Semana Santa = Easter Holiday

This week is Semana Santa, the Paraguayan version of the Easter holidays I think. I don't really do anything or know anything about this holiday in the US but here, there are a bunch of customs but for my community it mostly means tons of Chipa. What is Chipa? Chipa is a homemade bread made from corn flour, casava flour, cheese, milk, salt, and butter or animal fat. Traditionally, the Chipa is cooked in a traditional brick oven called a Tataqua. 

(Igloo made of brick and mud

The wood is burned inside for 45 minutes or so and then all the coals and wood is taken out and the pieces of dough, formed into hand size ovals or doughnuts, are placed on leaves and slid inside. The result is a wood oven baked deliciousness that is crunchy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. It is awesome and probably one of the foods I'll miss most when I leave. During Semana Santa, a family is likely to make 150 pieces, an enterprise that usually involves the whole family and in the case of the family I visited, making the dough in what was pretty much a giant animal watering trough 12 feet long. When its not Semana Santa Chipa is made sporadically usually on Sundays. It is also sold daily in towns at places called Chiperias. It is also the most common bus vendor food (In Paraguay, vendors bring food to sell onto buses, they dont pay the bus fare and walk down the aisle peddling the food and get off after 2 or 3 stops. Its pretty awesome).