Winter Park Townhomes Asuncion

... bridge that lets you stand in the middle of the upper and lower falls right in the middle of everything while getting soaked by a never-ending mist. That short trip was what saved our sanity during this uneventful summer.

So overall, our experience in Paraguay (both in and out of the office) has been pretty dull and unpleasant. Generally, I don't like to say bad things about places but, other than a few local friends, everyone and ...

... to the fire station and so stopped and asked them. It seems that we were actually right all the time and the locals just do not know the name of the street they live in! Any way we carried on and found the zoo and were able to camp, it is a very nice place to camp and has water, showers and electric all available for a couple of pound per night (S25.14.55.91 W57.34.08.08). When we got to the parking area we found a Dutch couple already parked up. On ...

... you can go to the center, I am used to take busess and try to find where to get off by seeing through the window and asking the locals, I easily found my Hotel. Next time, I will go straigh to the bus terminal, near that area i found later some hotels by US$7 a night. The first night i went out finding food and i realized I was in Paraguay, everybody speaks with an ugly accent and the city is a mess, i think, and little dirty ...

... in rags, barefoot, dirty and smelling gross, it's the standard of all those forgotten people... Nowadays you add on top of that the pathetic influence from the US, so they adopt fake-gangsta style and gang attitudes. Civilization is beautiful...

The hotel our first time in Asunción was really crummy, so we didn't want to go back there. So we had to find somewhere to sleep, and in the end I decided to spoil ourselves with a bit of luxury, to break the routine of hostel dorms or ...

... Corps in Paraguay.) In short, I had lunch with the mayor and my Host father inside alone. I tried to help out on the field but we have class Saturdays so couldn't really. Saturday night I went to a quince años (yes, in Mexico the party is called a quincañera, but here it is just quince años) for a neighbor. That was nice, and the food was excellent, probably the best food I have had in Paraguay. They killed a pig for the occasion, and the ribs were excellent ...

... it all. I guess the big news is that I've been into Asuncion twice. There is very little free time to explore or really to leave our village, so anything like that is exciting. Just coming in here to town is a special treat since I wasn't expecting to get out of class early today. The first time I went in on Sunday, our only free day, with another trainee, but it was pretty much a bust. We arrived at the Mercado 4 at about 12 as it was closing. The ...

The end of our two years in Peace Corps has finally arrived, and though we knew it was coming it doesn't make it any easier to leave. Saying goodbye to Caazapa'mi was the hardest thing that I have done during my service, period. I can't exactly say why - I know we will be back someday, I know this is just the beginning of our connection to Paraguay, I know that we have done good work of which we can be proud. The last 6 weeks have been like ...

So I'm really tired again from a full day of driving around (courtesy of the super amazing and friendly Klaus from couchsurfing) with Klaus and Igel and Paola (German couple). We ...

... next years edition of the guiness book of world records. Here is the link to the music page of NPR where you can read a little about our music teacher, and local corner store owner Mr. Benitez. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor y.php?storyId=93570364&ft=1&f=1 105 Also I found a video from Frontline related to Paraguayan harp music. Not by us. http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stori es/paraguay604/video_index.html

The gods of weather paved the way for a safe return to my hostel last night. I had finished a pretty good dinner, set against a decent lightning show in the surrounding sky and the ominous looking gangs of kids were beginning to gather when the skies opened and I was able to leg it home through the torrential rain as the boys dispersed. Ha ha. The return to my room unfortunately confirmed that the cockroach I had seen earlier was not alone, and I think I found mum, dad and a few members ...