We know where we'll live

Trip Start Jan 24, 2005
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Trip End Apr 2007


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Flag of Paraguay  ,
Monday, April 4, 2005

We just got back from four days in Yataity, Yhu, Caaguazu, Paraguay, our new home! It is great. I think we may have the most rural site of anyone in our group of trainees. We take a bus on a bumpy dirt road for two and a half hours from Caaguazu, the city on the highway where we turn off. This is probably confusing; I'll try to find a map.

Click here for a crummy map; our site in about a half inch north of the star

The site is nice, pretty spread out and agricultural. We walked through a lot of field to go visiting. Our contacts were helpful. We will be living with the principal of the school to which I was assigned. The school was cute; I observed one class for an hour and a half and it was the best lesson and most productive classroom I've seen so far in Paraguay. The community has several commitees (women's, health, neighborhood) which makes us think they'll be involved and want to get stuff done, a rare trait here (from what we've heard).

It rained for two days, which is a big deal because the roads are soft dirt. Also because the electricity surges. A light bulb popped right above our heads, but that's nothing compared to what happened down the road. A man who used to own all of the land in the area (and sold it to the local people) had a straw roof and it caught fire. The whole house was burning (despite the rain) within five minutes. The man's daughter couldn't get out and died. They couldn't get ahold of the firefighters in Caaguazu, so they had to call the ones in Coronel Oviedo, at least three hours away. We went to visit them the next day. The whole house was a loss. Nothing but smoldering char. Even the surrounding trees were singed; yellowed leaves and roasted oranges. I was in shock.

So, that was scary, but otherwise things look promising. I think we might be living in the health post, which has never really become a health post, but we have to assure that it won't be one while we're there. There are three rural schools in the area, so I have lots of options. We visited all of the schools and it was fun; several of the classes sang to us songs of welcome or about the beauty of Paraguay. We got to introduce ourselves in Guarani about twelve times. I think I'll tell my Guarambare family to speak with me only in Guarani. It's not that people don't speak Castellano (Spanish) here, it's just that most of the time they're not speaking to us, so they use Guarani and we don't know what's going on.

Next week I'm going to try to send pictures. Love you all.
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