the little moments that help us get by...

Being on summer vacation in a country where the average daily temperature is 104ºF - forcing the locals into hibernation in their fanned (or if they're fortunate enough, air conditioned), dark bedrooms, televisions blaring from 10:00 until 17:00, at which point they peep their heads from behind their doors like groundhogs on February 2nd, and, depending on the number of degrees dropped, will venture out into el calle to pass around tereré and discuss whatever it was they watched that day, or dreamed about - is often suffocating. It is often hard to keep the mood up and feel chipper. But I've had a few truly wonderful moments and experiences that make the days well worth it:

One morning I walked into the kitchen to a headless, skinned beast - though it's claws were still graphically intact - bathing in a large cooking pot in the sink. It was an armadillo. Roberto, mi hermano, had brought it home from the Chaco. Ursu, Roberto's novia, whipped up a delicious meal of armadillo and sweet potato - a wonderful salty-sweet combination. It was the tastiest meat I think I've ever eaten. It was sort of pulled-pork-meets-corn-beef. Awesome.

Another day a bunch of us were wandering around Asuncion, where the streets are full of mangoes, and decided we needed to take advantage of the wealth of golden, juicy fruit - literally at our fingertips. So with the help of a very inventive Emerson (another AFSer), and some enthusiastic eaters (I was among that number), we managed a feast of yellow-skinned, stringy, sticky-sweet Paraguayan mangoes. Half of the excitement was the harvesting of them from a Chevy dealer parking lot, and devouring them fresh off the sidewalks. =] Unfortunately for me, I've discovered I'm rather allergic to Paraguayan mangoes (not to be confused with the smooth, creamy, peachy, purple-green-reddish Brazilian mangoes we enjoy in the states) and eating them resulted in a week of puffy eyelids, itchy-red face, and chapped lips. Doesn't look like I'll be enjoying those again anytime soon. =/ But it was fun while it lasted. =]

And then this week, Hannah ([www.hannahinpy.blogspot.com] a fellow Wisconsinite AFSer who I have been spending almost all my time with since mi familia up and left) and I were hanging out at my casa and decided it was time to try the coconuts hanging, like ornaments from their tree, over my driveway. With the help of Ursu and Roberto we managed to machete a couple open, filling glasses full of their greenish agua dulce and shaving the meat from the middle and dipping it into sugar. So wonderful.

It's sort of ironic all my little, fantastic, Paraguayan moments have been food-related, because I have been having a hard time digesting the local cuisine, resulting in some 10lbs of weight loss; maybe that's part of the excitement: finding something I can actually eat! =]

Other than that I have been trying to make the most of my "time off" with random bus rides, listening to music and swimming in Hannah's pool (and getting some wicked sunburns). I also chatted it up with some Mormon missionaries I ran into in Villa Hayes. That was... something.

La Navidad was uneventful for the most part. Living with a poorer family resulted in limited festivities and I was the only one who gave gifts (their receiver's appreciation was heart-warming and delightful). We did, however, manage to go through over 30 liters of Brahma (the "cerveza" they drink here... it's horribly watery) and sweat a lot. =] It was helpful, as far as homesickness is concerned, that it didn't feel a lot like Christmas. It was as if "Navidad" was a whole new holiday I'd never experienced before. It was excellent hearing all those assorted Crawford voices on the telephone - that was the best gift I could have asked for.

I have added some more pictures (under "y mas fotos") of the events described above and I hope you all continue to write me letters.
Besos