The Unbearable Lightness of Being

"Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us. We read its message much as gypsies read the images made by coffee grounds at the bottom of a cup."

"Being in a foreign country means walking a tightrope high above the ground without the net afforded a person by the country where he has family, colleagues and friends, and where he can easily say what he has to say in a language he has known from childhood."

Milan Kundera 

Volunteering

I have the morning off as it's raining here - meaning no kids have turned up for the teaching session - so I thought I'd finally do a little blog about volunteering.

I've mainly been working at two centres, Koe Pyahu, where I teach English and Centre Abrazo (Washington St) where we do craft activities and play with the children.

I found the afternoon teaching at Koe Pyahu really hard at first. The children didn't seem to want to be there, and they were shouting, climbing on tables, running around etc... not the kind of behaviour I'm used to in the classroom. With a bit of positive reinforcement, however, the behaviour has improved massively in the past few weeks, and we seem to get a lot more done. I'm really pleased about this as, before, I felt like I was forcing them to do something they didn't want to do, and having to tell them off; not the reason I came to Paraguay. Amazingly, even the main trouble maker has behaved like and angel for the past two sessions! The children can generally only deal with about an hour in the classroom before completely losing any focus they had, so we normally head up to the park for the last 15-30 minutes.

We've taught a couple of different topics so far. Last week we focused on 'Animals' which was made lots of fun with the finger puppets kindly donated by The Puppet Company/Puppets by Post. All the children wanted to play with the puppets...and quickly learnt that they had to behave in order to do so!

I'm really pleased with how things have changed at Koe Pyahu as I used to dread going there, and felt really negative afterwards. It's good to be having fun with the kids, I just hope our 'Sport' topic goes as well this week...

Washington (Abrazo) is a very different kettle of fish. First of all, we're not teaching here, so we can do whatever activities we like. We always take a football, skipping ropes, Polydron and colouring things with us, but we also like taking card and glitter and have made masks and crowns so far. The children really love this, although there is generally a bit of squabbling over the art stuff! In spite of this, the children at this centre are really calm (in comparison to Koe Pyahu) and I always have a really good day there, and feel like the children, and teachers, appreciate us coming.

All the children come from very poor families, and would potentially be out selling or begging if they weren't at the centre, so it's great to go and have fun with them. When we went on Thursday, there were loads of people sat outside the centre. We weren't sure what was going on at first but were told that, about once a month, the centre (which is government run) gives out food supplies to the families of children that attend the centre. Unsurprisingly, a lot more children attended that day!

More thoughts from Paraguay...

Soup Cake. Yes, you did read that correctly. It's soup, with manioc flour mixed in, which is then baked to make a cake. I tried it once and came to the conclusion that it is wrong to have soup in cake form.

Amongst all the cars in the centre, you'll see the occasional horse and cart. Even on a Friday night.

Asuncion must be a small place. We bumped into one of the Lebanese guys we met in the Chaco last night.

Terere. This is the national drink. It's a bit like green tea, but stronger. You have a little wooden of metal cup, into which you pile a lot of terere leaves. In the cup is also a metal straw, which has special drainage holes so that you don't suck up the leaves. With your cup you carry around a massive flask, which always leaks (I see a gap in the market here). The flask is full of cold water that you keep using to top up your cup, then suck the liquid through the straw. Paraguayan's share this drink as a social past time.

Being on TV. A little while ago when Sally and I were at the bus terminal, buying tickets to Laguna Blanca, we walked past a massive box on the pavement. As we passed, a clown jumped out, crashing cymbols and shouting 'happy birthday' which, as you can imagine, made us both jump out of our skins. Looking up, we saw a crowd of people watching, plus television cameras. Two weeks later, one of the children in our teaching group explained to us how she'd seen us on the Paraguayan version of 'You've Been Framed'! Fame at last!

Last night, whilst waiting for a bus to get home from the centre, Max, Bryony and Gary bumped into 'Red T-Shirt Guy' who they'd met in one of the gay clubs a few weeks ago. He stayed chatting for a bit and, although the way he constantly scratched himself was a little disconcerting, we were even more bemused when he pulled a wad on condoms out of his pocket! He decided to share, and distributed them amongst us... luckily we found out they were distributing these free in the gay clubs and he wasn't just being over ambitious!

Today we stumbled across a rather random flag taking down ceremony at the Plaza de los Heroes. There was rather a lot of fumbling and stumbling going on and no one really seemed to know what they were doing.

Some more pictures from Asunción:

The Chaco...

I discovered on Wednesday night that we had Friday and Monday off as they were bank holidays to celebrate the bicentenary of Paraguay's independence. With four days off, I thought that I should take the opportunity to see a little more of the country. Tempting as it was to return to Laguna Blanca, I decided to head to the Chaco. Known as the 'Green Hell' the Chaco covers about 60% of the country's land, but only houses about 3% of the population. Thankfully Beaux decided to come along with me - meaning I had some great company for the weekend, and didn't have to rely quite so heavily on my phrasebook!

