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)