Scott Barronton (00:00)
Welcome back to the Sunshine Travelers podcast. Today's episode is a special one. It's not about a dream destination or a luxury getaway, but about the powerful impact that travel can have when it's driven by purpose. Today we're talking about a different kind of journey. One that involves hammers, teamwork, and a whole lot of heart. Melissa recently returned from Paraguay
where she joined a Habitat for Humanity build, helping to construct safe and affordable housing for a family in need. This wasn't about sightseeing or sampling local cuisine. It was about rolling up your sleeves, connecting with the community, and making a tangible difference. So in this episode, I'll be turning the mic towards Melissa to hear all about her experience and what the work was really like and what she brought back with her.
that no suitcase can hold.
Well, Melissa, today the tables are turned just a little bit. You're usually part of the crew that is asking the questions along with me, but this time we're going to interview you. All right. Sounds good. Excited. Well, I can't wait for you to share, a little bit more about this trip.
It was a very different type of vacation from the one that we had just left in Europe. And so, with that, let's just jump right into the interview and, we can't wait to hear more about it. All right. Sounds great. Well, the first question I would ask is why Paraguay? I mean, we were in Europe. we live in North America and then this is down in South America.
So my sister Stephanie, who we've interviewed several times on the podcast about different topics, different places. We actually talked to her as she was recruiting for this trip. So she actually put this trip together. She works for Habitat for Humanity International and they like for...
the people that work for them to not only participate and go on some of these builds, of course locally as well, but international builds. So with Habitat International, it's called Global Village. But also to be the person who put some of these builds together.
And so anyway, she put this trip together. She got it approved. This was months in the making, but she got it approved to do the Paraguay. And then they work with the local team there to
They basically put everything together, as far as like what the local, what local builds are going on and that kind of thing. And then this global village team just goes in and like works alongside them, like what they need So that was really why Stephanie put this trip together and asked me from the get-go, do you want to go with this? If, you know, I do this here are a few places that I'm looking at. You have to submit for different locations. Would you like to go? And so I told her, yes,
I'm committed to doing that with you. that was why Paraguay. Well, let's talk a little bit about the journey that you took to get there because if you had come from North America, here where we live in Florida, you would taken quite a different trip. Right. the rest of the team came from North America, but basically, I think everybody ended up pretty much going through Sao Paulo, Brazil.
regardless of like what their connections ended up being. some people came from, you know, all over and some people ended up coming through Bolivia, but I think Sao Paulo was the place that then you had to kind of make that final connection through. So what I did though was, like you mentioned, we were in Europe and there was really going to be like a three day overlap.
And so we just talked about it and it's like, well, there's not really any point of flying all the way back to the US to then fly to South America because it's about the same distance. So it was what, 12, 13 hours? but to turn around and do that or do that like cost-wise as well, right? To fly back to the US and then fly down there. So I just found where we could go. That was really kind of our purpose.
of going to Barcelona, if you've listened to our Barcelona episode, is where could we go to that then I could easily get to without a bunch of connections, because I did have to connect through Sao Paulo. So that was where we positioned ourselves. It's La TAM that flew, La TAM Airways that flew, and so I flew to Sao Paulo. Unfortunately, I did have a little bit of delay when we got on or when I was...
checking in and getting ready to get on the plane. said, okay, well, this one's going to be late. You're going to miss that connection. So, not a super big deal. I did have to spend the night in Sao Paulo. Thankfully, we were going to do a little side trip to Brazil later to go to Oazu Falls. So, I already had a visa. They started that earlier. She already had a visa, thank goodness, so that I could already just leave the airport, no problem, spend the night in the hotel and come back. So, that was kind of my path just to make it easier.
