A Dam Good Christmas and a Happy New Year

This Christmas was anything but a white Christmas. It was so hot even sitting in the shade. I traveled with my host family to Ciudad del Este to visit my host mom's brother, Julio, and his family. It was about a five hour bus ride. Here in Paraguay they celebrate Christmas at midnight on the 24th. For dinner we had a huge BBQ, which is typical for pretty much any special occasion. We also set off fireworks. We had dinner at about 11:45pm and at midnight we all gave each other hugs and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

Photo: Julio and me BBQing.

Julio works at a dam called Itaipu. It is the largest dam in the world in terms of the amount of energy it produces. The dam is on the Paraná River which divides Paraguay and Brazil so it is shared by the two countries. Paraguay has three huge dams but electricity is very expensive here because most of the electricity they produce is exported. To give you an idea of the amount of money the dam company has, everyone who works at the dam get a house. Also, they run a zoo and have a little runway and a plane for the directors. On Christmas Day Julio took us on a dam tour. Although is was Christmas the visitors center appeared to be open, but there were no other dam tourists there. I think that normally you have to pay a dam fee but they just let us in. We got to see the dam turbines and the machine they use to do repairs. We saw the dam security workers as well as the dam control center. We took a lot of dam pictures. Ok, enough with the dam jokes.

Photos: Top left-Me, Mirta, Soledad and my little host cousin Maria Paz in front of Itaipu. Top right-Itaipu dam. Bottom left-Control room. Bottom left-Me in front of one of the pipes that carry water.

We took the bus back home on the 26th. I thought I had been on crowded buses here before, but this bus ride beat them all. For the first few hours I was standing, smashed between a seat and other people in the isle. Then I traded spots with my host sister so I was sitting. At one point I had both host sisters on my lap. Just when I was sure that no one else could possibley fit on the bus, a lady selling chipa got on the bus with here huge basket. Some how she managed to make it down the isle and sell her chipa. Fortunately we left Ciudad del Este at 7am so the ride wasn't too hot.

For New Years all of Mirta's siblings and their families were at our house. She has two sisters and three brothers. All together there were 22 of us. Once again we had a BBQ and they roasted a whole baby pig along with sausage and beef. They wanted me to make a typical food from the United States so I made an apple pie. It turned out alright; a little dry because they apples weren't very juicy. They don't do gifts here on Christmas, but they gave out a few little gifts on New Year's Day. I don't know if it is a tradition everywhere or just in my host family. A few members of the family brought gifts that and they put all the names in a jar and they choose a gift and a name. I got a comb set and a shirt with some random English on it.

Photos: Top left-My New Years apples pie. Top right- New Years dinner. Bottom left-My host family. Bottom right-The writing on the shirt I won.

In the evening on New Year's Day I went for a walk with my host mom and her sister. On our way home a little kitten started following us. It followed us for a long time and my host mom said I should pick it up at take it home. I carried it for a little bit and it started to struggle so I put it down figuring it would run off, but it kept following us. It followed us most of the way home so I figured it was ment to be. She is a tabby with white paws. As of now she is nameless.

Just after Christmas we had some rainy weather and a cold front moved in. I use "cold" in relative terms. It has been around 65-70 durning the day and cooler at night. I have occationally used a blanket at night. It has been a nice change from the extreme heat. I don't know how long it will last so I'm enjoying it while it is here.