Time is our most Precious Commodity.

Is it really June already!! Time is our most precious commodity.

So, after Pete’s wonderful visit and him introducing us to a fabulous song that his son sings around the house (really the words are great),

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoV5R96GFlg

we have welcomed in June with crazy weather. Lets just say, it was 32 degrees the  other day. Six days after that, it was in the 90s. Welcome to Paraguay’s winter. June, June, June. June is the month of the celebration of San Juan here in Paraguay. Every weekend, different neighborhoods put on their San Juan Festival. We kicked off the first San Juan Festival- here in Barrio Guadalupe, Itaugua! All the local neighbors help out in the planning and the cooking and all that, including us. Krystina and I were specifically put in charge of making the decorations. Art fun?? We are there!

So, anyways, there is a lot of traditional food, music, and games the entire night. Some of the food included: sopa paraguaya, empanada de mandioca (yucca empanadas), chipa asador (grill roasted chipa), villaruel (boiled egg inside friend yucca), chicaron (braided meat), asadito (red meat), and other meat things that I don’t remember because I don’t eat meat. Music- lots of latina music- lots and lots of cumbia.  Jeny, one of our friends/neighbors who was voluntarily hosting- announced on the microphone that Krystina and I are requested to come up on stage and dance cumbia with some of the boys. An invitation to dance, you know we sprinted up there! Haha, so fun! At the end of the night, no one was dancing so Krystina, our friend Hugo, and I took over the show as he was teaching us all these smooth fancy cumbia dance steps. Our neighbors could not get enough of the scene of the American volunteers attempting to do these fancy fast cumbia moves! We were not half bad and were complimented!! But we still aren’t sure if they were just trying to be nice/felt bad or if they were serious! Haha.

Oh my gosh, the games!! The games were sooooo fun!

They hang this thick bamboo stick high from a tree. They grease the entire stick so its slippery. The object of the game is to climb up the stick to the top, where a prize awaits. It was hilarious watching the kids try. They were stacking up, standing on eachothers heads. They were all covered in black grease from their head to their last toe. It was fun to watch and cheer them on. A lot of them are the local kids that are either in mine or Krystina’s English class. So so funny. Then there this wooden balance beam like thing where two people sit facing one another. They then hit eachother with this bags and the object is to not fall off the beam. So, that was fun and reminded me of when I used to play Gladiators on the top of the monkey bars in middle school while most of the girls were playing hop skotch. Haha. What else? They have “el carcel” which means “jail.” Basically you just tell give your friends name in and they announce the name of the microphone and then they are carried to jail and the only way for them to leave is for someone to pay the bail to get out. Oh my gosh, there is this game where they make this huge human size doll. A name is put on it. You don’t want your name on it. So if you see that someone taped you name on the doll, the only way to get it off is to pay to put someone elses name on it. At the end of the night the human size hanging doll is lit on fire and it has firecrackers inside of it. So, it literally explodes and firecrackers fly into the sky looking all magical! Kinda dangerous- cool to experience. They also have a piñata except they use a clay pot to hold the candy, not a paper mache animal. Another game is- they take the skeleton of a cow/bull. They connect the skeleton to hollow triangular roof like wooden structure. The horns of the skeleton on lit on fire. There is a person who stands underneath this triangular roof life structure and he holds it and runs around chasing everyone with his fire horns!! Its kinda scary and he did get a bit tooooooo close sometimes! Hahaha but I loved it and ran around with all the kids getting chased by these fire horns! Last but not least, MY FAV GAME of the night. It is called “Pelota Tata.” They take womens stockings and roll/layer them into a ball. Then they take metal wire and form a circle shape to make it a ball. The ball is left to soak in an alcohol solution and then finally, guess what….LIT ON FIRE! (basically all the games are revolved around fire haha) and they game is to just kick it! So there is all of us…all the neighbors…a big crowd….loads of people- and this big fire ball getting kicked around by kids, adults, everyone!! People would be standing there and all of a sudden a fire ball flies by their head! Ahhahhaha. Sounds dangerous but no one got harmed and they do it every year. Of course, I was ALL UP in this game- kicking the ball with all my might and running from the ball as its kicked at my by my students hahahaha. My shoelaces have little black lines on them from being burnt. It was literally so fun; I could not stop laughing which was totally slowing me down. I LOVE TRADITION- food, games, music- SO much Paraguayan culture in this festival! I want to host a San Juan back in the US with my friends and family and play pelota tata! The festival lasted until midnight.

What else? This past weekend, June 15th-17^th, Krystina and I went to Asuncion with Hermana Elisa to another San Juan Festival that was going on in her brothers neighborhood. Basically, we did the same thing of which I just explained, except with a different group of people! Lots of fun. We also went to the Womens Jail for Fathers Day Mass Sunday morning. We love visiting the women’s jail. The priest that led the mass this morning is from Vietnam. Turns out he is friends with the priest of my university, St. Johns University- Father Tri! I did a Panama Service trip with Father Tri my senior year of college and here I am all the way in South America talking to one of his friends. Small world.