So, you know, it's pretty typical for Americans to fly to South America from, Barcelona. So no matter of fact, the funny thing about that flight was, know, we had been in Barcelona, you know, Spanish, we have the Italian and Italy. Here's the Spanish and I'm getting, on the plane and I'm thinking, I don't even know. what are they, what are they saying? I don't recognize anything.
until they start saying abogado. And then I'm like, oh yeah, they're speaking Portuguese. Cause I think that's like the only word that I know. But the funny thing was is they weren't translating it. know, a lot of places you go, they'll say it and then they'll say it English and they did not. And then at one point I asked the flight attendant, can you tell me, I feel like I kinda knew what he was saying as far as the meals. And obviously it's like a chicken dish and a beef dish and something else, right? And so I said English. And so then after that, they must've gone and said, told the...
Like the announcements like, my gosh, we have like an only English speaker. And like, I think it's probably like a safety thing, right? And so they didn't realize. so they were like, so, after that then it became the English. So yeah, I think that's not very common at all for, yeah, I was, I was a bit odd person out. Let's just say that. Well, when you got there, so you did have a delay in Sao Paulo. Spent the night, got up the next morning and completed your trip to Paraguay.
Once you got there and got settled in, what would you say surprised you the most? So I guess I just, you know, I hadn't done a ton of research. Like this is a different bit of a trip, right? So I knew what I was going to do. They had made all the, you know, the accommodations. It's not like you're researching like you normally do. Where are we going to stay? What are we going to do? Like I knew like all that was taken care of. So I just didn't really know much about
Paraguay, except for then, but the prep work they had done as far as, here's the information about the family, here's the build that we were doing.
they wanted you to be there before Monday for the build. So I was supposed to get there Friday night. Now here I'm getting there, you know, lunchtime Saturday and the build is gonna start on Monday. So people are getting there at all different times. So as a matter of fact, there was another girl that was volunteering on my flight. So we hooked up and like took the Uber together and got...
to got to the hotel. So I think I was just really just surprised at how, not only modern, but almost it was like really trendy stuff. We started to see like you see in a lot of cities on the world. And I don't know why that surprised me. And then of course you see all your typical, you know, KFC and McDonald's and Burger King and you know, those kinds of things, but just a lot of really modern, condo buildings and apartment complexes coming up. And it just makes you realize, I think,
how much the world is the same, right? We have that here. We even have that like right here where we live. We have people who live in ultra modern, ultra luxury places, right? And then we have people who are in developing type housing situations as well. so that just like, that's just happens like all over the world. But I think that was surprised me the most. I didn't expect there to be that much like luxury places, you know.
look through cars that you see and then like just trendy places which as a part of what we did like we also got to go and experience some of that too. Isn't it funny that like of all the places in the US that could be trendy and catch on it's always the McDonald's, the Burger King, the KFC. Yeah well and when I'm saying trendy of this like this what we're gonna talk about in a minute like
It was, it's like local places, like things that people own, small businesses, and then they may come cutesy and trendy. but the fact that- seen that though, it's like everywhere you go. Matter of fact, when we were at the pyramids is you face one direction, you see the pyramids. If you did a 180, there's the KFC right there. Right. Yeah. Because I think it's just
people want to go to those places and those companies see an opportunity to put those places forever. You know, on this particular trip, and I'm trying to remember what I should have done is I should have taken a video or a picture every time we saw a five guys because five, so five guys is becoming the McDonald's and the KFC. We literally, there was a five guys right across from the Lysacrata Familia.
I know there was one that we almost had to eat it in Berlin. We talked about that on the Berliness episode. I literally want to say there was one either in Paraguay or Brazil or maybe both. Like I should have taken a video. Like five guys is becoming that next thing. Well, let's go back to the accommodations a little bit. Tell us a little bit about the accommodations that you stayed in and then kind of what was your daily routine, while y'all were doing the build.
it was just a little like, I would say just like a mid-range hotel. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was nice and it was clean. It was actually very, very big. And as part of the build, you could opt to do a single room and pay like a little bit more. But I actually shared a room with one of Stephanie's friends that was on the build. And so yeah, it was almost like...
