The other side of Paraguay

            This past month I went with other people from AFS to see the Chaco, or the north part and most poor part of Paraguay.  We all met in Asuncion and from there took a 9 hour bus ride to the chaco.  My friend and I got to the terminal in Asuncion to meet everyone else and a volunteer from the trip to take us to the office of AFS where we will leave from.  As typical Paraguay, the volunteer never showed up so there was 12 of us waiting at the terminal.  After about an hour and a half, we decided to take a taxi to one of our friends from AFS too to his house and chill there while waiting about 5 more hours to be at the office. We all show up at his house without him knowing, and his mom who is so nice and welcoming, of course let us all in to talk and sit and drink terere. We were there for about an hour and then decided to meet everyone else who was going on the trip at another house and go have dinner, then all together walk to the AFS office. We all left walking with all of our luggage to the other friends house, 15 blocks. If you’ve been to Asuncion, you would know the city is dangerous and not very good for people holding rollie suitcases due to not having smooth sidewalks, if any at all. Those 15 blocks felt like forever but eventually we all made it.  We met at the other friends house with everyone else and from there walked about 2 blocks to a bus stop.  The city bus comes to the stop, and all 28 of us get on with our luggage and luckily it was quite empty. The driver looked confused and a little happy he was making so much money. He started to play his music loud and it was a fun bus ride to the restaurant.  Once at the restaurant, we all ordered dinner and then walked to the AFS Office to leave for the Chaco at 11pm. 

            The bus ride to the Chaco was long but since it was nighttime it was okay and we all slept a little.  The next morning we arrived to the only city in the chaco and went to see museums and a milk factory.  We ate lunch and visited many more museums and historical places. It was all very interesting. We then drove to our hotel, a very nice hotel, and went swimming, ate dinner, and partied the night away.

            The next day was Sunday, which is a day I will remember for the rest of my life. This day, after breakfast, we started driving home and stopped in the middle of the chaco at one of the traditional villages where the poor people live. We all brought clothes and shoes to donate.  As the tourist bus stops on the route in front of the street to enter the village, I looked out the window and started to see people running from every way possible to the bus. Kids, adults, babies, dogs, teenagers, everyone.  We all got off the bus and the kids of the village were standing in a group and started to sing us a song in their language.  Paraguay has two official languages, Guarani and Spanish, but there are also dialects that the poor people speak in some parts of Paraguay which is what they were singing in.  We then passed out our clothes for them and their faces were as if they just got 1,000,000 dollars.  It was incredible to see.  Then one lady invited us into the village to see their houses and explain a little to us.  We accepted the invitation and started walking.  There were two different types of houses. One was made of cement and had one room and an outdoor place for the kitchen and table, and the other was made of wood and was a box with a tarp for the roof.  All of them had water tanks next to them because all the water they use in the Chaco is from the rain. So they have to store it and use it sparingly.  Then in the middle of all the houses was one little wooden port-a-potty.  That was the bathroom for many people in the village.  We then walked a little more to see the place where they have their village meetings.  It was a circle in the dirt with a cement platform.  The lady rang the bell seven times which means that the people can come to the center because we were there. Some came and were talking to us and mainly just hugging us and saying thank you.  While walking back to the bus, I started to cry a little just by thinking what it would be like to live like that even for one day.  It was sad yet amazing to see how happy and appreciative they were when we gave them our donations and just to see us.  It was a day that really changed how I think about my lifestyle, others, and who I am as a person.