Paraguay 9/13/06

One of my brothers in is Paraguay right now, working on an Operation Smile mission (where doctors go in and fix cleft palates for free). This is his 3rd or 4th, not sure. I know he's been to Russia and Cambodia before...

Anyway, I asked him if I could post his emails here and he agreed. The only changes are to spelling and grammar as necessary.

Dear Family and Friends,
Hello from South America. I arrived in Paraguay about 2 hours ago and am now in the hotel and will write more later.
Talk to you soon,
Love K

Hello again,

Sorry for the short message but I was requested to be at a lunch and team meeting and had to go. The flights down were not bad. I managed to secure aisle seats and met the team manager for the Indianapolis women's nba team next to me. I learned quite a bit about women's professional sports.

Sao Paulo, Brazil airport was nothing great and once they found a plane that worked we arrived here in Paraguay only a few minutes late. While early Spring here, the temp is in the 80s and all the flowering trees are in bloom. The land is hilly and covered with the tropical plants and scrub trees familiar in almost all of Central America and Mexico. The hotel is as nice a hotel as I have ever stayed at for an Operation Smile trip. The lobby is beautiful, the rooms are huge and all have leather sofas and chairs with mini-bars and huge bathrooms. Seems strange for a mission to have such a nice place. It is situated on the Paraguan river that borders with Argentina across from the hotel. There is a casino nearby but I have not seen it. The pool is huge and has a golf course behind the hotel. Pretty nice place to stay if you are in Paraguay.

The city is large and reminds me of a city in Mexico. I have not seen the poverty familiar with many of the trips but have not been out much. Almost all of the nicer stores and hotels and offices have armed guards outside for protection. That always seems a little strange.

I am heading out for a hospital tour at 4pm. Will try to write more later.
Love K