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…made glorious summer by this son of York.” Shakespeare, Richard III.

So the sun is setting on my Peace Corps service. I’m in the big city this week for my Close of Service Conference, where we start to gamely tackle the mountain of paperwork and decisions it takes to go from the developing world back to the United States. See the new, shiny link to my resume over there on the right? It is but the tip of the iceberg.

Which is apt enough. For the first time this year, we’re having premonitions of winter. Can’t say I’m discontent, though. Not about the weather and not about the prospect of going home. It’s all welcome change.

The Guaraní word of the day is kavaju, meaning horse. It’s an adapatation of the Spanish caballo. Like all pre-Colombian Americans, the Guaraní didn’t have horses until escapees from Spanish herds started settling South America’s grasslands.  But the Guaraní seem to have taken hold of the concept and stuck with it. Walking through Tacuatí, you routinely see kavaju pulling farmers’ carts or hitched up in front of businesses.

OK, I’m back in Asuncion, and I’ve finally been able to get my camera hooked up. Picture time!

Cathedral in Cordoba:

Great meal in Mendoza:

Wine tasting on the outskirts of Mendoza:

Horseback riding in the Andes:

Fountain in Cerro Santa Lucia park in Santiago, Chile

Port in Valparaiso

Hours spent on buses so far this trip:
Tacuatí to Asunción - 7 hours
Asunción to Rosario - 18 hours
Rosario to Córdoba - 6 hours
Córdoba to Mendoza - 10 hours
Mendoza to Santiago - 7 hours

Anticipated bus routes:
Santiago to Valparaíso - 2 hours
Valparaíso to Santiago - 2 hours
Santiago to Asunción - 30 hours
Asunción to Tacuatí - 8 hours (yes, it’s longer on the way back)

That’s a total of 90 - count ‘em - 90 hours of bus travel, or almost 4 solid days. I don’t sleep very well in moving vehicles of any kind, but with that long to work on it, it’s bound to happen sooner or later.

On vacation for the next two weeks or so. First stop: Cordoba, Argentina.

My landlady’s pig recently had a litter. This is her first - only two piglets, which is a little bit of a let down for the family. Pigs are expensive to raise, and for a sow to justify her boundless appetite, she needs to keep the family ankle deep in pint-sized porkers. But these two (a big male and a slightly runty female) are growing fast and should be ready for sale in a few weeks and the barbeque pit in a few months.

Although pigs will continue to put on weight until they get too massive to stand, the Paraguayan tradition is to roast them luau-style just as soon as they get big enough to feed everyone at your next party. Traditionally, there was never any good reason to grow them up to the bacon-producing boulder size that US butchers prefer. The power lines to Tacuatí are younger than I am by several years and the lights sometimes go out for freezer-liquifying days a time. So frozen meat hasn’t quite caught on out here. And this hot, swampy climate doesn’t lend itself well to curing and smoking processes. So for all that Paraguayans do love pork, you won’t meet very many connoisseurs of chops, ham, and bacon.

The Guaraní word of the day is kamby, meaning milk. These kure’i sure know their business, and that business is kamby.

I’ve decided to fold the Ahecha pages I was maintaining into the main page content.

Not much to report in site. My banking coop continues to struggle, but is one of perhaps ten financial institutions on the face of the planet wholly unaffected by the present economic crisis.

We’re trying to put together a little workshop for the managers of Tacuatí’s recently resurrected library.

And I’m working with a gentleman in one of the outlying companías to try and bring in a new beekeeping volunteer sometime around December of this year.

The Guaraní word of the day is kava, meaning bee. The little local honeybees are pretty nifty - tiny, ink black, and stingless. But they live in itty bitty little nests, produce about a drop of honey per year, and don’t really lend themselves to development projects. But we’ve got no shortage of Africanized (so called “killer”) bees to make good the lack. Peace Corp’s intrepid beekeeping volunteers help local communities capture hives, manage their needs, harvest the honey, and sell the new product.

So here’s the summary of our 2008-2009 Ahecha group in Tacuatí - our six students and the best photos by each.

