Articles with Paraguay

Ten Reasons to Visit Paraguay (A Satire)

Dear Reader,
Here is a list of reasons why you should come to visit Paraguay.
10. Pretend you’re a gaucho at a cattle ranch in the Chaco.
9.   Learn some Guaraní phrases and have no idea what you’re saying.
8.   Share some tereré with your ten newest Paraguayan friends.
7.   Search for old Alfredo Stroessner memorabilia.
6.   Speak Plattdeutsch and eat schnitzel in a Mennonite Colony.
5.   Look for “Tigres” that look like jaguars.
4.   Play “spot the knock-off” in Ciudad del Este.
3.   Fish for piranhas in the Rio Paraguay.
2.   Find the Taiwanese Embassy in Asunción.
1.   Hunt for Nazi fugitives who assumed new identities.
You will only understand the profundity of this list by visiting the unique country that is Paraguay.

 

More About Paraguay
Click on the icon below for more articles about Paraguay

Paraguay

One Month

 Yesterday marked the end of our first month in Paraguay.  I am shocked and dismayed when I think of how quickly it passed!  I can’t believe how fast the time passed.  What’s happened here in the past month?  Here’s a snapshot for posterity:
  • The weather has been schizophrenic, as befits the middle of winter.  We weathered a huge lightning and thunderstorm our second weekend here as well as a cold front that brought snow to Buenos Aires for the first time in 80 years.  The weather now is cold and wet.  I’ve been told that the winter season this year is colder than is typical for Paraguay.  Right now the weather is cold and wet.  Our house exacerbates the situation, because the floors are tile throughout, keeping it cool in the hot summer–and freezing in winter!  We put down some rugs but they don’t cover much floor space.  The room-by-room heating system is running full bore in the rooms we occupy.  Thank goodness we haven’t been through a power outage yet.  I hear that they are quite common in Asuncion.
  • We haven’t used the swimming pool yet, but we’re enjoying the bananas.  We have a small pool — maybe 9′ x 12′.  It will be a godsend in the hot summer, we’re told, but right now it’s sitting unused.  Pool care and maintenance reminds me of cleaning a large fish tank.  We don’t drain it because the weather usually stays warm enough to enjoy it year round, but it still needs to be maintained.  Thank goodness we finally hired a gardener to upkeep the yard, the pool, and the banana tree.  Ah, the banana tree, my pride and joy.  The previous owner, who brought the tree in from Venezuela, planted it about five years ago.  It’s large and has/had six stalks with bananas, about 600 bananas in total.  I e-mailed him, and he instructed me on banana tree care and harvesting techniques.  We’ve started a queue whereby we cut a “hand” of green bananas from the tree (a bunch), wrap it in newspaper, store it in a dark place to let it cure naturally, and eat them when ready.  There are so many that some have turned brown, so those become the ingredients for smoothies and banana bread.  I plan to bring bunches of bananas to work as well.  I think we’ll get really tired of bananas.
  • Our son is now in school.  We visited several schools and decided to put him into the American school here.  School started last Monday.  He’s having a bit of trouble adjusting, because he’s the only foreign student in his class.  The others are Paraguayan.  A couple of his peers are Chinese- or Korean-Paraguayan, but they are Paraguayan in all but ethnicity.  I think he’ll be fine in the long run; he’s just shy for now.  A Paraguayan nanny/maid will soon starting working for us full time and will take care of him after school, so between his fellow Paraguayan students and the nanny, he should adapt to the local culture and language (Spanish and Guarani) in no time.
  • My wife stays at home, although she may be close to finding a great full-time job.  I can’t comment any more than that because I don’t want to jinx her chances, but we’re optimistic that she will find work in the next six months or so.  In a place like Paraguay, where jobs are scarce, that is quite a feat indeed.  In the meantime, she has been a trooper getting us settled in at home.  She’s more than ready for the maid to start so that she doesn’t have to domesticate so much.  It doesn’t help that our home is prone to collecting dust (e.g. tile floors) and that we don’t have a dishwasher (not common in Paraguay).
  • I’m as busy as ever, spending more time at work than I expected.  I was surprised to find how busy it is here in Asuncion.  Life here is typically described as “sleepy, boring, slow-paced, relaxing.” That has not been our experience thus far.  You can see it in the fact that I’ve hardly blogged since I arrived.  Right now, I probably should do other things, including some evaluations I need to write for work, but I need a break.  Still, I do sense that life has slowed down a bit since we first arrived.  We’ve set up all our basic needs–Internet, international calling (Skype), getting our car, finding a church home, getting our son in school, arranging our personal effects in the home.  We still have a lot to do, but it’s getting done, slowly but surely.  I really do hope that life will be more relaxing here than it’s been so far.
  • We set aside the next few holidays between now and the end of the year to do some traveling.  We made the mistake in Korea of not traveling outside Korea as much as we could.  We’re not going to make the same mistake in Paraguay.  We’re tentatively planning trips in the next three months to the Amazon (Manaus, Brazil), Macchu Pichu, Peru, and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.  We won’t travel much between next December and May, so we want to do it now.  We have the time–we need to save the money.  The trips won’t be cheap!  Still, it will be nice to travel again, because I haven’t been further than 45 kilometers outside Asuncion along the Trans-Chaco Highway.  I’ve barely seen this huge continent (yet).

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Happy Carrulim Day

Today is August 1, an (in)auspicious day in Paraguay.  It’s traditionally the day when Paraguayans drink Carrulim, a homemade concoction of sugar cane, root, and lemon that makes a potent, sour tonic that Paraguayans claim promotes health, happiness, and protection from maladies (in Korean culture, that honor is reserved for kimchi).  It’s an old Guarani belief that manifests itself in a spirit that is passed around a group of native Paraguayans and Guarani aficionados who believe they must drink Carrulim to survive from year to year.  (The Guarani represent the largest indigenous group in Paraguay–the Guarani language and culture are ingrained in the Paraguayan psyche.)  The word “Carrulim” itself is derived from the drink’s three main components.  I have to admit that I did not have a chance to try some Carrulim today, although my Guarani teacher promised to brew some for us to taste tomorrow in class.  ABC Color, one of Asuncion‘s three main daily newspapers, published an article (in Spanish) about Carrilum Day:
Today is also notable in Paraguayan history because of the Ycua Bolanos supermarket fire, a tragedy that left over 400 people dead and 400 injured.  It is single deadliest event in modern Paraguayan history since the 1930’s.  On Sunday, August 1, 2004, while hundreds of shoppers shopped, cashed paychecks, and ate in a large food court, a fire broke out in the large supermarket in Asuncion.  The owner alleged ordered all doors chained shut to prevent looting, preventing the victims from escaping.  Those brought up on charges were acquitted earlier this year, leading to extensive rioting.  The courts initiated a second review and may overturn the previous ruling.
Today also marks the day after the Supreme Court of Justice referred Lino Oviedo‘s case to the Military Court for possible amnesty.  The former general and head of UNACE, a opposition party, was recently absolved of culpability in the assassination of former Vice President Argana and the 1999 student massacre, paving the way for President Duarte and the Military Court to pardon him for his alleged involvement in the 1996 failed coup against former President Wasmosy.  It all adds up to a possible presidential run in 2008.  If Oviedo is pardoned, he would be free to run for president. 
Pass the Carrulim.  I think I need some.