Let´s talk Salt

Now, before I go any further let me say that I dont like making generalizations. Living as a foreigner, I´ve been the subject of many generalizations about Americans. Some of these include me being a millionare, since all Americans are millionares. Ive been accused of being a spy by many Paraguayans, since to them all Americans that come here are spys. To this I always want to respond ''What is there to spy on???'' but I hold back and reassure them that I am surely no spy. Then they say that all Americans come to spy and steal Paraguays water. This always caught me off guard. Steal their water...hm. To this I want to respond ''No, señor, I do not want to steal your water...it has given me a bacterial infection in my intestines as well as Ghiardia more times than I can count...literrally.'' But I hold myself back and tell them that no, we have enough water in America, thanks.
With that said I will make a generalization. Paraguayans, atleast ALL the Paraguayans I have met and ALL the Paraguayan food Ive eaten, LOVE salt and sugar. Those are their two spices. To be fair I have met some families that throw in some cumin or garlic but salt is spice numero uno. For example, the other night we were eating meat for dinner and the father pulls out ketchup. I declined, since I didn´t think ketchup went will with grissle but he then poured some in his plate and told me it didnt have enough salt. He then added three tablespoons of salt to his ketchup....I was shocked. And the family ate it, they loved it.
Example two. The daughter made fresh orange juice, awesome! However after squeezing the oranges we had about 2 liters of juice. She then added sugar. How many spoons? 1? 2? 5? no, 10....10 spoonfulls of sugar. My teeth felt like they were rotting just watching her add the sugar. They love it like that.

Now, I may sound bitter about the food subject, and I am. But I will survive it. Im actualy feeling really good lately, work is good...lots of sesame harvesting. The house is slowly coming. But life in general is good. Though it has been hot. Probably the hottest days so far, around 42C which is hot. Really hot. On top of that we havnt had water, they are working on the water tank so I have been hauling dirty water from the well. Luckily it hasnt made me sick.

I have been doing a lot of work with the bees, which I am really enjoying. We harvested honey from one hive two days ago. We went out late afternoon, smoked the bees, then took out the shelves of hive that had around 80% capped honey. Capped honey refers to the honey in the comb that is ready, thus the bees cap it with wax. So we harvested 8 shelves worth, brought it back to the house where we take a really sharp nife and slice off the cap. Then we pop them in a centrifuge and spin the honey out leaving the comb intact. This works well because you can put the shelf back in and instead of remaking the hive the bees go right back to work filling the comb with honey. I also got to eat pollen. It was amazing. There are little packets of it in the comb that the bees feed the young larvae. They mix pollen with a bit of water and yeast to preserve it. This pollen must have come from the orange blossoms because it tasted like a fruit candy chew. Trully a delight. Anyways, we harvest 12 liters of honey from that one hive, thats a lot of honey. Im working on better ways for this guy to sell his honey. In the meantime Im selling it for him to other volunteers. I have plans inthe future to make mead, the alcoholic beverage made from honey.

Currently Im reading ''I´m a stranger here myself'' by Bill bryson. A really, really funny book.
Now if you all will excuse me, I have some salt to add to my empanadas.

In Asuncion for the day

This is what I normally look like; Sweaty and dirty!


This is my "Holy @#$% it's hot!"

I came into Asuncion today just for the day. I woke up at 3am, caught a bus and made it here around 8, went to the post office and picked up a package and I will leave again today. Lots of bus riding. It is very, very hot in Asuncion..which is about normal.

Yesterday we worked more on the house - we finished the walls, and started the flooring. I hope we can get it done by early March, fingers crossed.

Out of order pictures

Hey! It`s David! Long time no see. This is me relaxing in my kyha...hammock and drinking some terere. I had a picture of me in my work clothes but it wont load...so you get to see me clean and not so sweaty....a rarity in Paraguay.

Close up of Sesame. The pods on the side hold the seeds

Pigs. The neighbors pigs gave birth to a bunch o pigs...lots and lots of them.

This is what we do after we cut sesame. It is put up to dry for about 15 days. Afterwards we will put it in a tarp and beat it with a stick to knock the seeds out..then filter and clean.

Freshly harvested honey comb....yum! Too bad the fathr I am staying with ate ALL of it. I had maybe a spoonfull.....

My beesuit. No bee can enter! It is awesome, though its hot..very, very hot.

This is what a bee hive looks like, though no bees are in the picture they were all swarming around me.

This is Don Sakaria. He has 7 bee hives and he is really excited that I am working bees with him. Here he is revising a bee hive.

Back in site

Asuncion was a much needed break from my site. I got a lot done, including buying a hammock, visiting the dentist, picking up packages, getting bee gear, watching the superbowl, and just hanging out by the pool with friends. I went to the hooters in asuncion to watch the superbowl since that was the one place that we knew for sure had the game. It was my first time in a Hooters.....probably my last.
Things in site are going well. A lot of the usual stuff. My house is still far from done and I want to be living in it by march since peace corps says thats when I can live alone....but I dont think it will be ready by then. Either way, im learning to let go. Things will come when the time is right.
Im reading Canterbury Tales as well as How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci. Both are great books. The Da Vinci book has been a big help on those frustrating days and how I can change my attitude to make the best out of any situation.

It is sesame harvest time in my community. I went out with a couple farmers to cut down sesame. The plant has one stem which is about shoulder height and along it are these little pods which hold the sesame seeds. When the plants are yellowing you cut them down with a machete. By the way, using a machete is one of the fine perks of the job! There is nothing like weilding a heavy, razor sharp machete. I can hear my mom saying ''I hope you are being careful, david''. After hearing stories of volunteers nearly lopping off toes and gaping wounds, I make sure I use it with care. Anyways, the day after cutting the sesame we go back out to the field and prop it up like a teepee and let it dry. Ill try to take some pictures soon for you all to see, it is an interesting process. Sadly, the sesame isnt great this year. My community has suffered a drier than normal season along with a plague of aphids. Ive talked to them about using natural, homemade pesticides but they are hesitant. These homemade pesticides honestly arent great for very large farms and need to be applied more than one time but are free and nontoxic. The farmers know this but usually still stick with the toxic nasty stuff. I have to remember to respect their decision, even if I do not agree with it. What I can do, however, is show them the correct and safe way of using these pesticides since most of them just dump the whole thing in their fumigator, add some water and go out to the field with no protection and the wind blowing in their face. Very dangerous.