A Night of Cultura Paraguaya

Hello everyone!

Last Saturday night was one of my best nights in site. I realize that is quite the statement to make, but seriously, it was just a truly wonderful night.

Not sure if you guys remember, but back in March, guitar classes began in my site with the help of my amazing contact and a pedido we submitted to the government. I took the class for a whopping 3 weeks, realized I sucked at it, and quit. Those who didn’t, however, had their closing ceremony on Saturday night after 7 months of hard work and practice. It was amazing. With class only once a week, these kids and teenagers learned more than I ever imagined! The concert lasted about an hour and a half, starting with a classic Paraguayan dance from some girls in my site, followed by the guitar pieces. It was great seeing the kids come in to their own while playing, feeling totally comfortable in front of 50+ people in the audience. I watched as mothers and sisters and even a father or two wiped a tear from their eye as their son or daughter played a song on the guitar they have been listening to since birth. Truly, wonderful.

Here are some photos and videos of the night:

Ready for a night of music!

The mayor came!

Guitar Teacher talking to the audience

Girls from my site performing a typical Paraguayan dance

Fun Videos:

Auxi (12) rocking it on the guitar! - I also love how the teacher gets really into it at one point because she is totally nailing it

Adorable 7 year old singing!

Members of the class at the end of the show

In other news… San Pedro (my community) played their first game of the year Sunday, and won 1-0! Woooo hoooooo!

Enjoying the game from a shady spot

Also, I will be back in the good old USA TOMORROW for about 8 days of jam packed awesome-ness! Hope to see you all there! So looking forward to fall weather and some quality time with family and friends I haven’t seen in 22 months!

I'm Confused.

For those of you wondering why I haven’t mastered Guaraní yet…

• The word for ‘delicious’? He
• The word for ‘yes’? Héẽ
• The word for ‘salty’? He’ẽ

Héẽ, it’s perfectly He’ẽ. Oh wait, you just asked if it’s He? Héẽ, it’s Heterei (very He).

Are you guys thinking the same thing I am?

Heh?

Paraguayan Myths

As the subject came up again recently, I found it hard to believe I have never shared Paraguayan myths with you all! Just as we have Big Foot and the Boogeyman, Paraguay has its own set of strange man/myths that they talk about. I have found, however, that Paraguayans take these myths much more seriously than I think we in the states take ours. I remember learning about them in training and cracking up as Aurelio, my language teacher, told me about their characteristics. Then when I got my first puppy and wanted to name her Pombero and all my neighbors freaked out, I decided to delve a little deeper into these myths. And after Friday night, when I think I may have had an encounter with sir Pombero himself, it became apparent that these myths are too good to simply not share with you all! So – Here are some breif summaries of the 5 most common myth creatures in Paraguay. (All the summaries are based on what my language teacher taught me. Guarani is primarily a spoken language, so the tales vary.)

Kurupi – Kurupi is short, ugly, and hairy. He lives in the forest and is considered to be the protector of fertilization. Unwanted pregnancies are often blamed on him. He is most recognizable by his incredibly long penis, which he wraps around his waist several times like a belt. 

Kurupi

Pombero – The most famous of the myths. Don’t you dare mention his name at night, because it’s an invitation for him to come. He is great at imitating a birdsong, and lures people to him with it. If you leave out tobacco and caña (sugar cane liquor), you will be friends with him. You have to remember to put it out every night, though!

Pombero

Jasy Jatere – Famous and recognizable for its gold snake. If kids are playing too close to his forest after lunch (during the siesta hour), he will capture them and they will never return.

Jasy Jatere

Luisón – Eats the dead on Tuesday and Friday nights. He also captures people to take them to the cementary, and then eats them.

Luisón

Ao Ao – Protector of the hills. When the men go to hunt animals in the hills, he is there to protect the animals.

Ao Ao 

And as for what happened Friday night… Around 10pm I start to hear whistling outside of my house. Assuming it was the town drunk, I rolled over and tried to fall back to sleep. Then, my dog starts barking like a mad man. She was the only dog barking. I ended up bringing her inside to quiet her down, but the whistling went on for around 45 minutes. The next day, I talked to my neighbors on both side, and neither heard a thing. Then I talked with a family I was visiting, and I end up leaving their place with holy water, a rosary, and with clear instructions to leave tobacco and caña outside my house. That evening, I mentioned the story to Silvia, and she goes “Pombero! He was at my house Tuesday!” Soooooooo. I have a short creepy creature lurking around my community. Do I believe in him? Sort of. Enough to definitely think the circumstances we’re weird, but not enough to use the holy water, rosary, tobacco, or caña.

Happy Monday! On a happy note – meet my newest neighbor, Matias Duarte Vallejos! He is 5 days old today and unbelievably precious. 

Matias and Fatima

Karen's Visit and PATAGONIA!!!

