A word about Paraguay

Ok, so I´ve been in the ´heart of South America´for a whole two weeks today and I thought now might be an appropriate time to pen a few words about the city I currently call home and the project I´m currently working on.

In order to properly picture Asuncion I would ask you to please go to your washing machine, empty the contents of your kitchen and bathroon bin into the drum, wash, then take the resultant mush to you back garden. Once this is done cover the pile liberally with sand, buy the oldest loudest motorbike you can find and wedge it so the exhaust coughs out over the mess and then place a dead dog in the middle. Once you´ve put your face in it you will have some idea of what Ascuncion smells, looks ad sounds like. And I´m not joking about the dead dog either, I passed four out running yesterday. That said the people here are lovely, very quiet, in sharp contrast to their automobiles. The sunsets are beautiful and some of the more central buildings are architecturally lovely. Our flat here is best descibed as an experience (my bedroom door pictured above). We do the washing in a bucket, and because of the humidity it takes about 2 days for clothes to dry. The only hot water is in the bathroom and that is inconsistent at best. The curtains are nailed to the wall. However it is quite a sweet little flat (on the scariest road in the world- pictured left), and I think I have acclimatised to the conditions here fairly fast- I can run much faster than the buses that thunder about outside now!

The programme we are working on is a community outreach project to enable street children to learn some English. We go into centres around the city and teach the children English games, colours, numbers and animals etc... they are slowly beginning to pick up English, but what they are mainly learning is that English girls really hate glitter glue in thier hair. The children are generally poor and dirty, however not much poorer and dirtier than children you would find in the more impoverished areas of Britain. The project seems worthwhile, but is still in it´s very grassroots stages, and is knackering for someone like me who doesn´t speak Spanish well (the children speak sooo fast).

Anyway, I will keep you all updated about how it is going here. Remember, the moral of the story is, if the country doesn´t have a guidebook available at your local Waterstones, there´s a reason.