Dia del Niño

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  Guajayvi, Paraguay
Monday, August 27, 2007

 I just can't put out a good entry. So, after Dia del Nino (day of the children, kid's day, however you want to translate it) I had a few photos and I thought I'd tell you what I did.
  First I need to tell you that Dia del Nino is an important holiday for everyone. This past Thursday was dia del nino. I was invited to Raul's aunts house to help celebrate with them. Around 4am, many of the members of the family got up to begin butchering a cow. Luckily, since I was a guest, I was alowed to stay in bed until 6:45. Which was probably a good thing because I'm not ready to watch a cow be killed yet. So, after getting my beauty sleep, I woke up to find everyone moving around the house working on moving cow parts or preparing breakfast or even preparing for the children.
 The first thing I am offered is cocido and bread. The traditional Paraguayan breakfast drink is Cocido. In order to make Cocido, you put herba and sugar on a plate. Then you add hot charcole and mix it around. After it is mixed well, it is all put into a pot of boiling water. When you are ready to drink it, you pour the water through a filter, so that you don't get charcole in your drink, and add milk.
  After having breakfast, I tried to help some of the aunts in the kitchen, but they told me there was no work for me...I really think that there was a lot of work, but they wanted to treat me like a guest. So, I sat outside and watched the men cut and carry the meat to a table where someone else was cutting it so that they could throw it into the pot to cook.
  After some time, the children started to arrive. This aunts house has a soccer field, so this was going to be where all the kids could play and celebrate. So as the kids arrived, they quickly made themselves at home on the soccer field. Before any games started, I was able to take a few pictures of everyone!
  Then they started playing soccer. First a group of boys, then a group of older girls, then a group of boys, and so on...it was great to see that they were all getting a chance to play and have fun.  While all this was going on, the adults, minus myself, were cooking meat on the grill and a stew with the meat from the cow they'd butchered that morning.
  Around 11:30, the food was ready and everyone sat down to eat. One of the uncles brought out his guitar and started playing songs for the children as they ate. As we finished eating, an entertaining group arrived. They sang for the kids and had a puppet show. After this group, each child received a gift, like you would receive from a birthday party...coookies, noise maker, a lollypop.
  By this time, many were tired and the children began to go back to their homes...so for many, it was a long, but eventful and fun day.

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