Worms on a Bus

After a lightening trip to Asunción I was able to bring some worms back with me. The main reason I went to Asunción was for a planning meeting for the Paraguay Verde camp. Once I decided to go my list of things to get done there got longer and longer and I only wanted to stay one night. In order to make to most of the trip I took a bus that left my town at 1am and got to the city around 5:30am. It made for a very long day, but it was ver productive. In a way you could say I was in three countries in one day. I met with the people at the US Embassy who donated the books to the library here. I also went to the Argentinian Embassy to put in a request for a book donation.
While I was in Asunción we were informed that there might be a bus strike the next day. Fortunately it was suspended. Apparently the bus companies strike a couple times a year. The city buses are subsidized by the government, but the government is threatening to take away the money because many of the buses aren't being maintained properly. They aren't safe for the riders and often break down. The bus ride home from Asunción I had lots of company; all of my worms as well and another volunteer who was returning from vacation. I hadn't seen her in a month so it was nice to catch up and made the bus ride go by very fast. The morning after I got back from Asunción I woke up freezing. I found out that it was only 62 degrees Fahrenheit. I think I have finally adjusted to living in a hot climate and now we are going into fall. In the past week we have had mostly overcast and rainy days. It is nice to have the break, but it makes it hard to do things like wash clothes, no dryers here, and leave the house.
The older of my two host sisters, Ybanna, moved to a town called Villarica. This year will be her last year and she has class six days a week so it makes more seance to rent a room there rather than take to bus an hour each way every day. She left her daughter here with us. It is pretty common here that kids are raised by their grandparents, especially in smaller town where there aren't many jobs or universities. I also learned that Paraguay has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in South America.
My other host sister, Soledad, turned 17 on the 12th. She asked me to make her a banana bread cake. I made it in a bunt pan and I frosted to with dulce de leche and colored sprinkles. I thought it looked like a giant doughnut.
Although I have been here three months now I am still meeting new people. I met a girl who is part of a volunteer group in town. They are planning a tree planting project and I met another man who is part of an agriculture group. He invited me to one of their meetings. I was intimidated when I walked up to the house where they were having a meeting because there were 15 men I didn't know. Once I started talking to them I wasn't so intimidated. They are interested in green manures. I don't know too much about them so I defiantly have my work cut out for me doing research and talking to other volunteers and my bosses in Asunción.