Wow, I’ve been in Paraguay more than three months! It’s hard to believe… it seems like it has been three weeks. I’ll try to update you on the past few weeks.
Three weekends ago my school took a trip to Encarnacion, Jesuit Ruins, and Yacyreta. Encarnacion is a major city in Paraguay and it’s the capital of Misiones (a state). Yacyreta is the huge hydroelectric plant on the border between Paraguay and Argentina. We also visited two different Jesuit ruins from the 17th century. It was really fun to see those things with my classmates.
Two weekends ago, I had a trip to the Chaco with AFS. The Chaco is the northern region of Paraguay. In this area there are lots of Mennonite immigrants from Germany as well as lots of Indigenous people. There are tons of different species of animals, but hardly any people or towns. It’s estimated that there are over 20 different groups of Native Americans living in the Chaco today. Some people think there are still people in the Chaco that have never had contact with the outside world. Pretty cool. There were also cannibals there until about 20 years ago. Not so cool…
For our trip we visited a milk factory, the city Filadelfia, an indigenous zone, and Fortin Boqueron. Trebol is the major milk company in Paraguay and we were able to see the machines for packaging and everything. Afterwards we went to a museum where we learned about the Mennonite influence in the area. Then we visited Filadlefia, where almost all the people are German. It was pretty cool, all the signs were in German and in the supermarket they sold German food. Later on Saturday we visited an indigenous zone, which is like a Native American reserve. This was my favorite part of the trip. We got to meet tons of adorable little kids. They were really poor, but so funny and cute. They loved having their pictures taken and then getting to see them on the camera screen J For dinner, we went to a military base and they made us a huge asado, since we were traveling with a member of the military (the trip organizer’s dad). On Sunday we visited Fortín Boqueron. This is where the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay was won. Overall, it was a really fun trip and I’m glad I got to see that part of the country.
You can see my pictures from both trips on my Flickr account at www.flickr.com/photos/annelisetrafford
Last weekend, I had a normal weekend in Luque. Friday I went to a birthday party. Saturday was mother’s day, so we had a big lunch for my mom. After lunch we found a boy who couldn’t have been more than ten years old sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk in front of our house. We warmed up some food for him and invited him in to eat. It was really sad, he was so skinny that it was painful just to look at him. There are lots of kids like that in Paraguay. My sister told me that there moms are usually drug traffickers or prostitutes. In the afternoon my dad took my brother and I fishing on the Rio Paraguaya, because my sisters and mom didn’t want to come. We only caught two teeny fish, but it was fun and the river is gorgeous. Saturday night I went to a quinceañera. On Sunday, we went out for lunch and then in the evening I went to a movie night at my friend’s house. We were making popcorn and forgot to put a lid on the pot and when we came back in the kitchen popcorn was everywhere hahah. My dad went to my grandma’s house and brought bag three huge bags of mandarin oranges and grapefruit along with empanadas that my grandma made. Yummmm.
This week starts three weeks of midterm exams at my school. Yeah, THREE WEEKS. But I’m only taking a few of them because they’re not going to count for my grade and you have to pay for them (which is kind of dumb because it seems like that would discourage people from taking them …)
Oh also! My blog post on food was featured on the AFS blogs website last week! You should go to the site to check it out and read tons of other interesting blogs from students around the world: www.afsblog.org
At this point, I only have about two and a half months left. In my time here so far, I have learned so much about myself. I have pushed my boundaries and tried hundreds of new things. I have made discoveries about people and the world. It has not always been easy, and I have had good days as well as bad days. Regardless, every night I go to sleep thinking about how thankful I am to have this experience.
