Guarambare

**Disclaimer**

These views do not represent in any way shape or form the opinion of the Peace Corps or of the United States government. The thoughts here are personal in nature and do not reflect any other ideas but our own.

I think Iko my host father would like nothing more than to converse with me and teach me Guarani all day long sipping terere and laughing and saying the few token english words he knows: Oh my Coy (oh my god) for example. We met his older sister Gloria with no teeth and his leathery mother whose spanish is so influenced by her guarani that i cant understand a word she says. at her house, we collected a variety of yuyus (medicinal remedies) for the mediamanana terere; kapi`i kati, cerdon kapii, burrito, tarope and others. They also cultivate pineapple, avocado, oranges, lemon and lime, banana and mandarines. At lunch, Miriam my host mother made conversation by sharing dirty stories about koreans. the national pastime is doing nothing at all.

to arrive at our casita from el centro, you need to walk on the main stone road, past the mercado and all the despensitas, past the plaza with canchas de futbol vacas grazing placdily while munching the field along with their cud, and turn left after the one iglesia in town. from there you conintue straight for a about a quarter mile in the red dirt, passing viviendas and more despensitas, avoiding the motos and the buey (castrated bulls that usually pull wooden carts), then the street dead ends and jogs to the right where it becomes la calle Lazarito. When you get to the caballo tied up on the calle, take a left and cross the arroyito and head up the grass pathway that leads to Zona Alta. to be continued...

Bienvenido a Miami

**Disclaimer**

These views do not represent in any way shape or form the opinion of the Peace Corps or of the United States government. The thoughts here are personal in nature and do not reflect any other ideas but our own.

Yes, we are in the city where the heat is on, all night on the streets till the break of dawn...(will smith smash hit, for those who remember)-Miami, the city that probably should be somewhere foreign because Spanish is the only language heard...a great starting point for us. We've been through a long day of "staging" here, as the PC likes to call it, and we've met people in our group from all over the country- Nebraska, Kansas, New York, Oregon, Idaho, New Jersey, good old Cali, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Philly, you name it, we've got it all! Its a real fun group so far- we've discussed, diagrammed, and drawn pictures representing every emotion possible. It really helps to be with other volunteers feeling the same things as us and hearing stories of our Staging director who's a returned volunteer of Paraguay. We had some good Cuban grub for lunch and some fresh catch of seafood for dinner, all while listening to a glorified karaoke singer who could do every big hit known to man, all complete with appropriate accents. It's been fun, but we're tired and have a big night tomorrow of flying all after a long two days of learning. But it all feeds the excitement, and we cant wait really! im grabbin' my last starbucks soy latte at the airport and waving goodbye with fondness to this country for a while. We send our love and thank you for your prayers! Talk to you all soon!