My first impressions upon coming to Paraguay were proven totally wrong. I thought that it would be poor, poverty stricken, beggars, no electricity, cut off from society… etc. However, the families that I stayed with in San Juan and Carapegua are middle class families, with cars, and food, and electricity. They are very family-oriented and love being together.
My family even had a maid. They thought that it was so strange that as an American I was so willing to help and clean.
The kids have digital cameras and everywhere you went there were kids texting on their cell phones. I was lucky enough to go to a quinceanera party in San Juan. I felt so out of place because everything was super fancy. It felt almost rude that I looked so… grungy. The girls have an almost European fashion sense and wear tons of makeup.
It is such a difference between San Juan, Carapegua, and Asuncion. From the crazy driving everywhere in the city, to the lack of actual parental rules for children that Americans take for granted. For instance, there are little to no stop lights in any of the cities, kids drive at age 11 and 12 with no licenses, kids and adults drink together, nobody believes in seat belts… I could go on and on.
On a more serious note we visited Santa Ana today, a barrio that isn’t even 15 minutes away from the center of Asuncion. The poverty level itself wasn’t a shock but some little things did stick out. Little kids were walking around in flip-flops or barefoot in the rain, chickens were drinking dirty water from the stream, people rode in wagons drawn by donkeys, and yet in the middle of all of it there was a school with murals and computers and happy kids which just goes to prove that the LSP program really does make a difference with its donations and personal relationships. I also learned a little of Santa Ana’s history and about how it is ignored by the government so much so that it isn’t even on the map.
It’s crazy, but… I love Paraguay. I don’t want to come home… except to get some chocolate chip pancakes from IHOP!!!