Friday Night Party in Town, Awesomeness does not Ensue

So last Friday I was invited to to attend a “party” in the closest town, San Juan Bautista. I was pretty excited seeing as it was going to be my first party in town since coming to my site (cant leave my village at night because I can't ride motorcycles, no one has cars and there are no buses at night) Plus it turned out that there would be a free bus taking us in and then back out to my site at 2ish. I put on my best outing clothes, ie not the worn dirty t shirt and shorts I usually wear, and went to wait for the bus that was supposed to come at 7:00PM.

Okay so throughout this story I am going to point out some everyday obstacles I encounter in Paraguay to give you a sense of what I have gotten used to.

1. Why would I go to a party at 7:00 PM when parties in Paraguay usually get fun at about midnight Answer: Well that is when the bus comes so its go at 7 or don't go at all.

So I get ready and head out to wait at the corner where the bus is supposed to come. It was 7:00. By 8 the bus still had not come.

2. Timeliness and schedules- Non existent:
   In rural Paraguay, the notion that things will actually occur when someone says they will is questionable at best. For transportation, this means that bus arrival and departure times vary significantly. Sometimes the bus doesn't come at all. When I asked my friend waiting with me whether the bus would come he said, “Maybe, we will see.” It was NORMAL to assume that the bus might not come without explanation and he was not phased the slightest.

Finally the bus came and we headed off to town picking up others on our way. 

This is pretty accurate.

When we got into town I was finally getting excited. There were hundreds of people all crowded into the plaza. Here comes the fun right? WRONG

3. Traditional Paraguayan music is not party friendly:
   Turns out the whole thing is a rally/party for some political party and for the next 4 hours all that plays is traditional Paraguayan music and propaganda.

But there are still a ton of young people drinking, talking and having a good time right? It was a Plaza Party.

4. Plaza Parties:
   Plaza parties are a phenomena I discovered first on my vacation in Peru. Instead of going to a particular venue, say a concert, club or karaoke place etc, young people gather in a town's plaza and simply walk around the plaza... over … and over... and over again.

For the next 4 hours I essentially walked in circles. Now I can actually see why this activity could be fun. You are drinking and chatting with friends, get to see your classmates and potentially meet pretty girls also walking around and best of all there is no cover charge. However, as the only Asian I was stared at constantly. I did not have a ton to talk about with my friends that came from my community and there were no other Peace Corps volunteers. All I could hope for was the switch to reggaeton and proper party music later in the night. Fortunately, there was some fun to be had mostly involving Paraguay's lack of open container law. I went into a supermarket, bought a handle of 16 Mil (4 dollars) vodka, a 1 dollar, 2 liter bottle of Sprite and a 1 dollar glass cup and went back to walking in a circle. It was actually pretty classy. As midnight came and went, I realized my hopes of redeeming the night in some way shape or form were pointless.

5. People dont tell you the truth:
   I was given the impression that when all the political stuff was done the music would switch to clubish music. It didn't.

Then at 1ish two performers came on stage (in the middle of the plaza) who were like comedians/entertainers/ imitators. They were actually pretty entertaining and I couldnt even understand what they were saying but apparently these type of entertainers are pretty popular. They make jokes, imitate famous people and lip sync to popular songs. As the night drew to a close, I did get to eat some awesome street vendor food, which in this case was meat on a stick.

Delicious

The last funny thing to happen was on the bus on the way back to my community. We were still in town about to leave when a man got on the bus and said something in Guarani. 5 to 6 guys got up and left the bus.

6. Things dont work that great in Paraguay:
   Turns out the guys were pushing the bus to start the engine... As the bus started to roll and the engine came to life, the guys quickly jumped back on the bus. I laughed.
   
   

   

   Some assembly required

Thus ended my first party experience in town. Not the best but interesting none the less.