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!

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. 

ETs go home

Peace Corps service is not for everyone. Early Termination (ET) is defined in the volunteer handbook as any event that results in the termination of a PCV's service prior to the completion of service (COS) date. Peace Corps categorizes ETs into four different types: resignation, medical separation, administrative separation, and interrupted service. Once the decision is made to go home, you complete a final medical evaluation and you are on a plane to the U.S. the next day. It's that fast!

When we first arrived in country, our trainers told us that usually about 10% of every training class will not complete their service. Our training class of both agriculture and environmental volunteers started with 54 and by swear-in six of us had returned home. The first trainee left during our third week of training right after we went on the PCV visits. She said to her friends that it just wasn't the right time in her life to do Peace Corps. The next trainee to leave was a pretty big surprise to everyone. He was the veteran of the group having served as a PCV in Panama a few years back. He had come to Paraguay as part of the Master's International program. We all thought he would be the super volunteer with answers to every question. Before our second month of training he returned home to take care of some legal matters.

A few days before our site assignments were given out, our trainers spoke to us as a group about our commitment to Peace Corps service. They told us that now is the time to think seriously about whether or not Peace Corps is right for us. It is best to make the decision before future site visit out of respect for your community. Each community goes through a long process when asking for Peace Corps volunteers. During future site visit the whole community is excited to meet the volunteer who will be living and working with them for the next two years. How do you think they feel, when after site visit their volunteer decides to ET? They begin think... What is wrong with us that makes the volunteer not want to work with us? It can be heart breaking for a community to lose their volunteer.

In the end, we had 5 from environment and 1 from agriculture leave during training. A month after swear in, we had 2 more go home leaving us 46 strong. I think one of the biggest reasons for leaving is that their expectations of Peace Corps service did not match up with reality. While this did not happen in our experience, we have heard that some recruiters and placement officers have been stretching the truth or giving misguided information to applicants. Every volunteer's service is different and the most valuable asset you can have is flexibility. Let go of your preconceived notions of "the perfect" Peace Corps experience. Let your Peace Corps service take you on an adventure. Let it open the doors of your life to new and exciting places. No matter what your service is like Peace Corps will transform you for the better. All you have to do is let it.

Future Site Visit: Coronel Bogado, Paraguay!

The Friday after site celebration, we boarded a bus that carried us to the CAFASA center where we would meet our future site contacts. These primary contacts would collaborate with us on future projects in our communities. We were greeted by Nohelia and her husband Cesar, both are teachers in our community. After brief introductions with our contacts, we moved to a lecture room to participate in a “getting to know you” activity. On big pieces of “charla” paper, we wrote out the characteristics we expected of our contacts, while they wrote out what they expected of us. As we shared our lists to each other we realized that for the most part they were the same: we all wanted someone friendly, dependable, understanding, hardworking, and accepting of our cultural diversity.

After eating lunch together, the trainees with their respective community contacts went their separate ways. Ben and I jumped in the car with Nohelia and Cesar and picked up Johanna, our PCV site-mate just outside the meeting center. Before beginning the five hour drive to Coronel Bogado, we stopped to visit the Basilica in Caacupe, the largest Catholic Church in the country. We spent about an hour walking through the church and climbing the winding staircase up to the balcony. As you climb the staircase you will find a painted history of how the Virgin Mary appeared to the indigenous people of Paraguay in a vision. We exited the church and crammed back into the car. The drive was long, but we got to talk with our contacts and see a great expanse of the countryside. Much of the area along Ruta 1 is made up of large flat grasslands with occasional interspersed clumps of trees. About two to three hours into the drive the rear passenger side tire popped and we had to go to the gomeria twice to fix it adding an extra hour onto our trip. Finally, around dinner time we rolled into Coronel Bogado.

The next day, our host family took us to the beach at Encarnation. The city lies on the Parana River and boasts a beautiful sandy beach. We jumped out of the car and took off our shoes as quickly as possible, yearning to feel the warm sand between our toes. The sand is as nice as any in Florida and instead of shells you can find beautiful river-worn rocks of many colors and patterns. Some even look like they may be pebbles of petrified wood (very plausible considering the large quantity of petrified wood that is exported from the eastern region of Paraguay).  At the water’s edge we were met by shimmering schools of small fish, which proceeded to nibble on our toes as we stood in the water. Had it not been for lack of waves and the view of the opposite shore, we would have thought we were wading in the ocean. Looking out across the river, you can see the gleaming sky rises of city of Posadas, Argentina. We left the beach to go grocery shopping at the giant super market called Superseis. There you can find practically everything you need for day to day life, just like any supermarket in the states.

When we returned to Coronel Bogado, we stopped by a trade show of artensania made by the local women’s group, Manos Laboriosos, which means laboring hands. We were impressed to find that much of their artwork is made using recycled materials! Que guapa!  Later that evening, we went with Nohelia and Cesar to a couple’s group reunion. They gather every week to reflect, discuss, and pray about keeping their married relationships on the path that god intended. After the reunion, we all played volley ball on a court behind the supermarket. Believe me when I say that Paraguayans are serious about playing volle. They wear team uniforms and have a team “reina” or “queen”. Fans come out to cheer and support their teams. They will play game after game never stopping for water or even to announce the winners. If you don’t keep track yourself, you won’t even know the score. They will tell you that you are just going to play one or two games, but before you know it, you’ve played four games, it’s midnight, and there is no end in sight!

