TravelStream™ news feed for member carrrrin on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/carrrrin en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:17:27 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1247508028/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1247508028/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1247508028/tpod.html Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:17:27 -0400 The ride known as the Peace Corps. My adventures serving in Paraguay.

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I'm writing this too late to give a lot of details, but I can give an overview of our trip as well as post some pictures.

My mom came down to visit and we decided to go to Brazil. We first went to the Pantanal, which is a large wilderness area in Western Brazil, and borders Paraguay and Bolivia. Ecotourism is the thing to do there, so we booked through a tour agency a 5 day tour of the Pantanal and Bonito (a small town just south of the Pantanal Eco-region). We spent the first 2 days at a working ranch where we got to go fishing for Pirahna, go bird-watching and hiking through the woods, and o on 2 night-safari's. We saw 2 types of monkeys, many caiman (like a crocodile), over 100 bird speicies, giant anteaters, giant otters, capybarra (the world's largest rodent), and even a wild Jaguar and 2 jaguar cubs! We saw the Jaguar at night, so I didn't get a good picture of it, however it was by far the most beautiful, magestic animal I have ever seen. Incredible. The Pantanal was pretty amazing, although it didn't feel like vacation for me because it turns out rural Brazil looks exactly like rural Paraguay. The climate, landscape, houses, towns, and roads are all exactly the same. The only thing different is the language and that there are actually wild animals. From the ranch we were driven down to Bonito (with a stop on the way to go on a waterfall hike). Bonito is known for its eco-tourism for good reason. We went on two snorkeling excursions in crystal-clear rivers, into a cave famous for its "blue" lake at the bottom, and to an odd crater where many pairs of Red and Green Macaw's nest.

From Bonito, we flew to Rio. Rio was amazing. We only had 3 days, which wasn't enough to explore all the parts of the city (for example we didn't make it to the centro or old town). We stayed in Ipanema and visited Christ the Redeemer and Copacabana. We mostly just relaxed on the beautiful beaches.

I know this isn't as detailed as it should be, but check out the pictures and you will get a good idea of what we did.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1247496730/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1247496730/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1247496730/tpod.html Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:31:40 -0400 The ride known as the Peace Corps. My adventures serving in Paraguay.

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Asuncion, Paraguay

Hello everyone! I know it has been many months since I last sent out a blog update. I never even wrote about my trip to Brazil with my mom back in April! I will do that in a separate blog. I've become fully adjusted to living in the city and extremely "delicada". The overly crowded, loud bus rides to and from work no longer bother me. I enjoy having the freedom to have a pizza delivered to my apartment or to go out dancing on the weekends or out to dinner if I don't want to cook. I enjoy having my weekends free and not having to answer to anyone. (In site, PCVs are always answering to someone and weekends are not free. We are volunteers 24/7/365) I even joined a gym recently with a few of my fellow coordinators. Fortunately, the gym isn't open on the weekends, so we couldn't go even if we wanted to.. ha ha.

The year is broken up into 4 parts of travel for myself and my boss. The first is to do site presentations for the newest group of volunteers in our sector. We finished these in March. The second is to do 1 year in site visits for the group that has finished one year in site. We finished these in June. The third (where we are now) is to do site development. Basically, we are developing new sites for the next group of volunteers whom arrive in Paraguay in September. We go to possible sites, visit the people, see if they are interested and if the site qualifies saftey and work wise. The fourth part of our year is the training cycle. For the Agriculture Sector this is the end of September - mid-December. This is when the new group of trainees get in and spend their 3 months learning the language and culture of Paraguay as well as any technical skills they need to know. I'm really looking forward to the arrival of our training group. It will be a very interesting experience helping with their training, getting to know them, and helping place them in their new sites (based on their personalities, experiences, and the needs and overall vibe of the potential sites).

