En el Norte

I am currently in Concepcion, about 7 hours north of Asuncion, where I searched out a special internet cafe that could handle uploading photos.... and where, upon insertion of my usb falsh drive, the computer detected a virus and deleted my photos. Yes, they are still on my camera, but this means none for you yet. (sorry Laura, I was really trying to make your request about my blog come true!)

Anyways, it is my last night on my visit to a current Volunteer. I spent the weekend with Nina, a current beekeeping volunteer, and as I thought I would have to go far, the volunteer that is the furthest north they will place anyone in Paraguay beyond going in the Chaco.

The visit has been great. First we trainees got to go to a ´chuchi´(which means fancy or nice in Guarani) restaurant in Asuncion where Kendall and I split fajitas, however, we did drink until a little late, and got to the bus terminal about 30 minutes later than planned, switching the available busses to ones that took 2 hours longer, and so we arrived in Concepcion at around 9 am on saturday morning. I then got on another bus, which took me far into the countryside, where I got off and started hiking the 3 kilometers into my volunteers site with a dude that only spoke Guarani. I managed to exchange my name, learn his, talk about liking the countryside, name a few animals and express my hapiness in Paraguay amidst many lost phrases on his part, and then ran into Nina coming towards us.

We spent the weekend gardening, and visiting families to meet them and drink terere, terere, and more terere. I also bucket showered with tree frogs and am pretty sure I killed a baby tarantula. It was fun, calm, and a much needed break from the intense studying that will commence again on wednesday.

Since Nina´s site is so far in the campo, we came in to the city today so that I could make the bus tomorrow morning. All the other volunteers hosting trainees will come in throughout the day, and we´re all staying at a sleezy yet charming hotel available both by the hour and the night... Benefits include the 4$ cost and the fact that tonight, the bar downstairs hosts a Kareoke contest! Omarcha!

Stories and a purely photo post to come as soon as technology stops defeating my own capabilities. Now I will attempt to post stolen fotos from the internet to show examples of the countryside I am experiencing.

Jajotopata (see you later)- jess