A few months later...

It's been almost 5 months since I left Paraguay, but some things in my life are still Paraguayan. I still have mate and tereré on a regular basis, though not as often as I wish I did. Yerba is ungodly expensive here, and postage from Paraguay is a bit pricey, especially by Paraguayan standards, so I'm trying to stretch what I still have.

For those of you who didn't follow my blog while I was in Paraguay or those of you not familiar with Paraguay, tereré is a kind of tea. See the picture for a visual. It's made out of loose leaves (yerba) and icy water. It is drunk out of a cup made out of metal, wood, or horn called a guampa, and drunk through a metal straw called a bombilla (see picture) that has lots of tiny holes in the bottom so that you don't drink the leaves. Mate is basically the same thing, except hot water is used in place of cold water. Tereré is a social activity in Paraguay. Whenever you go to a friend's house, you can be sure that they'll offer you terere (in the warmer months) or mate (in the early morning and cold months). From the high-class Asunceños (residents of Asunción) to the campesinos (farmers) in the middle of nowhere, everyone drinks terere. On sweltering February afternoons, the best thing to do is just sit with some friends and tomar un terere.

Besides terere on a somewhat-regular basis, I've made Paraguayan food several times. Mbejú is a favorite, and I attempted chipa once. One Sunday a few weeks ago, my Japanese AFS sister, the inbound from Paraguay, and I had a cooking day, and we made mbeju, mandi'o chyryry, mandioca frita, empanadas, and pizza de palmito y huevo. Mbejú is a traditional food made out of cheese, tapioca flour, corn flour, milk, and salt that looks something like a pale-yellow-ish white pancake. Mandi'o chyryry is a dish made with boiled cassava/yucca/mandioca, eggs, and cheese. Mandioca frita is simply fried cassava. Empanadas are basically amazing. They're little fried, folded-over pockets filled with some combination of eggs, vegetables, spices, beef, chicken, cheese, mandioca, peppers, corn, or anything else you could want. Most of these were successfully made, but the mbeju was a little crumbly.

All these crazy words like "mandi'o chyryry" and "mbejú" are Guaraní, if you were wondering. Guarani is an Amerindian language spoken in central South America, that happens to be one of the two official languages of Paraguay (the other being Spanish, of course). I put a handy little phrase list and pronunciation guide on the right hand side of this blog, but if you're looking to (for whatever crazy reason) learn more than a few phrases, I highly recommend that you head on over here. "Here" is a blog/podcast designed to teach/help English-speakers learn Guaraní. It's created by a Peace Corps volunteer who's currently in Yataity, Guaira, Paraguay. I've been using it to learn more advanced Guarani, to add to my lovely bank of insults/swear words that my compañeros so excitedly taught me (Apparently teaching the rubia to yell "Japiro! Ñama kota!" is hilarious...who knew?). Ok, maybe I learned more than that, but in all honesty, I'm still a ways away from proficiency with Guarani Guarani as opposed to Jopará, which is Guarani mixed with Spanish.

Nearly 5 months later, and sigo llevando mucho de Paraguay en mi corazón. I'm still perpetually late, though I at least try now. I don't stress about the little things, and I still think our houses are huge, are roads are amazingly smooth, and everything is expensive. School is still dull, and I still think that people have no balance in their lives. It's all school-work-money or all party-drinking-puking with very little middle ground. The empanada/Ades/alfajór/guaraná cravings still come every now and then. Pepsi is too sweet after a semester of nothing but Coke. My brain still switches to Spanish on a fairly regular basis, and a decent-sized chunk of my iTunes library is devoted to Reggaeton, Cumbia, and Bachata.

I see that this blog is still being read quite often, and I assume that at least some readers are perspective exchange students to Paraguay. If anyone is considering going to Paraguay, feel free to leave your email address in a comment, and I can hopefully answer some of your questions. About a year ago, I was trying to research Paraguay and came up with football/soccer scores, colonial maps, and info on the Chaco, Yguazú falls, and the Itaipú dam. I know that there is basically no information out there about Paraguayan school, food, transportation, or really anything else you really want to know.

Food!

A lot of people have been asking about the food here, so here it is. An entire post dedicated to Paraguayan food. I´ll add to this during the next week too. Breakfast here is almost nothing. Milk with coffee or chocolate, some bread, and maybe some tea. Lunch is the principal meal, and EVERYONE eats lunch at home. Dinner is basically just for weekends, and instead we have "merienda" in the late afternoon, and again around 8 or 9.

This is Sopa Paraguaya. It´s one of the most "Paraguayan" foods there is. It´s made with egg, cheese, flour, and some seasonings. It´s super common, and it´s really good. It reminds me a little of the crust part of some casseroles.

This is chipa. Chipa is a cheese-corn mixture eaten several times a week. Because dinner isn´t big here, we have "merienda" in the late afternoon. From about 3PM to dark, there are chipa vendors that walk or ride bikes around town selling fresh chipa door-to-door. Chipa is usually half moon-shaped, but it is occasionally ring-shaped like a bagel. In Asunción, they had prepackaged chipa that tasted like fritos, but I definitely prefer the fresh kind.

This is mbeyú. Mbeyú is made out of corn flour, manioc flour, cheese, and milk. It starts out in a crumbly dough, then is cooked in a pan over the stove. The cheese melts to hold everything together. It doesn´t have a really strong flavor, but it pretty good.

Empanadas are sort of fast food, Paraguayan style. They´re little fried pockets filled with egg, chicken, beef, corn, vegetables, or basically anything else. These are usually eaten as an evening snack, or sometimes as a side dish to lunch.

This is called borí borí. Borí are little balls made out of corn, served in soups with vegetables, chicken, or beef. This is another very "Paraguayan" food that no other country has. I´ve only had this a few times, because it´s mainly a "winter food" and autumn is just starting here.

Mandioca is eaten almost every day at lunch. Usually, it´s just peeled and boiled, but it can also be fried, or used to make other foods such as mbeyú. It´s a lot like a potato, and has a very mild flavor.

This is chipa so'o. It´s like chipa, except it's filled with a ground beef-and-veggie mixture.

I can´t find a picture of the actual soda, but guaraná soda is AMAZING. Simba is the most popular brand here. It´s flavor is kind of hard to describe, I´m sure I´ll bring some back.

Lomito is basically a hamburger in a slightly different shape. Lomito and hamburger are both eaten with different toppings here though- fried egg, mayonnaise, salsa, lettuce, tomato, and choclo (corn) are the most common.

Tereré IS Paraguay. We drink it every day, everywhere. Home, school, in the car, outside, inside, everywhere. Almost everyone has their own Termo, Guampa, and Bombilla. Termo is the pitcher, guampa is the cup, and bombilla is the straw. Tereré is a type of cold tea. First, the guampa is filled with Yerba Mate, a mixture of leaves, about halfway. Then ice water is poured in from the termo. You drink a cup, fill it again, and pass it around. I'm planning on bringing a bunch of this home.