Aparthotel Lipa Asuncion

... about why they don't want to do something, because they'll just deny that they ever said they didn't want to. It can be quite frustrating. But in any case, I'll try to get some pictures uploaded so you all can see what I have been working on.

My garden is going well, and I now have tomatoes, onions, broccoli, and acelga (which I think we call Swiss chard) planted, and I hope to put in spinach and maybe some ...

... cars here, and the undisputed king of the road is Mercedes. Most, if not all, of the buses and trucks here are very old Mercedes models, and nearly half of all the cars on the road are Mercedes models from any of the last fifty years. One of the things I really like about developing countries is that you see cars that you never saw in real life before or never even knew existed in the past.
- Nearly all the cars have their windows tinted ...

... Jack so were informed they were cooking dinner for the rest of us, needless to say this did not go down well (given the delay the night before) but my advice was unheeded and as you can imagine an almighty row broke out later that night after the separatists delayed the start of dinner in protest and resulted in one of them being informed that he was never allowed to eat on the truck again, I hid behind some bushes for the most part (these same bushes would later ...

... fine or being arrested, phew.

The following day we hopped on a bus to Paraguay to visit the capital city, Acunsion. As expected, we got in a big scary argument with the bus driver to simply let us off to get our passport stamps at the border crossing (ridiculous!). We were then stuck in the very scary Paraguayan border town of Ciudad Del Este, said to be one of South Americas most corrupt cities! Thankfully ...

... I have quite a bit of paperwork to read through. I will meet my community contact tomorrow, and then Friday we will head off to my site together. I will be there until Wednesday. I will try to update with some pictures once I get back. We will have several days off for Semana Santa (Holy Week) so I should have some free time to do that. Until then, take care, Chris

... day. I get paid about 38% more living in Asuncion than I did in the campo... but my rent has gone up 500% as has my electric and water bills (ok, so I didn't have to pay for water in the campo because it was from a well... but still, it's metered in the city and it's REALLY expensive). To say the least, I'm having a hard time budgeting my money. (allthough I did come up with a budget... I just don't pay any attention to it ...

I'm at the Peace Corps office on vacation (yah!)...leaving to go to Buenos Aires tomorrow! I can't wait! Going to be gone a week and then come back in time for Thanksgiving with PCVs and then my wedding! December 6, 2008...just running errands around town getting stuff ready...getting my dress this PM...I designed it...with the help of a seamstress so it'll be interesting to see how it turns out! Work wise...I just wrapped up the school year...finished my ...

... by Bonairenses. The tradition of smoking is very much alive and well, thank you, with a passion and a vengeance. People don't just smoke, they SMOKE, complete with nasty butts flicked to the floor as is the custom in the mother country of old, a world with many bars, and I don't mean cell-phone signals. Oh sure, they put up signs and cordon off sections, but you know how that works. They put up 'wi-fi' signs everywhere too, in cafes especially ...

... the country on their itinerary, It was just a shame I had poor weather the only full day I was there. At 6.30 Argentinean time (back to 4 hrs behind Wales) the bus pulled into the bus terminal at Resistencia. I then walked to the bus city centre ("Plaza 25 de Mayo"), and in a nearby street I managed to get myself a room at the "Hotel Marconi" recommended in my Lonely Planet Guide Book.

... of school kids to San Rafael Reserve in October. They don't get to go for nothing - they have to participate in 3 of 5 community service projects (which I am organizing) to qualify to go on the trip. We had the first project a couple of weeks ago; 10 teenagers plus a couple of moms and Adam and I cleaned the trail up to the viewpoint near our town in Caazapa National Park and planted a few trees in places where others had been cut down illegally. Adam, meanwhile ...