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Paraguay's Bicentennial

Paraguay celebrates 200 years as an independent nation on May 14-15! 
We were honored to participate in the opening bicentennial activities this Saturday in the Jesus ruins, just a few minutes from our house! 
 
The National Symphonic Orchestra held a spectacular concert with the nation's best voices (Jorge Castro, the Lopez Simon trio, Emilia Recalde) and two pieces even included a ballerina! 
We were all given flags and during the concert several patriotic songs told of Paraguay's struggle to survive and thrive. 
One song "Himno de la Bandera" told of the colors of the flag...the red is for justice, white is for peace, and blue is for liberty.
There was a firework display like we've never witnessed here. 
We couldn't figure out why there were so many armed guards, until it was announced that Paraguay's President, Fernando Lugo was present and was seated just a few rows ahead of us.  I got a blurry picture of him.

Since we live six hours from the capital of Paraguay (Asuncion), this will probably be the only bicentennial activity we will attend, but it sure was excellent!!  Look for more posts on Paraguay's history coming soon!
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  1. UnknownMay 14, 2011 at 3:05 PM

    Keep the good Work!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. DeLon FamilyMay 19, 2011 at 12:30 PM

    What a cool celebration. I'll bet Timmy really liked the fireworks. Glad you all had the chance to partake in the festivities.

    ReplyDelete

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