The place where we stayed anyway, was like everything was kind of encapsulated in a courtyard. They did have like a security guard out front. You came in, lobby, but it was like open air in the middle. They had a swimming pool and places where you could sit out, had a little playground. And then we were actually on the second floor. They had stairs that you could go up to the little rooftop and stuff like that. But it was just, like basic accommodations inside, but it was like, nice. We actually had two sinks in the bathroom, shower, you know, like two beds, which like...
like very European accommodations. was like two twin beds that they could have pushed together for a king, if you had, wanted that, if you had two people that were together or something like that. So, but it was just very nice accommodations and they cleaned it every day. which was great for the build because we were getting dirty, you could do your laundry or they would do the laundry for you for a very reasonable rate. But then also the breakfast was included as well. And so in the mornings, it was just like full kind of.
you know, kind of a European breakfast, you know, they had the cold cuts and just different hot and cold things So the breakfast included. And then what was our routine? basically, before you go to routine, I think a lot of people maybe think service travel and volunteerism, stuff like that, that you got to sleep in a tent. You're out in the middle of nowhere. You have no facilities and those type of things.
Yeah, so that's actually a good point. We were about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on traffic, actually from the build site. So the build, was in a little, was in a different town and then in an almost a little small community as a part of that town. And so they want you to be in a place where there's going to be places, for us to go out to dinner at night
to be in a safe place for visitors and something a little bit more like I think what we're used to. We did have air condition. It actually, funny enough, so they are below the equator. And so it was going into their fall and then into the, you know, be going into their winter. It actually turned very cold there. So it had air condition. had like a split, the split units air condition as well. So no, I mean, it was very not, wasn't anything
Luxury, would say it was like a three star type of a place, but you know clean and very yeah, just great accommodations Now imagine there are some service projects that you might go on that do have more basic or Rough accommodations, however, you want to say that
But in this one, it was not that case. Yeah, it's funny because a lot of most of the people I think it was just me and one other person who had actually never done a global village trip before And there was actually a lot of people who had done Delta ones who had been dealt with employees Delta is a huge proponent of These builds as well and they have been all over the world and there was a couple of people who'd been on a build and their particular leader like wanted to stay in like
Really nice places. So I think it really just depends on, the trip that you're doing. So we'll talk a little bit about the routine. Yeah. So we had, so Saturday and Sunday were really, still for people to get into town if they could. And most people arrived by Saturday. I think we had a couple of people who came in on Sunday. and so basically, before we had gotten there, they had gone into the city, more of the downtown part.
of Ascension and done things like the market and different things like that. We met them for lunch. And then after that, the guy who works for Habitat in Paraguay, but he was almost like our like, he was in charge of us for the week, right? He was our person. He actually stayed at the hotel with us. So he would be there, to like take us everywhere and just be with us all the time. And so took us on almost like a little historical type of a tour.
They actually have an old train station. The trains don't run in Paraguay anymore. That old train station took us to all kinds of different buildings which were open, even late into the afternoon that day. So that was a really great way to just kind of get a feel for, the history and then just different challenges I think the country has had with the different governments over the years and how that has impacted the people.
So it was almost like, going to a place and then having a tour and learning about that, because I think that's very important to have kind of that overall understanding and then just learn more about the place. So there was the opportunity to do that as well. And then Sunday, we actually went to another little smaller town, took us to a place on the lake, just took us to several places that like, here's what people would do, like locals would do on a weekend.
some more markets and different things like that. And then we went to a place where we almost had like an orientation. They had set that aside so that we could go over, I mean, there had been some reading materials and things like that, different things we had to understand about, working safely and then safeguarding information about, the people and the families and just all kinds of different things like that, you know, just like this, the standard operating things.
So they took us to a really nice place. I had actually sent you pictures of that. was like, look how gorgeous this place is. And they'd rented this meeting room. And then we had a nice lunch as well to just kind of get an overview. so Monday through Friday then, basically from nine-ish to four-ish, we were on the build site. And then our particular job, so they had actually not started the build.
We were the first group and we were actually gonna be the only international group to work on this build which would last about 12 weeks. They were gonna have some other local groups and different things come. And then of course they have contractors as well who are the ones who, know, like professionals who, and then the architect slash builders who like just so, you know, you just can't just throw people out there and build this house and have, Right, it needs to be safe, it needs to be livable.
