Home Improvement Paraguay

So this week was mostly dedicated to making my house into a place I am going to be happy to be for the next two year: no small feat around these parts. My major obstacles: a broken bed, many a broken window, a gate-less fence, and just general aesthetics. Por suerte, the bed wasn’t as complicated as a problem as I anticipated so after a quick stop at the muebleria (furniture store) I was ready to go in the sleeping department (and as most of you who know me well know, this is a VERY important department). The broken windows were a bit more complicated. I thought I was in the money because there was a big place that said “glass store” (in Spanish) right across the ruta from my barrio so I decided to support the locals and walked over there to talk to them-no one home. About three hours later I went back and again, no dice. So the next morning I called my landlord to get the name of his glass guy. I mustered all my Spanish speaking skills and gave them a call and after a couple perdons? And otra vezs? We finally decided that they would come the next morning at eight am to give me an estimate. I woke up early and got all dressed and ready to be a big responsible home improver and eight turned into nine turned into ten and I finally gave up on them coming. Only slightly annoyed at this point, I decided to call them back assuming that it was very possible that I hadn’t understood what they had said. So I called again and they said they would come by “en seguida” which in Paraguay means, well no one really knows what it means, which is the problem with it. About two pm (smack in the middle of my siesta) the glass man came a clappin’. He walked around and measured it all and gave the estimate-something a little less than a hundred American dollars for 25 (yes, that’s right 25) pieces of broken glass that needed replacing. A couple hours, several reminder phone calls, and A LOT of banging and dust later-I am the proud owner of new windows, with curtains and everything! Que suerte, I know.

Since my neighbor just happens to be a carpenter, I decided he would be the man to talk to about my gate. I went over to speak with him about it and he gave me another “en seguida” so hopefully I’ll have myself a gate before the end of the century. As for the walls, a quick trip to Mercado 4 in Asuncion fixed that right up with some fabric for wall hangings and even a pretty new table cloth! My host mom took me get curtains made, too. I was originally planning on being really guapa and making them myself but then my host mom told me they were only one dollar each to get made so that changed my mind right quick. I did some other things like get a nice fruit basket and make book ends out of candles and old wine bottles and before I knew it, the whole house was really coming together. My next obstacle is a place to hang my hammock. There are several trees in my yard but none of them seem to have the correct distance/branch height to hang up my hammock comfortably. Stay tuned….

On Paraguayan buses, I have often been amazed what people are able to carry while simultaneously paying the driver, feeding their child, texting, and eating chipa. So when I decided I needed to go to the hardware store to get paint I thought to myself-why not just bring it on the bus? Turns out, this hardware store only had paint in HUGE quantities that weighed A LOT. The woman checking me out was pretty surprised when she asked me where my car was and I told her no car, just the good old bus for me. This is when I realized I may have an issue. I managed to heave it on and off the bus myself and too many minutes and a lot of sweat later-I finally heaved it onto my porch. This experience was bad but weirdly gratifying so when I went back into town the next day to get chairs for my porch I again thought to myself-why not just bring it on the bus? The woman at this store responded with similar shock when I let her know that I’d be returning to my house “en collective no mas”. The problem this time; however, was not the weight but the width rather-the chairs were about a quarter inch skinnier than the door of the bus which meant it took an awkwardly long time getting both on and off the bus. BUT-I am now able to sit on my porch and read a book and drink terere SO-I am just going to hope I never see anyone who was on that bus ever again. Que verguenza!

I decided to start taking advantage of the very long straight Ruta right near my house for running purposes which was well, painful at first but I’ve finally ran far enough to get to a really beautiful bridge overlooking the river which gives me motivation to keep going.

I took my first trip to the Comedor this week with my contact, Victor, and his adorable siblings-Luz, Daisey, and Diosnel. I met a bunch of the kids and hung out and played this weird slap card game thing which the point of is to slap the cards on the table in such a way that they flip over and then you get to keep that card, person with the most cards at the end of the game wins. I know it sounds weird but its hours of entertainment I promise you.
The weekend consisted of house training my new puppy (!) that Victors little brothers and sisters gave me. I named him rugger and hopefully one day soon he will learn to not pee in my house. Also this weekend I went to my first VAC meeting. VAC stands for Volunteer Advisory Committee and each different region of the country has one so all the volunteers can keep in touch with each other, collaborate with one another and well, get together and eat and drink more or less.

hasta pronto mis amores
Jaim