Travels:
Uruguay
I was invited by my wonderful friend Kate to visit her in Montevideo, Uruguay, this past year for a little over a week. We explored the city, checked out her work as a mentor at an orphanage and a tutoring center, ate lots of delicious food, and headed out to the Atlantic Ocean for a day.
We enjoyed an amazing modern tango show the first night in the famous Teatro Solis.
This fountain in the heart of Montevideo is supposed to bring luck to couples that write their names on a lock and then close on the fountain.
Tutoring in math
At work making lemonade with the kids!
Watching Kate play on her local volleyball team.
Day trip to Punta del Este to spend sometime by the Atlantic Ocean
The famous La Mano or The Hand statue in Punta del Este
Te amo Uruguay
Argentina
This year I was also blessed to have my friend Maggie come to visit me in Paraguay during her summer vacation and Paraguay's winter break. We explored Ayolas for a little over a week and then we headed out on an adventure to Northern Argentina. We visited the Jesusit ruins of San Ignacion Mini...
and the awe-striking Iguazu Falls.
Birthday:
This past year I celebrated my first birthday in Paraguay. I was surrounded by Peace Corps volunteers and my Paraguayan friends. I celebrated alongside a good Paraguayan friend of mine named Edgar Sanchez that was turning 26 a few days before me. After a huge dinner of delicious grilled pork, we headed out to the local discoteca where we danced until 6 am. Turning 24 never felt so good!
My host sister and cousin.
Edgar and his family.
Work Projects:
EcoAyolas
I have been working with the youth group EcoAyolas for the past year with three main projects.
1. An International World Earth Day Festival
We held a neighborhood clean-up and recycled art presentation to local school age students.
2. A tree planting campaign in the plazas of Ayolas.
3. A bird camp for 5th graders in celebration of International Bird Month, October.
We sang songs, made bird masks and bird feeders, learned about migration habits, popular bird species in Paraguay, and went out on a field observation adventure.
School garden
This year long project took place at one of the local schools where the 4th-6th grade teachers were interested in restarting their school garden project from years past. I work specifically with these grades to teach the techniques and practice good gardening in Paraguay.
Practicing transplanting the starters into soil. 
Students also voted using beans on what design would be used for their school garden flag design. Thanks for the help Maggie!
Learning about garden design with homemade puzzles.
I was also able to organize a field trip to the local community garden and tree nursery where all the 4th, 5th and 6th graders were able to practice their gardening techniques and take a few trees and vegetables home with them.
Murals
I also work with the local high school class of environmental science students and this spring we worked to raise money and then paint four different environmentally themed murals in Ayolas. The themes were:
Water Conservation
Biodiversity
Contamination
and Global Climate Change
Reduce and Reuse
Trash management is one of the main problems environmental Peace Corps volunteers face in their communities since there is a lack of an effective trash and recycling program in Paraguay. Here are some pictures of my work with students reusing plastic bottles to make trash cans for their school and cutting old wine bottles into drinking glasses.
Paraguayans
They are why I am here and why I stay.
So one year has come and gone. It was filled with experiences that made the memories that will last beyond my Peace Corps service here in Paraguay. Thanks to all the Paraguayans that continue to open their lives and hearts to me here in Ayolas. And thanks to all of you reading my blog that continue to encourage and support me from thousands of miles away. You all are in my heart.
Here's to year number two! May it be an even bigger adventure than the first.
