Dos Meses y Media

For nearly two and one-half months, I have been residing in my new city, Caaguazu, which is located in the country of Paraguay, a country consisting of just about 6 million people. We are bordered by Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil. The two main languages here are Spanish, or Castellano, the Spanish of Spain, and Guarani. Essentially 80% of the population speaks the native language, Guarani, of the Guarani people who were residing in Paraguay prior to the Spanish settlers that discovered the country in the early sixteenth century. There is a large, central river, named, fittingly, the Paraguay River, which runs down the center of the entirety of this country, from north to south. There are mountains here, though few and far between, yet, to my eyes, they resemble very large, round hills, in comparison to the mountains of my homeland. 

The people here are pleasant, for the most part. If I look up at a fellow passerby, they almost always beat me at a greeting, 'Adios!' they say with a smile and 'Adios!' I reply happily. My first few weeks I had difficulty with the incredible amount of attention I received, most of it unwanted. The men here are relentless, as to be expected, for this is South America. They taunt and tease and whistle, very nearly mastering the sound of snakes, once or twice, or maybe more, definitely more, I have turned to a man and asked, 'Vos eres un serpiente?' or 'Are you a snake?', at least that keeps them from continuing for a time. But, after two and one half months, I have become somewhat accustomed to their tactics. When I hear them yell at me, 'Rubia! Que hermosa!' I no longer turn my head to stare in surprise. I wish my ignoring them would weaken their morale, but it seems to do no such thing. 

The weather here is exceptionally unpredictable. One day it will be one-hundred degrees, sun shining, wind-less, not a cloud in the cielo. The next? Dark as the night, over-cast, ridiculously windy with thunder and lightning and so much lluvia that the roads, since drains here are non-existent, are hardly roads at all, more like red rivers. (The red being due to the color of the dirt here.) 

More later, off to cena. I hope this is satisfactory to begin, mum. You've only been bugging me to get this started ever since I got here.

<3 Bee

Below a picture of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, contains about one-sixth of the country's population.