Good Evening from Paraguay! Where to begin… today has been very interesting. Let’s start off with futbol. Paraguay won the semi-finals last night against Venezuela. Which is pretty cool considering this futbol is all Paraguayans have. They get in to it here: fireworks, drunks, horns honking, and hootin’ and hollerin’ till the wee hours of the morning. All that is on the news here is futbol and the bus strike. Mr. Leatherwood felt a lot better today and offered to take us out and about and so we did! But before that went down, we find out were homeless. Yes…HOMELESS!!! See, the boss lady here has been trying since day one to get us into a more expensive room. We are paying about $60 for our small room and that includes breakfast. Nothing fancy and that’s fine. She kept throwing this suite at us saying it’s $90 and she would give it to us for $80. Everyday it was “You check out today,Yes?” or “You move into another room, No?” Today she tells us we have to get out of our room, because someone has asked for 4 rooms together and our is one of them. Makes no sense, right? So, luckily Mr. Leatherwood was there to talk to her in Spanish and try to figure out where the heck were suppose to go. Long story short, we ended up packing our bags in a hurry and locking them in a closet near the lobby till they figured out where exactly we were staying. After that mess we went back to the fancy mall and tried to cash a check and they wouldn’t let us, and then went to a Shoppe called “Sugar’s” and tried some Paraguayan ice cream. Very yummy. Then off to visit his church that he and the Mrs. are currently living in. We met Captain Jack Sparrow their dog and Rocky their cat. They were surprised that no one has offered us terere (pronounced tey-reh-deh, roll your tongue to on the r) so they whipped out the thermos and wamba and bombilla. The tradition here is to drink out of the same wamba and bombilla. You just fill her up and pass it around, finishing each wamba full before passing to the next person. Mr. Leatherwood didn’t partake since he has a cold so we shared it with Caroline. Before I forget, I finally was greeted the Paraguayan way today. Caroline introduced me to this sweet girl … 15 years old I think, that they have come over and do little jobs like wash dishes and sweep. They pay her about $2.50 everyday that she comes. This helps her to afford school,which here, you have to pay for after the 6th grade. She ( I cant remember her name, shame on me) came up to me smiling and I stuck my hand out to shake hers and said Hola, and she grabbed me and kissed me on both cheeks, right to left. Men here shake hands with other men, or hug if they know each other well. Women kiss on the cheek, and of course, men can kiss women on the cheeks too. So we sat and sipped our terere and chatted. It was very nice to hear a few of their stories ( they’ve lived here for a good 30 years). Next was the expo. The expo is like a big state fair. A lot of people come to show their livestock and then there is rides and some booths to buy leather and other things of that nature. Let me tell you, James had to carry around a back pack so it has become my job to watch his back! So I worked hard today! It was so crowded and I kept eyeballing anyone that came up too close to James. Don’t ask me what I would of done if they had tried to steal, but I made sure people knew I was keeping the old eagle eye on them. We learned that on the buses if you have long hair, sometimes they take a razor and slice it all off, so they can sell pretty long black hair. We also learned that average Paraguayan makes $100-250 a month, and that’s to raise an entire family on. $400 a month for a person that has several skills and is very good at each of them. It cost’s $20 for a trip to the ER. They drive so crazy here! There is no such thing as lanes, but people seem to get the fact that you will be cut off, so deal with it. They honk the horn if another car or motorcycle is too close. Today we have seen homeless children begging on the streets, some coming up to our vehicle and asking for money. When we said no, they cussed us out in Guaraní. The buses are so crowded that the people would probably be safe if they got in a wreck because there’s no room for anyone to go anywhere!! Different world here definitely! So at the end of our day, Mr. Leatherwood brought us back to the hotel and came in to make sure we had a room. We did… and our first reaction wasn’t bad, but as we started to look around… (oh, and by this time Mr. Leatherwood has said goodnight) we start to notice a few things. First, there is no refrigerator, then the bathroom is tiny and leaking around the bidet. I leaned on the sink and that popped off!! Then we realize in this room there is no wi-fi. Now, we were thinking that this lovely room is costing us $60 just like the room before, but we don’t have all the amenities that the other room had!!! So we were a bit aggravated. THEN, I start looking around and notice what appears to be urine on the walls by the bed and in a corner near the door. After some investigation I’m thinking it’s human considering the height of the pee marks. Well, we found out were not paying $60, it is cheaper…but still, there is pee-pee on the walls!!! We wanted to call Mr. Leatherwood for some advice but our phone didn’t work. So were getting another hotel tomorrow. Poor Mr. Leatherwood, I hope were not driving him crazy, but were so happy to know them. They are great people and have been helping us out. Well, in closing, our plans for our main purpose, has made a slight change. We will be leaving Asuncion Sunday morning. See, at first we were taking a bus there, (a 5 hour drive). This is a big no-no and had the Leatherwoods worried. Now we will be riding with a young man named Aldo. Aldo has known the James and Caroline since he was 10. He speaks English and will stay with us and help us search for my family. I think this is great! We will have a translator! Life is awesome how it works out. So far, we have met James and Caroline that adopted a daughter they named Cristine ( they also call her Crissy) and we met another missionary on the plane here named Joey. His wife’s name is Cristina and his 4 year old daughter is named Adora. He’s lived in Paraguay most his life but is from Texas as well. He was very kind and we hope to see him before we leave. Already, we’ve made great connections with people here, but I cant wait to get out of the city and into the country and find my …people. That will make my heart super happy.
Love , Crissy
Love , Crissy
No comments:
Post a Comment