NASA Paraguaya

This made my day: a post (in Spanish) about Paraguayans trying to set up the Paraguayan version of NASA. Buried in a post about Paraguay's aging buses, which wheeze and moan like asthmatic, arthritic cats, was this gem:

"The House of Representatives inaugurated the opening of the space age in Paraguay. It was approved, and sent to the Senate for consideration, Bill "From the Paraguay National Aerospace Agency (AEPAR)", submitted by the Executive."

"This project didn't take long in becoming the butt of jokes and comments on social networks," the author concluded.

Read the full text here: http://ea.com.py/diputados-postergan-modernizacion-del-transporte-publico-pero-ya-apuntan-a-la-era-espacial/

NYT piece on Paraguay's booming economy spot on

Simon Romero, NYT's correspondent to South America, published a piece today about how Paraguay's booming economy is leaving many of the country's poorer residents behind.

Romero has written some very good stories about Paraguay, about its language and about the environmental challenges it faces in the Chaco.

In this latest piece, he notes how even though many parts of Paraguay grow ever more affluent, residents in the Chacarita and other parts of the country still toil ceaselessly for little benefit.

More than 30 percent of the country is still below the poverty line, he notes, in the story.

That distinction had a personal touch for me - the disparity was just as present in Potrero Pucu. On the one hand, Antonio lived in a clean, attractive house with ceramic tiles, along with a TV, a pickup truck and motorcycle, and a lot of fancy appliances.

On the other hand, the village drunk, lived in squalor, in a small brick hut with a thatched roof... his diet seemed to consist of moonshine and clementines. The clementines, at least, he could always pick and eat for free.

Antonio had a tight, round, beergut, Ruben looked like a collection of so many broomsticks.

In Asuncion, the difference was even more stark. Indigenous protesters lived in tents made out of trash bags as they protested government policies while Asuncion's elite drove by in Mercedes sports cars or BMWs.

And of course, we wondered how it could still be this way, 40 years after Peace Corps arrived. But I suppose that's a different post for another time.

Read Romero's piece, he's always on point.

-sj

Age of Steam and Turmoil

Penn's alumnae magazine (which like my current employer, is named The Gazette,) is finally out. The latest  issue is for November and December. I wrote the "Elsewhere" essay, which you can read here. It's a modified version of a story I first wrote for this blog while I was in-country. That story was originally called Sapucai and the Bones of the Trains.

I have since found a couple of stories online published two weeks ago (after my piece had already been turned in) which suggest that the trains might be starting back up again!

I really wish I could be on the ground down there right now to see them actually plying the rails...

Potrero/Pirayuvu update

It's amazing how time flies. It's been six months since I left Paraguay and Amy Heimberger, my follow-up, arrived in Potrero Pucu ready to save the day. She's been doing a fantastic job, working in a couple of communities closer to Caballero and taking on completely different projects than the ones I tackled.
 I got to speak to her yesterday a little bit and found out she just updated her blog. It's the "What I've Learned" post, and it is much more comprehensive than mine was.

My favorite, and a potential motto for Peace Corps:

"That I’m always busy doing something that never gets done" To which I can only say, "Amen."

Fun reading, take a look: http://aheimberger.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-ive-learned-part-1.html

Another one

As you know, I've been posting the pieces I've written in other publications here as well. A new story/piece of mine just got published in the Washington Post. You can read it here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/in-hampi-india-the-remains-of-a-great-but-forgotten-empire/2012/09/13/1ca0c3fe-f3b8-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_story.html

Followers of the blog will recognize the pics.

FYI, I have a few more pieces coming out - in my alumnae magazine, and a few other places. After that, I'll be writing a few more essays for this blog, and then turning it into a more general blog about Paraguay.

Stay tuned!

My India travel article is out

http://www.philly.com/philly/travel/20120826_Schooled_by_India_s_surf.html?page=1&c=y

Enjoy!!

Because you don't have enough work to do anyways -

I wrote a post about my Peace Corps service and slog through Nepal and India for my favorite blog, Phawker.com. If you would like some fast, light reading, check it out: http://www.phawker.com/2012/08/22/always-drink-the-water-the-ten-most-valuable-lessons-i-learned-bumming-around-south-america-central-asia/