the "playa" was next the cemetery that we'd passed earlier. Although we were irritated that we'd been going in the wrong direction, we were happy to finally have a landmark to guide us there.

We road back uphill and found the cemetery lying between two dirt paths. Both paths ended at gated property lines. Dead-ends. Here we were 12 Km into the middle of nowhere, exhausted from the heat and exercise, water bottles completely dry, with no chance of enjoying the cool refreshing waters of the Rio Parana. Defeated, we started the wearisome journey back home. Although we never did find the "beach" that day, I still hold on to the thought that if we'd just gone a little bit farther, we would have seen those blue waves sparkling in the sun. We would have kicked off our shoes and joyfully plunged into the cool clear water...

Christmas in Ayolas

For Christmas this year, we got to travel to a nearby town named Ayolas to visit our first host mom's brother (our host uncle) and our many host cousins. Located on the coast of the Parana River, Ayolas is famous throughout Paraguay for its beaches, its fishing, and the second largest dam in the area known as Yacreta. The first biggest is Itaipu, but you'll have to read our other post about our trip to Itaipu to learn more about that.


We arrived in Ayolas at lunchtime and were promptly offered the opportunity to sample some traditional Ayolas cuisine.  So we sat down at the table, and our "aunt" brought out heaping platters of carpincho (aka capybara) and surubi (aka South American Catfish). Capybaras are large aquatic rodents - the largest rodents in the world in fact - and are native to the vast wetlands of Paraguay. Their meat is very unique because it has the texture of beef with the flavor of fish (and tastes fantastic with a mixture of soy sauce, lime, lemon, salt and pepper. The surubi is giant freshwater catfish that is absolutely delicious! Its meat is tender with very few bones. We ate some lunch, then we sat outside and drank terere.

After our meal, we headed out for a hike along the river. The rocks were really pretty along the shoreline, and Sarah and I even found some petrified wood! Our host dad, Cesar, gave us a little geology lesson. The river was very wide and pretty, with lots of fishermen and beach-goers enjoying the sunny day. Many people don't swim in the river because there are a lot of deep pozos (holes, or springs I guess) where it gets very deep and the current is strong enough to pull you under. We hiked all the way down to a small beach where a bunch of people were gathered, then we turned around and headed home.

That night was Buena Noche (Christmas Eve). We ate a big meal of cow tongue, carpincho, carne, and "potato salad" (with lots of mayo!). There was also a lot of Clerico, which is a giant fruit salad with a little bit of white wine and cidre (sparkling cider), which is very tasty. Then there were fireworks. They had been going off here and there the whole evening, but by the time we were eating dinner, they were nonstop. Most people have the really loud fireworks without many colors or sparks. Just loud booms. And the neighbors were launching them super close to the house. Eventually we all finished dinner and hurried inside to celebrate and to escape the calamity.

Everyone got comfortable. We readied the guitars. At 11:59 and 50 seconds, the countdown started to ring in Christmas day. It was exactly like New Year's. 5!-4!-3!-2!-1! Woooo! Feliz Navidad! Then we all sang happy birthday to Jesus. We all played some songs. Sarah and I made everyone sing and dance to Mami Loro. (For a demonstration, please watch this video of Mami Loro).

The next day was Christmas. We all got ready and headed out to the beach. We found a great little secluded area next to a hotel that caters to fishermen. We hung out and ate leftovers from the night before and basically did nothing. Fede and Guille, our host brothers, were teasing me pretty much the whole time, which made for a lot of fun. They also taught me some bad words in Guarani, but only so I would know them when kids in the colegios used them.

Our host uncle snagged a big fish, a golden dorado, and let me reel it in. I guess I kind of caught it. I'll go ahead and take credit for it for now, until I have a chance to get back out there and catch one of my own. Another interesting thing is that you see many other races in Paraguay. In CB, we have a lot of Russian and Ukrainian people. In Ayolas, we saw a bunch of Japonese people who were out at the beach enjoying a great cookout. There is a big mix of cultures here which almost always has the same story; they hated the world wars, and they got the hell outta there; fled to a neutral country in the heart of South America to escape all the nonsense that was going on with the kids who just couldn't play nice. We didn't take pictures of them though, cause that would have been a little awkward.

After the beach, we tried to skype with a bunch of the family, which was great! We ate some more fish for dinner, mainly a caldo of the fish head, which was surprisingly tasty, and we learned that the cheek meat is the best. We relaxed for the night, and everyone prepared us for the trip to visit the dam in the morning.

The next morning, we got up and headed out early to see the Yacreta dam. Our host cousin Maria-Eugenia (Which is the spanish equivalent of Mary Eugene).. or better known as Uki, a 23 year old college grad who works at a nonprofit in Encarnacion, volunteered to be our tour guide. We saw the museum at the dam welcome center and saw a bunch of fish in jars and a bunch of stuffed animals. We took a bus to the dam and got out at several places to take pictures. We also ventured inside and saw the main generators and got a full explanation of the inner workings.

