Hakueterei

It is HOT down here. The title of this post, “hakueterei”, means “it’s really hot” in Guaraní. And that’s pretty much what everyone says at least once an hour, if not more. For the last week or so it’s been hovering right around 40°C (~105°F) with no rain and it doesn’t cool off much at night. What’s really bad is that it’s only Spring right now so I can’t imagine how I’m going to survive the Summer. Wish me luck.

A few of us from my agroforestry group decided that we needed to spend last Saturday afternoon drinking some beer to help battle the heat and to celebrate Halloween. It’s a good hour walk into the nearest town where this can occur, and we have class on Saturday mornings, so of course we didn’t start walking until 3:00 pm. Did I mention how hot it is? Especially in the middle of the afternoon? Anyway, we managed to complete the trek all nice and dehydrated and ready to drink some liters of really light, weak Brahma beer. The local favorite. And the only option, I might add. We had a great time, spoke lots of English and in general recuperated from the past week of language and technical classes. Before we knew it, it was too late to walk home (not supposed to walk in the dark) so we decided to stay in town for the Paraguayan Halloween fiesta that was going on and take a taxi home later. Fiestas like these don’t really start hoppin’ until pretty late at night, like 11:00 or 12:00, but by 9:00 pm we had nothing else to do but help start the party early. The bumpin’ music led the way to the big, open field where we paid the admission and started dancing to the odd mix of reggaeton and polka. Keep in mind, however, that there weren’t many Paraguayans there yet at this hour and the ones that were there were sitting in chairs surrounding the obvious dancing area in front of a huge stage. If not for the stage and the music, you would not have been able to tell that this was a big outdoor fiesta. But that did not stop us Nortes from dancin’ and dancin’ and dancin’, with all Paraguayan eyes on us because there was no one else on the dance floor for a good hour or two. I can’t imagine what they were thinking, nor do I want to. Eventually the party really started going and we were joined by others, but that did not help hide the obvious American-ness of us. At their dancing max, Paraguayans tend to move around about as much as my grandma (no offense, grandma) which is encouraged by their regular dancing formation of two long lines facing each other. Needless to say, us Nortes did not join the lines and my flailing hippie dance must have shocked and appalled the onlookers. But it was by far the most fun I’ve had so far. We danced and laughed so much for so long that my whole body was sore the next day. Even without costumes, that will be a memorable Halloween.

To top off a great weekend, I went to my first real fútbol game on Sunday. Olympia vs. 12 de Octubre (lots of things are named after dates around here, like towns and streets and fútbol clubs). Our group consisted of a few Americans and a few Paraguayans, so it was quite the cultural experience. We had to take a couple buses and walk a lot to get to the stadium where we sat for at least an hour, in direct sun, before the game started. It was so freakin’ hot I thought I was melting (I told you, we talk about how hot it is constantly). But I didn’t melt and the game began and the crowd in our section was on their feet the whole time. They also sang. The entire time. Complete with drums and waving flags and banners. Seriously, the energy never let up, even though “our” team lost. It was a very cool experience. I especially enjoyed watching a player from the other team trying to make a corner kick while at the same time dodging flying bottles being thrown over the fence from the heckling crowd. And then watching the police riot squad escorting the referees out of the stadium after the game. I love Latin America.

One last note: If anyone is dying to send me anything, I could REALLY use notecards and folders. Normal, school folders with the pockets on the inside do not exist here in Paraguay and I have so many loose pieces of paper from training that I´m about to go crazy. The notecards are for flashcards, also made of a material that does not exist here. Thanks, in advance, if anyone pulls through....