Paraguayan Culture

I have been in site for just about one month now and while I have not done a ton of ‘work’ work I have done a lot of things. For the first three months of being in site a volunteer is not expected to have a ton of projects but more to get accustomed to the community, get to know the people living there, learn Guarani, and just get a general feel for the needs of the community. For me getting adjusted to the community has been more or less difficult. And by community I mean the Paraguayan lifestyle and customs. I truly feel that the family I live with is an exception to the rule where Paraguayans are easygoing and laidback. This family gets up at 5am everyday and starts working and don’t come back from their fields until 6 at night. It is a crazy amount of work that I just cannot keep up with and even during their breaks they are doing something whether it be building an enclosure for their turkeys or butchering a pig. The non- stop action that can be to say the least overwhelming. Now throw on top of this the constant Paraguayan beliefs that are thrown in your face that causes a constant fear of getting diarrhea, becoming morally ill, or having your arms explode simply by washing your hands, consuming the wrong combinations of food, or bathing at the wrong times. While as an outsider these beliefs seem absurd I still must abide by them as long as I am in the company of Paraguayans so as not to suffer an ‘I told you so incident.’ One of my other favorite beliefs that I have fully embraced are the mythological creatures of Paraguay. Some of these characters include Pombrero or Karai Pyhareve who tends to be mischievous and causes bad things to happen and is easily provoked by whistling at night. A funny ongoing joke here is that I believe in these creatures and yell at my family, who tend not to believe these creatures, when they do something to provoke them. Another good one is Ao Ao (clothes clothes) who is essentially a bigfoot and the only way to avoid him is climb a certain tree. The joke with the family I have is that he is really Ao Ao sin Ao (clothes clothes without clothes).  And of course there is Jasy Jatere aka Me who is the blond, light skinned man who kidnaps children and is able to disappear using his golden staff. In this country having red hair may as well be as if I had blond hair. But this is one creature that my family does believe as many Jasy Jatere’s will show up in the month of September (We will have to see what this means exactly). I do not intend to make fun of these beliefs only to draw attention to them as a truly rich part of the culture here that makes Paraguayans Paraguayan. While I may not personally believe the same things, I do know it is important to respect them. And the reality of it is that these examples are only the tip of the iceberg and it is all part of getting to know a new culture.