Just in case you missed it, we thought we should write and alert you that Paraguay was in the US news this past weekend. Actually the subject was the outgoing US Ambassador to Paraguay. James Carson was interviewed by NPR’s Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday. (HERE to listen)
While the NPR review seemed pretty positive, reviews here in Paraguay have been more mixed:
“In a review of the CD release show in the Ultima Hora newspaper, a critic noted that Cason ‘’sat on a stool with the lyrics in front of him” during the entire performance, appearing ”nervous or unsure about the tune and pronunciation of Guaraní.” The newspaper La Nación was more direct: The ambassador, it said, “sang in the monotone of a tired bird.”
And here’s a translation from an ABC (Paraguayan newspaper) article:
“The radical liberal senator Laino Sunday announced to the media presentation of a draft resolution of the Upper House of reproach against the American ambassador in Asuncion, James Cason.. According Laino, the diplomat “offended the Paraguayan people” with its interventions in artistic works.
The American ambassador in Asuncion offended the Paraguayan people with their artistic interventions because pretend to speak in Guarani language has said anything, according Laino said.
By pretending to speak in Guarani language, James Cason balbucea and offends, said liberal legislator noting that the diplomat should be the subject of public criticism.“
Cason also disguises of bishop in plays with his voice and bad manners seeks to imitate Paraguayan artists performing very poor interpretations of songs Guarani, said the politician.
Whatever you may think of his music, James Cason has our respect and that of many Paraguayans for taking the time and effort to learn Guaraní, a language that is a huge part of Paraguayan culture and identity.
No, we’re not pregnant again! Concepción (HERE to find it on a map) is a town in the north of Paraguay where we recently spent the weekend.
Our trip actually began about a week before we left. My profe, Carlos, had invited Katherine and I to accompany him and his novia (girlfriend) on their weekend trip to Concepción. We were up for a change of scenery and so agreed. The first step was for Carlos and I to get our bus tickets. For that we had to drive into Asuncion to the bus terminal. No problem. Our bus was to leave the terminal at 11:15 pm on Friday night, and it would arrive around 5 am in Concepción. We hopped Ofelia would like this plan and sleep through the trip.
On Friday night we woke Ofelia around 8:30 pm (she goes to sleep around 6!) then we walked 20min into Luque to catch the micro that would take us to the terminal in Asuncion. We had to be waiting for that bus early because there is no schedule and later at night it may only come every hour– but you don’t really know because there is no available schedule. We got lucky and only waited for about 20 minutes before our micro came. Then it was a loud 40 minute ride to the terminal. Once at the terminal we quickly found our friends and commenced to waiting. After about an hour our bus arrived at the terminal and soon we were able to board.
The long-distance buses are like tour buses you might see in the states. The passenger compartment windows are curtained and there is a wall between driver and passengers. The result is that you see very little as you ride, except for what you can see from your own window or that of a neighbor passenger. Our night ride quickly left the bustle of Asuncion and began the long journey through thinly-populated Chaco land. We occasionally woke when the bus would veer and bound over the road. It was apparent that parts of this road were “unimproved” but it didn’t seem to slow our driver, neither did the passing of cattle trucks on this narrow two-lane path.
At about 4 am we arrived in Concepción. Carlos agreed to help us find our hotel, Hotel Francés, at this early hour. We set off walking across the large and empty double avenue which had zero traffic and a median populated with some statues and some old machinery (this kind of street decoration is not as common here as it is in the states). As we passed a truck (on display in the median) from the ’30’s or ’40’s, I glanced in and saw that someone was using the front seat as a bed. Twenty minutes of walking through the empty streets, only meeting a few youngsters heading home after a full night of partying, we arrived at our hotel, bid Carlos good night, good morning, and headed for sleep.
