Ahapotama

Today's Post: I'm going shortly.

With one day left before I fly home and py'a mokoi (two stomachs; ambivalence), I contemplate the end of my twenty-seven months of Peace Corps service in Paraguay. My goal is to keep this blog up, make one or two more posts about my return to the States, and then delete the blog. So please savor the final entries of Jake in Paraguay and stay tuned for future literary adventures, including the publication of my humorous memoir, One Jew in Prettyview.

The last several weeks have been packed with milestones and despedidas. My follow-up volunteer's visit was, as previously noted, an important hallmark of the "beginning of the end." Taking her around to meet my friends and work partners, I felt a profound sense of satisfaction. The Peace Corps in Paraguay ideally places volunteers in their sites for six-year (three-volunteer) cycles. I was the first volunteer to complete a full service in Prettyview and shaped my work around the expectation that I would be "followed up." The Peace Corps rewarded and validated my efforts by fulfilling this expectation - all the more because they selected such a qualified, enthusiastic, and professional woman to replace me. Hearing her talk to my neighbors about future projects, watching her play with kids, and working collaboratively with her to plan her own new projects and the continuation of my own work provided the perfect conclusion to my service. It is a delight to see the Peace Corps working as it should, providing long-term support to communities that want to partner with Americans to develop in sustainable ways. I'm not a dad, yet, but I imagine that my feelings on passing the reins over to my follow-up were a lot like the feelings that parents have when they send their kids off to college. I was moved to acknowledge the foundation I left her, but also felt proud of and excited for her as she embarked on her service. I hope that she loves Prettyview as I have and surpasses me as a volunteer in every way!

Then came my first round of goodbyes: to families who live far from me, to people I know in the nearby town of San Juan Nepomuceno (where I buy vegetables and use internet), and to those who, for whatever reasons, I don't see regularly. I visited my host parents from training one more time and, more than ever before, saw how far I'd come from the green, Spanish-speaking aspirante they welcomed into their house in September 2009. Their trust and investment in me is something I can't ever pay back. It was, however, exciting to see the citrus trees we grafted together already sprouting from their new buds, thriving under the excellent care of my viverista dad. The Prettyview elementary school's kindergarten graduation was a good time to say goodbye to my profesor colleagues. I was the kindergarten class's godfather for the second year and enjoyed seeing some of my favorite kids embark on the journey to what will hopefully be a facultad education. These goodbyes taken care of, I did some last bits of grafting at the beginning of the month, and left Prettyview for the last time as a volunteer.

The next week, the last of my official service, was a busy one, full of travel and celebration. I spent a few days in Asunciòn, taking care of paperwork and other chores in and around the office. Then, I headed to my friend Heather´s site, a village near Tobati in the department of Cordillera. We spent the day eating a goodbye lunch (fresh bean guiso with chipa guasu, salad, and watermelon), drinking tererè, chatting with her host family, and napping. Then, after a tearful goodbye, we got a ride to Tobati. From there, we made a 19-km pilgrimage to Caacupè, leaving on the vìspera of the day of the Virgin of Caacupè (8 December) and arriving around midnight. We visited the cathedral and saw the Virgin´s elevated statue, and then slept for a few hours at the house of a Japanese friend of Heather´s (a former volunteer from the Japanese version of Peace Corps, JAICA). The pilgrimage was a special time for both of us. We´d both gone together two years ago to mark the beginning of our Peace Corps service and came together to walk one more time. Additionally, Heather´s best friend in site successfully beat a dangerous eye tumor this last year. She is still a bit weak and Heather and I replaced her and her husband on the pilgrimage, thanking the Virgin in their stead. It also meant a lot to me to be with Heather, one of my dearest friends, as she left her community for the last time.

From Caacupè, we made our way to our cohort´s despedida in the restort town of San Bernadino. Of the 42 volunteers who started together in 2009, 33 made it to the last months of service, and about 30 of us gathered together to socialize, swim, give mock awards and superlatives, and have a great dance party. Temporarily removed from the burden of saying goodbye, I have to say that I felt more relaxed than I had for weeks. The next day, the 9th, was our official swear-out date. We proceeded to the Peace Corps office and, after a brief ceremony and the surrendering of our cell phones, bank cards, and official IDs, ceased to be Peace Corps volunteers. I can´t say that I felt terribly different after swearing out. More than anything, it was strange to be without the cell phone that was such a fixture of my life as a volunteer. After a Peace Corps concert that night, many of the volunteers in my cohort took off to travel in South America or head home. The next morning, I went back to Prettyview to say my final goodbyes.

