So, a bit on what has been happening in Paraguay the last few months! Easter was spent with my host family in Monte Alto. ‘Semana Santa’ began with mass on Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos). My host sister, Yeni, gave me a ‘pindo’ or palm frond to be blessed at mass. Tuesday, a family invited me over to make ‘chipa’
. As I was kneading the ‘masa’, they made sure to point out a woman MUST know how to prepare chipa if she’s going to get married….the jokes never cease!
If you’re looking to brush up on your Spanish and want to read a neat article on how ‘chipa’ is made, check out this article….the pictures are pretty neato if you just want to see the process.
The pictures above were taken with my Monte Alto host family!
I got the opportunity to teach English with some high school students at a private Catholic school last month. What was supposed to be a one day gig, turned into two days teaching and one night spent at a nunnery with ‘Hermana Soledad’ and ‘Hermana Felicia’.
At 6am I took the 7k bike ride into town from the country-side. Mid-afternoon, it started raining and would not stop. I had no means of getting back into my site, since the dirt road was 
a complete disaster. A nun at the school invited me to stay the night, or as long as I needed! They fed me, provided PJs, and a room. Probably, the best rest I’ve had since arriving in Paraguay!
The nuns also held a birthday party for the mayor that night. And the sisters went all out with the preparations; one them even whipped out two different kinds of her home-made liquor: Anis and Mandarin…..I tried both! Anyway, it was a lovely two days and I can finally check ‘Kicking it with the Nuns’ off my ‘bucket list.
In March, Peace Corps Paraguay held a 3-day ‘Climate Change’ workshop for volunteers and their counterparts. I’ve included a link to the article if you’re interested in reading what we
did! Climate Change Workshop
I always enjoy your updates. I know you are a joy to everyone you meet on this journey.
ReplyDeleteDave S
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Paraguay? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Paraguay in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia,39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez