We took a 5 hour bus up to Concepcion to do some interviews. Once we got off the bus we weren't too sure where we going to stay, but hoped to find some members. Within fifteen minutes of walking we saw what looked to be a LDS church steeple poking up between a few buildings. Our observations proved to be correct and we knocked on the door and met a man named Victor Echeverria. He phoned the branch president and after a few games of ping pong we walked over to meet Presidente Echuae and his family. They graciously provided some mattresses and let us sleep for a night. He served chorizo and we got spend the evening chatting with the missionaries.
La hermana Duarte working in the wood shop.
So Presidente Echuae called up the district presidente, Presidente Duarte to see if we could stay somewhere in Horqueta, a town about 40 kilometers away but nearer to our interviews. We later took a bus down there and Presidente Duarte picked us up and we ended up staying at there house for three nights! They were wonderful-- we ate all the family meals together and
El Rio Paraguay. Perhaps Jeff landed here when he served in Concepcion back in the 20th century?
The girls in the family took us to a Catholic high school's dance festival/competition. Seniors won! '09! Basically all the kids in Horqueta were there. The whole time I was waiting for everyone to push away their chairs and start salsa dancing but the audience was just relaxing too hard.
I'd like my soda in a bag please.
One of the groups ended with this great fire dance!
All the interviews in the area were held in the farming community of Arroyito, about 20 kilometers away from Horqueta. We planned a meeting with 10 alumni students at another agricultural school which unfortunately was about 12 kilometers down this road. We hitch hiked on the back of this truck but to our dismay, it was delivering charcoal and so we got a tad dirty.
This man's name is Ariel and graduated from the school in 2004. He told us about his community's struggle against the wealthy Brazilian landowners that were practically given most of the surrounding farmland by President Stroessner, Paraguay's two-decade-long dictator. The other families in his farming community don't have enough money to progress and are continually getting set back by things like pesticides that often infect pregnant women and deform young children. He and his friend, Idirio, gave us an exhilerating ride back to the route to catch a bus back to Horqueta.
Life! Come on!!
Let's take a peek into La Escuela Agricola de San Francisco.
When we aren't traveling, we stay here to: teach English on Monday and Tuesdays, call alumni to set up appointments, create travel plans, transcribe interviews, continue creating the alumni database, and socialize with the kids.
I joined a few of the kids to harvest some sugar cane.
Here we have some afternoon futbol.
Last Saturday night the Chilean and Paraguayan national soccer teams dueled to see who could get a step closer to entering in the 2010 World Cup. Although Paraguay was placed number one in South America, they played a pitiful game of footy and lossed two-nil to the Chileans.
And there was great mourning in the "Paraguayan Campaña."
The chalet in which I reside with the agricultural engineers and field teachers.
Here are a few of the animals that accompany us. Paraguay is tropical farmland. Cows, chickens, monkeys, and toucans all live amongst each other.
