Getting Used To This Place...

(Photo above of me with Teju Guazu(Guarani)and one of our host sisters, Mabel. A large and also apparently tasty lizard which Py'ans love to kill and eat such as the one in this photo. Consequently, their numbers are also dwindling. This one happened to be rather small, and I had to say that it also had precious little meat on it. And also, photo of froggy in our bedroom.)

I never thought in a million years that I would thank the good Lord for the time when the 'Chipa' lady would get on the bus. But, today I did. Chris and I waited for 6 (yes, 6!) hours to get on the bus which takes us from our community to the next biggest city where we catch another bus to Asuncion. And since today was really rainy and we had this brilliant idea to come to Asuncion a day early, we had to wait and stay put or else risk missing the bus. It goes like this- you sit and wait until you think you can hear the bus coming and then you run out to see what it is, (and it's usually something else) and you just wait and wait. We got into Asuncion at 8:30 tonight, which was pretty good time considering we started waiting at 10 a.m. And we hadn't eaten or drank anything since like 9 a.m., so when we were on the bus at 7 this evening, my blood sugar was dangerously on the verge of causing marital turmoil. And then the lady with the big basket of hot Chipa resting on her hip walked on the bus, and I thanked my lucky stars. I hated Chipa the first time (some sort of bread made with cornmeal, anis, campo cheese, and pig fat)I tried it. Now, I almost love it if it's hot and fresh. We also had two cups of 'cocido gaseosa' which is yerba mate leaves burned with wood charcoal and then has hot soda added to it. It actually tastes pretty good! Although, it does kind of smell like leftover cigarette butts in the rain...

Anyway, the point is that we are becoming so accustomed to our surroundings and the culture and people and way of life that we feel pretty normal. I think it's very hard and frustrating when you first get here, but once you can navigate around the city and country and know when to go (and not to go!) to the ATM and you adjust to the heat and the extra-close personal space thing, things aren't so bad really. I think we could get used to this place. And besides, grandma and grandpa are so nice to us.

So, this housing thing has yet to be resolved. We have found our dream house which needs a lot of work, but is ideal. The neighbors are kind of far away though, which does not help the security situation. It has 35 hectares, which is obviously more land than we need for a garden and chickens. We shall see what comes of this. If not, it's really down to building then.

And last but not least some updates for y'all: we have news of packages that we've received recently. One is here in the office and the other two we have to retrieve at the river port tomorrow. So, that's good news. I shall write again later and report on the state of the contents of the packages. Also, Chris screamed like a little girl at the doctor's office 2 Sundays ago when we went to get his leg treated (see previous post). The doctor opened his leg with forceps and cleaned it out well and put Chris back on drugs. It is almost all healed now, and there were unfortunately no larvae to report. Darnit!

I am going to end this a bit unbruptly as I am currently dealing with the mandioca 'plug'. (Think about it- you'll figure it out), Kevin Grady might know. Let me know what you think it might be on the comments section.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to Hillary, Jill, and my Dad-whose birthdays are on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th respectively. I miss you and love you!!

Peace'
The Updikes (err,I mean Marissa)

Creepy Crawlies

Thankful for me, the site where Chris and I live has one of the lowest concentrations of mosquitoes I´ve yet experienced in Paraguay. Thankful for ME. All the bugs usually love me, and since we´ve been here, I´ve had a mouth virus, bed bugs, all sorts of infected mosquito bites which ooze pus (one which most recently which gave me a fever last week), a near eye infection, and most recently a bacterial sore throat infection from which I am recovering. So I am thoroughly surprised that Chris was plagued with whatever larvae-laying, flesh-boring insect that decided to bite one of us. Because neither of us has been anywhere without the other. Last night I pulled the scab off Chris´ wound to purge it of pus and was surprised to see the hole had become deeper (see above). Though it is no longer infected, I am now able to insert a needle about 1 cm. deep without pain. The usual protocol when handling these types of bugs is to suffocate it out by putting tape over the wound and waiting a bit for the critter to come to the surface for air. Nothing came, so I pronounce the wound bug-free. But why won´t it close then?? Where are Raquel and Patsy when I need them?

Anyway, it´s been a rather frustrating past few days. I´ve been sick and it rained one day, which brings everything to a stand-still. Not to mention the power was out for 18 hours. Usually I look forward to this sort of thing...not when the well is powered by an electric pump and there´s no water for 18 hours and you can´t even brush teeth, drink water, shower, or cook...!!! Not then.

Chris and I are going to build a house, look´s like. A little brick one of our very own. About 5x6 meters, with an outside latrine. We aren´t sure when construction will begin but hopefully soon.

On the up side, we´ve been invited (rather randomly, I might add) to go help make and eat lunch at a family´s house on Sunday. We are going to make Sopa Paraguaya and empanadas. How often does it happen that when you stop in to buy a Coke, that someone just invites you in to visit and then asks you over for lunch the following Sunday? Never. That just doesn´t happen in the U.S.

And last but not least, a photo of our current, temporary house above. It´s definitely one of the better places we could be and is located about 20 yards from our host family. Tried to send these pics and more to everyone, but haven´t been able to in gmail last couple times, so I hope these suffice and I´ll try to send them again next time and even more.

In the mean time, we´ll keep on keepin´ on and HAPPY 2007!!

Love,
Marissa