What I am looking forward to even more, though, is my home leave and vacation. I will be in the states from July 27 - September 2. That's right, 2 weeks from today! Here is my schedule (in case you want to makes yours coincide with mine):

July 27 - 29/30 Wisconsin Rapids
July 29/30 - August 8 Spread Eagle/Iron Mountain
August 8 - 11 Grand Rapids, MI
August 11-13 Benzonia, MI
August 13-15 Detroit, MI
August 15-20 Spread Eagle/Iron Mountain
August 20-24 Chicago, IL
August 24-25/26ish Milwaukee, WI
August 25/26 - September 1 Spread Eagle/Iron Mountain
September 1-2 Wisconsin Rapids

Many people want to know what I am planning post-PC. Well, I have decided to attend Graduate School for a Masters of Arts in International Development. The schools I have decided to apply to are: University of Denver (Denver, CO), Duke University (Durham, NC), Clark University (Worster, Massachusets), and George Washington University (Washington DC). Denver and Duke both offer Fellowships specifically for Returned PCVs and all 4 offer international internships and study abroad options. More on this as it develops.

I am also posting some pictures from Paraguay to this blog, check them out. I have had the opportunity to travel all over the country in the past 6 months! See you soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1237045920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1237045920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1237045920/tpod.html Sat, 14 Mar 2009 13:00:33 -0400 The ride known as the Peace Corps. My adventures serving in Paraguay.

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Asuncion, Paraguay

I guess I didn't realize that I hadn't written in 4 months... sorry about that.

Life is great. I love living in Asuncion and love my apartment. I have a great roommate and we are getting along really well. It's nice to be living with someone instead of alone. I know there were a few people who wanted to see picture of my fabulous apartment. I did even better and took a video of it to share with you (It should be uploaded with this entry) I don't have the best camera skills, but you get a tour of my apartment. And it had been cleaned the day before, so it's looking pretty good in the video. We actually have a woman clean our apt every other week. I know it seems like we're living large if we can afford a cleaning lady, but I assure you, we are not. In fact, I use most of my money 2 weeks after I get paid and then I have to skrimp the next 2 weeks until pay 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 :) ) Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the video and you will probably be thinking "This is considered a fabulous apartment?!?" Let me tell you, compared to what I was living in before, my apartment in the city is FAAABULOUS!

What have I been up to? Livin' the dream. I travel around paraguay a lot with my boss, and I love it. Keeping in mind that only 50% of PY's land area holds 98% of it's population (the other part... called "The Chaco" is damn near uninhabitable by people who are adapted to living off of food and water) We visited all the volunteers from the newest agriculture group and did site presentations for each of them and now we are moving on to visiting the volunteers who have been in their communities for a year. I would say we spend 35% of our time in the office and 65% in the campo, which is why I love what I'm doing.

I recently helped organize a mid-service training for a group of 19 PCVs followed by an "encounter" (thats literally translated from spanish) for all 34 PCVs in our sector. Sort of a meet and greet that involved a photo-scavenger hunt around asuncion and a BBQ.

I don't have much to talk about or any great pictures from Paraguay to share right now. Mom is coming down in just 6 weeks and we are planning our trip to Brazil. I was going to take portugese classes but I decided to use the money to instead work on my spanish, which is becoming worse by the second as I work and live with people who speak english. (Allthough only 8 of 24 people working in the office are native english speakers, the rest of the group are fluent as well, so they even speak in english to each other sometimes...)

Hope everyone is well and slowly thawing out from the crazy winter you have had! It's still hot here.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/6/1230917520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/6/1230917520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/6/1230917520/tpod.html Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:41:08 -0500 Peru April 2008

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Asuncion, Paraguay

Hey All, happy holidays! I went back to my community for Christmas and then again for New Years. I spent both eve's dancing til 5am! I love Christmas in PY. Now I'm back to the grind (kinda... no one is in the office so I really don't have anything to do). Living in the city is really different, and so far the transition has been a little rough. I'm pretty lonely since all my friends left and I don't have any here yet. I know it's just the transition and it'll get better.

I thought I'd do a little advertising for my 3 friends who are currently biking around South America to raise money for a couple causes here in Parauguay.

