Rohayhu Paraguay <3: It's a pretty ugly place...

Well, just to give you a little update...I had a meeting this past weekend (Thanks to Granddad) with a nice man named John who did the Peace Corps in Colombia back in the day. While in Colombia he heard the Paraguayan harp and fell in love with it. Now he makes a living making harps in Front Royal and lives in this cool rustic house, with a wood burning stove for heat and an outdoor kitchen area. He has been back to Paraguay a good amount of times and these were his conclusions:

- It's a pretty ugly place and really flat
- The people are really friendly once you get to know them
- There's no need to learn Guarani (the indigenous language)
- It's the hottest place he has ever been
- It's really safe, for the developing world
- The tea (Mate or Terrere) that they drink religiously is bitter and gross
- The music is awesome and the harp is king!

haha, so pretty much confirmed what I had already suspected... However, I am hoping his opinion about the beauty is based on his limited travel (he has only been around Asuncion) and hopefully the attached pictures disprove the ugliness that he speaks of.. .However, I don't doubt that there are a lot of ugly places in Paraguay.. and being a lover of the mountains, the flatness might not be very appealling... but from what I've seen it gets better and somewhat hilly as you move north. Overall, I'm really glad I got to talk to him and hear him play, he is very good and I really hope that the harp still is King in Paraguay because I would love to listen to that all day! Especially the Paraguayan harp, which has a much smoother acoustic sound, not as metallic sounding as the average harp... very pretty!