We continue to hang at the retired sisters house, as per ushe.  June brings about many birthdays. Happy Birthday Mom! (June 6^th), Dad (June 15^th), and 4 of our friends here that Ive mentioned in other blogs- Lourdes, Cynthia, Alba, and Silvana! So June also brings about many sweets and birthday celebrations!

Spent some time in Aregua’s new park. Krystina “Jess, do something on this big bench describing how you feel right now.”

Me “okay, now you’re turn.”

Me running off the playground because I just got yelled at by the guard that I am too big/its only for kids! Ahhhaha. Why are playgrounds “only for kids?”

The end of June- NYC Pride- yes, we were missing extra missing NYC this weekend so we decided to celebrate out our 2012 Paraguay Pride.

I just like this picture. Cotton candy and a box of live chickens right next to me on the bus. Gotta love it.

Lets not forget out CHIPAAAAAA ladies!! Chipa…chipa chipa chipaaaa

Sippin mate with Monetti on the bus off to Becca’s, one of our friends from the Peace Corps who lives in los campos right outside San Bernadino.

Becca’s very impressive garden right in front of her- carrots, onions, tomatoes, kale, radishes, lettuce, and basil leaves.  These tomatoes were just coming for the first time so we were extra excited.

A good garden calls for some good compost J

It also calls for some protection. Becca built this fence when she moved here. Took here a few weeks- made of cut bamboo canes/wires. So proud of the fence!

Becca is involved with running a Youth Group in her neighborhood. Saturday’s activity is organic soap making and milk making! Becca (on the right), Krystina and I were off after lunch, picking up kid by kid, as we passed each house- walking walking and walking- along the good old dirt roads.

Becca has this contact with this wealthy man who is into hosting youth groups for free- hence where our day came in. So, we walked about an hour to his house and upon arriving met a Brasilian lady who was leading us in our activites as well as a very interesting monk-- to say the least.

Here is the Argentinian monk and Brasilian lady who taught us how to make all these things.

First up, they spoke to us about some chemicals that are in toothpaste that are not that good for us. (It is also something someone can make if they could not afford toothpaste).The taught us how to make a natural cleanser with different leaves and other things – all organic- (which I’ve already forgotten), but that was really cool! It tasted minty fresh and my teeth/mouth really did feel clean after mouth-washing with it.

The girls helping out- getting ready to make organic soap!

After all the ingredients are put in, mix mix mix before it hardens.

Put the soap into something to dry/harden.

Mine and Becca’s little soap balls.

After body soap, they taught us how to make house cleaning soap that you can use to clean the house but not the body. That involves vinegar and other things in which Becca has written down/I’ve already forget.

After soap, we made squash, rice and peanut butter milk. Basically you soak squash seeds. Take water, a pinch of salt and tablespoon of sugar. Add the soft/soaked seeds to a blender with the water, salt and sugar and then blend it. The seeds break down/get mushy. Straight the liquid with a towel, allowing all the liquid to fall through but catching the mushy seeds. (Basically the same process for the rice milk and the peanut milk except for the rice milk you also add a cinnamon stick/tastes better hot and for the peanut milk, you don’t add sugar.) It was really good. Squash is the cheapest veggie to buy here. If you don’t have money for milk, this is an easy/cheap way to make milk. Fun.

We also made organic peanut butter, seasame seed spread, and this peanut butter leaf spread and ate it with home made organic bread as well! YUM!! (EVERYTHING that they ate and used from soap to food was organic/raw.) Fun day!

Because it was late by the time we left/really dark/too dangerous to walk, we all squeezed into the back bed of the guy’s pick-up truck and her drove us back to our neighborhood. Squeezed into the bed of a pick-up, driving on dirt roads with random bumps in the pitch black- ahahahaha holding on for our lives, so so funny. We were laughing so hard as we airlifted or held onto each other each and every turn.

Becca Che Cho and I

Becca does not live alone. She lives with “Cat,” her 6 month old kitten.

Cat hung out with us the whole weekend.

What else did we do? We taught Becca how to play Cacho, Bolivian dice game we learned when we were in Bolivia. hmm. Oh, YES- we cooked and damn did we cook goooooood!

Oatmeal bread from scratch as well as granola. Then we experimented with making granola bread- (we went to make more oatmeal bread but there was no more oats left so we used the granola we made in replace of the dry oats) SUCCCCCESSSS!! SO GOOD!

Hmmm, lets start with making some granola! Oats, flax and seasame seeds, oil, sugar, miel de cana, a little bit of salt..

Heating the honey, miel de cana and sugar.

Mixinnnn

Put in the over and bake. Take out, sift around, and continue to bake..Yummmmyyy

Now for some bread...

Very common in Paraguay to hang out and drink terere, passing the day. Terere is basically sipping cold tea leaves. Here is Chile, Che Cho and Aldo- three teenagers in the neighborhood that came to hang with us.

Passing terere/ talking about Paraguay’s President Lugo being impeached/all the consequences/emotions of that. Becca’s table/chairs (tree trunk stubs were given to her by her neighbor when she moved there. So Paraguayan to share and give just cause.)

