On June 1st (Ofelia’s first birthday) she took her first micro-steps, ones that only a proud father could count as steps. We kept the cameras out and ready to shoot in anticipation of Ofelia’s first real steps. That day came on June 17th! Since then she has been working hard on her traveling skills. Every day she gains in agility and speed, luckily those gains are gradual enough that I can still keep up with her!
We’ve been busy here with guests, but we’ll post that later…
It’s been a year! I’ve spent the last few weeks remembering a year ago when we didn’t know Ofelia yet, when I was lumbering around Philadelphia and cleaning every nook and cranny of our apartment in the name of nesting, when living in Paraguay as a family of three was a distant possibility (and a sometimes cause of middle-of-the-night worry). We have come so far… literally and figuratively. And last Sunday when I brought out Ofelia’s ugly, but very tasty, birthday cake with whipped-cream frosting and a scrounged-up candle (usually used for power outages), my heart filled with pride. I am so proud of making it through the first year of parenthood, of what our little threesome has become in this time, of what we have become for each other in living thousands of miles from everything familiar, of the father that Weylin is, of all that Ofelia has learned to do, adapted to, forgiven us for (at least we don’t see obvious signs of a grudge…), of the little person she has become so far. I guess this is what parents do, they get proud. Indeed, I am–proud of Ofelia and, damn, I’m proud of her parents, too. Here are some pictures of her birthday and a few days before and after. And a couple thrown in from the day after she was born last year… just to measure our progress.
No, this is not a post about Mayoliva, or even Mayonnaise. The title indicates something about products, but really this is about complaints. You see, this is my third attempt at writing this particular post supposedly telling you about our experiences with product supply and intermittent availability here in Paraguay. However, on my first two attempts to write, I kept getting stuck when I would read over what I’d written and realize that I sounded like I was complaining– I didn’t want that, I thought I simply wanted to tell a story. Well, I’ve finally accepted that what I really want to do here is complain a bit.
When planning to come to Paraguay we often wondered about what products would be available in stores in terms of medicines, foods, and baby supplies. Upon arriving we began to explore the grocery and pharmacy stores, taking inventory and sampling brands and varieties. For those of you wondering, no, there are no Trader Joe’s stores here. And yes, that has been difficult for me.
We were relieved to find a few kinds of frozen vegetables for us and Ofelia, such as the Brocolí pictured here. We also found some treats like the mayonnaise made with olive oil pictured above. (it puts a nice twist on ham and cheese sandwiches!) In general, we found that there is a much, much smaller selection of goods. This goes for groceries as well as things like toilet seats (I’ll spare you a picture of those). To a large extent, what you find in one store you will find in another. Coming from the US style giant stores with mind boggling product variety, this was a big shift– and at times welcome. There are nice grocery stores here, they just don’t have the extreme product diversity and variety that we have in the US. Example: the cereal “isle” is about 10-15ft long. The yerba mate isle contains more products than the cereal isle! (this I like)
We also had difficulty finding yogurt without sugar. The one pictured here is the only one we have found, and many stores don’t carry it. That is part of my complaint.
The other part is that products you see today, may not be here tomorrow, or they may. This has happened with the Brocolí and mayo, and with our preferred brand of baby butt wipes– actually with our top three brands of wipes! The wipes are not pictured here because at the time of this writing we cannot find them in stores! This is what happens. Back in January we thought everything was cool with the Broc, but then it disappeared. Two months later it re-emerged, only to disappear a week later and to remain absent for another three weeks. When it came back that time, we bought all 8 bags! We have adjusted, we’ve learned to hoard. It does earn us some funny looks at the checkout, that’s a price we’re willing to pay.
What all of this comes round to is not about the excesses of the US, or the scarcity or unreliability of goods here in Paraguay. My complaints are really about our own struggle to integrate into this system. It is a challenge to our assumptions about “the way things ought to be.” We are constantly faced with the reality that how we live is not how everyone else in the world lives, and they often do just fine, or even better in some ways. As difficult as it can be, it is a growth experience in struggling to adjust to someone else’s norms and expectations. It has helped, and continues to help, us examine ourselves and how we live, and the choices (or cultural assumptions) we often make without thinking.
