Better late than never

I've finally decided to get around to posting about our first true family vacation to Paraguay. It was getting a little ridiculous since the trip is now officially in the distant past, being a totally different year and all. But a warning, this is a complete retelling, pretty much in real time, so be prepared for a long read!

So where to begin, the very beginning I suppose! We packed our bags here in Chicago and took it all to Morris to make the (what we then thought would be) 24 hour trip door to door.



Do you think we took enough books? Domingo's answer would be a resounding NO! But he survived.

We also survived the packing of our 12 suitcases, and then were off to the airport. The weather cooperated with us, and we left Chicago on time. Domingo was beside himself with all the "ons" to look at. (He still says only the last one or two syllables for many words, even though now he can fully say avion, for awhile there you had to just go on context clues to figure out what "-on" or "-ito" he was taking about.) But without much fuss and with no chance of a nap (We don't need no stinkin' naps!) we made it to Miami - 1/3 of the way there!

Then we got to our first of many waits. We picked up our luggage, took it to the airline counter only to discover that there were no attendants at said counter for another 2 hours. So we hung out in the beautiful airport lounge, eating doughnuts and browsing the BAM! bookstore. Is that like an Emeril Legassi run store? Then once the attendants came on duty we got our boarding passes and sent our bags (after much ado - there were six of us after all) and at every blessed turn they asked me if Domi had a seat and told me that his "stroller" would have to be checked. And every blessed time, I explained that no, it's not a regular stroller, it turns into a car seat, actually an FAA approved seat, to be used on the plane, and on his ridiculously expensive airplane seat, so suck it.

Ok, cut to several hours later, the airline finally gets around to getting a wheelchair for my 94 year old aunt because otherwise she'd have to walk the mile (literally) to the gate. So we get geared up to wait at the gate, for another 5 hours! The plane was supposed to leave a 9 p.m., giving us a healthy window of 6 hours to hang out in Miami International. Well, the take off time kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed until finally at 2 a.m. I watched unbelievingly as the flight crew deplaned and went on their merry way to live it up in the Miami after-hours. The airline, after handing out pretty crappy Cuban sandwiches, said, "oh yeah, flight's canceled, something's wrong with the plane". Well, Domingo had fallen asleep and got back up and was running all over, but was still, incredibly in a pretty good mood. I, on the other hand, was not. We got back to the airline desk to find out where they were putting people up, and it was chaos. Mom, being who she is, pushed her way to the front of a very long line, and said, I've got a baby and a 94 year old lady, and my husband with his arm in a cast, if you don't want to be next, you'll give us a voucher and send us on our way." Luckily, no one was injured and after another hour of waiting, we were in a Hampton Inn a few miles from the airport and got to sleep for 5 hours, before heading back to the airport again. After several more hours waiting, the plane finally took off, all pieces in place, or so they tell me. We were scheduled to leave Santa Cruz, Bolivia for Paraguay at 9 a.m. that day, when we instead left Miami at 11 a.m. We should have been in Asuncion before we actually left. The poor passengers in Bolivia waited until our plane arrived (at like 9p.m.) to go.



The waiting is the hardest part. Me and Domi, Miami, day 2.

We arrived in Asuncion at 2 a.m. local time and Domingo was such a trooper that people were remarking that he was such a sweet good baby. He only freaked out a little there towards the end of the trip. The only problem with my genius plan of nursing him until this trip was over was that he has always refused to nurse under anything. Every time I tried to be discrete and use a blanket or shirt or anything to cover my chest, Domingo would rip it off and look at me like I was crazy. So maybe people got a show, oh well, it's not like they've never seen a National Geographic, or in some cases on this plane at least, they may even come from the places that they film!



Super trooper.

Well, needless to say it was all worth it. Abuela's house is incredible. This is the first time I've been there since the renovations, and it's really like a luxury hotel, complete with staff that will make you fresh squeezed orange juice everyday, and hot ham and cheese sandwiches on command. (Thanks tio Gustavo! Just kidding, he only made us a few sandwiches on command.)



