Happy Birthday Paraguay

On Sunday, May 15, Paraguay turned 200 years old. The entire weekend, or perhaps I need to say extended weekend as the government passed a movement to make Monday a national holiday for the bicentennial, was dedicated to celebrating this mile marker. The past month or so I noticed that Asuncion was starting to get dressed up for the bicentennial. Red, white and blue were getting hung on buildings all over the place (although perhaps not with quite the enthusiasm as last year for the world cup), flags were on sale on the street corners, stickers could be noticed on windows of buildings and cars alike. An entire program was set to go on over the weekend including numerous parades, music, ballet and such. I have to admit that I only managed to get myself downtown for a small portion of the going ons - namely the military parade. But what fun it was to watch the military procession and listen to those watchers cheer and comment on the groups that passed. You could feel the pride everyone had to be part of the country. The exclaimed over the groups that had their faces painted for camouflage or were wearing bush stealth outfits. Claps whenever a group of all women passed (one set of nurses with a red cross on their sleeve, one group from the navy, and finally a group of women carrying guns). Loud cheers when the reservists, any person who had previously served in the military (and by definition here could still be called up if the need arose), entered the street. Especially for the 102 year old man holding on while standing in the back of truck. Curiosity when a group from a different country marched by (Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil and others). Excitement to see the tanks and heavy equipment. Distraction when the planes and helicopters flew overhead. Bouncing to the music when a band passed by. And of course, ohhing and awing over the mounted groups and the decorated horses. Despite the rain delay everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves. I have to admit that my favorite memory of the weekend happened because of the 30 minute rain delay. Some of the big wigs from the military where standing in trucks when the rain started to pour down. They didn't stay there long, but instead climbed down to escape someplace a little drier. Which is how I found myself sharing my umbrella with a 3 star colonel. (Ummm...this is a bit unreal!)What to do, but hold the umbrella a little bit higher? I had a nice 35 minute chat with Jorge, and then everyone was lead back out to the street for the start of the parade (which of course took at least another 10-15 minutes).

Congratulations Paraguay on 200 years! Happy Bicentennial!