Semana Santa y Pascua

Before arriving in Paraguay, I had heard that Christian religious holidays were a big deal. I was beginning to catch on after having now been through virtually a year of Catholic celebrations. However, Holy Week and Easter were really quite unique in my experiences. Aside from having school and work cancelled starting on Wednesday of Holy Week, there are several fun traditions involved with the holiday that I wish to share.

Wednesday and Thursday are all about chipa (cheesy bread made in various shapes and sizes). Families and neighbors get together to cook in the yard in a traditional tatakua (like a pizza brick oven), each with their own recipe and slightly modified version of chipa. From then on, everyone gifts chipa to neighbors and friends… with enough chipa to eat for a week and still have more leftovers. Lunch on Thursday is a large family affair with prayers and special hand-washing practices AFTER eating. Any leftovers are brought to those less fortunate. For once the soup kitchen is obsolete. From then on, fasting begins. Not a “fast” as in not eating, but a fast from meat. Which, in Paraguay, is a pretty big deal. A meal is not complete without meat! So, more chipa it is, and perhaps some beans if the family is not too tired of them yet (this has been the Friday meal for the entire month already). Friday is spent in deep and quiet reflection. Children are not out playing in the streets, the stores are closed, families are bunked-down for the day. I covet the silence as I normally have VERY loud music blasting from the neighbors’ on either side of my house. Saturday, all the stops are pulled for a big asado celebration. We may not have been able to eat meat on Friday, but Saturday makes up for it all (and some). My friends and I enjoy a freshly killed cow, which was actually cooked to a perfect medium-rare for once. I knew this day was special. Sunday, after a larger than normal mass, it’s more toasts and more asado. Easter has arrived!

Juegitos y Ciclos

Peace Corps often talks about the cycles of one’s service, and here we are again. We have now been up and running for four months in my community’s soup kitchen. It has been a real roller-coaster ride, though I have never experienced one so long and bumpy… but with any luck we at moving in the right direction.

It all started, as one may recall, with an unplanned inauguration last December in which we all got together on a Monday and collaborated funds for veggies and meat to feed some of the less fortunate children in the pueblo that very next Wednesday. Despite lack of planning and some serious skepticism on my part, day one (even month one), went off without too much of a hitch. Granted we didn’t have any chairs, lacked sufficient cutlery/plates, and were cooking on a BBQ pit as we don’t even have an oven/stove… but people did get fed.

By the end of the first month, however, things started to get pretty messy. People were angry at each other’s lack of support in time and money to maintain the project, volunteers were running low, and more and more kids kept showing up without the infrastructure to hold them all. It was looking pretty bad. So, we decided to finally get organized by putting together an official commission. It was time for my organization skills to step in. And for about a month- we did good. We raised funds with polladas, got a volunteering schedule, and pedido-ed around town for meat from the local butchers (5 kilos/month each one). We even started going family to family with a census on our client’s education, national identification, living, medical, and religious needs. It seemed to be looking up. However, somewhere in there we lost motivation again… and here we are with an empty pocket-book and little to show for all that hard work.

This particular project is at another low. It’s time to get back on the horse and start riding some burros. This week, pollada number two is to be organized and next week a radio marathon to raise funds. This time around, we are looking at making sustainable choices- buying a freezer to store donated meat whenever the butchers have it to give, building a massive fogón to cook on during the winter, and doing building construction so that the kids have a place to sit when the weather turns. My VAC members too are pitching in to help us plant a veggie garden so that we have all the vitamins we need right out back. All we’ve got to do now is keep it together one more month, then at least we’ll have the basics covered. From there, with any luck, the rest of the path won’t seem so steep and insurmountable (for me and my counterparts!). Perhaps it’ll even be time for a party to celebrate 6 months of operation. Hmmm… not a bad incentive, nobody can scoff at a bocadito/vino night!

Como Hobbits Así Es…

So, as often happens when I get into a series of books, I start to make comparisons between my life situation and that of the fantasy world I’ve entered between the hardback covers. Recently, I’ve been reading the J.R. Tolkien “Lord of the Rings” and the “Hobbit” series; and it’s got me thinking about the similarities between life in Hobbiton and life here in Paraguay.

Lets start on home lifestyle. While Paraguayan’s don’t live burrowed into the ground in wee holes with little round doors, they do kinda burrow into their neighborhoods and identify strongly with their family and heritage closely connected to the lands that have been handed down generation after generation. Along the same lines, Hobbits, like my Paraguayan neighbors rarely if ever enjoy a good “adventure.” I know of only two people in my city that have even been out of the country- and we only live 4 hours form the Argentinean border! In fact, those that do travel or venture to take the path unpaved often are seen as “outsiders” and (as Tolkien may say) “queer.” All that taken into account, Paraguayans are very hospitable. For example, if you ever want a free meal or just to sit around and chat- this is the place to be. Whenever I show up for terere around 10-11am, I am sure to be offered a seat at the table for lunch whether or not there was food sufficient enough to go around. Finally, Hobbits always try to keep the conversation polite, “at your service” they say. Here in the heart of South America the answer is always “YES.” Will you come to my birthday party? Can you be at the meeting at 3pm? Do you like this crazy spicy food I’ve just prepared? “Yes” they say, even when in all of those cases they are really thinking “Ummm… no… you crazy outsider.”

On a perhaps more rico front, it’s easy to draw links between Hobbit’s and indeed Paraguayan’s love for food and everything about it. This is an agricultural society and the people love to work the land. Not for sale, but just to eat. The number of meals one may have in a day is not too different either. I used to think that Paraguayan’s ate very little, but truth is they just eat often. For example, the other day on my way south with a group of Paraguayan friends we actually stopped for what one could call “second breakfast.” Yep- we pulled over on a grassy hill for a wee nibble- chicken sandwiches, cocido, and all. With food of course comes the love of Hobbits’ so-called “pipe-weed.” Now, here in Paraguay, we don’t smoke any sort of weed (ok, look at the world-class black market and you’ve caught me lying) but we do drink lots of a kind of weed we call yerba mate. Indeed, I am referring to Paraguayan’s daily routine of mate in the morning and terere throughout the day. Yes, isn’t it lovely to sit back like a Hobbit/Paraguayan and sip that tasty beverage. Refreshing and relaxing- if only there were colored smoke rings it’d be perfect!

Finally, being all about peace and tranquility here in the Peace Corps- Paraguay is very much like Hobbiton in its tranquilo lifestyle. Hobbits, it is said, at no time had been warlike, and here too we like to be happy, always “bien.” And, as Gandalf comments- even if everything else in the world is dark it’s good to know there’s always a place to come back to where life is still just that simple.

Disclaimer: In case in someone’s view I’ve offended either the world of the Middl-Earth or my home here in Paraguay, none of this is meant to offend- only to explain some of the fineries of my experience in a way that perhaps those that are not with me can understand.