The first is Sam, who is riding biking from the San Rafael Reserve in PY back to the US (about 10,000 miles) to raise money for an organization called Guyra in Paraguay who are doing conservation projects all over PY, but specifically in the San Rafael Reserve. His web-site: http://www.rideforthetrees.com

The other 2 are Joel and Karen, who are riding from Ushuaia, Argentina (Think the southern tip of the world) back to PY via Chile to raise money for an organization that builds schools in PY. Their web-site: www.bikingtobuildschools.com.

It's pretty amazing to me that they are doing these things, as I personally, would never want to ride a bike that far. Anyway, thats the only interesting things going on. I hope you all had great holidays!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1228169760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1228169760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1228169760/tpod.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:40:26 -0500 The ride known as the Peace Corps. My adventures serving in Paraguay.

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Asuncion, Paraguay

I just read that someone was trampled to death outside a Wal-mart on "black friday"? Is this REALLY what our country has come to... come on people...

Anyway, I also saw that Hillary Clinton is (probably) going to be the new Secretary of State. Thats pretty cool.

So Paraguay. I move to the city in a week folks. That is unbelievably crazy to me. My whole group is leaving and I'm staying. Can any of you believe 2 years has already past? The transition is going to be a little intense, but I think I'm ready for something new. It will be the first time I've ever lived in a city. Leaving my community is going to be hard, but I actually feel a lot better than I did 2 weeks ago. Last week my follow-up PCV came for his first visit to the community. (PC/PY will put a PCV in a community for a maximum of 6 years... or 3 PCVs... I was the first in Potrero Garay) The visit went really well and he has a lot of energy and motivation that I've lost. I'm a little burnt out, I realized. I decided to spend my last 3 weeks in site playing volleyball, dancing, drinking terere, and visiting people. Its been super fun :) I can't believe that the time has already come, though. I might be in denial about it until April. Speaking of, my mom is coming down in April!

I'm also going to use this spot for a little advertising...

PC has a way that people from the states can donate money to projects that PCVs are doing. There are a ton of these project going on in the world, and I'm going to push 1 here:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-187

That has a good discription, but I'll tell you about it a bit here as well. Every year the Gender and Development committee of PC/PY raises money to give out scholarships to deserving applicants. Its a super competitive program and the students who recieve the scholarships all have 100% perfect grades. They also have to write a couple essays. Students in PY are required to wear uniforms to school, which the families have to buy, as well as all the typical school supplies. Most families in the campo have a hard time paying for these things (because they are typically trying to send 5-6 kids to school at a time) and many of them don't get to go to high school, let alone college. The recipients have to show receipts for everything they buy and they receive the money in installments... no receipts, no next installment.

So I'm asking that you look at it and if you were thinking "what should I buy carin for christmas?" Don't buy me anything... save the $20 in presents and donate money to this instead. You'll actually save money donating because you won't have to pay $20-$30 in shipping! Or maybe you just have $5 laying around that you were going to buy a beer with... Educate girls instead!

And if you need more convincing... Did you know that girls who receive high school educations have a 50% lower chance of having a baby before the age of 18? I read that somewhere...

Next time ya'll hear from me I will be living in the 600,000 person metropolis of Asuncion. Hope Thanksgiving was great and that you are enjoying winter, as I melt in the PYan heat. Did I mention the PC office is air-conditioned! I'll be sleeping under my desk...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1224508080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1224508080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1224508080/tpod.html Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:34:19 -0400 The ride known as the Peace Corps. My adventures serving in Paraguay.

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Asuncion, Paraguay

Since my cousin Jeff (yes I'm calling you out :) )said "can't wait for your next blog" I will take that as a hint that I haven't written in a while and that I should. So here it is.

I only have 7 weeks left in my community. Its really sad, so I try not to think about it. I'm really glad that I'm staying in PY. I think I would extremely sad if I was leaving PY in 2 months. I'm just not ready. I found and apartment in the city. It was really easy because its currently being occupied by the person that I'm replacing. It comes fully furnished and is in a good neighborhood and is super cheap. Most importantly, it has a flushing toilet. I'll be living there with another girl who is taking over the environmental sector coordinator position. (I'm the agriculture sector) It should work well because she really wants to go to fútbol games and so do I. And we root for the same PYan professional team. There are 3 more World Cup elmination games in Asuncion next year, as well. Speaking of... did everyone catch that PY vs. Peru game last wed? I was at the stadium and PY won 1-0, and the goal was scored in our end. It was super fun. For all your World Cup Elimination round updates. You will notice that PY is number one in its region... as is the US.

