We’re sitting in the common room of the hostel in Asuncion, watching ridiculous YouTube videos, because apparently that’s what Peace Corps volunteers do on their free time.*
There are some interesting folks hanging out at the hostel tonight– a group of four musicians from Spain walked out of here all dressed up in… you know, I don’t even know. It’s like a matador’s traje de luces, only without all the sequins. You know– velvet knee britches and epaulettes and short jackets. It’s… definitely a look. They came down the stairs, and Emily and another PCV immediately sat up like meerkats and stared at them like the poor guys had three heads each. (Apparently, being in the Peace Corps not only makes you addicted to YouTube; it also makes you incapable of any subtlety at all.) One of the PCVs, Julia, ran after them, skidded on the front door mat, and proceeded to demand an explanation for their attire.**
I think she might have frightened them a little, because she’d been nursing a Nalgene of G&Ts since about three in the afternoon.
At any rate.
We caught a double-decker bus from Encarnacion to Asuncion, which was a long and pretty boring trip through ranch country. When we got in to Asuncion, we dropped our stuff at Casita and then went out for lomitos (sort of like falafel?), and then hit up the local supermarket for some chocolate. We got back the hostel in time to see Brazil lose to the Netherlands, and then sat down to work on a game of Peace Corps bingo.
Emily decided that there needed to be a version of bingo for Peace Corps folks out in the countryside, so we’ve worked on a new version called “Campo.” Just to give you an idea:
* The free space is, “I’m going to kill the rooster.”
* Plumbing is optional.
* Machete accident.
* You’ve raised (and named) your dinner.
* Your road is impassible after rain.
* Staying in a hostel is like staying in a five star hotel.
* When you see a bug, the first thing is to determine if it will eat your other bugs.
And that was basically our day! Very chill. And tomorrow, we’re going to mess about Asuncion and go take some photos before heading down to watch the World Cup final. And then we’ll do some last minute shopping and museum-ing on Monday, and then I’ll head out on Monday night!
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* There’s also a bottle of tequila being passed around between some folks, because it’s one of the guys’ birthday today. I’m refraining– not out of any objection to tequila in principle, but because I’m not convinced by the idea of Paraguayan tequila in particular. (The label is distressingly pink.) But the tequila is definitely making watching Joseph Gordon Levitt lip-syncing to Nikki Minaj way more interesting.
** Explanation: they’re musicians. The outfits are what they wear to perform. Really not that complicated.
A History of Adventure 