Farms and fauna
Recently, a cousin (Michael T, for those of you keeping score at home) asked me what kind of wildlife I’d seen out here.
The answer is fairly little. I’m living on intensively cultivated land. Every last square meter has a human purpose. I’ve seen lots of birds of course: parrot green ones, citrus yellow ones, sapphire blue ones, ordinary-looking sparrow analogues, and what I could have sworn was a mockingbird. I’ve also seen a few of Paraguay’s giant toads, known as kururu here, and some semi-tame rabbits. A neighbor in my training community has a pet monkey on a leash in his yard, and I’m told that there are wild ones around somewhere in the countryside.
No, I have a much closer relationship with the domestic animals around. They have dogs and cats here, but it’s culturally inappropriate to give into American-style puppy love – these are burglar alarms and rat killers only. There are free range chickens getting into all kinds of trouble. Our host mothers spend a substantial portion of energy on shooing them off the patio furniture and containing the guano.
At my house, we have a trio of ornery pigs in our backyard, a mother cow, and her calf. This is pretty typical for the area. Some families have small schools of tilapia thriving in the reservoir ponds that water their fields. When the fry get big enough, they’re all netted out, killed and cleaned on site, and then sold for export. Horse and ox carts are a regular site, even along the main highways. I’ve also seen a few goats and sheep, and one profoundly unlikely flock of turkeys.
At the agricultural school last week, there were giant hogs, but the average small farmer in this part of Paraguay doesn’t raise them. The Peace Corps is encouraging bee keeping operations in several places, particularly citrus-growing communities.
Today’s Guaraní word is kure, meaning pig. Pictured above is one of the ones living in my host family’s back yard. He’s got the prime sleeping spot under a disused oxcart that’s been passed down through the generations.
July 5th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Lil’ Kure looks kinda tasty. Mom’s visit was awesome. Hope you got the email/ pics. I hooked my first striper on the fly rig yesterday, right as a 250+ pound harbor seal poked his head out of the Kennebec river with a ‘F-U’ look in his eyes. Guess he didn’t want to share his dinner, though I did get a view of him from about 15ft. Either way, I wasn’t going toe to fin with something that weighs more than me in a 7 knot tidal current. Hope all is well. Think about ya all the time!
July 8th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I just found out about your site, and I have enjoyed reading your juicy accounts of life in Paraguay. Keep the “word of the day” coming because it is quite fun to share with the family. You look wonderful in the pictures, and you sound like your spirits are high. You write beautifully, and thank you for sharing this time in your life through the website.
All is well in Montgomery, AL. We will be going next weekend to the Mexico Beach area with the entire Tapley family. We are expecting great shelling and fishing. I’ll keep you posted.
Peace and Hugs,
Molly Raymon