Bday Party Remixed & Paso de Oro Game

July 20th, 2009 – Bday Party Remixed & Paso de Oro game

Bday Party Part 2:

Mike’s surprise birthday party started at 3:00 PM on Saturday afternoon. Paulo and I had planned on making it back by then, but with how long it took to get there and back, it didn’t quite work out like that. We got back around 7:00 PM, and the birthday party was well underway. In fact they had already been going strong for 4 hours.

It had been moved from Mike’s house since his parents are in mourning and aren’t aloud to play loud music. So the party was at Mary’s house, just 2 doors down from my house. We walked up and joined the party. This time, it was almost 100% Americans, yet interestingly enough, the Americans were partying like Paraguayans, which is to say they were sitting in a giant circle talking and sharing drinks. Before too much longer, Mary’s Dad cranked the American hip-hop, and with that the dancing was underway. I started it off by dancing hip-hop style with Mary’s super cool little brother. With us two on the dance floor, the girls weren’t far behind. The party lasted several more hours at Mary’s house, before we noticed that Mary’s Mom had become sick, and it was getting late, so we took the party to the house of what is seemingly Paso de Oro’s only 20 something with his own place.

By this time we had lost a decent portion of the Americans but picked up some Paraguayans. We danced in the living room deep into the night. This is cultural integration and intercultural exchange at its best.

We all had a ton of fun!

Paso de Oro Game:

The next day was Sunday. Of course, the sacred day of the national religion...soccer. So the whole family and half the community headed down the long, dirt road in my brother’s truck.

Nothing too eventful. Just another normal day at the cancha (soccer field). The referees just barely escaped death running by escort into a small wooden shack, which enraged supporters tried to tear down...but you know, nothing unusual, just another average Sunday in Paraguay. Papa told me later that unless they assault the refs and draw blood, the police aren’t allowed to do anything. Even more so since the principal agitator was the owner of the opposing club and therefore on his own turf. I asked, and to the best of my knowledge, a disturbing of the peace or disorderly conduct law doesn’t exist here. What’s more is that there has to be someone to denounce someone else. If no-one denounces a criminal within six hours, they are set free. Many times, people won’t denounce someone, because they know they are likely to go free anyway, especially if they throw a few Guaranis (local currency) in the direction of the cops. Then the criminal is free and knows the name of who denounced them, and revenge is a common problem in Paraguay. You can see who this is a troubled system I’m sure.