what i've been up to...

As you know if you read the last post, I got to Portrero Pucu on the 4th of May with a raging case of strep throat. I'm not sure how I contracted it, but sometime on the weekend after swear-in, I started getting a splitting headache and extreme fatigue. It continued through the weekend, and on Monday, I decided to scrap my plans to come to site early in the day, and humped my gear to Asuncion and Medical Mary.
So I arrived at site later that day with some Azithromycin, strep, and a fever. I spent a night trying to sleep while the fever broke. By the end of the next day, I was feeling quite a bit better. (The double doses of extra strength Tylenol might have had something to do with that.)

As I placed my gear in the room where I'd stay the first week, I suddenly got hit by a throat constricting anxiety - I'd made it through training, I was in site - what the hell would I do now? After the initial anxiety passed, mini-flashes of it passed through me...about every five minutes.

Anyways, I spent the first couple of days hanging out at the school, renewing some connections I'd made on my first visit here a month ago. I made plans to start a huerta (veggie garden) at the school, had a couple of guarani lessons, washed my clothes... I also cooked spaghetti with sauce (success!) and pancakes (fail...) for the family I was staying with. I also started the first of my many vegetable garden projects. This past Wednesday, I moved into the house of the family of the director of the local middle school.

But to return to yesterday for a second... It was the feast of the Virgen Fatima del Rosario. (I think that's her name) We celebrated by having a baptism of the four members of the village born in the last year, a small parade, and then a lunch of noodles, chicken, and a lot of vino mixed with soda. Then we all piled into my contact's car and headed to Franco-y (literally, little Franco), for their party. They'd set up a dance floor where vaquerros put their horses through a dance routine to Paraguayan polka. (Photos to follow)

The next day , amidst a mountain of rumors that I had *gasp* DRUNK WINE! and DANCED WITH SOMEONE!!!, we started the removing the sod where we are going to put our huerta in the school. For now, we're going to plant carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, beans, chard, spinach, cucumber, squash, beets, onions, garlic, and melon.

Afterwards, my contact and I drove to the town of Paraguari to buy groceries. I ran into my friend Stephen in the cyber there, then came home and cooked spaghetti for my current host family, though a slightly nicer version than before. I used a pound of steak, cut into chunk, breaded, and fried with garlic. Then I sauteed onions and tomato chunks, added some oil, oregano, tomato puree, salt, and milk. Success!