Maniquí me: Sweet endings

Today is the Sunday of my final week on route. That means I won't be visiting my little voluntarios anymore in community. The past few days have been exciting and sometimes too exciting. On my walk to Itapevy, my farthest community on Monday I saw a motorcycle accident where a few hundred people were swarming over a dead body face down in the mud. It was very upsetting, and I was surprised by the lack of sympathy I received from one of my favorite host-moms when I finally got to Itapevy. Motorcycle accidents happen a lot here in Paraguay, but this is the first one I saw with my own eyes.

Monday and Tuesday were freezing and cold winds beneath my cot would wake up in the middle of the night. Some of my favorite parts of the day continue to be nighttime maté sessions, huddled around the flame of a brick stove under a thatched roof. We talk about family members, how Paraguay has changed, plan future rendezvous and learn a little Guaraní. Each host-family I visit is different and whenever I think I have chosen my favorite, I realize how much I adore the next one. People here are very tranquil and caring and have made me learn to love it here.

On Thursday I ran into a friend in one of my communities who was on his way to a meeting for Paraguay Rural. Apparently it's a micro-loan organization funded by Germans and Japanese people who are setting up trade relationships with Paraguayan farmers. I showed up late to the meeting to only find four dudes drinking tereré and my farmer friend was taking a piss outside behind the building. It's hard to tell what really happens out here--if people really do have meetings or if they're just drinking tea to pass the time. Paraguayan mysteries..

Another highlight of the week was my usual run-in with a local Peace Corps volunteer named Greg. He's been here 10 months in a community 2 km from my boy volunteers' town. Every week he helps me out so much and even made me a map of Asunción and told me where to find Mexican and Korean food. We drank tereré in one of Santaní's many plazas while we waited for our bus. I'm always so anxious waiting for this bus because the driver makes his own schedule and only comes once a day; so it was nice to be with Greg who has acquired a 6th sense about when and where the bus will stop.

My thoughts are all over the place. Here's some pictures from the last few days.

Playing King's Cup with water for Mattie (far-right)'s 21st!

Two of my volunteers doing paperwork!

Okay this is too good. These are pictures of Delia and Ysa, some of my most intense host-sisters. They stole my camera and took a bunch of pictures with our water bottles and binders pretending to be us--they're way too clever and silly for their own good.