Thought we should send along an update via photos. Ofelia has been doing very well lately. She seems to be very close to taking her first steps. She pulls herself to standing all the time; on chairs, legs, cabinets, toys, and even without props. She’s increasingly steady on her feet- though still very shaky. Just this week she seems to have made a progressive step in that when walking with our assistance she picks up her feet well and seems to be getting the motion down. We’ll send along pics as soon as the moment arrives!
Katherine and I have been progressing along as well. We’re into a pretty good groove here- though not without the difficulties and challenges of living in a foreign culture. Katherine’s research is going well and she’s gotten many opportunities to have some productive interviews. Her progress with learning Guarani is coming along well– just not as quickly as she would like. I continue to take my daily Spanish lessons and use most of my free time (i.e. when Ofelia is sleeping) to study and practice. It is a lot of work and my progress feels so slow. I plan to keep at it full steam until the end.
Last week we celebrated Paraguayan independence day and Paraguayan mother’s day with Gladys and her extended family. It was a wonderful day and a great barbecue.
That’s all the news for now. We hope this finds you all well.
We traveled 5hrs to visit a Mennonite colony in the Chaco.
Weylin got busted for not having any license or registration on his moto!
Lugo won by about 10% (he also won in our site poll!) and luckily there was no rioting or civil disruption as had been anticipated by some. It seems that Paraguay has lived under dictators and now a seemingly eternally dominant Colorado party for so long that they couldn’t imagine that power structure being changed without some sort of struggle or resistance. But, the people have spoken and a new party will soon be in power. The official hand-over is August 15th. The country seems largely to be holding it’s breath waiting to see what will happen- no one is sure, but most are hopeful. One related thing we’ve seen is happening in Luque. The municipal government is paving one of the main roads in town. A local told us that they’re going to be spending a lot of municipal money now because previously they would put that government money in the bank and embezzle the interest. Now they have to spend it up before August so that no one sees just what they’ve been stealing from the people. At least that’s what we’ve been told…
Receiving our first visitors was great! We so enjoyed being able to share our home and our experience here with some family. For Katherine and myself it was also wonderful to spend a week with people from our native culture- what a difference that makes. Ofelia also loved the attention and grandparent time! We spent a few days getting a thorough tour of a Mennonite colony, Menno, (info here, and here) in the Paraguayan Chaco. What a great and infinitely interesting experience that was! We had a great tour guide and learned a ton about this remote pocket of agrarian industrialization; a grand social experiment continuing to play out in the remote lands of a remote country.
Three nights before the Paraguayan presidential elections we bore witness to this parade of cars, horns, flags, fireworks, and loudspeakers in support of Blanca Ovelar and the Colorado party. This video is about 6 minutes out of the 30-45 minute stream of cars going past our house and through all of Luque! Paraguay seems to be very fired up about the elections. We have seen government (Colorado) workers taking down campaign signs of other parties. There are rumors about the Colorados fixing the vote in favor of Blanca. (There are many rumors here so it is difficult to know what is really happening) On election day, April 20th, I (Weylin) will go with our friend Gladys to the voting station and hopefully get some good pics to share with all of you!– Hopefully not of anything too exciting.
The video is nothing fancy, just a parade of cars and noise, but it gives you a taste of how things are right now. Legal Disclaimer: we do not support any political party in this race.
Thanks for joining us in our Process as we spend a year getting to know Paraguay and Luque. We'll post updates, videos, pictures, and cultural observations here for you to read, enjoy, and hopefully comment on.
Trust the Process.
On June 1st (Ofelia’s first birthday) she took her first micro-steps, ones that only a proud father could count as steps. We kept the cameras out and ready to shoot in anticipation of Ofelia’s first real steps. That day came on June 17th! Since then she has been working hard on her traveling skills. Every day she gains in agility and speed, luckily those gains are gradual enough that I can still keep up with her!
