Feliz Navidad

I regret to inform you all that Santa Claus has arrived in Paraguay. We´ve spotted him in various incarnations around and about Asuncion and San Lorenzo, with various degrees of fidelity to the traditional Anglo-American icon. It´s sort of an analog to the sorts of changes going on all over this country.

We´re here with Tdec´s father, staying with family living on the same block where he grew up, so we not only get to see this place through our own eyes, but through his. In Jose´s childhood, this area was a distinct small town, mostly rural. The Gonzalez "compound" then was open, but over the years it has been divided among descendants of his father, Don Nilo, so there are more walls. Still, within those walls life is tranquil, and verdant. People are friendly, and extended family come and go perpetually... Sisters and his cousins and his aunts. We get a picture not only of how things are, but how things used to be here. It´s a mixed bag.

You can buy Coca Cola, Budweiser or Marlboro cigarettes for less than a dollar. Of course, there are still plenty of local brands, varieties and flavors of everything, but Paraguay is a study of strange contrasts. The new has been laid right over the very old. Last week, we visited a blind 92-year-old relative who lives in a small concrete house with dirt floors. The family sweeps the clay yard with a straw broom, and the children play with miniture coconut fruits. But when a relative called she answered her cell phone; you can see the cell tower less than a mile distant.

We´ve ridden in every sort of vehicle. Paraguay is the receptacle for all the cars and trucks that you thought were now extinct. There are lots full of used American cars, and so most dashboards I´ve seen are all in English. I saw a Kansas State University window sticker on an SUV yesterday. The venerable Volkswagen Beetle (the old slug-bug variety) is ubiquitous. Some people think they may still make them in Brazil, but most I´ve seen are ancient. One stands for sale around the corner from here for about $200. Vehicles rattle and shake and lots of things don´t work, but Latin ingenuity keeps them running. The negative, of course, is that a certain percentage of cars and trucks have no pollution controls whatsover, and maybe one in ten emits a pungent black cloud of particulates.

Jose is having a suit made for his nephew´s wedding, coming up next week. We grabbed a cab to his tailor´s shop a while back for a final fitting. The trip there provided some interesting insights. The cab itself inspired little confidence. It rattled and shook, but it got us there. There are no meters in cabs, I think the drivers charge based on a secret formula. On the way, we passed the San Lorenzo cathedral (a big blue building which Don Nilo helped get built), and I noticed that the driver crossed himself as we drove by. Nearer to the tailor´s shop there I noticed a bit of stark red graffiti sprayed on an otherwise pristine white brick wall: "corrupcion + impunidad = miseria".

We spent Christmas engaged in the old Paraguay tradition: sitting and talking with friends and family over tables filled with grilled food and cold beverages. No big exchange of presents or snow angels with the kids. We took a dip in cousin Marcos´ 8x20 foot pool. It´s maybe small by American standards, but it´s a little luxury that does the trick. But the American traditions, like Santa, are creeping in. The Christmas carols are all familiar, but the words are now in spanish, and they have more of a Latin shuffle to them. Most families still put out an extensive creche or nativity scene, but more and more you see Christmas trees -- at least that´s true in fancy new stores. But the goverment buildings generally stick with the life-sized manger scenes. I´ve seen no evidence, however, that this has led to better, more moral governance in this vicinity.