BUEN DIAAAAAAAAAA! A little less work and a lot more play been happening here down south… whoops! But hey, they give us those vacation days to spend, right?! Here is an update on my last couple of weeks.

On Sept 21^st, I picked up one of my besties from U of I, Karen, from the airport!!!! She was the last one out of the customs, so naturally I thought she got deported, but no – SHE MADE IT! It was so bizarre on the bus on the way to site. It felt just like we had grabbed lunch a week ago, but in reality I hadn’t seen her in a year and a half and we were in PARAGUAY. Very surreal. Anywho, she only had a quick stint in Paraguay, so I jammed in as much craziness as I could for her. We went to a (fake) Nene Malo concert with some of my PCV friends, hung in the campo where she killed a chicken that we ate for lunch, made chipa and drank terere with a family, attended a little kid’s birthday party… She even washed some clothes by hand! So while her time in the campo was short, we definitely made the most of it!

Sixta showing Karen the proper chicken killing technique

On Sept 24^th, we went on our next adventure – PATAGONIA!!! AKA – the most beautiful place I think I have ever seen. Both the Chilean and Argentine sides lived up to all the hype, and I am still pinching myself as I look at my pictures from the trip and realizing that it all actually happened. Rather than bore you with stories, I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Perrito Moreno Glacier, El Calafate, Argentina

PCVs in Patagonia

Hitting up the local ice bar in El Calafate

Sunset walk in Puerto Natales, Chile

Cueva de Milodon, Chile

Picnic spot in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Karen and I at Lago Grey, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Relaxing at Lago Grey

Incredible views in Torres del Paine

The gang in Torres del Paine

Richard, David, Spencer and Brice after finishing the race!!

Casey, myself, and Yihana as the awesome cheerleaders

Our souvenir from the marathon

Maritime Museum, Ushuaia, Argentina

Celebrating our first night out in Tierra del Fuego!

Dog sledding at the end of the world

Sea Lion Island, Boat Cruise, Ushuaia

Spencer, Yihana and I enjoying the boat cruise

Lighthouse at the End of the World

Our last night as a big group in our Ushuaia house

Layover lunch in Buenos Aires on our last day of vacation

Overall – a crazy couple of weeks! Now it’s another month and a half in Paraguay until my next and last vacation hits – USA! I do have one new activity keeping me busy, thankfully. The nurse at my health post started a walking club, and I join them as often as possible (about 5 times per week usually). Oh - and my neighbor had her baby yesterday, so I am officially a Godmother to a healthly baby boy, Matias! Should be meeting the little guy this afternoon :)

Until next time!

Besos, besos, dale, chau, chau, besos, dale, chau-

Emily

The Night I Went to the Q’mbia Juan Concert…

AKA – one of the weirdest nights of my life. Enjoy :)

Over the past year and a half in Paraguay, I have grown to love their music. The style is Cumbia, and I totally dig it. So when I found out a Cumbia group was coming to a pueblo near me and the tickets were cheap, I got super excited! I got my 16 year old bestie and her boyfriend to go with me, and was totally stoked. Aaaaaand that was the end of the excitement for the night. Here is the lovely story.

Part 1: Uncomfortable

Showing up in Santa Maria, I didn’t know what to expect. But when I arrived to see hundreds of sex crazed Paraguayan teens, I knew the night would be greeeeaaaaaat. Then, to top off the already ‘ugh’ feeling that came over me, I experienced something every PC volunteer dreads: I have to poop RIGHT NOW and there is no bathroom anywhere. I sat there with my friends thinking about how low I was about to stoop. Crouch behind a tree and nature poop is NOT something I had on my bucket list, so I tried my best to keep my cool. Thankfully not too long later, my volunteer friend who lives in the town saved the day when we showed up and was willing to walk back to her house with me. PHEW!  (although the feeling did manage to sneak back up on me later and I just had to hold out the whole night…)

Also, after feeling slightly better, I went to go buy a water bottle. But this is Paraguay, so of course they don’t have any. So I am offered a plastic bottle with the top cut off filled with tap water. Hope they weren’t using that for paint thinner before I used it!

Forgive my hideous-ness. but um.... wtf?

Part 2: 3^rd Wheel

Usually, Silvia and her boyfriend are great party friends. This time though, not so much. I mean, I can’t really blame her. She was at a concert with her boyfriend. But they were superrrrr lovey dovey. And then there I was, just dancing by myself – good times! Plus, I still wasn’t feeling all that great. I decided to let them do their thing, and I would just head to the bleachers and sit (and stay for the next 4 hours). I didn’t mind, but it was kind of a bummer.

The happy couple

Part 4: Paraguayans don’t understand concert rules

For example, when the singer screams “How is everyone tonight!”, you are supposed to respond with some screaming and excitement. These kids? Crickets. This happened several times throughout the night, and gave me a good chuckle every time

Part 5: Please don’t repeat the same songs over and over and over again.

