From Merry Christmas a Feliz Navidad

Although ostensibly a religious holiday, Christmas has long lost its religious significance for many in affluent parts of the world. It has become a celebration of capitalism and our power to over-indulge ourselves on gifts, turkey,and chocolate cake (not that it isn't all appreciated). Yet, millions continue to rejoice without such material goods. As I spent the 25th of December in Paraguay this year, I had the unique opportunity to experience the holiday through the eyes of a Paraguayan family.

Rather than spending the holidays alone in the intern house, I trekked to the suburb of San Lorenzo to celebrate with a co-worker and her family. After I arrived, we spent most of the next few hours lounging around in the intense heat and sipping on terere. In addition to being delicious, the iced tea provides a welcome chill in the absence of air conditioning. Even if they had air conditioning, it wouldn't have been much help; we lost electricity twice that night without reason and water at least once that I know of.

As midnight approached, we sat down to dinner beneath the stars. It was far from calm; reggaeton beats and Christmas carols wafted from nearby houses; neighborhood children launched fireworks in preparation for Jesus's birth. Suddenly, about 5 minutes before midnight, all went silent. We quickly went inside and gathered around the nativity for some prayers and a toast to Jesus's birth. Interestingly, the toast only consisted of a small sip of champaign. The remaining contents of our glasses returned to the bottle to be saved for another special occasion.

Every moment, the neighborhood regained a little of its earlier liveliness. After finishing our dinner, I served the chocolate and galleta cake I had struggled to produce the night before. Not one of my better creations, but I'll blame the gas oven in the intern house. How am I supposed to make culinary magic happen when I don't even know the temperature? Yet, I'm glad I brought it; as there was no other dessert, we would have celebrated a chocolate-less Christmas without it.

As the clock approached 1:00 AM, the conversation began to dwindle and the girls and I began to prepare ourselves for a night of dancing and laughter with their friends. Within an hour, we were walking towards a friends' house in our most elegant attire. Too bad our trek aligned perfectly with the nightly downpour. Regardless, it was an excellent night ending with a beautiful sunrise while walking home.

Unlike past Christmases when my entire family bounded out of bed at the first rays of sunlight to see whether Santa though we'd been naughty or nice, no one arose before 11:00. Once awake, we spent the day lounging around, drinking terere, and visiting neighborhood friends. Interestingly, terere culture extends to all beverages in Paraguay. Rather than using several glasses when sharing a bottle of soda or wine, all just pas one glass around the circle and refill it whenever necessary. This serves as an excellant means of uniting strangers; unfortunately, it's also a great way to share germs and start and epidemic.

Saturday morning I finally returned to my own home via the cities buses. Unlike the Santiago system, they rarely seem to be overflowing with people. Unfortunately, I managed to time my trip home perfectly; the bus was too crowded. Regardless, the driver continued allowing more people to board so I ended up hanging out an open door as the bus bounced along the dirt road. Terrifying, but, on the bright side, the constant breeze kept me from overheating in the throngs of people.

Tired from the past few days, I spent the majority of the day absorbed in a book, running, and otherwise relaxing in the spacious intern house. I considered trekking to Mercado 4, but ultimately decided to delay my trip in favor of spending more time there on Sunday.

Thus, I dragged myself out of bed early Sunday morning to journey to the famous market. Located about twenty minutes from my house by bus, the sprawling open-air market spans for several blocks and features just about every item imaginable. Munching on fresh pineapple and peaches, I meandered for hours awed by the market's sheer size. I shouldn't have been surprised though; upwards of 50% of Paraguayan work in the informal economy.

Slightly sunburnt and dehydrated from the heat, I eventually returned home and began running other necessary errands. These brought me to Mariscal Lopez Shopping, an upscale mall less than 10 minutes from my house. The contrast with the earlier market was striking; it was more orderly, less congenial, and more overwhelmingly Americanized as its most popular outlets seems to be McDonald's and Nike (an odd pairing if you ask me). It's certainly an interesting contrast and as Paraguay develops, it seems likely that the open air markets will be replaced by more generic shopping malls. Unfortunately.

Still tired from the Christmas festivities, I collapsed in my bed early Sunday evening only to be jolted awake by my alarm far too soon. Time for another day of work spent translating documents for Kiva and uploading client forms and bios. Sounds monotonous, but I actually enjoy it. Tomorrow I'm traveling to the countryside in order to see rural microfinance firsthand. Pictures and reflections coming shortly. With the correct date on the entry for a change?