The Guaraní don't eat much beside corn, but they prepare it in a bewildering number of ways. It is is the basis of soups, is eaten as a vegetable, is made into bread (and a number of "powdered" breads), and is drunk both as a cooling beverage and a fermented brew. Doña Justina (here working with her eldest daughter, Charo) took it upon herself to provide me with food every couple days during my first few months in Imi, and continued more sporadically thereafter; every meal was based on corn, but I don't think she ever served the same thing twice.

Despite the variety, most preparation of corn involves grinding at some stage. The sound of this pounding, echoing down the cañón, was as constant and familiar as the braying donkeys or the kids reciting their school lessons next door.

[BTW: There are twelve vowels in Guaraní. One of the lessons I overheard with most frequency was the recital of the first six (seven through twelve are simply nasalized versions of one through six): A E I O U I, A E I O U I, A E I O U I. I don't think I'll ever be able to hear five vowels again.]