Day 4: Our Journey Continues

Today was the first day of our lectures. After practice last night, we came in prepared for the morning. We started almost an hour late which gave Dr. White a small heart attack, but the audience was just chatting and drinking cafe (coffee) and sparkling water (aqua con gas). They were very laid back with a no worries attitude. It's the land of mañana! Americans would probably have fewer high blood pressure problems if we had a no worries attitude! Marcelo assured us that's normal in Paraguayan time and we shouldn't worry.

Lyndi teaching Form to Function

Abby teaching Horse Behavior and Communication

Hannah and Holly teaching Equine First Aid

We began the lectures with "Form to Function" presented by Lyndi, followed by "Horse Communication and Behavior" by Abby, and finally "First Aid" given by Holly and Hannah. The girls that started said hello and introduced themselves in spanish. The audience appreciated the gesture and everyone clapped for us! We immediately felt at ease and were very grateful for their kindness. We love it here! All of the presentations went very well and good questions were asked. Lyndi had everyone get up and walk to determine if they were structurally correct, and to demonstrate how different leg faults can place undue stress on particular areas of the leg. This was an activity that was fun and needed very little translation. Later Lyndi had a practice class of halter horses to judge. When she asked for "reasons" for their placings, Diego gave her his reasons in english!  We were very impressed and all clapped for his gesture. Hannah and Holly prepared a handout for their first aid presentation, that Hannah's grandmother had helped translate into Spanish.

Kenny explaining the handout at the clinic

The translations were correct, and we were able to impress the importance of having a description of normal vital signs for your horse, and the handout included a week where they could record their horse's vital signs and keep  them handy to refer to if the horse ever felt poorly. Kenny, the chairman of international committees for the AQHA has been doing a great job translating for us and making things go smoothly. So far horse management and care in Paraguay is not too dissimilar from the United States, and we are excited to continue learning about how our cultures and horse practices are similar and different. Once we were finished with the morning lectures, we continued our journey in experiencing the lifestyle here. We were taken to a really good Brazilian Steakhouse where we were brought several different cuts of meat to try, including chicken heart.  Once you were able to get past the fact that the meat on your plate came from the heart of a chicken, it was very good. Actually ALL of the meat here is good and we will be spoiled by the time we get back to the states. The restaurant also included a buffet style area which we tried many salads and side dishes.  As full as we were, we just couldn't stop trying things.  We have also had the opportunity to try numerous desserts, including passion fruit mousse, cookie dough mousse, and a type of fruit like candy served with cheese.

The chairs at the Restaurant

Delicious grilled pineapple

The Salad Bar at the Restaurant

We were given the afternoon off and were able to go back to the hotel and take a much needed nap. On our drives to and from the hotel we have experienced great conversations and hilarious jokes to remember.  As we passed by a shopping center pointed out by Marcelo, he proceeded to tell us how much his girlfriend, Dierce, loves to shop. He said "its like shes killing me, killing me softly." We laughed so hard!  Abby proceeded to discover that Marcelo is familiar with the American song "killing me softly" and her and Marcelo started singing together.  Marcelo also hates many things such as motorcycles that zip in and out of traffic, the guys that walk in traffic to hassling you with cleaning  your windows and the police.  He always says he wants to kill them all.  When we commented about how scary it is driving here because you never know what people are going to do, Marcelo said "Here we think we can stop cars with our eyes.  We look at them and we are like stop!" There is never a dull moment with Marcelo.   We were picked up by Marcelo at 9 and taken back to the expo for a birthday party for a woman named Camilla, from Brazil. She was turning 28.

A picture of everyone gathering outside the A.P.C.M building for Camilla's birthday

Throughout the night, we were served several cuts of meat as well as a true cowboy meal often eaten by Brazilian cowboys on the trail. It was made of rice and meat and had fried eggs and vegetables mixed in with it as well. As it turns out Brazilian cowboys eat much better than American cowboys. There was a lot of singing and dancing throughout the evening as well. They actually play a lot of American music, which is funny because they dance and sing along, and yet have no idea what any of it means. A couple of the girls tried two stepping and they were stopped and told not to dance like that and were shown how to dance another way. We were also told that parties in Paraguay can last until 6 or 7 in the morning. The birthday girl also sang a song for us that she sang beautifully.

Camilla singing at her birthday party

Even though we were having a ton of fun, and our naps earlier helped, we had presentations in the morning, so, needless to say, we did not stay that long.   Hasta proximo tiempo, NMSU Aggies in Paraguay