Ascuncion
Trip Start
Mar 19, 2006
1
23
30
Trip End
Jul 06, 2006
Ascuncion, Paraguay
Saturday, May 13, 2006
As I've noted in several emails, Ascuncion is a crumbling, loud, poluted city of about one and a half million, and I loved it. The food isnīt all that good (I had empanadas for breakfast, lunch and dinner some days, milanese--breaded steak--others), and the hostel that I selected (at less than five dollars per night) seemed to attract the already loud rumbling of the non-muffled buses across bumpy streets, though I doubt the best digs could have escaped the constant noise. Paraguayans rescued the situation, however, as they are generally some of the friendliest people that I've met so far, and the city folks proved little different. They also move at their own pace, a little slower than, say, the Portenos of Buenos Aires, which is frustrating walking behind a group down the sidewalk, but great for someone attepting to expand his Spanish; very few speak English.
I spent the first 24 hours as any traveller might, getting situated, then called the two contacts that I had, one from a Peace Corps volunteer I met in Mendoza, Argentina, the other from a lady who worked at a hostel in Trinidad. I had told both that I was interested in meeting with people who worked with children, who ran orphanages or abandoned kids' homes or the like. My first contact, Carla, enthusiastically told me to give her a call when I got to town; my second, Damaris, who spoke no English, said she'd be at my hostel in an hour... Switching plans with the ever-gracious Carla, I was wisked off with Damaris and her brother to a suburb of the city. They told me a little about their organization on the way, which takes in abandoned, orphaned, or abused children. Relatively new at under 2 years, they have 17 wonderful kids, ranging in age from 3 to 18. Pulling up to the house, all of the kids were off at school, and I got a chance to see where they lived; simply put, I was a bit shocked. Damaris hadn't had enough to complete construction, so there was no running water, the "kitchen" was actually just a sink, with the stove serving as a drying rack--all food was cooked over an open fire, fed by wood collected from the surrounding land. None of the windows had panels of glass in them, so at night the house got as chilly as it did outside, and it got surprisingly cold. At least 6 kids were packed in each of four bedrooms, with some sharing beds. Everything was clean, orderly, and comfortable enough, but it was just not enough, at least for my foreign eyes.
The younger kids then returned from school, and after a warming them up with a couple of photos--they respond incredibly enthusiastically, running towards the camera to see the digital picture, in some cases before the picture has actually been taken--I decided to turn the camera over to them. Guiding each thru the process, the others jumped in front as their brothers and sisters took shots of them. They could not have been happier, nor could I. The photos weren't terrific, most of them never having handled a camera before, but the chopped off heads and feet were balanced by the smiles.