Exactly. So it was very much like we're telling you what to do. And so those guys and ladies were going to work on that, the rest of the time. so, so basically that was, just, whatever it was that they needed us to do that day. And so basically our job was to get the foundation within those five days to get the foundation to where they needed it to be, to do the next step. And when you say get the foundation ready, so they brought in like
back hose and equipment to do all that or? No, absolutely not. So they did bring in supplies and materials with like big dump trucks and they would dump it basically right at the street. But no, everything was manual. I will say that we did have a plug-in concrete mixer and most of the people who had been at other builds were like, wow.
like because we've always had to mix the concrete by hand. So we did have a plug-in mixer and then sometimes they would have like, you know, they might go get some kind of power tool, but it was no, it was absolutely no equipment. So yeah, if things had to be moved, if like, so they had had some rain and there was a couple of days that we had rain and then they were going to have to bring in some like cleaner, dryer filled dirt. So then all that dirt had to be literally toated out bucket by bucket.
and then the concrete had to be mixed and toted in bucket by bucket. the different bricks and stone, like big rocks, they had like a big rock delivery, that all had to be, yeah, one by one. And so there were 12 of us on the team, then plus three or four main contractors, two builders, which were actually both females, but they actually got in and like did the work.
You know, they told us what to do, but they were actually working alongside us as well. And then a few other, you know, volunteers like local volunteers or people who work for Habitat as well. And in this case, was the family working alongside you or? Cause I know it's different.
So this family was an all-female family consisting of a mother and her three daughters, high school and up age, and then her mother and then her aunt also lived in where they were living. So and basically
we were building on, they had like a temporary housing situation. Habitat had actually built them a permanent bathroom a few years before. And so we were building the house or the foundation for the house in front of that. And then that would.
and then that would stay connected onto the back. So to answer your question is no, not directly, except for the mom did work outside of the home as a cook or somebody. And so she and her good friends that were neighbors who lived right close by actually prepared the food for us on site. So as a part of the contribution, because it is true that if you know anything about habitat,
it is true that they have to contribute in some way or then family members have to contribute like so many hours and that kind of thing. So I think that was a way that they could do that. So we actually, again, we were told because the people who had come for it, we were actually really blessed because they would fix us like snack type things, but like actually cook them. Then they would fix us lunch and then they'd fix us another snack. But it was so, it was very neat because then we were eating very
traditional local like what they would eat. that's cool. Would you say that there were any people in particular that left a lasting impression from this trip? Yeah. So first of all, the team was just phenomenal. Of course, Stephanie was the only one, my sister, that was the only person that I knew. She actually knew, I think everybody else on the team, which was funny. So then just getting to meet
like everybody else. And everybody else was also a solo traveler team member, except for there was one couple there who had done a lot of builds and lots of builds together. But everybody else was like on their own. so everybody was really comfortable, doing that and then just kind of like hanging out with different people and then like, just chatting with them. But then from the habitat, from the Paraguay side,
Oh my gosh, yes. So Diego, who was like in charge of us for the week, he was just absolutely phenomenal. just to help and answer all our questions about anything, culture, all the things that he showed us and then just kind of be in charge of everything. And he was just a phenomenal host, I would say. And so he was our main point of contact. But then we had several other, there was some other
ladies who had been with us during the weekend, taking pictures and getting things for social media as well. And then just the people on the job site. Like I had mentioned, the two builders were females. One of them spoke English, the other one not so much, and then always having to have that translated. And then just the construction people, because they wanted us to be a part of all those jobs, right? So there were times where then we were like,
helping them like mix the concrete or putting up like how you would do the walls. Like, and they were very patient. Like, as I know, it would be easier just to say, these people are so slow. They don't know what they're doing. Like just cause you know, they've been doing it for so long and they can just like do it so fast. But they were just so patient to like show us how to do it. And you know, yeah, you're doing a great job. And you're thinking, I'm doing a terrible job. but then I would just say, yeah, the family and then her neighbor friends, right?
who were constantly feeding us and then just to get to know them and the grandmother, there was a few times when she would come and sit and watch us with one of the daughters and then one of the other ladies had her kids would come around and help and play and just wanna be a part.