We took a bus to Filadelfia, the main town in the area, with the plan to do a few trips to some of the interesting places nearby. We arrived at night and were dropped right outside Hotel Florida so, as it was dark, didn't really get an impression of the town. We were, however, very pleased with our room that had actual beds (rather than bunks) and a scalding hot shower! After a quick meal we got an early night, intending to be up at 7 to go to the tourist office just opposite the hotel to plan our weekend.

As breakfast wasn't included in our room rate, we figured we could probably get a cup of tea at the tourist office. On our way out, however, the hotel receptionist told us that the tourist office was closed for the bank holiday weekend... We decided to head to the bus office instead to see if we could get a bus to Loma Plata, a nearby town, from where we hoped to be able to visit the salt lakes (and see some flamingos). Walking out to the main street was a bit of a shock. The towns were founded by Mennonite Colonies from Germany, via Canada. So, rather than a typical Paraguayan town, we found ourselves in what seemed like a cross between Germany and bible belt America. On top of that, the streets were deserted... it felt like we were in a setting for an old American movie.

When we got to the bus ticket office, we were informed that the boss had gone home for breakfast (so much for strict Mennonite working hours) so we headed on a little further and came to a (pretty deserted) shopping mall. I spotted the food hall/cafe straight away and voiced my urgent need for a cup of tea. The 'te con leche' that I ordered, actually turned out to be a cammomile teabag in hot milk...not quite what I was hoping for. The tiny frog we saw in the cafe entertained us for a while then, still caffiene free, we headed back to the bus station.

After waiting outside for an hour or so, we discovered that we couldn't get a bus to Loma Plata until the next morning. We decided we would just explore Filadelfia for the afternoon...not that it looked that exciting. On our way back to the hotel we noticed that Stel Turismo was open so decided to check their bus times. Amazingly, they had a bus leaving for Loma Plata in an hour. We quickly ran back to the hotel and packed, I managed to have a cup of tea (thankfully I had brought teabags and the hotel provided hot water - milk, I can live without) and we headed to catch the bus. Forty-five minutes later we arrived in Loma Plata which seemed even more deserted than Filadelfia, and even more of the shops were closed!

We had a trek through Loma Plata to find a cheap hotel, and someone who could help get us to the salt lakes. The baking heat made our bags feel particularly heavy, coupled with the frustration that we had come all this way to potentially only see two deserted towns. The woman in the second hotel we went to was really helpful, and spoke English. She tried to put us in contact with some people who might take us to the lakes although, as the next day was Sunday, this could be tricky. We managed to get hold of Walter Ratzloff, who is listed in the guidebook, but the price for him to take us seemed rather high, so we headed on to the Hotel Mora as the guidebook told us that they had their own taxi service.

After walking for about another half an hour, we arrived at the hotel. No one was about so we rang the bell, and there soon appeared a very sleepy woman. We had managed to wake her up from her siesta - not the best time to be asking for favours. Fortunately Beaux can speak Spanish more fluently than I can speak German (had I mentioned that German is the first language of these Mennonite towns?), so managed to ask about getting to the lakes. The woman was very sleepy and disorientated so we decided it was best to check in, and she could let us know later.

After having a very short rest, we pondered over what to do for the afternoon. Flicking through the guidebook we saw that a nearby hotel had a swimming pool so we decided to go and see if we could have a swim. We arrived at the hotel, having walked around the rather rickety looking sign rather than under it, to find it abandoned and under renovation. With that plan thwarted we decided to have a wander round town to look for some food (all we'd had so far that day was crisps, fruit and nuts), and to see if anything else was going on...

We walked past the hospital (which was closed) and the retirement home. Heading down a different road we discovered a church with a graveyard that only had headstones dating from 1969 - 1985. Having seen only about two people by this point, we did start to wonder whether we were in some sort of ghost town! Had no one been buried since 1985? Isn't this how horror movies start? Nothing can really convey how strange this place was, the photos don't even come close.

All the restaurants were closed, but we did find an ice cream parlour that was open. Not exactly a balanced meal, but I think we deserved the treat with our weekend away seeming to go rapidly down hill. Opposite was a small general store where we decided to stock up on some supplies in case all the shops and restaurants were closed on Sunday. To get us through the evening we decided to by some of the cheap local rum (caña) and lemonade. At about 35p the rum was a bargain, even if it smelt more like whisky! 

We decided to take a slightly different route back to our hotel and only got a little bit lost, though we did walk past a street with my name. When we arrived back, the owner was a lot more awake and happily told us that she'd found someone to take us to the lakes. That person was Walter who we'd spoken to before and, although his prices were a little expensive, we decided to go for it rather than come all this way for nothing. While Beaux made arrangements with him on the phone, I ordered us a beer in German. Never did I think I would be speaking German in the middle of Paraguay!

