counterclockwise

Tacuatí is getting a new Peace Corps Volunteer, bringing our total gringo population up to two, including me. The new guy is Liam (Paraguayan nickname yet to be determined). He’ll be working with the mayor’s office to organize neighborhood commissions. Paraguayan local government is strange in that the mayors and city councils don’t just decide to do small projects on their own. Neighborhood projects have to be planned and requested by grassroots groups, then approved and funded by the municipality, then executed by the grassroots group that got the process started.

As you can imagine, some neighborhoods have much more success putting together a proposal, getting it approved, and then following through than others. So we wish Liam well with his efforts to identify solvable problems and then get to know capable problem solvers.

The Guaraní word of the day is ava, meaning indigenous person. In classic Guaraní, the language actually calls itself avane’e, or the speech of the natives. They call Spanish karaine’e, or the speech of fancy gentlemen. The Guaraní word for “who”, mava, can be translated as “which Indian”.

Another day, another rushed trip into Horqueta, although I´ve exacerbated this one by not prewriting my e-mail and entry here. So forgive the typos; I´m working on less revision time than usual.

I’m in town to help with a friend’s winter camp and attend a volunteer meeting. I’ll be one of the old ladies at this meeting. I now have more time behind me in my Paraguayan stay then I have ahead of me.

The Guaraní word of the day is mita´iguera, meaning children. My friend´s camp has about fifty kids ages four to ten. We made soy empanadas yesterday, and today is game day.