August 2011 - Postcards (and some bookmarks) from Paraguay

I LOVE, absolutely LOVE postcards. I love writing them, receiving them, and collecting them. Unfortunately, I don't think most of us are writing or receiving as many of them as we once did, before digital images became so ubiquitous. I have tried to send real, physical postcards from Paraguay to many of you during my time here, many of them mailed by fellow Peace Corps Volunteers travelling home to cut down on the postage expense. (Thank you PCVs!)

Here are just a couple examples of some cards that have made it back to the States. I realize the resolution is not perfect on these renderings since I merely took a photo of postcards, rather than scanning them. If you really want to see more, a mere "postcards from Paraguay" search on your browser of choice will bring up more than you'll have time to look at!

1) I took a picture of these school children in November 2009, and the image was one of several selected amongst PCV Paraguay photos to be printed for postcards. (I only had two sets of alphabet flashcards with me the day of the picture; hence, we had to improvise with Paraguay's third "a".)


















2)This postcard (which should appear horizontally, but can't figure out how to change it for now) shows an example of some ñanduti craftwork. The word ñanduti comes from Guarani, Paraguay's indigenous language, and means "spider-web lace." It is one of my favorite types of artesania here. I found a woman to make bookmarks for me, since as a librarian I always love to give unusual bookmarks as gifts. Below the postcard are photos of Reina, a Paraguayan who works at this craft, and a close-up photo of some of the latest bookmarks she's made for me.











































Some friends have used these bookmarks as bracelets too!