Tuesday, May 29, 2007
A continuation of the history of Paraguay…In addition to having the longest-lasting dictatorship in the western world, this country has suffered one of the worst wars in the history of humankind. During the war of the triple alliance in which our fearless Napolean wanna-be Francisco Lopez somehow incited Paraguay’s neighbours on three fronts, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, to join forces against the Heart of South America, fully half of the population died, including nine out of every 10 men. Even women and children fought in this war, in which Paraguay ended up losing a good chunk of land. And yet we celebrate this man as a hero (see my blog shortly after heroes’ day on March 1.) The Paraguayans held out for a long time though, as Lopez on his last leg fled deeper and deeper into the country, with his ridiculously elegant courtesan who insisted on carting along a grand piano to the various battlefields until the very end. The story goes that somewhere along the way, or perhaps in various places, the leader tried to procure a comfortable future for himself by burying treasure.
This past weekend I went to one of the cities which at one time he declared the capital city when Asuncion was taking over by the enemy. It’s called Concepcion. And at the very places I stayed, people think it is a possible site for where Lopez may have buried his treasure! However, instead of searching for treasure, we did other adventurous things, like butchering 2 chickens, 1 goose and 1 duck, fishing with homemade rods and cheese for bait, cooking in a clay oven, going into the bush to find mandioca root, and canvassing the neighbourhood to invite everyone to the evangelistic campaign. Well, it was adventurous and exciting for me, but for some people this is their life. I told Karen I will never feel sorry for any housewife in North America again. For these country women, getting a meal ready, washing the clothes by hand, tending the garden and sweeping the dirt is a full-time seven-day a week job. I think if I had to go through all that work to eat a chicken I would probably just be a vegetarian (although, I guess didn’t become a nudist when I was washing my clothes by hand.) I can’t even imagine what life must be like in some of the indigenous communities that we passed, where all people had was a lean-to and a fire to cook the food that they hunted and gathered. My favourite part of the weekend was when a neighbour lady who has a reputation for being somewhat cantankerous, seeing all the company that our hosts had, came and brought them a chicken. I am really grateful for the lush, fertile Paraguayan countryside, the generousity of the land and how it inspires the people to be generous to each other. We really can survive happily and healthily on very little material goods, it is much more important to cultivate good relationships and community. My least favourite part was being woken up in the middle of the night by mice scratching around in the room. I like to think of myself as a pretty adaptable person, using those country outhouses and cleaning up the poultry innards, but finding mouse poop in my bed in the morning really gave me the willies!
This past weekend I went to one of the cities which at one time he declared the capital city when Asuncion was taking over by the enemy. It’s called Concepcion. And at the very places I stayed, people think it is a possible site for where Lopez may have buried his treasure! However, instead of searching for treasure, we did other adventurous things, like butchering 2 chickens, 1 goose and 1 duck, fishing with homemade rods and cheese for bait, cooking in a clay oven, going into the bush to find mandioca root, and canvassing the neighbourhood to invite everyone to the evangelistic campaign. Well, it was adventurous and exciting for me, but for some people this is their life. I told Karen I will never feel sorry for any housewife in North America again. For these country women, getting a meal ready, washing the clothes by hand, tending the garden and sweeping the dirt is a full-time seven-day a week job. I think if I had to go through all that work to eat a chicken I would probably just be a vegetarian (although, I guess didn’t become a nudist when I was washing my clothes by hand.) I can’t even imagine what life must be like in some of the indigenous communities that we passed, where all people had was a lean-to and a fire to cook the food that they hunted and gathered. My favourite part of the weekend was when a neighbour lady who has a reputation for being somewhat cantankerous, seeing all the company that our hosts had, came and brought them a chicken. I am really grateful for the lush, fertile Paraguayan countryside, the generousity of the land and how it inspires the people to be generous to each other. We really can survive happily and healthily on very little material goods, it is much more important to cultivate good relationships and community. My least favourite part was being woken up in the middle of the night by mice scratching around in the room. I like to think of myself as a pretty adaptable person, using those country outhouses and cleaning up the poultry innards, but finding mouse poop in my bed in the morning really gave me the willies!
# posted by Ellen @ 9:05 PM 
