[Traveling Tale] Recoleta Cemetery

Semana Santa (Holy Week) was while my mom was here visiting. A week off of school meant, of course, a trip to somewhere. After several failed attempts to sort out a new destination for me, I decided that we would just spend the week in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Even though I had been there twice before, I have to admit that having someone with me, and the amount of time we had, meant I still got to see (and notice) all sorts of new things. One of the things that really stood out to me was when we went to Recoleta to see Evita's grave. Now don't get me wrong, it is kind of interesting to see where important people are buried, but I am much more interested in the strange beauty that a cemetery holds. This time though, I kept getting distracted by the door knockers I saw on mausoleums. Door knockers. On a mausoleum. As if you would want to knock to see if someone is in there. No thank you. I don't want to know if someone would actually answer a knock to the door. Does this not seem like a somewhat strange addition to a family mausoleum? I certainly hope I won't ever experience a spirit answering my knock. But I tell you, there were numerous vaults sporting this graceful addition. Creepy!

Monumento Natural Cerro Koi

For a few months now I've been bugging a friend to take me out to see something she mentioned in passing. Last weekend our schedules finally worked out and we managed to spend a day in Aregua, a lake side town which is know for its pottery and the Strawberry Festival. However neither of those two things were what interested me this trip. No, I was sitting up in anticipation in the back of her off road vehicle as we bumped up the uneven road, following a policeman on his motorcycle (just an extra measure of safety), to the hillside of Cerro Koi (which means two hills in Guarani). Despite everything she had told me I didn't really know what to expect. I just knew that I was going to see an extremely rare geological formation which only exists in three parts of the world (Paraguay, Canada and South Africa). How to put it? After over over an hour on the internet I still can't give you a proper name for the formation, nor could I tell you where in those other two countries the formation is found. There is a definite lack of information out there. So, instead, you'll be stuck with what I learned there, but mind you, I don't have any way of substantiating what was told to me. The natural monument is composed of two hills (hence the name) which are extinct volcanoes. As the lava was cooling just the right conditions were met to produce a sandstone formation of what looks like tiered hexagonally shaped rods all piled on top of each other. The hill that we had access to by foot, was significantly mined. In fact the guard told us that originally pieces of the sandstone were broken off and used to cobblestone the streets in Asunción and Luque. I am a bit confused because I had assumed that the rods would be going up and down, however they were laying on their side. Did the volcano fall over? Or is this the natural lay? We couldn't get close enough to see the rods in the second hill so I don't know if they went a different way. However I was able to get close enough to the exposed hillside to appreciate the precise formations that nature is able to create! After marveling at the seemingly impossible formation we then followed the guard up and around to the top of part of the hill. A great chance to get a feel for just how large Lake Ypacarai is and to look over the countryside around Aregua.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about going to see this geo-morphological phenomenon is that so few people seem to know about despite it being declared a protected area in 1993. In fact when I went to school on Monday people were curious as to where I had gone to see such a different sight. I find it sad that people who are interested in exploring a country don't know about, and have trouble finding out about, things that are only an hour away. For those of you interested, the entrance to the Monumento Natural Cerro Koi is marked by an sign to your right about 1 km out of Aregua on the branch road to Capiatá. It is well worth a trip to check out!

