My feet hate me. Absolutely hate me. They wouldn't even let me sleep last night. I kept waking up thinking my foot was on fire. Why? I spent the afternoon chilling Paraguyan style; ie, five hours of soccer with loud music, friends, and budweiser beer (most expensive in the country...go figure). I hadn't played in a serious game in about 3 months, and was using some cleats that were too small for my feet. I knew after an hour my feet wouldn't be nice to me the next day. But sitting there talking with the guys during a break under the pink clouds of an October sunset, with the techno remix of San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair...no seriously...be prepared) bumping in the background, I couldn't help but think that was the perfect day. I won't dwell on it further...I know the soccer posts are becoming redundant, but hey, I'm in South America! =)
Paraguay itself is a hectically balanced, peacefully chaotic conglomeration of both sides of the spectrum. In the countryside time stands so still you think the world might have stopped spinning, while in Ciudad del Este the street venders are busy trying to sell you the latest and greatest ripoff of some Chinese name brand. In Asunción beautiful colonial masterpieces and their million-dollar, modern counterparts are flanked by crumbling sidewalks and dirty, tired buildings. The city's wide open downtown plazas are matched by the cramped, overcrowed shanty towns that line the riverbanks. And it is incredibly hot. I have nothing to contrast that with. It is just freaking hot. Today when I left for school at just before 8:00 in the morning, it was 86 degrees. For my 20 block walk home at 12:00 it was 107, and the high for the day was 110. Like I said, it is just freaking hot. To counter the heat, Paraguayans have developed the highly addictive habit of sipping a cold tea called terere. You prepare it by placing the herb without a bag into a mug which has a filter at the bottom connected to a straw, and then continually poor ice cold water into the cup, using the same herb over and over, giving the water a mild taste that grows on you. Just about everyone walks around with a termo (thermus) and guampa (mug thing-a-ma-jig with a straw and filter thingy), and any time is terere time. It is even used in leu of water during soccer games. I think I might smuggle some back to the US. Unless of course I can mail it. Then I will just mail it.
I hope to get some pictures up soon. I am having some trouble uploading from this computer. Hope you all are doing great. Thanks for reading my blog!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment