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Published: December 23rd 2007
Wow...I know I say this all the time but I really don´t know where to start!! So sorry I´ve been so distant recently, really have been just mega mega busy and don´t really have any other excuse hehe!!
Ok, think I´ll start with my last week of Alegría, since that´s as far back as I can remember! What a week and a half!! The weeks before it were also really busy, since all the kids had exams (well the older ones anyways) which was a lot of hard work for both us and them! Then they had parent/teacher interviews which was scary cos I was left to take the class a lot of the time, at least it was just Christmassy stuff they were doing so I could manage fine =)
Then on Wednesday 28th November was the Alegría Clausura 2007 woop woop!! The Clausura is sort of an end of term concert, where the kids got the chance to sing, dance and show off all their work and art to their parents and familys. We´d been practising the songs, and dance especially, for over a month so it was a really big deal for us; we were all
pretty nervous on the night however sad that sounds!! During the day, none of the kids came into school so we were able to spend the whole day decorating the school, painting, presenting the kids´ work in fanciful ways and just basically making everything look all prettiful, yey!
Then at 7.30pm that night, it started! My 2 classes did 3 sort of nursery songs, where they sang and did the actions to (with a fair bit of help teehee) and pretended to be rabbits - they were the cutest thing ever!!!! Then some of my older class and some of the older kids did this paraguayan dance, although i had to be the choreographer - aye me the paraguayan myself obviously!!!!! Awww you should have seen them all dressed up though; completely plastered in make up (including bright red lipstick and shiny blue eyeshadow =P), pretty flowers in their hair, colourful croqueted kind of tops and multicoloured swishy skirts!!! They were all just so happy with themselves it was great hehe!!! But it all went so well thankfully, considering the mad rush to get them prepared in the week before lol! I was official photographer and choreographer for the
night =P so I´ve got plenty of photos me thinks! Except I´ve now got around 500 photos waiting to be put up so you might be waiting a while, sorry!! There were other presentations and stuff to be made as well, like one of the ex-students went to the Special Olympics in China this year to represent Paraguay, and came back with 8 different medals in 5 different sports!!!!!!! It was such a great night though, and the perfect end to an even greater placement =)
Two days later it was my last day =(. Was such a fab day but so sad at the same time! First thing in the morning we took a trek down to the supermarket (which was eventful to say the least =P) to buy coke for my mini-party...but I didnt know it at the time lol! Then the kids had their snack as usual and went to play for a wee bitty (mainly with my camera lol...they´re obsessed with it!!!) then the teacher Sylvia was like, "come and have merendar (snack), Lisa, cos Paulie´s made a gorgeous Sopa Paraguaya"......so I went into the staff room to find it all set up for a
wee mini party for me - it was greatness!!!! The director of the school made a wee speech which I was SO proud that i could understand every word (no way could I have done that 4 months ago) and was so sweet everything that she said; I almost cried!!! Then they gave me 3 typical paraguayan prezzies, one of them this wood carving ornament thing that one of the teachers had made themselves, I was so impressed!!!! So I went and got my prezzies that I had bought for the kids, and it was just soooo the best thing ever to see them so happy to get them!! So glad I spent as much money as I did on them cos it was totally worth it!!!!! Then we went back and played a wee bit more... oh I´d also given them a CD with all my photos that I´d taken of the kids over the past 3.5 months, cos they´d asked for the ones from wednesday obviously, plus I knew they would want all the other photos I´ve taken. So almost the entire school piled into this wee room, where they put the CD in the tv or something,
and the photos played like a slideshow - its hard to describe how great the atmosphere was just from watching photos!!!! Every photo that came on was met with an uproar and a round of applause for whoever was in it, the kids never even got bored so we put on a CD with another teacher´s photos too!! Aww I loved it; could have stayed there all day!!!! By then it was almost time to go =( so I went back with the wee ones and played with my toys (made me so happy to see them fighting over them teehee) then I had to say bye!!!! And it was horrible!!!!!!! At least half the kids dont really understand, so that wasnt too bad, different story for the teachers though lol!
Really couldn´t believe my placement was over already, I can´t convey how fast time has speeded past; have loved every minute of it, and has left me with so many great memories, never mind the huge amount I´ve learned throughout my time at Alegría. Certainly not 4 months I´m ever gonna forget!