Bus rides

My mom is here visiting for a while, which means I've been revisiting some of the places that are worth exploring in Paraguay. It also means that we've been taking a lot of bus rides, which reminds me of what I like about riding a bus. While I might not get a good night's sleep while spending the hours between 1 and 6 in the morning on a bus, the daytime rides to provide a great perspective to observe bits of daily Paraguayan life. I'm amused by what you might see while driving by - overfilled motorcycles, trucks filled with logs beyond expectation, the bright colors of sponsored little stores on the side of the road, stretches of green scenery which show the true beauty of the countryside, plenty of pigs and cows...I could keep going. However, my favorite part of riding in a long distance bus is the chipa. Chipa is a Paraguayan bread made out of cornmeal. Oven baked it has a crisp outside and an almost gooey chewy inside. When it is hot it is one of my favorite snacks. After several more trips on the bus I still hold that the best chipa I've had in country is what I've bought from the man who comes on to the bus between Encarnacion and Asuncion. He climbs up to the upper level of the bus with his full basket of warm chipa, chirping "chipa, chipa, chipa"and you can bet that I will be digging in my bag to find some change. He slowly makes his way up the aisle, selling something to almost every row of seats, and once he finishes the bus stops again to let him off 15-10 km down the road, where I suppose he will wait to board a bus headed in the opposite direction. In the meantime I'll keep staring out the window happily chewing on my chipa.

Tourism video

As part of everything else that is going on for the bicentinial (I got invited to march in a parade with teachers, students and their families today) the Paraguayan tourism department has published a new video promoting tourism to Paraguay. I have to admit I haven't seen over half of the things in this video but it will give you some very pretty views of the country.

Little smiles

One of the things that brings me a smile to my face consistently is taking a really good look at the warning signs along the road. How shall I say it? They lack the sophistication I am used to seeing in a sign and often make me want to laugh. If you take a look at the "watch for children crossing in a school zone" sign it is hard to not think that the two school children are pregnant. Really? That is the image we want to project to the public? And that is the best we can do? Although I suspect the answer to that last question might be yes. After all, the cross walk sign is not a whole lot better. If you take a close look at it the man appears to be made up of several circles for hands and head, and rectangles for all the rest of the parts of his body. With two triangles thrown on at the end to give an illusion of feet. I'm not so sure what I think of their signs, but I will definitely keep looking at them just to see what else they have managed to come up with!

It says a lot

The first week we were back at school we took 10 minutes out of one day to do a flag raising ceremony with the entire school. All of the students out in the front yard from pre-K to grade 12. This was one of the special events the school had planned in keeping with celebrating the bicentennial. They wanted as many of the students and staff dressed alike as possible and so asked us to wear the albiroja - the red and white striped jersey of the Paraguayan national football team. This is what I find amusing about the whole thing. Where else could you ask every student to wear a national team jersey and they would all have it? We had perhaps 10% of the students and staff not in the jersey, and some of those I know own it and just forgot. What does it say about a country that almost everyone in it, native or foreign, owns a version of the football jersey? Does it give you an idea of just how important football is in this country? I can't blame the Paraguayan department for making that call - after all almost everyone was sporting the red and white stripes as the flag went up.

Advertising

Advertising is something that often catches my attention here. I'm not sure if it is because I am no longer used to billboards after having lived in Turkey, or just because things seems to be a bit more outlandish and over the top (like the statue of liberty billboard, the giant coffee cup on top of a building, or the oversize boxes of chocolate candies that are their own billboard). Or perhaps it is just because I walk everywhere so I have time to really look around and notice things. I have to admit that some of the advertising seems to be extremely well placed for their target advertising. Such as the ads for the i-phone that went up just outside the school gates about a month before the phones arrived in Paraguay (target audience!). I'm not so sure about the three large Britanico billboards that are just across from the school, but they have been there since I arrived so I don't see them leaving anytime soon.

My favorite advertising in the city though is a wall that I walk by every day on my way to school. It is low cost advertising at its best. About every two weeks someone comes by and paints over what is on the wall and repaints information about what parties or events are going on soon in Asunción. The majority of the adverts are for parties held at one of the clubs (it is worth mentioning that this wall is directly across from another private school in the city). I've even managed to go by a couple of times when the repainting is being done and I can tell you that it seems as if it done by high school students for high school students. Why do I like these ads over others? Perhaps because they are brightly colored and hand done. The idea that they are advertisements for events rather than material good to buy is also a draw. Surely some of it is the frequent overhaul of the wall designs. But then it could just be because I spend significantly more time staring at the wall when I'm waiting for the light to change so I can cross the street.