 All-in-all, our Christmas experience was filled with all of our favorite things. We were welcomed by a very warm family and got to share some good times for the holidays. We got to experience more culture and learn about how Paraguayans celebrate Christmas. We also got to hang out at the beach and see some pretty famous landmarks in a really cool town. Not too shabby. We hope next year is just as great!

Our first few weeks in site

When we arrived in site on December 10th, we lived with a wonderful host family. Nohelia and Cesar have two kids Federico (17) and Guillermo (14); or Fede and Guille for short. The parents are both teachers, and both were on their summer vacation until school started up again. Even though it was their vacation, they were always on the go! They are super into church. They go to Mass twice a week, where they know everyone and the kids play guitar during the youth group portions. The parents go to several other bible study groups throughout the week. Then, they usually play volleyball in the evenings. This starts around 9 or 10 and usually goes until about midnight. They are always going to other little events that are sprinkled throughout the week. It takes a lot to keep up with them! We lived with them for 2.5 weeks, right up until New Year's. So, here is what we did with them.

Our first week in Bogado (the cool kids just call it Bogado...instead of Coronel Bogado), we tagged along with the family to every event. We went to a graduation ceremony for the kids. Both of their kids were graduating with honorable mentions; they were superstars. I would count a Paraguayan graduation as a cultural experience. All of the parents walk their kids down the aisle and then kiss them on the cheek, and everyone applauds for every family. It actually kind of felt like a wedding at first. It was kind of long; we got there at 7:30 and didn't leave until 11. The very first thing that happens after everyone sits down is the Pastor comes out and gives a speech about how every kid should always follow God in their lives. Then 6 different leaders from the community line up, and every kid goes through, receives their diploma, and shakes every persons hand. The whole time, there is piano muzak playing; American songs that no one knows. Songs like "My heart will go on" and "Candle in the wind," but everyone just likes the pretty melodies of the songs; they dont actually know the songs. So we got funny looks when we were singing the words to all the songs really softly. We took pictures of our family as they walked down the aisle and we tried to sing the Paraguayan national anthem, but didn't know all the words.

One Saturday night around 8ish, we went to a bible study group where we met a ton of couples, and we were given little paper hearts with a great message: Defiende tu amor. Ama y valora. Defiende. Crece. This coincided with the message of the bible study; to always defend and grow your love. A great message of always working together to keep your love strong. On the other side of the little paper heart, there was a great message that was related to the bible study, but was great motivation for any couple in general:

Te estoy haciendo feliz?
Que tengo que hacer para hacerte mas feliz?
Que tengo que dejar de hacer hoy, para hacer te mas feliz?

The translation is am I making you happy? What do I have to do to make you happier? And what do I have to stop doing today to make you happier? They used these little talking points as the basis for the whole meeting, and we felt really refreshed afterwards. :) Not only was it a great message, but it was also really great that we understood most (well a lot, anyway) of what they were saying in Spanish. This of course all took place late (8ish-11ish) on a Saturday night. Paraguayans are always doing things really late at night!

Also in our first week, there was a giant storm! We all woke up in the middle of the night to loud (really loud) thunder, lightning, and water leaking in through the roof. We all jumped out of bed and headed into the hallway cause it sounded like there was a tornado coming. We debated getting under the table and/or putting mattresses over ourselves, but then decided to stand in the hallway for a bit cause it was the most structurally sound place in the house. After things cooled down a bit, we acquired buckets (baldes) from around the house to put under the water dripping in. Then the guys all grabbed squeegies and started pushing the water into the bathroom drain. We sat on the bed and provided light for the job with our cool headlamps from REI. Then we both found dry spots on the bed and eventually went to sleep. It was a giant storm that caused flash flooding all over the country and downed trees all over the place. It was pretty crazy.

We also had a birthday party for Cesar on another Saturday night. This was a typical Paraguayan birthday party. Everyone comes and sits down in a big circle. They make conversation, and they catch up with each other. The circle gets bigger as more people show up, and it gets smaller as people start to leave. About every third or fourth person gets a cup of soda and/or beer and then people share. This is a custom that we were very familiar with because we learned to share drinks with our training community. Then all of the women go into the kitchen and prepare little plates of snack foods (empanadas, sausages, etc.) while the men sit around and chit chat. Then we all ate. At one point, Fede and I decided it was time to play guitar and get the party started. We played the Felicidades song, then everyone wanted to hear me sing some songs. Sarah and I sang Jumper and Californication, then Fede played some Argentinian songs. Then I started playing Twist and Shout, which I only know one verse of. So I just kept playing it over and over again. Then Sarah got up and started dancing, and pretty soon all of the women there got up and started dancing. It was a lot of fun. Sarah and I went to bed around 1 and everyone was still up. This was another Saturday night where everyone stays up really late and somehow still makes it to Mass at 7:30 in the morning. This is a common practice. I am still super impressed by it.

