Goodbye, Paraguay

Guest Post From Joe M.

As i prepare to leave Paraguay to return to Ecuador….I need to say goodbye…..

Goodbye to the tererè (iced yerba mate) vendor in Plaza Uruguaya who was my first introduction to Paraguay and with whom I have passed many hours chatting in the hot afternoons….goodbye to the girls in the tourist office in Villa Florida who treated me like a king and who tried so hard to promote their country….goodbye to Jazmin in Encarnacion whose house will soon be under water because of the Yaciretá Dam and whose childhood memories will be washed away in the flood….goodbye to the chipa girls who get on the buses outside of every city to sell those hard little doughnuts of cornbread that i dont particularly like…..goodbye to the moody Paraguayan local bus drivers and goodbye to the friendly ones….goodbye to the friendly grandmother who owns the house where I am staying now and who asks me to translate for those travelers who don´t speak Spanish and who invites me to watch the news with her and drink tererè…..goodbye to the suffocating heat….goodbye to Pino, the Italian settler who is slowly going mad in San Pedro after two divorces and a run of bad luck…..goodbye to the immigration officials at the Friendship Bridge between Brazil and Paraguay who had to be prodded into putting exit stamps in my passport but who were a pleasure to deal with…goodbye to the salesgirl in Ciudad del Este who tried to convince me to buy a camera I didnt need with a smile detector…goodbye to the spirits of the Jesuits who also tried so hard so long ago to change the world with mixed results but whose influence lingers on……goodbye to Alberto whom I just met on line to see Saturn through a big ass telescope that was set up in the park…goodbye to his wife who is pregnant with twins….goodbye to the truck driver who lives out in the Chaco (Western, sparsely populated, deadly hot in summer, thornbushy Paraguay) and who wants to open a restaurant truck stop for his retirement….goodbye to the waitresses at the Lido Bar, which is a throwback to an American 50’s diner….with their orange uniforms and little hats who sometimes forget about you but never on purpose….and adios to the mosto carts, whose owners pour an ice cold sugar cane juice for a measly 20 cents….and goodb ye to the spirits of all those who fought and died or were tortured in their struggle against Gen. Stroessner and who are barely remembered except by a little tiny park down by the government buildings and the port…..and goodbye to the shoe shine boys and men, the prostitutes and street boys asking for monedas, those persistent sunglass and fake Rolex sellers….goodbye to the hamburger sellers whom I persuaded to make egg sandwiches for me near the Plaza de Heroes…who couldnt understand why I didnt want the hamburger but who went along with me anyway  and goodbye to all those fruit sellers and street vendors and money changers who bring so much life to a city, who are seen as a nuisance but without whom there is no vibration……

My Argentine friend who relocated to Paraguay 30 years ago and who is a Jehovah’s Witness (yes, I have a friend who is a JW) summed up Paraguay this way……

Paraguay is a cemetery.

And in a way, a lot of ways it is…..at times the lack of movement speaks of death but at times it speaks of peace and tranquility and being left alone….there is still an innocence here I had not expected….just today in the paper was a lead story about the Congress passing a bill to delay, once again, the implementation of a personal income tax for another year…….imagine that !

I will miss it. Goodbye.