I don't have a ton of work going on right now. Allthough I'm feeling pretty busy. The new training group of PCVs is going to come out to my site for a night this month to do a technical excursion. I've been planning that out. I also have done some anti-parasite education and made bread with my cooking class last week. I had a trainee visit me last weekend, and we had a great time. The whole point of the visit is to see what the life of a PCV is like... I took her to 2 fiestas, so now she thinks the life of a PCV involves a lot of dancing :) Well mine does anyway.

Hope this finds everyone well! Suertemante!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1221254760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1221254760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1221254760/tpod.html Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:01:27 -0400 The ride known as the Peace Corps. My adventures serving in Paraguay.

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Asuncion, Paraguay

Its been awhile, I know. So here's whats happening...

I'll start with the big news... (drum roll...) I got the Volunteer Coordinator position! So I officially have 16 months left of my service (assuming I clear medical things, which is funny, since I'm already down here...) I will be working in the PC office, using the internet daily, will have 5 bar cell reception, a flushing toilet, and a hot shower. I'm hoping to take my home leave in August so ya'll will see me then. OR you can come to South America where the air is clear and the goverments are corrupt.

Speaking of corrupt governments, I'm sure ya'll are familiar with the hoopla happening between Bolivia and the US and Venezuela and that really crazy ex-venezuelan dictator stating that if anyone tries to side with the US its like giving venezuela a "green light" to invade their country. Um. Ok Venezuela. Anyway, due to the sudden increased tensions in Bolivia, the PC volunteers there have been consolidated. There is no word yet what will happen, but they are ready to evacuate if necessary. Rumor has it some of them would be evacuated into Paraguay. I feel really bad for them. I can't imagine what it would be like to have my service ended because of circumstances completely out of my control. It would be really hard to have to suddenly pack up and leave my community with out being able to say goodbye and no idea if I'd be returning. Scary stuff.

In other news, Paraguay weathers has been extremely hormonal lately. Last week it was almost 100 on Wed by Friday morning it was 40. That hurts. Then it was in the 40s and 50s for a couple days and suddenly on Wed and Thursday it was almost 100 again. Today it was about 70.

Life in my community is coming to a rapid end. Time is passing so quickly. I will get to go back and visit next year, but it won't be the same. Allthough I'm excited about receiving the coordinator position, it also means I will be leaving my community often during the next 3 months to help with training the next group (our replacement group) of PCVs. It will be important for me to get to know them since I will be their main support go-to person next year. I'm excited for the last few months, allthough leaving will be bittersweet.

I hope this finds everyone well!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1217732700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1217732700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1217732700/tpod.html Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:19:30 -0400 The ride known as the Peace Corps. My adventures serving in Paraguay.

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Asuncion, Paraguay

I promised so many people I'd post a new blog. I've been in the city for a couple days now, but haven't done it... now its late and I don't want to. So I'm going to make it short.

First, I had a fabulous trip to the states. I want to thank everone who made an effort to see me and everyone in general for making my trip home great. I was a little worried because I had heard from all my friends that went home for Christmas that its really hard becase in the end, most people don't really care about what you're doing in the PC. I was pretty sure that I could talk about PY WAY more than anyone wanted to listen. I was wrong. Ya'll asked me so many questions and people were so interested... Its my life, so its all I have to talk about, and I'm really lucky ya'll were so supportive. I thought that I could never get sick of talking about PY... I was wrong :) ha ha. I really appreciate it all!

Secondly, I had a really long 37 hour trip back to PY. I won't go into details, but I think I cried 3 times... the last time being when I was almost to my bed at my hotel that I booked 2 months ago but they lost my reservation and I had to raise hell to get a bed... when a stair broke under my foot and I almost fell due to the 50lb backpack on my back. I packed WAY too much. Anyway, I made it back.