Then our first order of business once we woke up was where are we eating tonight? (Surprised? I didn't think so.) We settled on Bar San Roque, one of the oldest, and in my opinion best places in Asuncion. If I may toot my own horn, several years ago when picking a place to eat, I said let's go to Bar San Roque! Bar San Roque! Bar San Roque! And everyone laughed and said I was being funny, (well I did just like repeating the name over and over) but then I said, no I'm serious, and mom asked around and people said that yes, it's a really old place, but still really good typical Paraguayan food. It's been a staple of our Paraguayan dining menu ever since.



Almost every day for lunch we'd eat at Abuela China's house (my mom's mom) and we had some really good meals there too. South America is not like the U.S. where lunch is a quick sandwich, or bag of microwave popcorn, or a container of ramen and you head back to your desk. (Did I just reveal too much about my sad eating habits?) It's usually a three course deal with salad or soup, main course, and dessert, even if dessert is just a bowl of fruit, or cheese and syrup (yeah, I know, gross).



Gustavo and mom usually dictated what was for lunch (and supervised the kitchen staff), and it was always great.

While in Paraguay, Domingo got to meet his two visabuelas, great grandmothers, my mom's mom, Abuela China.



Here they are reading "opuestos"


And my Dad's mom, Abuela Tomasa.





Here we are at my Dad's mom's house. The one of my tia Nilda holding Domi is one of my favorites.

Lots of staying out too late, eating stuff he's NOT supposed to, playing in the pool, and of course reading stories was the name of the game.








It was so amazing to have so much uninterupted time with Domi, and with Chris for that matter. Domingo really flourished while we were there. He started walking in full force, I think in part because he didn't have to have so many layers piled on, and no shoes! He learned a whole bunch of new words, met so many people. He had a terrific time.

As you will see, the vast majority of the pictures of this trip are at the table, so if there wasn't a meal involved, there probably isn't a picture. We are single minded on my side of the family.



Here we are roasting at one of my favorite places in all of Asuncion to eat. Lido bar. It has the best "typical" Paraguayan food, and it's pretty cheap. The waitresses all wear crazy 50's style uniforms, and the bar snakes around the inside of the restaurant. After waiting about half an hour for a table to open up, we sat outside and drank about a gallon of water and juice. This was on our "shopping" day where we hung around downtown, in the scorching hot sun, and bought little trinkets for family and friends back home. It was a fun day, but dear lord it was hot. I'm not sure if you can see the color of Domingo's face, but he looks like a tomato. Luckily we were almost always in the shade and had industrial strength sunscreen.

Not to be completely without any cultural experiences, we went to a clarinet concert that Gustavo's friend David held at the University where he is playing in the orchestra and I think teaching lessons.



We met with some more cousins at my Abuela's house, they came by for a bbq and swimming. Domi had a ball.




The next day we went to my cousin Danny's to hang out and have lunch. It was again hot as all heck, but Domingo refused to come inside where it was cooler, he wanted to be out in the heat. Danny's kids are so sweet, and Maria Jose wanted to keep Domingo with her.



The day before Christmas Eve, we went out to the fancy farmers market in Asuncion to stock up for the big feast.


In Paraguay Christmas Eve is the big celebration day, complete with fireworks and shooting guns off at midnight. As a child I would complain bitterly about no snow, no Santa Claus, and no SILENT NIGHT for God's sake. Now I like the palm trees with Christmas lights, don't mind not getting presents, and find the shooting guns pretty funny. Christmas Day, everything is closed, and people sleep off their hangovers until the afternoon. My Dad used to always go on a fishing trip with his good friend, just to show you how much people care about Christmas Day!

Anyway, back to the shopping. So we went to the fancy farmers market, called the "agroshopping" or "agro" for short. It's really beautiful, with a very wide variety of fresh produce and meats and cheeses, but quite pricey for the average Paraguayan.



