The Environmental Side of Life....

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.

Killing me Softly...

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.

New Mailing Address...

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

The long pilgramage to Caacupe...

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.

From Jewel of the Sierra to Jewel of the South

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!

My Vans have 4 Wheel Drive...

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...

More than halfway through training...

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.