The next morning we woke up early and went to Catholic mass with our family. Since we are neither Catholic nor native Spanish speakers we understood very little of the proceedings. Afterwards we joined our host brothers in the youth group and introduced ourselves by singing our song from the Lorax. The youth group has about 50 kids in it and we hope to work with them on projects in the future. Around lunch time we went to our site mate Johanna’s house to celebrate her birthday. Johanna has been in Coronel Bogado for over a year and a half working in education. It’s definitely nice having a fellow volunteer in site with us. The following day she took us on a tour of the town and introduced to many people we might work with in the future.   We visited the municipality, the university, and walked along the Peatonal, a beautiful path that runs through the center of the community.

Coronel Bogado is a lovely little town and we are very excited to begin working here. The chipa is delicious, there is a great little downtown area, there are several parks, and the people seem to be eager to have environmental volunteers. They have told us of a variety of projects that they would like our help with including restoring the community stream, recycling, planting trees, and even creating nature trails in a nearby forest. We can’t wait to get started!

Site Assignment Celebration

   The evening after our excursion to Aregua, we arrived back at the training center for a special celebration. Tonight, we will learn exactly where in Paraguay we will be spending the next two years of our lives! As we entered through the doors of the training center, we were met with the applause and cheers of the entire training staff: our language professors, technical trainers, training directors, country director, and program directors all were there. Our normally down-to-business lecture hall was transformed into a fiesta with banners, paperchains, and flowers. A giant topographical map of Paraguay stood at the focal point of the room. As we filed in and found our seats, we exchanged nervous hugs, excited handshakes, and words of encouragement. This moment would define the rest of our time here in Paraguay.


   After several introductions from the staff, it was finally time for the site announcements to begin. Everyone waited excitedly for their names to be drawn out of a large straw sombrero. As the names were drawn, each person taped their picture next the location of their future site on the giant map of Paraguay. One by one they called out the names of our fellow trainees: Nari would be going to Caaguazu, Andrew to Ayolas, Grace and Tamarra to Yguazu, and then it was our turn! The Overstreets will be going to Coronel Bogado. We jumped up out of our chairs and hurried to the front of the room. Our trainers helped us locate our future site on the map and together we taped our pictures up. Afterwards, we were given a folder of information about our site including a welcome letter, the volunteer request form, community demographics, and a tourist brochure for the Department of Itapua. After everyone’s name had been called, we celebrated with cake and fruit salad while we scoured our folders for every ounce of information we could find about our future sites.

Day Trip to Aregua

During week 7 of training all the aspirantes were given the choice of going on a cultural excursion to one of two nearby cities: Asuncion or Aregua. Since we’d already been to Asuncion during Tapeapovo, we decided to check out Aregua. The word “Aregua” in Guarani means “City from the Past”. The quaint town is famous for its ceramic artesania, strawberries, Lago Ypacarai, and Cerro Koi (a national monument of Paraguay).

We started the day, visiting the local SENATUR office, which is the national tourism agency in Paraguay. There, we learned a bit about the history of the town and about all the cool things Aregua has to offer. After that we traveled to Cerro Koi where we hiked among the unique hexagonal rock formations that can only be found in two places in the world (Aregua and somewhere in Africa). Because the rocks fracture into small flat pieces, they were used as cobblestones in most of the roads in the town. When we had climbed as high as would could on the cerro, we paused to view the little town of Aregua nestled against the expansive lake Ypacarai in the distance. Considering the relatively flat land of Paraguay, this was a breathtaking sight for us.

Back in town we ventured into the workshop of a family that makes ceramic art. The owner led us step by step through the process from how they mix the clay to how they paint and fire the finished products. Some of us even got to try our hands at spinning our very own pots (Ben and I were not so lucky). In the workshop they make a variety of products, everything from small decorative pots to piggybanks shaped like Sponge Bob. All over town, you can find hundreds of similar products in various colors lining the streets in little booths. Ben and I purchased two little ceramic pots as recuerdos.

Next, we headed to the Lago Ypacarai. As we approached, we were delighted to see a sandy beach and inviting boardwalk overlooking the brilliant blue lake. For those of us still yearning for the ocean, this was definitely a sight for sore eyes. We walked out on the boardwalk immersing ourselves in the view. The water stretched out in every direction sparkling as tiny waves reflected the sun’s glare. The Paraguayan flags at the water’s edge fluttered in the refreshing breeze. Standing there with Ben’s arm around me, I felt at home. The sun… the water… the wind… comforted me and reminded me of all the wonderful times we’ve spent in Florida together. I did not want to budge from this spot. We stayed there as long as we could, eventually breaking away for lunch.


We ate at a local restaurant called Don Pablo’s. Let me assure you, this is not one of the chain Mexican restaurants found across the U.S., but is a popular spot to get a quick bite of authentic Paraguayan food. We ate meat and veggie pies then explored the streets lined with artesania. We stopped at a booth, where a woman was selling strawberry preservatives, and bought a small bottle of strawberry liqueur. Our exploration led us into a shop of indigenous artwork from the Chaco. The small shop was packed with wooden sculptures of animals, ceramics, woven baskets, metal workings, and paintings. One tiny shelf held a dozen or so little stone figurines. The figurines were shaped like women and clad in dresses of colorful thread and plant fibers. We learned from the shopkeeper that they are played with as dolls by children in the Chaco. We bought two of the dolls (one for my mother and one for me) and a small wooden carving of a crocodile for Ben. By that time, we needed to meet up with the rest of our group to return home to Takuruty. We had a beautiful day in Aregua. It was a much needed break from the stress of training.