Winter in Paraguay?
Time for mbeju and cocido! (always about food!)
What’s up, y’all!
I hope you Northern Hemisphere people have been enjoying your nice weather - we've finally taken a turn towards winter, and baby, it's cold outside! All the way down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, lol. It's probably going to get a little bit colder, but it's beanie weather! And though it's chilly, a hoodie can handle it. Don't need the thermals, or the heavy insulated coat, or the gloves, or the boots, or any of those things I needed in Oregon. So I welcome the colder air for a bit.
We took another trip to Asunción recently. This was an important one, we picked up our cedulas! The cedula is the national ID card, which gives us a lot more ability to do things here. Let me clarify the difference between the cedula and the residency cards that we received a couple of months ago.
The temporary residency card is a two-year visa. That means we can stay here for two years, but it's more like a visitor's pass. Think of it as an extended tourist visa. The cedula is the card that means we are Paraguayans now, and can get a driver's license, open a bank account, or start a business. It's a very important step towards putting down roots here.
Here's the best part: now that we've gotten our residency and our cedulas, we don't have to go back to Asuncion to deal with bureaucracy until the end of next year! We can just focus on living and learning more about our new culture.
And that's what I've been doing this week. Just like anywhere in the world, people eat differently as the seasons change. No one makes a stew in the middle of summer, that's more of a winter food. And it's the same here. With the change in weather, I've been learning about what Paraguayans eat when it's cold outside.
Top choices? Mbeju and cocido. Last night, I got the chance to learn how to make both.
Cocido is a warm drink, made of yerba mate and sugar. First you mix the yerba and sugar together on a plate, and then you add hot coals to the plate and toss the mix around. Not kidding! Afterwards you dump the whole mess into some boiling water and let it cook for a while. Then you add some cold water to it and strain it. A delicious, warm drink on a cold night.
And it pairs well with mbeju, which is amazing! You mix together corn meal, flour, milk, paraguayan cheese, and a bit of grease, and then toss it all together in a big bowl. Then you scoop it out into a pan and fry it. It’s a pancake, but a pancake made of warm, melty cheese! It's so good, and I had a fun time learning how to make them both.
I've also been having a good time exploring the greenhouses here. I decided to add some flowers to my front patio. Everyone here hangs out in their front yards, and while I often go sit with them in their yards to drink terere, I wanted to be able to do it in my own front yard. This house has a huge wall around it, which is great for safety, but sitting on the front porch means I'm sitting by myself, cut off from the rest of the street.
So I decided it was time to update the front patio and make it more hospitable. I got some new flowers and flower pots (macetas) and it looks so much cheerier now. The plants on each side of the gate are called "mother-in-law's tongue" and it seems every house here has some, though I don't know why. I've heard they have medicinal properties, but I've also heard the opposite, so who knows. I should probably remember to ask someone.
When you sit outside and share terere, it's common to have a little table, or "mesita" to put your cup and pitcher on. One of my neighbors made me my very own mesita, so now my patio has everything it needs to entertain. The first day I went out there to sit, within twenty minutes I had five people over chatting with me. This community has been so welcoming to us, I'll be sad when we finally move to the other side of town from this street.
And when will that be? might be your next question. It's a good one - how's it going with buying a property?
It's going, lol, and that's all I can say about that. It turns out that the property we're buying is still in the name of the parents of the man we're buying it from. Wouldn't be a problem, except his father is deceased. All of the following is what I have gathered, but I am no attorney and some of this may be wrong. But in Paraguay, there doesn't really seem to be a think like a last will and testament. When someone dies, it automatically gets split among the members of the immediate family. Well, I guess "automatically" isn't the word for it. A succession has to occur, and successions are very expensive, so typically, they don't happen.
But now that we have agreed to purchase the property, a succession has begun to transfer the title from the name of the mother and father into the name of the mother and two children. Seems like it's just a bit of paperwork, but nothing in Paraguay happens fast. If a succession is contested, it could last for two years! This one isn't contested, so we might be done with it in only four months, fingers crossed.
There is literally nothing we can do to speed the process along. Well, maybe bribery, but I'm not opening that can of worms. So in the meantime, we're just waiting for that to finish up. Once it's done, though, we'll then be able to get the title transferred to us, and then we can begin construction on our house. I'm still hopeful we will be in our own place by the end of the year. But if not, we're happy where we are for the time being.
Time for me to head to the gym. When I told the women at the gym we had gotten our cedulas, they all clapped and cheered, "Eres Paraguaya ahora!" (You are a Paraguayan now!) I love the friendships that I have made here, and have fully embraced the new culture. It's beautiful, even if the weather has turned cold!
I'll leave you with some food. Enjoy!
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Parting Thoughts
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this property is very near where we live.
So much fun being part of your journey, Thank you for sharing. I miss you here in Oregon, but I can feel the love you have for your new home. I would sell this place in a heartbeat for a new journey, but all my family moved here after us and I would feel guilty taking off and leaving them here. I have a mass of the Mothers in law tongue, also known as the snake plant. I have many in my home and all the varieties. Miss You, Be happy....