Las Margaritas Asuncion

... we as delegates feel about these issues and what we would like to see our conference do. We´ve also been discussing the tensions that exist between gathering together continentally, and becoming more busy, or using more resources. We don´t have an easy solution, but we really feel that building relationships, especially over the border is very important and something that we can´t neglect. One question that we mentioned was ...

... quelques mètres du palais il y a un bidonville dangereux! Le gars était un garde de sécurité au palais, alors il nous a raconté plein de trucs, y compris des histoires d'anciens présidents vivant dans le palais avec leurs nombreuses maîtresses et les dizaines d'enfants en résultant...

À part sur la rue principale de la vieille ville, où il est possible de rencontrer quelques touristes, nous étions seuls tout le temps. C'était étrange comme sensation, mais ça aussi ça fait ...

... left. That is it for now. I will be here in Asuncion til Tuesday when I go off to my site to live for good. I won't have regular access to Internet there except when I travel into town, whenever that might be, so I probably won't be updating my blog as much or responding to emails as quickly. My phone, of course, will always work. Take care everyone, and don't get swine flu.

PROLOUGE Paraguay is the road less travelled. If you speak to many backpackers, gap year students or south americans they will tell you of the beauty of Argentina, the relics of Peru or the Mountians of Bolivia. They will regale you with stories of Copacobana beach in Rio or the Amazon river. But how many talk of Paraguay? Land locked in the centre of South America and weak after a shaky politcal history, in which democrasy is younger than me and still an international ...

... or graphic images on TV or newspapers. On the way back, we also see less severe accident where a guy was laying the street covered in blood, but it looked like he would be OK. Traffic accidents seem to be a major problem here. Everyone in my family seems to have been involved in a severe one or knows someone who has died. According to my host sister, who is a lawyer and works in the judicial system, it is primarily drunk drivers, but everyone has a story.

... getting along with my family pretty well and we spent most of the weekend just sitting around outside. I've played some soccer - barefoot with cow patties mind you - some pitivolei, which is essentially volleyball with a low net but you can´t use your hands or arms, and lots of cards. My host father is obsessed with watching soccer. Soccer all day. All night. Doesn't matter who is playing or what league, it ...

... peanuts, beans, and mandioca - the crops our community depends on not for spending money, but for food. The farmgirl's instinctive anxiety over too-dry weather welled up in me, and for the first time in Paraguay I prayed for rain that would mess up our well laid plans - Thanksgiving, goodbye parties, departure of our flight. In spite of the heat and worries about crops withering in the fields our community feted us three times: first in ...

... it was time to come back to Luque, Benides decided that the van was to full so Denise and I would have to take the bus back and every one else would go in the car. So they left about noon and Denise and I hung out with Christiana about 4 hours later they showed up again, the car still wasn´t working and they would have to take the night bus as well. Then it started to get really windy, and when that happens you know there is going to ...

... nicht schlecht reden. DIe paraguayische Lässigkeit hat durchaus ihre guten Seiten. Zum Beispiel Téréré. Ich bin mir zwar noch nicht mal sicher, ob ich das gerade richtig geschrieben habe, aber auf jeden Fall ist das DAS Getränk Paraguays (zu meinem tiefen Bedauern sogar noch vor Bier). Leider bin ich noch nicht in den Genuss gekommen, aber soweit ich weiss, handelt es sich um eine Art Eistee, den man aus einem speziellen Gefäss (dem "Guapa") trinkt. Und ...

... two minutes before it was proudly served to me. Given the amount of trouble my basic order had caused, I decided to cut my losses regarding the milk and took the coffee black. It was the strongest I have ever tasted and immediately pushed my heart rate into the danger zone. Buzz Aldren (second man on the moon) once said that he did not take exercise on the basis that we each only have a limited number of heart beats in our life before we die and, if old Buzz is right, I reckon that ...