Sidenote: So big news in Paraguay. Paraguay’s President Lugo was just impeached. The last time a government coup happened like this was in 1999. The way the president was impeached and the speed in which everything unraveled/happened was so quick- which many say goes to show Paraguay’s lack of strength in a true democracy with the government here. The people are upset and tired of it. The main commontion/riots and such are all in the main capital, Asuncion so we have been ordered/advised to stay in our local town/away from the city. However, in general, things have calmed down since the initial day of impeachment. With that being said, things can just in a moment, in just one new agreement or decision, so we are pretty much just sitting here- I guess just waiting to see what is going to or not going to unravel. There are- I think- around 6 or something ambassadors that were pulled out of Paraguay, including Argentina. Mercosur (Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina) has "suspended" Paraguay. There is suppose to be a meeting this Thursday or Friday with Mercosur which includes Argentina, Uruguay and Brasil. They are pretty much going to talk/discuss the impeachment and all that is going on with that and kind of come to a group opinion about all of it, for lack of words. One of thepossibilities of the outcome of the talk MAY be a decision on whether or not they are going keep borders open (to trade/import export of products/currency/people, etc.) So, Paraguayans, and for us- as travelers, we are hoping that Mercosur does not close off its borders bc that means that Paraguay cannot import/export anything which can possibly be a disaster for this country. Pretty much everything Paraguay has is imported from Brazil or Argentina so everybody is kind of sitting on the edge of their chairs because the decision can have a big effect of Paraguay's economy.  The most important thing of us here is to just be as aware as we can/ try not to get involved in riots/ caught up/ stay neutral, just stay about my business/ hang low- here in Itaugua.

ADD INFO HERE.

Drawing in her room that I really liked. “Hope is not the same as optimism. It is not the conviction that things will turn out well but the certainty that something MAKES SENSE regardless of how it turns out.”

Back in the garden picking some basil leaves so we can make a pesto sauce for lunch. Basil leaves, oil, garlic, salt, mani molida (crushed peanuts), cashews, and lime.

So Becca has an over (we don’t) so we were taking full advantage of making things in the oven such as the bread as well as the stovetop stir-frying some veggies to go into our pesto pasta we were making.

Ohhh wowwww, this came out SO delicious! Very impressed with ourselves!

After a very successful lunch, we took a walk to see some monkeys later. One of the girls in the neighborhood saw us walking and joined in. Off again, blue skies, dirt roads, cows, fresh air, and nothing but life in front of us.

There are some pretty big wetlands here.

So if you see a cow with a tree branch on her like this, it may look a little strange. Strange yet functional. This is to prevent the cows from going into fenced off areas that they are not suppose to. Its for their own protection.

Now we are off the dirt roads and back in the woods. Monkey monkey, where areee you?

They are too high in the trees to get a good pic, but here is our monkey celebration dance we did after we spotted 3 monkeys!

After a successful lunch and monkey hunt, we were on our long walk back, passing cows as per usual, exceptttt this time of year is the baby booooom for little cows! Awwwww!!

Like I said, walks here are not just “quick walks.” Stretchhhh break.

Paraguay landscape- you are beautiful.

Life is extraordinary. Lit up.

After a 3 hour walk/monkey search, we were off to celebrate San Juan right next to Becca’s house. As I mentioned earlier in my blog, San Juan is celebrated every weekend. Becca’s house is literally next to the capilla (little church) which is where the San Juan Festival took place.

Paraguayan traditional music and dances by the local kids.

Aldo, Krystina and I.

The girls are too cute.

Theatre act the boys put on. Krystina and I love how kids (in general) here in Paraguay are so willing to act, boys and girls with no embarrassment or nervousness. Its so normal/comfortable for mostly all the kids. We love that!

Me with the two dancing bees.

What a fun night and an amazing weekend! I feel really lucky to have met Becca the potato Idahoan girl who can speak Spanish and Guarani (very impressive with Guarani becca), keep a green lovin garden and make a bangin oatmeal bread. It really has been such a blessing getting to know/be/share/live and love- with all our Peace Corps friends.

June is coming to an end within days, which brings me back to my beginning point about time being such a commodity. I literally cant believe July is a breath away. I am for sure starting to feel the anxiousness about having to leave/say goodbyes as well as the excitement for all to come/returning to US- seeing my family and friends/beginning my next chapter. Its all such a wave of emotions which I suppose is a normal part of the closing process. It’s kind of weird. Becca, Krystina and I have talked about how sometimes it “all feels like a dream- a big dream.” I know my year is very close to its end and as much as I try to embrace that reality and the emotions that come with it, truth is- I don’t think I can possibly grasp “all and everything” in this moment—as I try to be present/soak the joy out of each precious moment I have left here. So for now, I close this blog with a wave to the end and the beginning- simultaneously-embracing all and everything that comes with it. My friends Michele and Jodi and Krystina’s cousin Marc are coming to visit real soon- in just a few days they will be here which we are very excited about! We have some South America traveling plans. Once they land, we are off to yet another adventure. Argentina and Peru here we come!! Signing out for now…and may this wild and precious journey continue, one pink and orange sunrise as a time.