WORKING FOR THE PEACE CORPS IN PARAGUAY, 1968

Here are the reminiscences of Dick Ginsburg, a former Peace Corps member, who served in rural Paraguay. 

Our Peace Corps group had two months of training in Toluca, Mexico, to learn Spanish, Paraguay’s native tongue (Guarani), and agriculture.  We learned to grow vegetables and to castrate pigs -- all new to me.

We arrived in Paraguay in December, 1968, at the height of summer.  Getting off the plane was like walking into a brick wall of heat.  Paraguay was a backwater, isolated and off the beaten track.  The capital of Asunción was a sleepy city without a traffic light.  Outside of Asunción and a couple of other larger cities in the countryside, there was no electrical service.  Telephone service came only to a central office in most towns.  The highways were unpaved and turned into an impassable quagmire when it rained.