There were four parts to the show: The opener, a DJ, Q’mbia Juan (the main act), and then more DJ music. The opener was a cover band, so obviously they played all the popular cumbia music that is out right now. Then the DJ came on, where he remixed all the popular cumbia music out right now. Then Q’mbia Juan came on, and even they played some of the popular songs by other artists! And to end the night, more of the same popular cumbia music played by the DJ. Don’t get me wrong, I can belt “Lejos de Ti” at the top of my lungs with the best of them, but after the 3^rd time I wanted to crawl into a hole and die and never listen to cumbia again.

Q'mbia Juan

Part 6: The highlight of the night!

I have zero idea as to why, but towards the end of Q’mbia Juan’s set, they started playing the instrumentals to one of the CSI shows – Miami maybe? I don’t know. But it took me away for a minute. I started imagining this as one of the episodes. The plot? ‘American at a Paraguayan concert found sitting alone on the bleachers. Just when she is thinking about walking out and jumping in front of a moto to maintain her sanity, BOOM! The drummer gets up suddenly and boomerangs his drumstick directly in to my brain killing me. But nobody saw it happen… DUN DUN DUN’. Thrilling, right?!

Part 7: The End

The concert ended around 3, and I was READY TO GO! But… Silvia and her BF were nowhere in sight. I knew they were dancing, but couldn’t find them. So I text “hey I’ll be buy the coke stand come meet me here”. To which she responds “Come here and let’s dance more! Or do you want to leave”. Me being the cool person I am, said “I prefer to go, but if you guys want to dance a little I can wait a few minutes”. Welllllll, apparently a few minutes means an hour. And after sending them texts every 15 minutes to no response, I finally found them and we left. I didn’t end up getting back to my house until 5am. Lesson learned? Never go to a concert with your 16 your old friend and her boyfriend.

So – Moral of the story? I wish it would have rained like the forecast said so we wouldn’t have been able to go.

Hope you all had a fabulous Tuesday! I went to a pig asado – my neighbor volunteer Stacy killed the pig she had been raising! yummyyyyyyyyyy!

RIP Piggy (P.S. She's winking at you)

Asado Happiness :)

Smashing Success!

Well folks, not gonna lie… I am feeling pretty damn proud of myself and the other Misiones volunteers who put on the Sexual Health and Leadership workshop for Paraguayan youth this past weekend – IT ROCKED!!! We had 21 youth attend from all over the department, as well as 12 volunteers and 5 Paraguayan guest speakers. We covered topics such as STI’s, teen pregnancy, family planning, condoms, leadership, project planning, and communication. Here are some of my favorite moments.

Here are 2 teenagers from Presencia Joven, an incredibly talented group of teen leaders from Encarnacion. For me, they made the sexual health portion of the taller. They were captivating, interesting, funny, and really knew their stuff. Plus, I think it was really great for the jovenes (youth) who attended to see what actual Paraguayan teens can do to make a difference. They were able to relate and really enjoyed their charlas.

Sara (16) and Walter (18) demonstrating the proper condom technique

Ice breakers are a PCV favorite. Below are some pictures from the jovenes doing these crazy activities we put them through.

Dance parties always break the ice

Ducks in a line

Gusano! (Worm)

The biggest highlight of the workshop was definitely when we had the kids get out into the community and do some awesome projects. They were split off into three groups and had a couple hours Saturday afternoon to take what they had learned and put it into action. One group painted a mural in the regional hospital, another recorded radio PSA’s that will be used on one of the city’s radio station, and the last created a Facebook page where they can share with their friends and family what they accomplished over the weekend and will continue to accomplish in the future in their communities. All the teens came back showing the volunteers pictures of what they accomplished and we could tell they were really proud of the work they did! (I was in charge of the mural, so those are the only pictures I have...)

Beginning stages of painting

The jovenes in front of the mural! (A couple volunteers finished it off since we rand out of time)

Overall, the weekend went about as well as we could have planned. The weeks leading up to it were stressful (and I would be lying if I said I knew it was going to go as well as it did), but it absolutely paid off.

To those of you who donated to the grant I sent out via email or Facebook – I honestly cannot thank you enough! Please know that through your generosity you have changed the lives of the people who attended, and I am forever grateful for that. (And keep your eye out in the mail for a little thank you. Although, remember that I am in Paraguay, so hopefully it will get to you before I get home next year….)

Here are some other great pictures from the weekend:

Silvia and Cristian (my jovenes) arriving in San Ignacio

Terere break with volunteers! Alex, Chris, and Alyssa

Creating a project plan for what we will do in our community

All the jovenes with their certificates!

Cristian, me, Silvia

My amazing jovenes!!! So proud!