So after 2 days back I've officially made the decision to apply for the Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator position. If I receive it, I will be in PY for another 13 months, but working in the office and living in Asuncion. I would get a month paid home leave, and PC pays for the ticket! (as well as my other 3.5 weeks of vaycay.) I'll let ya'll know what happens, but I won't know if I got the job until the beginning of September.

Lastly, I had culture shock entering the states and then again a little when I got back to PY. I can't describe fully the stark contrast between our cultures, countries, and people. It hit me pretty hard when I watched 6 year olds doing flips in the middle of the street trying to get peoples spare change during a red light... it was 8:30pm and dark. Their parents were nowhere in site. This is common here... every night, this is what these kids do. Anyway, things are SO different and its hard to comprehend, even though I'm accustomed to both sides.

Thanks to everone again for making my trip home phenominal! I miss you all already and hope that you enjoy the rest of your summers!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1209766080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1209766080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/peacecorps/1209766080/tpod.html Fri, 02 May 2008 18:10:58 -0400 The ride known as the Peace Corps. My adventures serving in Paraguay.

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Asuncion, Paraguay

Just getting back from my trip to Peru. It was AMAZING. So cool. Instead of posting it here, I made a separate travellog for it, so if you'd like to read about it (and see pictures, since the internet allowed me to upload today) go back to my main travelpod page and check it out!

I'm headed back to site tomorrow, not much to report otherwise.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/6/1209750900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/6/1209750900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carrrrin/6/1209750900/tpod.html Fri, 02 May 2008 14:11:37 -0400 Peru April 2008

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Cusco, Peru

We took a 6 hour bus ride through the mountains from Puno to Cusco, arriving in Cusco in the afternoon of the 25th. That night we wandered a bit (checking out the Irish Pub and all their delicious beer) as well as trying another Andean favorite... Guinnea Pig. Not bad, kinda like chicken, but very bony and allthough we were in a classy restaurant, the only way to eat it was with your hands. They even gave us bowls with lime water to clean up afterwards. The next day we wandered more visiting a bunch of plazas and museums and taking in the general Cusco air. (500m lower than Puno, we felt like champs!)

The next day we took a bus tour of the Sacred Valley visiting along the way the sites of Pisac and Ollaytaytambo and stopping for lunch in Urubamba (where I later found out there is a PCV living...). The landscape through this area is incredible and the view is breathtaking in every dirrection. We got off the the bus in Ollaytaytambo and took a train up to Aguas Calientes (AKA Machu Picchu village) and spend the night.

After 4ish hours of sleep we got up so we could catch the earlist bus up to Machu Picchu. 5:30am. We got up top and took off for the entrance to a hike up the mountain next to MP, Huayna Picchu. The climb was intense given the alititude and the lack of guard rails, but the view at the top was incredible and so worth the climb. We had a birds eye view of MP up there. We climbed back down, wandered around the MP ruins (eavesdropping on other peoples tours, which was easy since many are in English and I could translate the Spanish ones) and then headed back to AC. MP was amazing and completely breathtaking. Extremely expensive though, the ticket in is $47 and the train to and from Cuzco is $48 each way. We did all of the above as part of a tour that was offered to us and I feel we got a pretty good deal, paying $162 each for the bus tour, the trains, the busses up to MP ($12), and our hostel in AC. If you go, I suggest hooking up with a tour agency.

We made it back to Cusco and ended up (again) at the Irish Pub eating delicious Irish Cassarole and drinking Guinness. We were supposed to meet up with a couple PCV's from PY who were traveling around, but we missed them.

The next day we wandered around cusco. There are a number of ruins very close to Cusco, but we were just too tired to try to see them. Instead we played darts and did some souvenir shopping. Just a relaxing day to complete our journey. The next day we flew out. I really wish we had had more time in Cusco, theres so much to see and do and its a super cool town.

My trip was fabulous! I will someday be posting pictures and will hopefully get them all up on Flikr. But that doesn't always work so well here in PY.
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