Nohelia and Cesar are professors in multiple different cities. We tagged along with Cesar to visit the different schools he worked at. One was at a town called Artigas. There is a small university there where Cesar teaches agriculture classes. The town was very similar to any other town you would find in Paraguay, except that the name Artigas sounded very familiar to me, and I couldn't put my finger on it. Then I looked it up when I got home in the book I'm reading "The Open Veins of Latin America" by Eduardo Galleano. Jose Artigas was the man who personified the agrarian revolution. In the early 1800's, he was the voice of the poor country people, the indigenous people who had long been exploited and taken advantage of, and he fought vigorously to give the land back to these people. His efforts were thwarted by the Uruguayan and Argentinian governments around 1820, and in his defeat, fled to Paraguay for the remainder of his life. It was here, in this town of Artigas where he resided. Another fun fact that I learned from Cesar was that the town had a different name before Artigas. It was named after a pair of Indigenous Guarani brothers; Cango-Bobi, and people like to argue over which brother was a better leader than the other.

So, this should catch us up to the first couple of weeks in site. We still have to write a post about our trip to visit the Itaipu dam, and then we're gonna write about our Christmas festivities in a little town on the river named Ayolas. Stay tuned!

A trip to the east

During our second week in site, we were presented us with an offer we simply could not refuse: A free trip to Ciudad del Este, Itaipu Dam, and Monday Falls! Our host mother, Nohelia invited us to join her class's end of the year trip. (Here in Paraguay, school ends in the first week of December for summer break).

That Sunday night, we boarded an overnight bus with around 40 high schoolers and 10 chaperons. We put in our earplugs, took some tylonel pm, and tried to get as much sleep as possible. The next thing we knew we were jarred awake by the boys singing pop songs at the top of their lungs around 5 AM. They also like to play a game where you read road signs in a funny voice and laugh really hard. You know how teenagers are.

We arrived early at our first stop, the Itaipu Dam. While we waited for the visitors center to open, we checked out the street vendors' blankets filled with handmade jewelry. I bought a colorful strap for my camera, and Ben got a bracelet woven with the colors of the Paraguayan flag (red, white, and blue) to use as a keychain. In the meantime, the students had grouped in circle around a huge insect that they were poking with a stick. When the center opened, we shuffled into a small theater and watched an informational film (in Spanish) about the dam. To learn about it in English check out the wiki article: Itaipu Dam.

After the little video, everyone piled into a bus and they took us on the dam tour. They stopped at a place before the dam to get a great dam picture. Then we got on the dam bus and drove down the dam until we reached the dam control center. We got to get out and walk beneath some dam corridors and get a dam lecture before we left and got on the dam bus again. The whole dam tour was actually pretty short - Maybe about 20 dam minutes, which are actually the same as regular minutes. We thought it was a great feat of engineering at first, and we were impressed, but even though it's really big and pretty, it's still terrible for the environment, right? Later we did some research and found tons of articles that talk about how all the dams in Paraguay have really devastated the surrounding ecosystems. So, dams are cool, but not our favorite thing since we've been here.

Next, we all piled into our original bus and headed to Salto Monday (which is pronounced Mon-Dah-U). The waterfalls here were really beautiful, and it was good to see that it was well maintained. A few of the kids picked up bottles and threw them into the waterfall, which shows that PC environmental conservation volunteers still serve a purpose here. We hung out for a while and enjoyed the view. They also had a little "eco-tourism" canopy walk, but it wasn't anything special. It was just a little set of walkways suspended about 20 feet in the air, just out in the open. One of the kids in our group paid to go, so we were content just watching him do it.

After the falls, we went to Ciudad Del Este. They let all the kids loose for a few hours. Sarah and I wandered around with Nohelia and our new friend Cesar, a profe that we met on the bus. We wandered through the malls checking out the prices on different electronics like electric shavers and cameras. There are several different malls in C. Del Este. The streets are packed with street vendors and little booths. Then there are hundreds of other people walking around selling everything from socks to pen drives. It was quite an experience. Little kids would walk even walk up to you trying to sell you stuff. Sarah bought a backpack from a little vendor, then we headed to a grocery store for some lunch. It was a buffet style restaurant where you pay per kilo of food, and it was crowded and noisy just like similar style restaurants in the states. I've included some pics of the city, but it's really hard to capture the calamity of the city in a picture. But it's a great place to go if you want a cheap knock-off of anything. 

