La Cuidad de Los Muertos

Our second Sunday in Asuncion we decided to go check out another congregation which met in the chapel neighboring the temple. When we had attended the temple, a young man had stopped us to talk in English. He introduced himself as the Bishop (our word for preacher) of that ward. He also said he had family living and studying in the USA and he hopes soon he will be going for his Master's in Engineering in the USA. We didn't forget his kindness and thought we might have a chance to meet more members, especially for our teenagers to feel more comfortable through the services. It was a good call because as soon as sacrament was over a mother stopped us and speaking in English, introduced her 15-year-old daughter to Rosabel, and said she could use English practice. So Rose and Gabby trotted upstairs to meet with the other young ladies.

The chapel room itself was about the same capacity as the other chapel but there were many more halls and classrooms so the building could hold larger gathering to accommodate multi-congregational meetings. Our word for it is a Stake Center. Clark and I both were able to converse with bi-lingual members in Spanish for ourselves and English for them. Church has consistently provided excellent listening AND speaking practice for us. 

After church, Clark suggested rather than taking an Uber, we could walk since our path could cross through a cemetery he had seen from the car. He said the glimpse he saw into the cemetery was unlike anything he'd seen before and he wished to check it out. It meant we were going to have a little walk-about on the way back, about an hour or so, but it was a beautiful day, and we'd been cooped up sick so some like exercise, sunshine and fresh air would be healing. Eventually as we approached the cemetery, Rosabel spotted a wild friend. Now Clark had seen one of these earlier in the week and we couldn't believe they exist in the city. It was fun to see one with our own eyes. This snail is bigger than a golf ball.

 

Staying cool in the shade.

We stepped inside the cemetery and felt like we walked into a miniature version of Asuncion. This puts new meaning to the names, "City of the Dead" or "City of Angels". I read about this in books and heard of it in music, but it's an altogether new experience to see it in person.

There are signs marking the familial sections and "road signs" as well.

Each tiny house is the resting place of generational dead. Many had 5 or more coffins visible and many of them are multi-storied. They vary in size, shape, and elaboration of details.

Some look like mini-churches.

You can see the ends of the coffins through the windows.

Zoom in to get a glimpse of the inside...

Why does it seem creepy? This is a part of life. I wouldn't want to be in here at night, but I get why kids would turn a romp through the angel city into a dare.

We saw some regular plots too. And later, after we left, we passed by another "traditional" cemetery. In other words, the design we are used to. Isn't culture fascinating?

A smaller church near the cemetery.

We passed another entrance after leaving and saw these walls designed to hold coffins with windows at the end instead of cement doors.

On our walk home we passed this military base on both sides of the road.

The dogs aren't just at ground level here. This guy had us jumping like scaredy cats after our cemetery tour!