counterclockwise

In my last post, I had a picture of a cryptic little symbol carved in stone. This is one of several found on the banks of the Rio Ypané. No one know what they mean - except for some modern day graffiti - and their creators’ origins are similarly murky.

If you asked a Tacuateño, he’d tell you that the Vikings carved those rocks. This is possible at least in theory. The Rio Ypané drains into the Rio Paraguay, which itself drains into the Atlantic Ocean, which was pretty much clotted with Vikings at one point, at least in the northern half. In the seventies, some French archaeologist apparently came out to Tacuatí and allegedly discovered a trove of Viking artifacts.

I personally think this guy was enjoying a few too many of Paraguay’s botanical resources, and I don’t mean yerba mate by that. But the Paraguayans I’ve talked to really seem to prefer the Viking theory to calling it art made by their own indigenous ancestors. Vikings are more dramatic, and what the average modern Paraguayan feels about the indigenous tribes is somewhat akin to what a French Parisian feels about the Roma street person lurking around the Metro station.

The Guaraní word of the day is ita, meaning stone. During our training, we lived in the community of Las Piedras, meaning The Stones in Spanish. It was a satellite community of the larger town of Ita. And oddly enough, Las Piedras wasn’t too terribly far from another Paraguayan river called the Ypané, although my past and present rivers are connected by no other common thread.

I’m in Horqueta, shopping, checking e-mail, and surveying the damage a bit. A major hailstorm passed through here, with chunks in the citrus-fruit size range. My friend Rachel has a repair crew on her roof this morning, putting fresh tin over the perforated pieces, and she’s not the only one.

Tacuatí escaped completely unscathed, just a little damper than usual for this time of year. Last year at this time, we were in the middle of a long drought, punctuated by major brushfires. This year, our fortunes appear to have reversed. I, for one, am entirely pleased with the change.

The Guaraní word of the day is amanday, or hail. There is a Guaraní neologism for ice (”frozen water”), but hail is the only form of the cold stuff a pre-twentieth century Paraguayan would ever see.