Update 11 -- 19th May 2006

Well hello!

Yes we still are alive & kicking, although not entirely well! We have been out of email contact for the past week or so, hence this late update. I also have not been able to keep any food in for the past 5 or so days, and now also have a sore throat, so at the moment trying to keep my head above water!

We have been up to quite a bit, but I will still try to keep this short, so if you want extra details on anything, just ask for in a separate email!

About last week sometime we left General Aquino with the family (the van is at last fixed & working well) and headed for the East City (Cuidad del Este) which is on the border of Brazil, Paraguay and also very close to the Argentinean border too. We stayed there 4 nights and visited a few things. Firstly we had a look around a Christian school there for rich upper class kids -- really interesting and a great place. They are looking for native speaking English people to teach there on 1 year contracts if anyone is interested. We really enjoyed the company of the director and we organized to go out for dinner with her the next night. This ended up being in Brazil, because we headed over to Brazil to have a look at the Iguaçu Falls. They were pretty amazing and we also enjoyed the Brazilian food!

The next day we had a tour around the Itaipu Dam (I think the biggest in the world) and then also there zoo of animals they rescued when they flooded the area above the dam. Very cool animals and some very cute, and some very scary!

We headed off the next day to visit one of the Ache people tribes and spend some time with the family who have been helping them to cope within the 21st century. The people have really been brought forward 500 years in technology and learning modern techniques of farming and agriculture instead of trying to live off the hunter-gatherer type of scenario. They are a really lovely people with lots of love & hugs for everyone. Jon especially enjoyed our time there (I spent most of it in bed unfortunately) and they even organized a concert for him to play at, although he just thought it was going to be a jam with a couple of guys. The village really loved it and it was a great night. It is a really special place and so awesome to see these guys so happy and full of life. In some ways these people are primitive but their ability and desire to work as a community is advanced. We were excited to see an expression of God through another culture where they are taking what they want from the western world and remaining Achè in the process.

We are now back in Asuncion for a couple of days... not long now till we actually fly out for England!

Lots of traveling, lots to see & lots of photos taken, too much to write here in this one email.

Hope that gives you the basics though.

Until next time,

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