It was the right choice to go back for a weekend. I spent my time in Prettyview with my parents (Miguela and Gabriel) and my best friends (Andres, Gloria, Eme, Derlis, Aldo, and Natalicio) and said goodbyes to my neighbors and a few families who live close to me. On Sunday, my farmers´committee threw me a big despedida lunch with roasted chicken, sopa paraguaya, and lots of wine mixed with piña cola. Slightly tipsy, I managed a brief speech thanking them and a lot of gruff but emotional goodbyes with the 18 men who taught me most of what I know about farming, dirty jokes in Guaranì, and getting things done without being too pesado. I felt honored that they threw a going-away party for me and appreciated the chance to see them all one more time. Dinners with my favorite families followed and they made some of my favorite Paraguayan foods: beans, chipa, and salads. Sunday afternoon, Andres took me out on a moto ride to our municipality, General Morìnigo, for a beer in the plaza. Though I had already mounted a moto for the first time - not just in Paraguay, but in my life - the day before, this was a real ride. Speeding along Ruta 8 with the Yvyturuzu mountain range in the distance, I could understand why the Peace Corps rule banning motorcycle riding was the target of so much rancor among my fellow volunteers. I just didn´t know what I was missing! And for my last night in Prettyview, Brook, my follow-up, arrived to have dinner with Miguela, Gabriel, their son Hermes, and me. We had roasted duck, freshly slaughtered that afternoon and sopa. It was delicious and I even got Miguela to join me in drinking some beer - an indulgence to which she had long alluded but never succumbed. The next morning, yesterday, I handed over the keys of my house to Brook, brought her to her first host family, and, after a tearful goodbyes and tupanoi blessings from Miguela and Gabriel, I was off on Hermes´s moto with my duffle bag. I felt sad saying goodbye to Prettyview, but delighted to finish my last long-distance bus trip in Paraguay.

So this brings me to my last two days in Asunciòn. I leave tomorrow afternoon for the States and can´t wait to see my family in about 48 hours. I´ve enjoyed my time here and am trying to get as clean as I can in the hotel shower in preparation for Gringolandia standards. There have still been some opportunities to enjoy Paraguay before I leave: swimming in the Embassy pool with some of my buddies from the Environment sector, last bites of chipa and gulps of tererè, etc.

At the risk of repeating myself, I´ll try to sum up how I feel as I leave Paraguay and Peace Corps service. First of all, serving as a Peace Corps volunteer has been unequivocally positive, one of the greatest honors and joys of my life. Representing America and Americans in a positive light; helping deserving people to protect their environment, develop personally, and build better lives; experiencing another culture in a deep, long-term way; and serving both the American and Paraguayan populaces - how could I have better spent two years? Additionally, I have grown so much, personally, through my service. I became fluent in Guaraní and improved my Spanish, practiced as a teacher and applied ecologist, read 175 books (okay, I´m going to finish the 175th on the plane ride home), made friendships that will last a lifetime, and grew in empathy, fortitude, patience, and my ability to nurture and support others. I even ´´became a man´´ (according to Paraguayans, it happens on your 25th birthday)!

As I told my friends in Prettyview, I will return to Gringolandia an adoptive Paraguayan, a lover of Paraguayan culture, and un abogado for the people and the country who gave so freely to me during the last two years. My time in Paraguay convinced me that, though cultural differences exist, people are people. Just like there are good and bad, lazy and hard-working, smart and dull, introverted and extroverted, etc. Americans, there are Paraguayans who also fit these descriptions. This has been a liberating and stimulating confirmation for me, in that it has truly enabled me to embrace the belief that all people deserve and can achieve the best of the human existence. I´ll call this ´´Jake´s weak universalism.´´ Descriptively rather than perscriptively, I will claim that we can understand, cooperate with, and learn from each other, that the things that divide us are not insurmountable.

If I had, somewhat paradoxically, to describe the things I loved most about Paraguay, I would say that Paraguayans often go above and beyond in their hospitality, humility, and willingness to joke around. The Guaranì-Spanish bilinguilism is a fascinating, complex, and enriching facet of Paraguayan culture that also sets the Paraguayan people apart. And as a sometime luddite and romantic, I appreciate the occasional conservativism that refuses to become atavism of the Paraguayan people. Most of all, I will always remain grateful to the individuals, who number in the hundreds, who unquestionably opened their arms, homes, and minds to me as a foreign visitor and, later, an adopted countryman.

I will sign off for now, with my next entry coming from the United States. Thank you to all of my readers from home. Without the support of family and friends, my service would have been either miserable or impossible. Thank you also for taking an interest in Paraguay and Paraguayans and thus helping me to accomplish my work as a volunteer. Avy`aiteta pohechanvoko ñaneretame! (I will be delighted to see you in our country!) And to close, one more of my favorite ñe`enganguèra Paraguaya (Paraguayan adages):

''Jajotopata lata'ipe,'' he'i el burro cavajupe.
''See you later in the little can (of ground meat),'' said the donkey to the horse.