I’ve been in Paraguay only since Friday (4 days) and have already done a ton! This past Sunday we planned to go to some adventure eco-tourism at a national park nearby, but unfortunately were rained out from an enormous downpour on Saturday—nearly 15 cm of rain in 10 hours. In fact, I am typing this offline on my laptop late Monday night while it may be raining among the hardest outside that I have ever heard in my life. Instead of going to the adventure course on Sunday (we hope to go in August when my brother visits too!), my host family decided to take us near the course and explore the area. Most of the route was fine, but on the way a big section of the highway was flooded out. Since we were in our SUV we decided to drive across no problem (pictured).
Wow! South America!
Picture of the Paraguayan countryside. This is a really special place! I really enjoyed seeing more of the interior.
We ended up having a great day. We had a delicious lunch at a German-run resort in the countryside. A little bit about the food here, which I will continue to rave about throughout this blog: Paraguay is one of the best beef producers, and I would argue makes the best steak in the world. In the US, beef is corn-fed, which is not natural to the stomach of a rumen, and makes it more fatty and the taste different (still good, but different). Different from the United States, all the beef here is grass fed and all-natural. This makes it much healthier, containing essential fatty acids like Omega 3. It tastes amazing!!! The best part it is cheap!!!! For example, two kilos of meat, ~4 pounds, costs perhaps $4. Here the Paraguayans put on a mean BBQ, called asado, where the whole family prepares charcoal, slow cooks the meat, then enjoys, combined with wine and later a nice siesta.
Asado!!!
May be my favorite activity ever! Additionally, all the food is all natural, homemade, and delicious. Anyways, at the German restaurant was the delicious steak, potatoes, salad, some exotic vegetable I don’t remember the name, and delicious dessert. The food here is soooo good!
Silvia (oldest host hister, front left), then Celeste (younger host sister), me, Dario, Estela ,and Vicente (Silvia’s boyfriend). Santiago (host brother) had to study – bummer!
Anyways, en route we stopped at an amazing church, Yaguaron. In their heyday, Paraguay was full of Catholic missionaries, primarily Franciscans and Jesuits. Both groups worked to educate and help improve the population of the indigenous people here, to the consternation of the Spanish crown, which later expelled them, since the Catholic missionaries frowned down upon indigenous slavery. As part of this, the Jesuits created missions for the Guaraní. Later this week I will visit the Jesuit ruins for the first time, a UN World Heritage site. So at our stop was a church built in the 1700’s by the Franciscans and Guaraní.
From the outside, it appeared impressive. One of my favorite pictures so far!
Inside was even better! The altar here was made entirely from wood by hand in the 1700’s. It’s hard to convey via the picture, but was very powerful.
Here’s a really cool picture of our maté gourd next to the door.
Being a life-long Protestant, I have to admit I’m really warming up to Catholicism, as a lover of Latin America and also attending a Jesuit university. Plus, I’m realizing more and more that being a Lutheran really isn’t that different. More on this later.
Photo below with host Silvia and Celeste and their swanky Georgetown shirts! Celeste made the best welcome kit package ever for me – with yerba maté, my favorite snacks, and also the brand of the first beer I ever drank (Baviera)!
Go Hoyas!