Here's Domi and tio Gustavo at the artisanal cheese counter. Domingo kept wanting to go back to see the little toy cows and goats they had on the counter to show whether it was cows or goats milk cheese. We had a couple really good cheeses from here, one that was very reminiscent of a port salut (orange rind semi soft from France) and a few others I can't recall anymore. Anyway, not just your typical "Queso Paraguay" the ubiquitous pungent yellow cheese used to make all the traditional Paraguayan dishes like Chipa Guazu, Sopa Paraguay, Bori Bori and Embeju. But Gustavo's is the food blog, back to the baby pics.



Domi is quite like his father in that he has little patience for shopping. Once the novelty of the cow counter wore off, or he realized he couldn't play with them, he was ready to call it quits. He is hot, tired (signing sleep) and in a pretty crabby mood. (See the giant hunks of queso paraguay in the background.)

Christmas Eve we had an amazing meal that was kind of a mix of Paraguay and Mexico. Gustavo's friend David is staying with my Abuela, and he would always have tamales at Christmas, that's typical Mexican Christmas fare, so he and Gustavo took on the huge effort of making really tasty chicken tamales. Even I, who doesn't particularly care for tamales, thought they were great. We also had a roast suckling pig that we picked up from the agro, I have a picture, but won't add it for those who are a little squeamish. If you want to see you can check out Gustavo's food blog dinner bell

Another Christmas tradition in Paraguay is the "pesevre" or in English, I believe it's called a creche. The nativity scene is in every home at Christmas time. This is in place of a nice big fir tree. It is required to go up to the pesevre and admire it, and tell your host how lovely it is. We went to a complete strangers house just to see a really big one. It was lovely. Here is one at my father's friend's house. Domingo is not displaying the appropriate interest.



I don't remember if it was before or after Christmas that we got fancied up and went to my Dad's 50th reunion for graduating from the police academy. It was a really nice party, and I'm glad we went, but the bad thing about Paraguayan get togethers is that they say they start at one time, then by the time all the speeches are through it's 3 hours later and you still haven't eaten, and your baby is completely melting down on your lap. The food was great, the speeches were moving, but for heaven's sake, the invite said 8 p.m. I didn't have a morsel of food until 11!



Here we are about to go to the reunion. This would've been a great Christmas card if we could've photoshopped Chris's head over Gustavo's.

No trip to Paraguay would be complete with out stopping for dinner at La Paraguayita.



It's another very old established "parrillada" (think meat in huge slabs on a huge fiery grill) that we always go to year after year. The great thing about Paraguay is the meat is so ridiculously cheap. The six of us ate huge steaks (well my dad had fish), drank beer (not me), had salad and Chipa Guazu for 130.00 US total. It's crazy. It was listed as the most inexpensive cities for expats to live in the world. This with the dollar as weak as it was (and is)!



Bad mommy, keeping the boy out after bed time!

And finally, Domingo's reason for being while we were there. If he was crabby or tired or if we needed to distract him for whatever reason, all we had to do was go and look for David's long suffering tortoise and Domingo was totally enthralled. He could watch "Henri" all day and ask for mas. Henri was a very understanding little guy, and put up with us because we fed him hibiscus flowers nonstop.



We had a farewell pizza party at Abuela's invited all the cousins over again for swimming and grilled pizza. David and I had a pizza-off, complete with trash talking and belittling each others skillz. I had the automatic out in that I didn't make the pizza dough, so any short comings in my pie were not MY fault. But I think everyone really liked the pizzas no matter who made them. We made like 10 and there were NO leftovers.



Here Domingo is watching a play put on by Danny about the monster from Where the Wild Things Are and a weird inflatable Jaguar.

The trip back wasn't quite as eventful as the trip there, no overnight stay in Miami, but it had it's moments as well. My cousin Maria Lourdes who came back with us for a visit had some problems at the gate that took about 5 years off my mother's life. But we got her into the country, we got all our luggage (both ways, I was amazed!) and came back just in time for one of the coldest, snowiest winters in recent memory. Wait, when can we go back?

So, overall, a wonderful time was had by everyone, even it it was a little stressful at times. I know Domingo probably won't remember his first trip to Paraguay, I know it won't be his last, but I feel I can safely say, he loved it all the same.