Weird day today

Greetings to all,
We awoke today to pouring rain - almost a monsoon.  The roof leaked in our dorm so my clothes that I was "storing" on the top bunk bed (as we have no closet) were soaked.  There were other building leaks too.  But we all got ready and went to the job site, just in case we were going to work.  As it turned out, there were no masons at the site and it was raining too hard to do anything.  So we piled into the vans and went into Ascuncion to take the tour today that was supposed to be tomorrow.  We went on a walking tour to several churches, a few government buildings and the walked around the Presidential Palace.  That was very interesting in that this beautiful building with the dictator and other key officials is literally open, except for the armed guards with AK-47s.  Their biggest concern is that we stepped on the grass.  Surrounding this building were the slums; actually more of shanty towns, loose pigs, dogs and many children.  No one seemed concerned that we walked around the building, on the helipad and took pictures.  Can´t quite imagine that in DC, can you CHFAians?  Stunning comparison with the slums around the buildings too.  The country has a quiet dictatorship, meaning that they elect a new dictator every five years, but for the past seven elections, they´ve elected the same guy.  Hmmm wonder if they like him or there are no other choices.  We did learn a lot about the people who live here.  At one point, in the late 1800´s following the war, there were only 80,000 men left, of which only 3,000 were not children or elderly.  There were 120,000 women, so each man got to have multiple wives.  The founding of polygamy, I guess.  And these women were also traded amongst men like possessions.  An interesting collectible.

The "natives" are restless in the Habitat group.  Some group members who have been on other global village trips are complaining that we don´t get enough cultural time,we aren´t eating indiginous foods and we have lousy lodging.  As I have nothing to compare it to, I keep quiet.  Additionally there are some side excursions for some Executive Directors to tour other Habitat sites, meet with prospective families and tomorrow, a meeting and luncheon with the Paraguay Minister of Housing.  I am supposed to go to that one, but not sure what value-add I will have.  We´ll see.

We did go back to the site later in the day and got the first beam up!  My team and our family are amazing. Tonight they cooked for us and had some music and dancing.  A very special night. My time is over on the computer so that´s it for today.  Love and miss you all,
Karen
xoxoxo