Thursday, January 14, 2010

We Were Kings

Storytime!

So here in paraguay there is another holiday celebration after the official christmas and new years that we are used to in the united states.  It is called the day of the kings, which i am pretty sure is supposed to be when the three wise men came to visit baby Jesus.  Here it is celebrated by people putting shoes outside their windows and the kings bring by gifts for them!  pretty fun, but this year, i had a fun adventure with my host father.  I am working as a crop extensionist, and those crops sure do stretch; they usually go from seed, to field, to a home to be processed and cleaned, and then finally to market!  I was lucky enough to go to the market in a city near my site where members of my community sell their produce.

The product - Melón - think cantaloupe...ish. sweeter. better. maybe more honeydew....anyhow.

The goal - bring in the dough at market.

The ride - pick up truck

The time - 1 AM.

Intensity.  So the day before we loaded a pick up truck full up of the melóns and it was sent to wait at the drivers house.  We woke up at 1 in the morning to walk to the ruta, hop in the truck and head off to the market.  The city was deserted...not one to be seen, we were the first to arrive.  We unpacked each small, but weighty crate of fruit and placed it on the side of the road.  Then i napped for an hour on one of the vending tables that later that day was to be occupied by a veggie vendress. The the city started waking up, people opening store fronts, bringing in other produce...it was a really cool experience. Fruits of all kinds and more veggies than you could imagine. My host dad actually sells produce to other vendors, so my community is like the primary source of the goods.  It is a really cool system. In the meantime i had some super fresh chipa...the best snack in the universe, and a breakfast of some mystery meat, rolled in pigskin...this dish is really growing on me.  We were done selling by 6 in the morning, having brought in a pretty good haul.  We bought some stuff to take back home to family.  It felt very gratifying, and i can only imagine taking a field from seed to market. Small scale agricutural production is just the best. It felt like we were kings...well, of the market at least.

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