So I seem to have forgotten the best part about running the marathon, an excuse to travel! I get to go to on vacation in Buenos Aires for about a week and we might even hit up the beach in Uruguay. There are about 7 volunteers that I know of who are running and we are all takng the bus down, about a 16-hour drive, but cheaper than a flight. It should prove to be an interesting trip seeing as I hardly know anyone who is going. I am very excited; it will be a well-deserved break almost 6 months into my service.
It’s September and while that means the changing of leaves and end of summer for those of you up north, here in the Southern Hemisphere it means the end of winter and hopefully a steady stream of warm days. The winter here is much lie the many winters I have spent in New Orleans and Tampa. It never gets cold enough to snow, but there is the occasional freeze. There are some weeks where the weather is sunny and in the 70s and 0s and others when it is rainy and cold. The difference here is that with a lack of air conditioning and heat, as well as proper nutrition, the constant change in weather causes a lot of ongoing sickness. This past week has been rainy and freezing… The rain brings with it a steady slew of canceled classes and activities, which sometimes s a relief and other times leaves me stir crazy. When you rely on a bicycle as your main means of transportation, the other option being your feet, the rain and cold make leaving the house something to do only when it is absolutely necessary. So far this week I have read three books and am working on my fourth!
But I will be up and working hard again soon, kinda. Starting tomorrow I will be in Asuncion attending a 3-day workshop with a community contact to learn about AiDS education. This is a secondary project for many volunteers and something I haven’t really gotten into yet, but when I mentioned the workshop to one of my contacts he was elated. The funny thing is he is a staunch Christian and he handed me a magazine on the topic of sex designed by a Christian group with whom he works. The magazine describes in detail the “proper” manner of conduct relating to all things sexual. This includes only having sex if you are prepared to have a baby… ok I can handle that line of thinking, but lets get real teenagers and young adults are going to have sex so lets instead talk about birth control and condoms, which are free in the health clinics and hospitals, but even the married people around here seem to be embarrassed to ask about. The magazine also goes on to castigate pornography, masturbation, abortion and homosexuality. While I may not be a big fan of porn, I don’t think it should be condemned as something that will ruin the life of any person who watches it. If this is the way that my contact thinks we will definitely have a very interesting week! In a country where Catholicism is the norm safe sex is a touchy topic, but one that I guess I will be touching on very soon!
