Parents' visit, part two

Random bird

Some nature at the falls...

Monkey!

Tres Fronteras Ferry

This is the three frontiers ferry. From this point, you can stand in Paraguay and look out at Argentina and Brazil.

Parent's visit

For those of you who didn't know, my parents came down to visit. Again. Anyways, much fun was had. We visited several sites you guys have already seen, including the falls and the jesuit ruins, but also got to go to the Tres Fronteras (the border crossing between Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay) and Itaipu Dam (one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world)

Here are a few pics...

Iguazu Falls

A couple of weeks ago I took a trip to Foz de Iguazu, some of the largest waterfalls in the world.  (They are certainly the largest in South America, and while Africa’s Victoria Falls are taller, Iguazu Falls pour out much more water.) They lie just an hour or so east of Paraguay’s border with Brazil and Argentina.

Unfortunately, I went through torrential downpours, but it was still an incredible sight.

If any of you dear readers hope to see it some day, I can't recommend the place enough. I stayed and viewed the falls from the Argentinian side, called Puerto Iguazu. Brazil owns part of the falls, but as far as I could tell, all of the prime views and best trails are in Argentina. So here's a goofy photo of me and a couple of snaps of the falls.

Tom Gavin.

Most of you from back home who have been following my blog know that I studied and worked in Philadelphia for several years before becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. For much of that time, I lived with Tom Gavin (an old classmate of my father’s from architecture school) and his wife, Cara. I cannot think of my time in Philadelphia without thinking of morning coffees with Tom, the extravagant dinners that he cooked up, or the questions he peppered me with about Philadelphia’s streetscapes as we explored them. His generosity of spirit, curiosity and kind-heartedness, were a powerful demonstration about how I should interact with people, of what I should strive to be like. I took to calling him my godfather when explaining my relationship with him to other volunteers and with Paraguayans.

A month after I arrived in Potrero Pucu, Tom was diagnosed with an especially pernicious form of brain cancer. And as my experiences with Tom defined my time in Philly, his battle with brain cancer came to define my time in Paraguay a little too. He died last night. I’ll miss him very much.

Drama in PP

Taito is one of my closest friends in Potrero Pucu. He lives on a beautiful, lush parcel of land, and he makes his living by raising pigs, farming, and working for other land owners in the area. People respect him because he works hard, and has a gentle, self-effacing humor. He also has several children.

The other day I went to visit him, and we were sitting in the twilight when I asked him, “Taito, when are we going to restucco your floor?”

“I don’t know, Santo,” he said. “I have a big problem.”

That much is true. Taito life has plummeted into Steinbeckian depths in the last year beyond fathoming.

About six or seven months ago, Taito’s wife, Celestina, picked up and moved to Buenos Aires with the couple’s two daughters, Lorena, 19, and Andrea, 8. Taito, now in his late 40s, got her pregnant when she was in her late teens, and the two have been married ever since. It was a chaotic marriage, from the gossip flying around the community. Taito was abusive at times, and Celestina frequently provoked him. She certainly resented him, even going so far as telling me how her life hadn’t turned how she wanted it to in front of her husband. (Talk about awkward.)

So one day she upped and left, taking her two daughters, first to the pueblo 8km away, then Asuncion, and finally Buenos Aires.

That would be rough enough to deal with. But last week, a man in a neighboring community was shot to death. The assailants shot him in the neck and chest three times. The murder shocked everyone – after all, the biggest drama out here is usually a cow getting stolen, and here was a man shot THREE TIMES! But they were even more surprised when the police showed up in Potrero Pucu looking for Ale and Gonzalo – two well-liked local 15-year-olds. Gonzalo is Taito’s son, no less. The victim was one of the wealthy landowners he often worked for.

To say the community was flabbergasted would be a bit of an understatement.

The police alleged that Gonzalo, Ale, and a third boy had been involved in the shooting, and as information became more forthcoming, it became clear that the police believed that Gonzalo was the principal architect of the crime. He borrowed a rifle from Ale on the pretext of going hunting, went to his father’s boss’s house, and tried to rob the man.

But pretty much every family in the campo has a pistol or rifle for self protection. And so the victim emerged from his house with a gun (apparently) shot at Gonzalo.

The fact that he is in jail is bad enough. But under the circumstances in which Gonzalo allegedly killed the victim, many people around here worry that the victim’s family will try to avenge his death by killing him in prison, or killing Taito or Gonzalo’s younger brother, Milder.

A big problem, indeed.

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UPDATE

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So apparently one of the big problems in rural Paraguay - who knew - is the consumption of crack cocaine. (I should preface this by saying I have never seen anything like that in person, but hey, that's what people around here say)

Apparently, Gonzalo fell in with the wrong kids and started smoking the stuff. This is not totally surprising in retrospect. He told me a few times about how he used to race motorcycles on the newly constructed pavement five miles from PP. This is a 14-year-old, mind you, racing at up to 120-130mph on the equivalent of a souped-up Vespa.

In my earlier version of this post, I told you Gonzalo borrowed a rifle from another kid in my community, Ale. A third student from my community was also involved, though it's still not clear in what capacity. But Gonzalo and his two accomplices are scattered in jails around the country. Ale is in Villarrica, about three hours east of Asuncion, the other two in jails closer to the capital. There fates are unknown at this point, but they definitely did the deed. Their trials look to begin in a few weeks.

Taito was in terrible shape shortly after the incident, not surprisingly. He looked wan, and he must have lost 15lbs from the strain of it all. He looks a bit better now. His mother and friends rallied around him, as did his neighbors in Potrero Pucu, who had a meeting after the murder to basically provide a communal show of support for him. Fears about a revenge murder have thankfully not panned out. More as events warrant...

Boy with top, and my bus

some quick pics

It was really misty this morning... got some great photos.