Hola desde Paraguay!!

Pues, we are writing to you from the town of Ita, where we have come to use the internet and do some shopping. It´s way too expensive to call each one of you, so we have no choice but to hope you read this.

We arrived and so did all of our baggage, which was a most pleasant surprise. The flight was also really nice and we arrived excited but tired as it was an overnight flight. So far, everything is great. Chris and I have a very nice family consisting of our mother Jovita, father Manuel, sister Liz Claudia, and brothers Victor, Ricardo, and Arnoldo Ariel who are 18, 17, 15, and 4 respectively. Ariel is so cute and reminds me a lot of Hillary when he was that age. Our room is very nice and we are also fortunate to have a bathroom of our own. Our father is a bricklayer and our mother is a housewife. So far, we have not fallen ill.

Peace Corps training is going well so far but has mostly consisted of orientation and administrative stuff. We went only for a half day today, and we have tomorrow off to do stuff with our family and sleep in. We will probably go to church, play games such as volleyball, eat, and catch up on homework.

Things here that are a bit strange: There´s an electric device which heats our shower water that I´m slightly scared of, and we don´t drink any liquids with our meals until after we´re done (something about a belief that you don´t mix hot and cold food/fluids or something like that). Also, you wipe your mouth on a communal napkin or the tablecloth or nothing at all ;-). The mosquitos are not bad at all, but on the first night at our house, we did have a number of frogs inhabiting our room with us due to recent heavy rains. We are currently enjoying what is left of spring and it is not too hot YET.

By the way, I just finished taking photos of the local Caiman population at what appears to be something along the lines of a city park with a large pond, replete with children standing in the water fishing. If you don´t know what a Caiman is, think small crocodile averaging about 4 feet in length and sometimes larger. People gather at water´s edge and like to feed the creatures whom are mostly benign. However, it is still a strange sight to see. I will try to post pictures later, but as of yet have not figured out how to download them yet.

That about sums it up. We are both pleased so far with our decision to come here (so far), and the people are very warm and friendly. We miss you all and send our love.

We will write again as soon as the opportunity arises.

-Marissa and Chris

We're gonna make like a fetus and head out

Like my buddy Sean says.....

Anyway, we're flying out in a couple of hours and just wanted to post before we left as it may be some time before we can access the internet again. Our flight leaves at 11:30 tonight and we arrive tomorrow morning in Asuncion with a connection in Brazil.

We went out last night to check out South Beach and we went to a salsa club with a live salsa group and the most expensive drinks I've ever paid for. Then we went and swam in the Atlantic ocean under the stars. It was a marvelous last night in the U.S., and we all had lots of fun.

We miss everyone. Love to you all!!

~Chris and Marissa

Staging

We just wanted everyone to know that we are in Miami at the Peace Corps staging event. So far, everything has gone pretty smoothly, barring last nights canceled flight from Flagstaff. But everything worked out in the end and we were only a few minutes late for the start of orientation. We have already met a lot of really neat people and it's nice to be around people who are well-traveled, educated, and friendly.

Tomorrow is a long day of orientation and then on Wednesday we kind of just hang out in Miami before leaving on an overnight flight to Brazil, and then on to Asuncion, Paraguay. I will definitely update this before we leave, as we don't know when the next opportunity will be once we leave the country.

We already miss everyone and will be in touch as soon and as often as possible.

We are sleepy, so we must be going. Good night!

Update

So, sorry it's been so long since I've last updated the blog. I hope we didn't lose any readers....

Anyway, we've been on the road since the 1st of September. We started out by going backpacking in Aspen, Colorado with my sister-in-law, Jamie, and her friend Corey. Hillary also came with. It was very beautiful and the hotsprings were well, hot. Then we headed to North Dakota and Wisconsin, where we saw aunts, uncles and cousins too numerous. Then we made our way towards Chicago and saw my other grandma and my uncle Jim. Then we drove to Cincinnati and spent five days with my in-laws and we all had a very good time and were treated to a lot of good food and fun things to do. Lastly, it was back to Chicago for my cousin's beautiful wedding. Five thousand plus miles and and three weeks. Casualties totaling 2 birds and numerous insects.

Now, we are in Albuquerque visiting David and Jesse, and tomorrow we head back to Flagstaff. We have about 3 days to pack up and tie up loose ends before we head out to Miami for 2 days, and then on Asuncion exactly one week from today.

I promise I will be better about updating this thing. It's been hard to while not having a computer at your fingertips everyday.

Oh, and it's even harder to think that you don't really have a home of your own anymore and it probably won't be another 3 months at least until that happens again.