My Adventures and Travels

Of course, Thanksgiving is an American holiday. Working at an American school, I am lucky enough to get a 4-day weekend, even though the holiday isn't celebrated here. Some friends suggested a weekend trip to Uruguay, and since I am always up for that type of thing, I decided to join them. Disclaimer: Yes, the 2 friends I traveled with are guys. Great guys, even. But they are just friends. Just in case you were wondering. So anyway, on Thursday morning, the 3 of us went to the airport and soon were on our way to Montevideo, Uruguay. Not to put down Paraguay in any way (Paraguayans are a little sensitive about always being mixed up with Uruguay, plus they don't exactly get along due to some wars in the past)...but....I LOVED Uruguay. Everything about it was clean, modern, a little European...and expensive. But we had an amazing time. Thursday: flight, cab ride to the hotel, afternoon on the rooftop with an ocean view and beverages, then we walked out for a dinner and eve...

As promised, more on daily life. Food Most of the food in Paraguay is terrible for you and delicious. The food groups are meat and bread and sweets. I'm not sure how it is possible that the obesity here is less than the United States-but on the plus side there is a lot less processed food. I've noticed a really common misconception among Americans that don't travel is that pretty much everything south of the border is Mexico. But South American cuisine is quite different than Mexican fare. Here it is all about empanadas, chipa, and asados. Alas, there are a couple of Mexican restaurants in town but nothing as good as what I could get in Denver! I do like a lot of the food I've had here, and there's actually a nice variety of restaurants too (Vietnamese, Korean, Italian, Japanese). This is good as I haven't been cooking nearly as much as I used to but hopefully my new grill will change that! Beer It sucks. Thank God for wine. Dudes The men of Paraguay ar...

I realize I've only been posting when I go somewhere and do something fun. That's probably why most of my US friends think I've just gone on a 2-year paid vacation. :) So, for a change of pace, I'm going to write about daily life in Paraguay (for me). Walking This is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of how my life here is different. I walk. A lot. Everywhere. I mean, it probably seems really obvious, as I don't have a car, or plans to buy one. Now I might change my mind about this in a month or so, when it gets super hot. Right now I kind of like my morning walk to work each day. The weather since about the beginning of September has been pretty much glorious, almost every day. Taking the bus is really cheap, and a cab is affordable, but I just prefer to walk. The only time time I miss a car is when I buy stuff or want to buy stuff, but have no way to get it home. Think about it. If you walked home from the grocery store, would you EVER buy a water...

One of the things that has made this whole teaching and living abroad thing so great is the people I work with. I really feel like everyone goes out of their way to make the new teachers feel welcome and at home. Case in point, our "mentoring meetings," which could be really boring, are some of my favorite days. The official mentor people at the school make sure we get a chance to do something fun together, and get out of the city! Our last mentoring meeting involved renting a van and driving to the nearby town of Yaguaron. The main reason we went there was that the mountain of Yaguaron is believed to be the birthplace of the 7 Mitos or myths. These myths were created to explain the unexplainable-like pregnancy out of wedlock and why you can never find your dang keys. For more info on the myths, read here . Let me tell you, those are some wild guys, especially Kurupi. Anyway it is also a nice place to hike around, see the view, and have a picnic lunch. OK, fellow Colorad...

We'd been looking at Posadas, Argentina from across the river for a few days, and we had a friend who'd gone there for Spring Break. On our 3rd day in town, we decided to cross the river and check it out! Molly looks across the river at Posadas. (Photo by Ali) We got on yet another bus and headed across the border. We had to jump out to get our passports stamped and get on the next bus. It took forever! The stamping was quick but there was terrible traffic. I guess there is a lot of back and forth from Paraguay to Argentina as certain things are cheaper in each country. Anyway we finally got there and checked out their costanera/boardwalk area.  Looking back at Encarnacion from Posadas We spent a nice day walking around and seeing some of the sights, and a delish lunch at the only restaurant not closed for siesta at 3pm. I had a basil daquiri, how about that? Ali, Molly, Ceci, Mindy Minday, Matt, Kristi, Mark After that our group broke up. All the...

Here are some highlights of our second day in Encarnacion: -Walking through the very un-touristy town of Bella Vista, including having lunch in a restaurant that definitely didn't see 8 gringos walk in every day! -touring a Yerba Mate factory (they didn't let us take pictures) -relaxing evening on the costanera (coast) of the Rio Parana, enjoying a giant drink and nice dinner! Adorable coffee shop in Encarnacion. In true Paraguayan fashion, there were 3 workers there but none of them  knew how to make coffee. They had to call the guy who did know, to drive there and make us some coffees! Freaky cactus tree "If we're closed, clap your hands" Outside our cute hostel, they didn't have any green space, but I loved this recycled container garden! World's Largest Guampa (that's the cup you drink your terere from after you pour it out of the thermos) Giant drinks, with the beach in the background Mark and ...