It was so strange after such a day to just go back to Casa Cuna
My Paraguayan Family
Chrissy and Cesar in the back, Christina and I in the front, not forgetting Dixie too!that afternoon as if everything was normal. The following week I decided to work in Casa Cuna full time, rather than just in the afternoons, cos I´d probs get bored doing nothing all morning! Twas a strange week, but fun; I got to work with the ´me´ of the morning, i.e. a volunteer from Denmark (called Tara) who spoke English, so I had a friend hehe! The last day was strange, probably cos there weren´t many kids in that day. Felt sorry for Danielle & Helen who had spent ages making cards and bought prezzies for all the kids and things, only to find they only had 6 kids in their class!! Despite this, all three of us were presented with a lovely home-made card/poster sort of thing, in true Casa Cuna style. The lack of kids was due to the fact that the following day was the ´Día del Virgin´ (Day of the Virgin) in Caácupe, a town around 70km from Asuncion. It´s sort of like a religious pilgrimmage, when literally the entire population of Paraguay flock to the church on the 8th of December every year. Many walk the 70km, others just cheat and take the bus half
way then walk the rest, like our paraguayan friends did. Us gappers did originally intend to go, for a ´bit of culture´ so to speak, but by the way everyone spoke about it we were eventually put off the idea! Apparently the town becomes so packed that literally nobody can move; body to body. And the buses are even worse, both ways. And most people end up crashing on the church floor due to the obvious lack of accommodation. And it was Danielle´s last night in Paraguay so we really wanted to spend it with her rather than leaving her all lonersome .....okay you get the idea lol!! So instead we opted for a quiet drink in Britannia on the Saturday night, then back to the good ole Hotel Paraná (which had became Danielle´s second home in paraguay!!) to wave her away in her taxi at 2am. Then I met some paraguayan friends, and ended up literally walking around half of asuncion with them in my heels for some reason, t´wasn´t good for me!!
On Sunday night (my last night with my family =S) we had a family meal to say goodbye to me and also for Christina´s birthday.
At last I got photos of them, you´ll be glad to know mum, hehe!! They seemed delighted with my prezzies thankfully, especially the champagne bottle made of chocolate which they were amazed at!!! Was quite a sad night; they really have been extrememly kind and welcoming to me, and without them my experience in Paraguay would not have been as great as it was. I definitely landed the best family out of the 5 of us teehee!! Quite enjoyed having my own wee ´granny flat´! Although it was a tad lonely at first, once a certain other person discovered its benefits I found myself invaded more nights than not!! =P
Monday morning arrived, and we set off for San Bernardino, a town around an hour away from Asunción, where apparently all the Asuncionites go on holiday. On first glances we could tell why; so tranquil the village was almost sleeping, with a lovely plaza in the centre of the town filled with pretty trees, ponds and flowers. We´d been recommended a hotel by Chrissy, called the Hotel del Sol - wow it was just greatness!! We had a wee flat to ourselves, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen,
living area and even a large balcony overlooking the huge Lake Ypacaraí ........all for 8 quid a night!!! Okay I´ll stop boasting now!! Oh forgot to mention the humungous pool... =P Although saying that, when we attempted to cook in our room that night, we were rather surprised to find the kitchen completely empty, i.e. no pans, no cutlery, no glasses, no NOTHING! Then when we asked at reception if we could cook (hoping they would provide us with the necessary stuff) they looked at us as if we were crazy and told us it was impossible!! But then that´s just typical Paraguay for you =P
Unfortunately our plans for the rest of our stay were rather restrained by the fact that there´s not a simple thing like a cash machine in the entire town!!! Luckily we managed to scrape around 30 quid from the 4 of us, and began major bugeting. Thankfully that day the town seemed completely dead so we didn´t miss out on too crazy a nightlife!! We managed to afford a boat ride around the lake, put on especially for us, and managed to time it perfectly so we were sailing around the gorgeous lake
under the sunset; lovely photos. We spent the rest of the night enjoying the view from our balcony with disgustingly cheap sangría, and once it got dark we had a spectacular view of the lightning forks filling the sky above Asunción far in the distance; a strange feeling while we were sitting in 25 degree heat!
The next morning we headed back to Asunción as soon as we ran out of money =P and arrived early afternoon, time for a last walk round the city centre and trip to the ledgendary Bolsi! Then at night...where else but Britannia?! Stayed in the Hotel Paraná for the last time that night too, although I personally haven´t stayed there since the orientation during our first 3 days in Paraguay, we seem to have been there every single weekend for somebody or another!! It is extremely cheap for what it is though, since we have a discount if we say we´re from the Anglo (as the Anglo always use the Parana whenever new volunteers arrive in Paraguay); for 6 pound 50 a night we can get a fully air conditioned room with TV, and breakfast in the morning too!
Our coach to
Sao Paulo was at 9.30am the following morning - was a struggle and a half to get there in time after all the predictable delays: not being able to pay with card at the hotel, finding a taxi, etc etc. But thankfully we managed, and apprehensively boarded the coach that was to be our home for the next "twenty" hours... and from there on don´t really want to say too much about the journey cos it´ll just get me all annoyed again!!! Basically, twenty SIX hours later and we still hadn´t arrived.... mainly due to the fact that we broke down (what seemed like) every 100 metres, and the driver looked like he hadn´t slept since this time last year. It´s not even like we went for the cheap option, we went for the only company that was actually offering our journey! For some reason they all go to Buenos Aires but not Sao Paulo...
Our five days in Sao Paulo were fun, the city really is the hugest and poshest thing you´ve ever seen though!!! Spent the majority of our time there literally walking round going "ooooooooooooooh!!!" at the pure size and poshness of everything!! We were staying
in a really nice area (well our second hostel anyways) and almost on the corner of a street that would be absolutely amazing for shopping if only we had a couple of million pounds to waste... =S With Sao Paulo being the "Cultural Capital of South America" and all, we did go and see an art gallery or two, which were surprisingly interesting! There´s also a lovely lush park (Parque Ibirapuera) which is right in the middle of the 30 lane motorways and 1000 storey buildings - strange but beautiful. Lots of big pretty buildings to take nice pictures of! Some of the most impressive buildings are on Avenida Paulista, which was only a 20 minute walk or so from our hostel, including a number of banks which all seem to be competing with each other to produce the most ginormous christmas display!! Brilliant for us low-lifes to look at though!!