After another hot shower we headed out for a delicious steak at the Chaco Grill. Fortunately there were a few more people about so the place felt a little less weird, even though we had been barked at by some rather scary dogs on the way. Walking home at about 9.30pm on a bank holiday weekend we expected to see some parties, or at least some kind of life...but other than about four people hanging around outside the community centre, the place was deserted once again. Beaux thought that maybe we should do something stupid like break into the church, but was put off by the fact that we were in a very strange place and could be tried under their own laws!

When we arrived back to the hotel, the woman excitedly told me (in German) that one of the guys sat outside could speak very good English so we should go and chat to them. We figured 'why not?' so bought a beer and went and sat outside. The guy's English wasn't that good so Beaux mostly spoke Spanish to them, some of which I understood, and some she translated. We discovered that they were actually from Lebanon but had moved to Asuncion 15 years ago. They had come to the Chaco to hunt pigeons. So, just when we thought our day couldn't get any stranger, we ended up sharing Shisha with some Lebanese guys!

On Sunday we made sure we got up for our breakfast (which was included in the room price) then headed back to bed as Walter wasn't coming to get us until 1pm. Walter turned out to be the deputy mayor, and had brought his daughter along with him as she was learning English at school. Our first stop was at some cotton fields and Walter picked us some fresh cotton - just like cotton wool.

We drove past quite a few reservoirs - as the Chaco is so dry, rain harvesting and water storage is vital for their crops. We saw a number of hawks, a flock of parrots and some tiny pigeons (they come in three sizes here) as well as a turtle crossing the road.

Cows with humps - apparently the hump is the tastiest part to eat!

As we got closer to Laguna Capitain, Walter got out his binoculars to show us some flamingos in the distance. They were grey, rather than pink, as they had only recently arrived in the Chaco from Chile and had not eaten enough of the local snails (which contain Carotene) to turn them pink.

We stopped by Laguna Capitain, which actually has great facilities for people to stay, just no caretaker to run it. The accommodation is now solely used for religious retreats by the Mennonites. I found the number of snail shells around the lake quite off putting, but at least they were just shells. One of the lakes had a little diving platform, which Beaux went to check out as she was determined to get some swimming in at some point over the weekend. After sitting on the end of the diving board, and deliberating a little, we finally convinced her that she would regret it if she didn't go in. She went to get ready whilst we tucked in to homemade Mennonite chipa, cake and terrere. Beaux went for a very quick dip in the lake, and was not particularly happy about the slimy boards when she had to climb out (the thought of snails in the lake was enough to put me off).

We then headed off for a trek through the scrub/forest, taking such a winding path that we were mildly concerned that we might get lost... We eventually emerged through the bushes onto what I can only describe as the middle of a Dali painting. Dead trees, horses in the water and pink, spoon-beaked birds (they'd obviously been eating the snails).

On the walk back we saw a number of gopher holes, some armadillo prints (but unfortunately no armadillo) and tasted the fruit from a cactus (which was actually incredibly similar to dragonfruit). Walter also showed us a bush with enormous thorns which he said can be used as hair spikes.

On the way back Walter drove us through an indigenous village, although I think it was more of a local Paraguayan village rather than that of any indigenous tribes. Although it was interesting to see the contrast between the Mennonite town and this village, I felt rather like a tourist in a safari park, peering out of the windows of this massive 4WD. 

As well as getting to see some more of the real Chaco, it was interesting to talk to Walter about the history and origins of the Mennonites. From what we gathered their main focus is working hard and making money. Walter referred to money and the cost of things in almost every conversation. He also discussed the mixing of the Mennonite and Paraguayans in the towns. Apparantly some of the Mennonites don't want to share their land with the Paraguayans, they figure that they are the ones that have worked to build up the town, so why should others get to benefit from it now. Fortunately Walter doesn't share these views. We also had some interesting conversations about the work ethic of the different cultures. Walter's obsession with money meant that the final part of our tour consisted of him driving us around the rich part of town so that we could see all the grand houses!

After dropping us off at a restaurant, we had three hours to kill before getting the night bus back to Asuncion. We'd only just got on the bus and got comfy when it stopped and we had to change buses. Unfortunately we ended up sitting in front of some very loud women, one of whom had a child on her knee. For the first three hours of the journey, we both kept dropping off, only to be woken up by the hand of either the mother or child on our heads. At one point I looked up to find the child hanging over the seats, watching Beaux and I sleeping! This combined with the fact that the guy in front of me had reclined his seat so that there was not physically enough room for my legs, made for a rather uncomfortable journey. Just when I thought I could stand it no longer, the bus stopped and the people behind and in front of us got off, so we spread out and took 2 seats each - some sort of comfort at last!