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Almita, at 10 years old, was one of our youngest students, but she traveled the furthest to get to class. Almi was one of my host sisters when I first got to Tacuatí. She’s a fast learner, and always willing to try new things.

Mama, Abuela e Isabella en el Río
Mi perro Mota
Mi prima Isabellita
Mis padres

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Evelyn is friendly and effervescent. Evelyn shaped up to be quite the prolific shutterbug, with a good eye for line and geometry.

El Oso Sombroso
Dos niños que estan jugando
Cosechando sésamo
Escuchando musica
Puertita en el cementario

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Liz Mariela, at 15, was our oldest student. Mariela took great pictures of other people, and knows how to get the most out of her models.

La lancha cerca del río
Haku i’terei
Cementario de Tacuatí
Camino a casa

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Lucy is quiet, serious, and hard-working. She didn’t speak up so much in class, but her creative and unconventional compositions say good things about her.

Arroyito
Hormiguero
Muñeca voladora
Niños jugando

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Valeria is as fearless as she is curious. She’s quick to speak her mind and wants to show the whole world what she sees.

Mi abuelo
Las cubiertas estan quemando
Larisa en la cuna
Hermana

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Vanessa asks great questions. Her quietness and focus really shine through in her close-ups and still lifes.

Rock and Roll
Ña Josefina
Mil pies con seriedad
Flores sonreintes

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And then of course you’ve got me and my partner in this project, Liam Winters. We supplied fresh batteries, encouragement, and laughs when we attempted to say “wrist strap” in Spanish.

The Ahecha photography project is drawing to a close. We’ve returned the cameras, developed the best photos from the more than 5,000 taken by our students, and held a little exposition in the lobby of the town court house. Now it just remains to do a photo swap with another project community. Then, if all goes well, some of our kids’ photos will be shown at the national exhibit in Asunción.

Want to see our favorites? I’ve put them up recently on Ahecha’s Flickr page. Click on over and take a gander.  The Flickr page is for a limited time only. Try the dedicated page on this website, instead.

The Guaraní word of the day is poteí, meaning six. These poteí mita’iguera really did us proud with their work. But they’d giggle if you said that to them. Your modern Guaraní speaker tends to prefer Spanish for numbers over 5 or below 1.

 OK, as promised, here are some Ahecha pictures. These aren’t the best of the best (those, I’ll save for a later date), but they are some of my runner up favorites.

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Almita loves the swings near her grandparents’ house, and so do her sister and her friends.

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Evelyn’s little brother Reinaldo spends a lot of time listening to music.

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Liz Mariela’s mother looks very much like her daughter, and they both have a lot on their minds.

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Lucy thinks the process of taking photos is just as interesting as the photos that come out.

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Lots of neighborhood kids come to Valeria’s house to play, and she loves being at the center of activity.

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Vanessa knows that good things are worth the wait.

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The Guaraní word of the day is ky’ha, meaning hammock. Or swings. In Guaraní, as in Spanish, the two share a term. The swings in Almi’s picture, above, are in the small plaza where my coop has its office. They were installed a few months ago and are one of the hottest spots in town for the 12-and-under set. Kids swarm them in the afternoon, and when one becomes available, somebody cries out “Hamaca libre!” and starts a stampede of shrieking mita’iguera.

After an eventful, long, and long-overdue vacation to the United States, I’m safely back in Tacuatí. It’s nice not to be living out of a suitcase anymore, but I’ve had to start from scratch on acclimating to the heat down here. My tan is recovering nicely, though.

And as I’m getting back on the hora paraguaya, it’s hard to believe all that went into those few weeks. Great to see you, Mom, Bill, Katie, Dan, Preston, Bruce, Sandra, Colin, Zak, Laura, and Richy! Great to meet you, Rosa, Benito, Alba, Beno, Miguel, Santiago, and Juan Carlos!

Also - dog sledding:

And - the Grand Canyon:

And - Nogales-Sonora, Mexico:

Six time zones. Nine planes. And maybe a few major holidays in there somewhere. You tend to lose track…

The Guaraní word of the day is tembiapo, meaning work. Back to it, people. See you in seven months!