Back from the Chaco
May 3rd, 2008 WeylinLots has happened here in Paraguay since we last blogged!
- Lugo (backed by the Authentic Radical Liberal Party) won the presidential election!
- Katherine’s parents visited us for a week.
- We traveled 5hrs to visit a Mennonite colony in the Chaco.
- Weylin got busted for not having any license or registration on his moto!
Lugo won by about 10% (he also won in our site poll!) and luckily there was no rioting or civil disruption as had been anticipated by some. It seems that Paraguay has lived under dictators and now a seemingly eternally dominant Colorado party for so long that they couldn’t imagine that power structure being changed without some sort of struggle or resistance. But, the people have spoken and a new party will soon be in power. The official hand-over is August 15th. The country seems largely to be holding it’s breath waiting to see what will happen- no one is sure, but most are hopeful. One related thing we’ve seen is happening in Luque. The municipal government is paving one of the main roads in town. A local told us that they’re going to be spending a lot of municipal money now because previously they would put that government money in the bank and embezzle the interest. Now they have to spend it up before August so that no one sees just what they’ve been stealing from the people. At least that’s what we’ve been told…
Receiving our first visitors was great! We so enjoyed being able to share our home and our experience here with some family. For Katherine and myself it was also wonderful to spend a week with people from our native culture- what a difference that makes. Ofelia also loved the attention and grandparent time! We spent a few days getting a thorough tour of a Mennonite colony, Menno, (info here, and here) in the Paraguayan Chaco. What a great and infinitely interesting experience that was! We had a great tour guide and learned a ton about this remote pocket of agrarian industrialization; a grand social experiment continuing to play out in the remote lands of a remote country.
Well, enough chit-chat, how about some pics…