The bus from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro was a million times better than the previous thankfully! After our nightmare experience, we decided to pay an extra fiver to get super-nice coach....the difference was like, wow!!! We got our lunch, a huge warm blanket, really comfy seats,
spare seats to stretch out onto, and two good chic flicks to keep us entertained! Shame it was only for 6 hours really...
Typically it was pouring down with rain the entire journey from Sao Paulo to Rio =( although nothing could put us down when we´d just arrived in Rio of all places!!! Even at night it looked amazing, we even managed to see the huge statue of Christ the Redeemer peeping through the huge high rise buildings, illuminated perfectly so it seemed to float in the sky, spookily towering over the entire city. There´s a huge lake slap bang in the middle of the city (which I bet is really pretty when the sun shines =) ) and we´ve since found out that, on Christmas Day, the largest Christmas tree in the world can be found floating on the waters of the lake... really looking forward to seeing that!
Unfortunately, the weather since we arrived hasn´t been in the least bit kind to us - or my white legs. Today we got all excited when we woke up cos there was a teeny weeny patch of blue sky, so we ran and had breakfast and showered
and got our bikinis etc on.... by which time it had long since gone!! Despite this, we still went down to the beach, us 3 girls, where as soon as we lay down on the sand (lovely, soft, white, fine sand by the way =P) it promptly began to rain! Although it´s amazing how many people there actually are on the beach when it´s raining, I think we should start that trend on Aberdeen beach!! Though it wasn´t cold obviously...can´t say the same for the sea though!! The weather couldn´t stop me and Helen from having a ball in the sea - come on, we have to make the most of being on one of the most famous beaches in the world!!!
When we returned to the Hostel for lunch today, all of a sudden there was sun!!!!! WOW!!!!! So we got to have lunch under the gorgeous sunshine =D then decided to spend the afternoon visiting Sugar Loaf Mountain, the famous mountain which you´ll see in any postcard of Rio; situated right on the shore and thus providing the most fantastic view of the city - a city which has often been described as the most beautiful city
in the world. Unfortunately, the clouds had reappeared by the time we arrived, but we knew we had to go anyways just incase the sunshine never does make an appearance. Apparently, the only good day regarding weather is supposed to be Christmas Day, woohoo!!! Really hope it is cos that will totally make up for the weather this week! Anyways, we enjoyed our trip up Sugar Loaf, which you have to take two cable cars to get to the very top. After the first cable car (i.e. up to the top of the first mountain) we did manage to get an amazing view of the city, even if the photos aren´t that great because of the weather. But then, we caught the second cable car to Sugar Loaf Mountain itself, and all of a sudden found ourselves slap bang in the middle of a cloud!!! So that was a bit of a disappointment =( but at least we do have some photos at least, and I´m sure we can buy some postcards with the true view!!! We still have the Christ the Redeemer statue to visit, which also provides a stunning view but from another angle, so hopefully it will be a nicer day when we get to visit this mega famous landmark.
Tonight I attempted to go Christmas shopping for the others in a pretty night market, only to find it had disappeared and had been replaced by a huge illuminated parade! Sadly I didn´t have my camera with me, cos of safety, but there really were some amazing displays, for example a huge christmas tree made from people!! Will just have to steal Emily´s photos =P
Phew, that´s all my news up to date now I think!! From Rio, we had originally planned to go to Montevideo (capital of Uruguay) then take the boat across to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for New Year. But now we´ve seen that the weather should improve significantly after Christmas, we want to hang on in Rio for as long as possible!! So I think we´re going to go straight to Buenos Aires, then after New Year take a day trip to Montevideo, as it takes less than an hour by boat. After that we´re hoping to visit a number of interesting cities en route to Santiago (capital of Chile) then pooooooooossibly catch a flight from Santiago to Bolivia (depending on money situations obviously =P) cos it is such a killer of a distance to travel, with nowhere to stop inbetween! We hope to visit the Salt Lakes in Bolivia, cos they look amazing, then up through Bolivia to reach Peru, visit Machu Piccu obviously, make a quick trip to Lima (the capital of Peru) = yes i WILL eventually make it to genuine, real-life Peru haha!!!!! Then it´s time for me to return to Paraguay for my flight home, Helen leaves just before me and Emily and Hugh are staying untill February and March respectively.
Hope everyone at home has a super dooper doooooooooper christmas and it´s not too cold!!! It´s gonna be really weird being away from home for Christmas & I´m gonna miss everyone heaps and heaps, but hey you´ll just get to have another Christmas when I get home eh!!! Plus you can buy my prezzies in the January sales teehee!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lots of looooooooove, and festive hugs & kisses =D
Lisa xXxXx
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