Semana Santa. The week leading up to easter. The week of unlimited, endless amounts of freshly made chipa (not as fresh by the end of the week). Week of greasy, cheesy sopa Paraguay, mandioca by the kilos, scents of pigs, cows, chickens, and sheep BBQing emanating from every house in the country. Week of tortas, boxed wine and coke, or beer and coke, or cana and coke, as long as it's mixed with coke, and more chipa washed down with coke. Every gluttons dream. My fridge is stuffed full of gifts of sopa, cake, various barbequed meats, and did I mention chipa? Though the site of it makes me sick after all that I ate today (I write this March 20th, Holy Thursday. Day of the asado. Today we feast and tomorrow we must only eat chipa). I had a huge lunch. Two actually. First at Dalida's (The greatest woman in the world) after preparing together all morning, then immediately to my neighbor's house ( I was hoping they would have eaten already), because they invited me too and I didn't have the heart/balls to tell them that I already had lunch plans, but maybe I cuold pencil them in around 2ish. Give me time for a nap.... Well I arrived just in time for lunch #2, and ate the same thing all over again (just not as much in order not to explode). After going home and bathing the greasiness off of me, I went and visited another family, whom I adore. Immediatly I am brought chipa and forced to try it while the whole family watches. I insist that I am stuffed. I tell them that I am going to explode, but that gets lost in translation and I just got really odd looks. I try a bite, tell them its delicious and place it on my lap until I leave. Then it's off to Grandma's house I go. She is so happy that I "remembered her," because she has been alone all day, cooking and sweeping, she loads a plastic bag full of chipa, sopa, and cake, but doesn't make me try it in front of her ( thank god!). She's really busy sweeping her yard and sends me on my way. She says to come back tomorrow if it doesn't rain, because if it rains, she'll just have to sweep her yard all over again and that takes all day. She's great. A little nuts, but I effing love her.

So, moral of the story is, there is such a thing as free lunch (who ever made up that saying has never visited Paraguay), but it's not always a blessing. It can lead to wicked bad indigestions and an awful stomach ache.

And after the chipa is gone, you will have withdrawals. I swear the secret ingredient in that stuff is CRACK.

P.S. Chipa had her puppies!

Welcome Home

When I got back to site my power (only my power), had been out for days. My fridge stunk and was completely moldy. Everything inside it was ruined, including my heinz ketchup, rocher chocolate, dum dums and jolly ranchers.
I have mice now and they pooped all over my house. I had my cat sleep inside to kill the mice but instead, she pooped all over my house too.
The women who pawned her dvd player off on me in exchange for 50 mil (and convinced me to give her back the dvd player before i left for vacation so she could sell it and pay me back), up and left for ciudad del este while I was away. Serves me right for being an idiot.
It rained a lot while I was gone, which means in rained inside my house as well. The floors and everything on them are still damp and my bed smells like mildew.
Grandma gave me a giant squash to welcome me home, but while trying to peel it I stuck the knife through my thumb nail. Then I kicked the corner of my door running inside for a band aid and split open/ smashed my big toe.
Lassie continued to have seizures while I was gone, and Chipa got more pregnant (any day now). How nice of the paraguayans though, I have had numerous offers from people who are happy to kill all the female pups once they are born. Nobody is killing my puppies. I will find homes for all of them, even if that means they stay with me.
Thats all I have for news (good and bad). It´s great to be home.

National Lampoon's Uruguayan Vacation

I returned yesterday from my 8-day vacation to the coast of Uruguay. I left Paraguay super excited to go to the beach every day and eat tons of delicious seafood. Unfortunatly, it rained 7 out of 8 days of our trip, and the shellfish selection was extremely dissapointing! Our trip started out in the city of Montevideo for two days. The weather was beautiful the first day, but by the second day the rain had started. We did a lot of walking, eating at expensive restaurants, sightseeing, and overspending on clothes while in the city. Sounds like what most tourists do in most cities around the world, no? The city had a lot of really beautiful buildings and plazas, but also had some really shitty areas that made me feel like I was back in Asuncion, Paraguay. For our second stop, we took a 3-hr bus ride east to La Paloma. In La Paloma it was cold and rainy the whole two days, so I don't have much to say about the place. I bought a warm sweatshirt because I didn't think to bring one with me, and we walked up the beaches, went up into the lighthouse, which involved climbing a really scary ladder, ate yummy fish, and met lots of travelers at the hostel we stayed at. The last stop, and by far the best, was to Punto del Diablo, a small surfing/fishing village near the border of Brasil. As soon as the bus pulled into the town I knew I would love the place. The town is basically built on the beach, and consists of hippies and surfers. The first day we walked around the town and the beach in between the rain. The hostel we stayed at has a bar located on the ocean, so we decided to venture out of the hostal for dinner and drinks despite the torrential down pour. The staff from the hostel, and one other group of guess also were at the bar (but thats it). After sharing a sandwich and couple liters of cerveza with Carin, the power went out in town. The wind and the rain were so strong, the paint was dripping off the walls inside the bar. After heavy contemplation of how we could sleep comfortable on the tile floor of this bar, and after a few more beers, we decided to try to brave the elements and go back to the hostel. The rain was not letting up and probably was not planning on stopping anytime soon. The town was pitch black because there was no power, our brand new umbrella was inside out, and our mini maglite basically served no purpose. It was one of those things that you look back and laugh at, but at the time, it SUCKS! Day two surprisingly cleared up and we made it to the beach and I go to go in the ocean. We let the giant waves throw us around for a while until we realized we were in the middle of a school of jellyfish. I ran the hell out of the water, and then was too scared to go back in past my ankles. At night we had a yummy dinner with some kids we met at the hostel and then went to see a reggae band play at a bar on the ocean that totally reminded me of the Wheelhouse in Galilee, Rhode Island. At the hostel we met kids from England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South America, Canada, France, and Massachusettes. Definately a more diverse crowd than I've ever experienced in Paraguay or Newtown, Connecticut. Anyway, It started raining again, but stopped by the time we left the bar. I fell in love with place, and have already inquired about jobs in Punto del Diablo for when I complete my peace corps service in December.

The next day, it was raining again, and we were depressed because we were leaving Punto del Diablo and heading back to the cityto catch our flight back to Paraguay the next day. A nice guy from France who was staying in our hostel offered us a ride back to Montevideo in his renta-car, and we gladly accepted the offer. This way, the trip was 2 hours shorter than a bus, and free. It ended up as 5 of us crammed into a little hatchback. The frenchman who was living in Uruguay and than Chile to work at winery's, two germans who lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina and were interns at hospitals, and then us, two americans who lived and worked as farmer's in the middle of nowhere, paraguay. We all shared the common language of spanish, even though it is none of our fisrt languages. It was an interesting, silent ride back. We had delicious sushi that night, at a restaurant near the hostel, went to bed, and woke up super early the next day to catch our a.m. flight that ended up being delayed until noon. But, we made it back to Paraguay, where its always hot and humid, but there are no beaches to make up for it. Although, the chaco hotel does have a 2 foot deep pool on the roof...