 

It started raining just as we had to load back on the bus and take the long trip home. Sarah and I had a great time on this trip, and best of all, it was completely free! We were pretty lucky. We met some cool kids and teachers, and got to see some great parts of Paraguay. 

Welcome to Coronel Bogado!

So everyone is probably really curious; what is our site like? Is it super campo? Do we live in a shack? Do we have running water and electricity? Do people speak mostly Spanish or Guarani? Well, this post should clear things up.

We arrived in Coronel Bogado on 12/10. It's a little town with about 19,000 people in it. The Wikipedia entry for Coronel Bogado should give you a good idea of the demographics of the city. The Municipality has a blogspot site, which has some cool pics of events, and of the park in the middle of town. These don't quite give you the full experience. So here's a little tour of our site. 

The drive in is like this; for about 5 hours. With a town here or there. 

Then when you reach our department, you see this big farmer dude welcoming you to Itapua. Located in the southeastern corner of the country, Itapua is characterized by fertile soil, humid weather, and scattered forests. Tourists visit the region to explore the Jesuit ruins, play on the beaches of the Parana River, and join in on the country's largest Carnaval celebration in Encarnacion. 

Then you start seeing lots of these rice processing facilities. You also see some others for sugar cane and other crops. 

Then you arrive in the city, which looks like this. Giant semi-trucks are barrelling down the road. Motos are weaving in and out of traffic. And there are people selling stuff on every sidewalk. There's a chiperia every 10 feet. (Chipa is basically a cheesy bread made from mandioca flour) And Coronel Bogado is the CHIPA CAPITAL OF PARAGUAY! We've already tried a bunch of places, but haven't decided on our favorite yet; although the chipa with the ham and cheese inside of it is really delicious, and is basically a whole meal in itself. 

Then you walk some more. There's always a lot of walking in Peace Corps, no matter what your site looks like. We are prohibited from driving cars, and from riding motos. So, you walk everywhere; which is actually a great way to experience the city. 

The sidewalks are where everyone tries to sell you things. Here you see a clothing store, but you can find anything: Bikes, washing machines, stoves, ovens, mattresses, couches, TV's, brooms, anything! Sometimes the store owners sit outside and invite you by saying "Adelante, adelante;" Most other times, you walk by and say "Adios!" which literally means goodbye, but you use it as a greeting on the street as you're passing by people. 

The whole city is laid out like a grid. You think this would make it easier to learn the city. It doesn't. There are hardly any road signs, so it might as well be a maze. But it has everything you need. There's a supermarket, plenty of stores to find clothes, hardware, and gifts, a COPACO (phone company), cell phone stores, places to make photocopias, ice cream shops, lots of despensas, chiperias, hamburger and hot dog places, places that sell Lomitos (delicious gyro llike sandwiches), and basically anything you need. There's no movie theatre, bowling alley, or anything like that. 

The socioeconomics of Bogado are very variable. You can see a house like this ->

Directly next to a "chuchi" house like this ->

<-- a house like this... could have a wood-burning stove, probably electricity, maybe running water, and only cold water if it does,  definitely chickens, maybe a cow or two, no washing machine, definitely people sitting outside drinking terere, half the time Guarani speaking... you can see this...

<-- Directly next to a house like this... two floors, electricity, gas stove, granite counter tops in the kitchen... has a kitchen... hot water, cars, etc. etc. etc. So it's pretty variable. You never know what you're gonna get every time you turn a corner. But one things for sure: Everyone is super nice and will say adios and half the time will ask you where you're from, and invite you in for terere and introduce you to the entire family. 

Typical despensa (convenience store, usually someones house). In here you can buy the basics: toilet paper, instant coffee, and toothpaste. Sometimes the farmacias look like this too. Or it could be a bodega, which mainly just sells drinks, beers, sodas, etc.

 Most of the roads are empadrada (giant rocks that have been strategically placed to make a road; kinda like a cobble stone road in an old city in the states). Everyone drives extremely slow on these bumpy roads and riding bikes on them is literally a pain in the ass. 

No description of Bogado is complete without describing the Peatonal. It is a beautiful two-lane walkway that passes through the center of town for walking, exercising, and bike riding. The wikipedia page mentions that we have a walkway here, but it doesn't mention that it's gorgeous! Sarah and I have a lot of pride in the Peatonal. We walk it several times a week for exercise, many times picking up trash along the way. If you need to rest, have a seat on one of the many benches.  

After you walk the entire length of the Peatonal, it's not paved anymore. It looks like this; usually with a cow, some chickens, or a big pack of dogs running around. At night there are some really loud frogs that make a high pitched squeal. We have to walk it in its entirety because both houses we have lived at have been on the southside of town. We will describe our families that we have lived with in another post. For now, you have a good idea of where we live and what its like to live here. We plan to move to an apartment in the centro in mid-feb. More to come on that. Anyways, that's our site. If you have any questions, let us know!