It is now almost 20 years since I arrived in Paraguay for the first time. Then I had left behind a job working in a bank in England. Ahead lay a teaching project in the Paraguayan countryside.
The year was 2002. By then much of the back office work in the bank had been centralized and to a degree automated.
That ensured that what was on offer was identical in any branch anywhere in the country. It also meant the much of what I did supporting the business banking managers was no longer there to be done.
It was the same story for all the back office business banking staff. As a short term measure they were grouped together in business banking centers.
Whatever words were used the reality was that they were little more than telephone call centers and somewhere to place staff whos job had ceased to exist in any real sense.
That caused me to be located from Dunstable to Luton. It was from there I sought a way out for myself.
The planning took several months.
I found an advert for the teaching project in Paraguay. Spoke a couple of times on the phone to the woman who was organizing it and signed myself up.
At no time did I meet any of the organizers or any fellow volunteers. I felt though it would all work out OK.
After months of preparation I typed up a very short letter which would be my resignation letter. I handed it in and no attempts were made to try and change my mind. The bank had more staff than it had jobs for and was probably quite pleased that a few chose to leave.
That was late August.
With my approaching departure I had taken very little holiday that year so was able to take almost the entire notice period as annual holiday. Best all round for everybody.
A leaving do was still required. I would have much rather just quietly left without any fuss. So I could think of no suitable things to do. Some one though suggested a bowling night at Dunstable Bowling Center. That seemed harmless enough and so I agreed.
It was then a quiet and low key leaving do. Just bowling balls and a few pints of beer. Then I was free.
For the rest of September I had time to get together all I was going to take with me and fit it all in the backpack. My tent which was designed for weekends in the English countryside was given a waterproofing as that was going to be my home in Paraguay for the coming months.
Then a couple of days before I left I had my proper leaving do. A night in my local pub with all my friends. Plenty was drunk that night.
All formalities done late September arrived and it was time to leave.
By then I had still had no face to face contact with anyone from Paraguay or spoken to any of the other volunteers. I trusted there would be someone waiting in Asuncion upon my arrival but had decided if it did all turn out to be a hoax I would take the opportunity to go travelling around South America instead.
Always best to remain positive but to have a fall back plan just in case.
For my first of what would be many flights between Europe and South America I headed to Heathrow Airport. It was not my first long haul flight as I had been to Thailand the year before but it was the first time I had traveled west.
Checking in was straight forward. Even the tent did not present any problems.
Then through customs, so I was really leaving England. Next the departure lounge and then the gate.
From Heathrow the flight was to Sao Paulo. A long but uneventful trip. It is an overnight flight and never a bad one.
Once in Sao Paulo the first thing I noticed was how warm this part of the world is.
Then at the gate I met someone else travelling to the same destination as me. So more reassurance that the project did really exist.
Of course we could have both ended up standing like fools in Asuncion Airport. However there was a welcoming comity there. Now the teaching project was for real.
From the airport we were driven to the organizers house in Nemby. This had been a town but was long ago swallowed up by the expanding suburbs of Asuncion.
There were to be about 15 volunteers. When I arrived though just 5 had arrived. Over the next couple of days the rest arrived and assembled. Most on later flights and some by bus having chosen to fly only as far as Sao Paulo and have a couple of nights there.
Unsuprisingly the few days that followed were spend acclimatizing and getting to know everyone else. While in Nemby the sleeping arrangements were lines of mattresses on the floor of a garage. Much of the daytime was spent just sitting in the garden looking at the colourful birds and flowers.
Once everyone had arrived the final day in the capital was spent sightseeing. We were all taken into the heart of downtown Asuncion and spent a day looking around its historic buildings. The sun was hot and was still to be adjusted to, but there was a good restaurant meal to be enjoyed.
That night on our last night before the project proper began a party was in order. Beer was the first choice but could not be bought as no one yet knew about needing an empty bottle in order to buy a full one. So instead it was cheap Brazilian vodka which came with no such complications.
The next morning despite delicate heads all our possessions needed packing up. Everything we had bought with us along with everything that would be needed to set up the school was loaded onto the back of an open lorry.
On top of this pile of chairs, tables, bags and mattresses we all climbed for the first trip out into the countryside.
It did not take long before we were free of Asuncion and all around was green open spaces. I did not though see much of the journey as like many of the others it was a chance to catch up on sleep.
After a couple of hours though we were up in the hills and pulling into the property where the school would be.
Initially there was just the home and farm buildings of the owners and a large field where were would live and where the school would be.
Tents were still in bags and the school house was yet to be built.
All around though the scenery was inviting. Palm trees were scattered liberally about between which parrots flew. Next to the field ran a small crystal clear stream and beyond that sheer rocky cliffs rose to a great height.
There was much still to be done but we had arrived and the prospects looked promising.
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