We enjoyed a relaxing weekend of just walking around this clean and safe, and quiet city. There are no micros in Concepción so the air is much cleaner and quieter. Also they keep streets very clean and seem to have unusually well maintained streets and buildings– quite a contrast to most other towns we’ve seen here. Another difference is that motos far outnumber cars, it must be like 20 to 1, no joke. And I only counted about 5 helmets all weekend! Concepción has a beautiful river, Rio Paraguay, running past and affords great views and breezes near it’s banks.
On Sunday we headed out to the double avenue to catch our return bus. At the bus stop we shared a shaded bench with a scruffy fellow who seemed to be drinking his terere (tea like beverage) with Caña (alcohol made from sugar cane) instead of water! As we waited for the bus I looked around and saw the antique truck in the median. Then our friend, having exhausted his caña, stretched out on the bench for an early siesta. It was then that I realized I had seen him before– curled up in the truck two nights ago! Small world there in Concepción.
Prior to this trip I had reflected that things here in Paraguay don’t seem to be as crazy or adventurous as they once did. And I didn’t really feel like our journey to Concepción was all that adventurous— but I think that we would have had a different experience of things several months back when all of this was so new. It is comforting for us both to see and feel our continuing adaptation to Paraguayan culture. We have learned, and continue to learn, a great deal about accepting and dealing with whatever comes at us and not wasting time and energy on complaining or wanting things to be different. We value these lessons.
Here are some pics from our trip. Mouse over the image and click on images to make them bigger, and use arrow keys to navigate between them. You can also right-click and select full-screen to see a larger version of it all. Enjoy!
Wow, once again there has been a lapse in our posting. But, we have been busy. Here’s the run-down of what we’ve been up to: Starting in mid-June we had guests for a few weeks, friend Kate and Weylin’s mother and niece Kamilah. We packed in lots of sightseeing and experiences having here in Paraguay!
Kate came with us to a Paraguay vs. Brazil fútbol game (sold-out stadium and Paraguay won!) Paraguay Wins!
Kate and Weylin got an exclusive tour of the airport tower! You wouldn’t believe it! Silvio Pettirossi Airport in Asuncion.
We rode on the world’s oldest operational wood-fired steam engine! The train took us from Asuncion to Aregua and we were entertained by actors playing out a historical comedy– all in Spanish and Guarani, and a live chicken was one of the props!
Tourist shopping in Asuncion– great stuff at the train station!
We attended a Quince (15th birthday party) for a friend of Katherine. Great privledge to take part in such a special and significant family event– they put grand effort into these parties.
Bus ride to Tarumandy
Cooking traditional Paraguayan and Guarani food with teachers and parents at the Tarumandy school.
Local shopping at jewelry stores in Luque- know for silver jewelry and Filigree.
Fantastic trip to Encarnacion: there we saw Jesuit Ruins ,
Toured the Selecta (click HERE to see Selecta website) Yerba Mate factory,
And, we found the best Chipas ever at El Gordo.
Once again it was fantastic to be able to, first hand, share our Paraguayan and Luquenian lives with friends and family. Ofelia loved having all of the visitors and ate up all that attention. She’s constantly on the move these days and keeps us busy and entertained.
Katherine has been busy with her research, both doing field work and processing data here at home. I (Weylin) have been making increased efforts to interact with people in Español as much as possible. I buy herbs at the mercado and meet weekly with a new friend– I practice Español and he practices English. Its nice to finally feel like I can get some basic communication done– though the finer details of conversation still escape me (it is a process after all).
We’re headed off for a weekend trip to Concepción. When we get back we’ll get up some more pics from the ruins and our journies.
On June 1st (Ofelia’s first birthday) she took her first micro-steps, ones that only a proud father could count as steps. We kept the cameras out and ready to shoot in anticipation of Ofelia’s first real steps. That day came on June 17th! Since then she has been working hard on her traveling skills. Every day she gains in agility and speed, luckily those gains are gradual enough that I can still keep up with her!
