Hello! Hope this post finds everyone in good spirits and health. As we approach the end of our time in our community, we are trying to reflect back on the few months, and update our a blog a bit. And so, here we begin….
Argentina Trip
We were very lucky to have a large number of visitors this past July both in Paraguay and also some that met us in Argentina. Our friends Elizabeth, Collin, and Stacey met us in Asunción for some Paraguay time. They tried some of the typical Paraguayan food (Sopa Paraguaya, Mbeju, Chipa Guazu and many others). From Asunción we passed through Encarnación, and went on a yerba mate factory tour, and tried some Paraguayan craft beer. We ended our Paraguayan leg of the trip in our site for 3 days. They met some of our friends here, and it was really special to show them around. Their blog post to talk more about their experience in site is coming (hint hint, y’all).
From there we flew down to Mendoza with two of our Peace Corps friends, Bailey and Alina, and met up with two more friends from the States, Jesse and Matt. It was awesome to have friends from all different parts of our lives together for this trip. From Mendoza, our group of nine drove up to Rodeo, Argentina for the Total Solar Eclipse. We kid you not when we say this was THE COOLEST THING WE HAVE EVER SEEN. Wow. We will let the pictures do the explaining of where we were located, and as for the eclipse itself, all we can say is we just stood there screaming for the whole 2 minutes of totality. It was so cool. If you ever have the ability to see an eclipse, DO IT. We feel very lucky to have witnessed one in our lifetime.
From there, we made our way back to Mendoza for some wine tasting! And an unfortunate event where a friend’s passport and wallet was stolen. Travelers, hold onto your bags! There are professionals out there, that are very skilled.
After 2 days in Mendoza, we flew with our friend Bailey up to Salta, Argentina and did a whirlwind tour of Salta, the 14 Colored Mountains, and the Salinas Grandes (Salt Flats). It was a quick trip up there, but it was a really great time. The area is desert-y and beautiful. It is near the Bolivian border and the area has much more visible Andean culture. We ate pickled llama soup in Humahuaca, which was DELICIOUS. Wild llamas roam the high mountaintops, and are common in local cuisine.
From there, Alli and Bailey (#unexpectedgirlsweekend) drove down to Cafayate, which is home to Argentina’s only native grape…. Torrontes. Turns out Malbec grapes were introduced from France (who knew?? Probably the French). But the Torrontes white wine is delightful, and the 3-hour drive from Salta to Cafayate is absolutely stunning. Filled with canyons, riverbeds, and unique overlooks, it was one of the highlights of the trip. Cafayate is also more what we had expected from Mendoza. For some reason, we had in our heads that Mendoza was a cozy little wine town, but in reality, it’s a large, bustling city with a metro population of over one million people. Cafayate is much smaller at 12,000 people, and while there were definitely tourists around, it seemed to be a lot more tourism from within Argentina.
Dylan met back up with Jesse and Matt (#unexpectedguysweekend) in Buenos Aires. They visited different sites around Buenos Aires, drank wine, and ate a lot of good meals. While unplanned, it was the perfect way to top of an incredible South American adventures with some great friends.
Belated Happy Birthday to our district Yatytay
On August 10th, our district celebrated 32 years! It was a fun night with friends, music, and dancing.
Visiting Lisa and Family
Before our COS conference we went to visit our first host family. We had not seen them since January so it was really nice to catch up with them. We made a traditional drink called Mosto which is squeezing the juices out of sugar cane and drinking in on ice. It was very sweet but also refreshing after some hard work to make it.
COS Conference
In August we had our Close of Service Conference. This was a 3-day conference in Asunción to do exactly what its name implies – prepare for the close of service. When we first arrived in Paraguay, we arrived in a class of 50 other volunteers. We went through training together for 3 months and then went off to our sites. Some we lived close to, some we lived far from, but it was great to be reunited in this conference. As of this week, many of them start leaving, and all but a handful will stay in Paraguay to extend like us. The COS conference was a great opportunity to catch up with people, hear about next steps, and reflect back on these past two years together.
Asuncion Half Marathon
We ran our first international half marathon! After training in our two block running circle in site for a couple of months we both PR’d and had a great day. It was a beautiful run along the river and through the city of Asuncion.
Sarah and Molly Visit
Right after we finished our COS conference, Alli took a bus to Ciudad del Este, which sits right at the border with Argentina and Brazil, as well as Iguazu Falls. She met up with two childhood friends, Sarah and Molly, to see the falls, and visit our site in Paraguay. We made it to the waterfall park, and spent time with our Paraguayan friends. The time went too fast, as always, but it was so wonderful to show them our home. They have claimed they are writing a blog post, but we shall see….
Chaco Visit
As some of you may have read in our last post, we will be extending our service 6 months in the Chaco. Last week we had the opportunity to travel up to the Chaco, visit our site, and meet some of the people in the municipality. We also had the privilege to participate in a regional meeting called Chaco Integrado (or Integrated Chaco). From their webpage, “Chaco Integrado is an initiative of the Association of Municipalities of the Central Chaco (Paraguay) that seeks a better articulation between institutions, programs and projects for the sustainable development of the Paraguayan Chaco.” We were able to talk with Paraguayan organizations and international NGO’s that are working within the Chaco, and hear some of the key projects and initiatives that are going on. We (Alli, Dylan and Michimi) will officially be moving to the Chaco towards the end of December and we will send more pictures and information from there.
Projects and Closing Our Time in Yatytay
Park in the Health Post
As we have mentioned in previous posts, tires are the worst. Everyone uses them but then once they have served their purpose, they just sit and collect water and breed mosquitos. Some places have high tech equipment to break them down to be reused, but most places don’t. So a lot of projects have revolved around recycled tires. This one was to create a little park in front of the health post. We painted the tires, stuffed them with dirt and sand and built up the pictured structure for kiddos to climb on while their parents are in the waiting room. We aren’t quite finished yet, but it has been a great start.
Bench made out of wine bottles
For all you wine drinkers out there, here’s a project for you! As a way to recycle wine/beer bottles, as well as use less materials for construction of benches, we worked with a high school class to create this bench with wine bottles. Not only is it structurally sound, but it looks great and is a reminder of creative ways to recycle!
We have a few more large projects that we are closing out, but we are going to write about those in the next post.
Saying “See you later”
We have officially hit one month left in Yatytay, which is just wild. It brings up such a mix of emotions. In recent months we have been finishing up some projects and just rying to spend as much time with the people close to us as possible.
We said our first “see you later” to our good friend Oscar. Oscar has been an incredible friend here and at the beginning of the month left for Italy. He will be spending the next 6 months playing music with his brother on a cruise ship. We are SO proud and excited of him on this next adventure and look forward to following his travels.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a blog post if it didn’t have at least one picture of Michimi
That’s all for now, but hoping to have a few more posts up soon. Missing you all, even if we haven’t spoken in a while. We love seeing pictures of babies and travels and life, and hoping you are all enjoying some fall weather!
Much love,
Alli and Dylan