Chaco

Well! I have not blogged in a long time, because life here is just usual life, therefore nothing too exciting has happened. However, unexpectedly, last weekend I ended up going on the trip to the Chaco in Paraguay. I was not planning on going considering it was one hundred dollars for the trip and I am saving up for other things. But, unfortunately my friend Alicia got Dengue, the none-preventable mosquito virus going around and she was unable to attend so she gave me her place.  With less than three hours to spare I got my things together to board the bus with my fellow AFSers and Peace Corps Volunteers.

It was a nine hour bus ride that took place during the evening. Therefore, we slept two hours and the rest of the time we had a mini rager :) 

Por fin!! We arrived! Finally, after nine hours and little sleep we arrived in the Northern part of Paraguay. We visited museum after museum. That was not the most exciting part of the trip...

 

There were some great flowers and butterflies which caught my attention more than the historic things.

 

They had amazing Dr. Seuss trees! 

 

My new friend from Japan! We were headed to the Chaco. We had to change busses in order to handle the dirt roads. There were not enough seats for everyone so it was fun to hear many of the inexperienced Peace Corps people wine about their issues with the bus, because they usually live in small cities where there are no city busses.

 

Our whole group in the Chaco. This was the area that the triple alliance war took place.

 

Lunch time was the usual MEAT!

 

Yummy...yummy...

  

This is a plant in the Chaco that has goo inside. In the Chaco there is little to no water, these plants adsorb water and turn it into a drinkable goo (that stuff seeping out of it), the soldiers used to drink this in order to survive.

 

Our awesome trees that were used as cooler environment during the heat and protection.

 

This is one of the bunkers that the soldiers would sleep in.

 

Our guide!

 

The whole path of the Chaco

  

The causalities  

We went to the area where the indigenous people live.  

 

We brought candy and clothing for the people and they all crowded around trying to get more and mroe.

  

Us with the indigenous people. 

 

The kids sang to us in Guarani. Many do not know how to speak Spanish because they do not go to school nor have parents that have ever been introduced to the language.

The area was very poor, many of the kids were without clean clothing, or shoes.

The most ironic part of this trip was that the second day in I too got Dengue!! I was extremely sick with a high fever, complete body pain and headache. That made the second day and bus ride home quite awful. All in all it was not the best trip ever, but it was better than just sitting home.