We’ve been busy here with guests, but we’ll post that later…
It’s been a year! I’ve spent the last few weeks remembering a year ago when we didn’t know Ofelia yet, when I was lumbering around Philadelphia and cleaning every nook and cranny of our apartment in the name of nesting, when living in Paraguay as a family of three was a distant possibility (and a sometimes cause of middle-of-the-night worry). We have come so far… literally and figuratively. And last Sunday when I brought out Ofelia’s ugly, but very tasty, birthday cake with whipped-cream frosting and a scrounged-up candle (usually used for power outages), my heart filled with pride. I am so proud of making it through the first year of parenthood, of what our little threesome has become in this time, of what we have become for each other in living thousands of miles from everything familiar, of the father that Weylin is, of all that Ofelia has learned to do, adapted to, forgiven us for (at least we don’t see obvious signs of a grudge…), of the little person she has become so far. I guess this is what parents do, they get proud. Indeed, I am–proud of Ofelia and, damn, I’m proud of her parents, too. Here are some pictures of her birthday and a few days before and after. And a couple thrown in from the day after she was born last year… just to measure our progress.
No, this is not a post about Mayoliva, or even Mayonnaise. The title indicates something about products, but really this is about complaints. You see, this is my third attempt at writing this particular post supposedly telling you about our experiences with product supply and intermittent availability here in Paraguay. However, on my first two attempts to write, I kept getting stuck when I would read over what I’d written and realize that I sounded like I was complaining– I didn’t want that, I thought I simply wanted to tell a story. Well, I’ve finally accepted that what I really want to do here is complain a bit.
When planning to come to Paraguay we often wondered about what products would be available in stores in terms of medicines, foods, and baby supplies. Upon arriving we began to explore the grocery and pharmacy stores, taking inventory and sampling brands and varieties. For those of you wondering, no, there are no Trader Joe’s stores here. And yes, that has been difficult for me.
We were relieved to find a few kinds of frozen vegetables for us and Ofelia, such as the Brocolí pictured here. We also found some treats like the mayonnaise made with olive oil pictured above. (it puts a nice twist on ham and cheese sandwiches!) In general, we found that there is a much, much smaller selection of goods. This goes for groceries as well as things like toilet seats (I’ll spare you a picture of those). To a large extent, what you find in one store you will find in another. Coming from the US style giant stores with mind boggling product variety, this was a big shift– and at times welcome. There are nice grocery stores here, they just don’t have the extreme product diversity and variety that we have in the US. Example: the cereal “isle” is about 10-15ft long. The yerba mate isle contains more products than the cereal isle! (this I like)
We also had difficulty finding yogurt without sugar. The one pictured here is the only one we have found, and many stores don’t carry it. That is part of my complaint.
The other part is that products you see today, may not be here tomorrow, or they may. This has happened with the Brocolí and mayo, and with our preferred brand of baby butt wipes– actually with our top three brands of wipes! The wipes are not pictured here because at the time of this writing we cannot find them in stores! This is what happens. Back in January we thought everything was cool with the Broc, but then it disappeared. Two months later it re-emerged, only to disappear a week later and to remain absent for another three weeks. When it came back that time, we bought all 8 bags! We have adjusted, we’ve learned to hoard. It does earn us some funny looks at the checkout, that’s a price we’re willing to pay.
What all of this comes round to is not about the excesses of the US, or the scarcity or unreliability of goods here in Paraguay. My complaints are really about our own struggle to integrate into this system. It is a challenge to our assumptions about “the way things ought to be.” We are constantly faced with the reality that how we live is not how everyone else in the world lives, and they often do just fine, or even better in some ways. As difficult as it can be, it is a growth experience in struggling to adjust to someone else’s norms and expectations. It has helped, and continues to help, us examine ourselves and how we live, and the choices (or cultural assumptions) we often make without thinking.
Thanks for joining us in our Process. We're back from the beyond and settling into Cleveland, 2 PhD efforts, a new house, and 1.5 children-- no boredom here! Our foreign adventure has passed but "domestic" adventures are emerging. Stay tuned for anecdotes and updates.
Trust the Process.
