Fall Has Fallen

Hello beloved readers,

It's been quite a while since I've written, and I apologize for that. Primarily it is because the internet cafe in my town has been down and out, but also because the weather has been super and thus, I have been extremely "guapa" (Hardworking)! I am absolutely in love with the fresh breeziness that has been gracing us of late. I love being able to wear jeans and a jacket and go out in cool wind and not sweat one drop the whole day (even if I forget to put on deoderant!) I've been longing to make pumpkin and apple pies, and the gardens are absolutely coming alive; we spend out quiet times shelling lima beans and toasting peanuts fresh out of the field. Even being in town today, I feel like the relief from the heat has rejuvenated the world. Suddenly there are open-air markets full of hand crafts, cheeses, fresh fruits and vegetables, and animals for sale. Even the super markets are stocked full of products I've never seen them have before! Its incredible.

The cool weather means bees are begining to hibernate, and we{re pretty much done our bee work for the year. My brothers,however, are building a fish pond and apiary in front of our house. As you can imagine, cutting out all the bush and trees and literally digging a pond by hand is a good bit of work. It increases their food security, however, making it a valuable investment. Anyway, all that shoveling didn{t stop them from building four bee boxes, and one swarm already descended on a box all by itself! They are pretty beside themselves with excitment, and I{ve been advising them along, although the real work won{t come till spring. It makes me feel good that I can contribute, though. Otherwise, I continue to work with my two committees and am also starting a parasite prevention program in the school. My extra secret hope is to start doing a one-hour radio show in town every week, but I have yet to find someone to do it with me (everybody knows one DJ is just NEVER funny!)

Also, though, the change in weather has meant a change in day-to-day habits. Midday was just a few months ago a disabling time of day that forced us into the submission of siesta. Now, however, it is prime work time, given that the daylight comes later (about 6am) and leaves us a good 2 hours earlier (6pm). I do not cease to be amused at the changes. Whereas in January I was only just recuperating from the blinding heat and preparing to venture out to visit people at 6, now at that very same hour I am racing the darkness back to the house (it is socially inappropriate for women to be out alone after dark...infuriating for me!) to put on a warm jacket and drink hot tea with bundled-up people who I had only ever known previously sweating under as few clothes as possible.

The weather, however, is not the most exciting subject of my recent life! Sunday was the presidential elections in Paraguay, and boy was it a good one! As some of you may know, the dictator Straussner fell in Paraguay in 1989. His party, the Colorados (or conservatives, coincedentally represented by red...), however, has remained in power since then, bringing their reign to a total of 65 years. While in theory the votes were always democratic, there was still a lot of corruption that allowed this party to hold power. For example, any government workers, (including school teachers and policeman...well, basically anyone with a salary), which did not vote for this party, were promptly removed from their positions. Poor people got paid in medicine, food, and cash to ensure their vote went the proper way. Even the people working the polls changed the numbers, or let people who had already died "vote". You see what I mean.

Well the population has finally had enough. Even though there were two liberal (blue) candidates in this election, a good 42 percent of the country managed to rally itself behind one, bringing him out a good 10 percent ahead of the colorado candidate, and leaving the current government no choice but to accept the popular vote. It was absolutely incredible how excited people were. (When I say people here are tranquilo, I mean it...they don{t even really smile or laugh or shout or get excited at parties!) I didn{t go to the town square until evening (we were forbidden to be near voting areas until polls closed) but by then the results were in and everyone was absolutely esctatic! Well into the night caravans of trucks full of people paraded about the area yelling and shouting and playing victory songs. Even as a doubter of the system, I was inspired and excited and hopefully along with these people; it was like seeing my friends liberated for the first time.

As for the elected candidate? He was a Catholic priest until only last year, when he felt called to try to fix up the hopeless politics of Paraguay. The way he has risen has been extremely impressive, and I have to admit that even I have some hope that this guy has enough morals to finally let the many resources of this country be enjoyed by its people instead of sucking them all up himself. Even if he does nothing good, however, the ability to peacefully allow power to change hands has been (or will be, on August 15) a huge step for this new democracy.

Three Cheers for Paraguay!