of everything and then just the people, you know, the people in the neighborhood would come by and watch and the kids, was one time in particular when like this little bitty boy and he's like right up by the concrete mixer and you're just thinking like, my gosh, like this would never happen in the US so just all these little memories. And I did want to say, this is a lot of stuff that I really couldn't share.
on social media because of that safeguarding, right? They want us to like protect these people's privacy, right, as well. And so there's a lot of things that I just really couldn't share except for to share it in this format, right? Where you're not seeing them and where they live and what their faces are and things like that. But then just to share these stories as well. You told a story, we were walking the dogs after you got back.
And you told the story of like people walking their cows. Yes. so in this neighborhood, there were, there were several cows, either hanging around or walking them to, don't know where lots of pasture grazing area, probably. Yeah, maybe so, because there was, yeah, there was some of that nearby and it was also, my gosh, it was so muddy and we had had some rain and everything was just so muddy. And we just always felt like we are so filthy.
you know, our shoes are filthy and everything. And everybody and all the animals were so clean. And we were just like, how, how are these dogs? Because there were also dogs and cats everywhere. And they would come around and look at us and just hang around. And I mean, no, no threat or anything like that. But they were so clean. And there was just mud everywhere. Or they would have on their white tennis shoes a lot of crocs.
which was cute too, but they would have on their tennis shoes and they would be white. so they had a lot of meticulous pride and then keeping up what they, most of the people, know, keeping up what they did had. I think that was, I was surprised at that too, along with yeah, just being cows and chickens and yeah, just, just a lot of other stuff. So I think for me, it's just really thinking about the memories of our interaction with, we did have a couple of opportunities.
to help them with a couple of recipes and just different things like that. And then of course they would always greet. So in Paraguay it's like a lot of other places in the world where you would greet with a kiss on each cheek, especially female to female. And so just greeting people when you would see them in the morning and they were just so appreciative of the work.
Well, if someone's listened to this and wanted to take a trip like this, what should they know? So I think it depends on what you are doing, right? Because there's lots of trips like this. You don't necessarily have to do a build trip. We met some people recently who volunteer like with the Doctors Without Borders type of work or nurse work. So I think it depends on what you're doing. I would say I was surprised.
and it could have been the stage of the house that we were at, like the work was really difficult. So I would just make sure that the work that you're gonna be doing and the places you're gonna have to walk and go, like you have the ability to do that. And there were definitely things that you could do and take breaks and we took a lot of breaks and because the work was strenuous, like literally carrying one or two.
completely full concrete buckets or moving rocks or being able to push a wheelbarrow. So I think that just making sure that before you make this effort, because you don't want to go and be part of the team and really not feel like you can contribute in the way that you would want to be able to contribute. so thankfully, mean, everybody on our team was able to do that. And if not strenuous like the entire time, able to find ways where they could.
they could fit in, but the work was really, really hard.
The other thing that I would say as you were, as you were looking in into researching these trips is just making sure that the work that's being contributed there is, really helping and it's not hurting, I guess I would say. And so for example, because Habitat International, works with the local habitats,
they are really just bringing in to complete the work that they are already doing, right? So they've already identified the families, they've already identified the projects. And so you're not doing things that don't do a lasting good in that economy, in that culture, in all of that. So I was just saying like,
do, I guess, just really research that and make sure you understand, you know, the goals and then how they work with the local people and making sure that it'll be a long-term positive for the people that you serve and the community that those people are a part of. Well, I think that's great. Well, normally in an interview, we ask the interviewee a few standard questions. You want to try that with you? Sure.
That sounds good. Let's give it a shot. So what's your favorite place that you've ever been? Yeah. So this is interesting, Scott, because I think that we have done this kind of before, like a long time ago, but we've been to a lot of places since then. and so I would say that my favorite place I've been is part of the experience that we had, but my gosh, when we were on that safari and I just remember turning to you, I think like with tears in my eyes and said,
Like this is just phenomenal. So, and we were in Kenya specifically. That's the only place we've done safari. So I can't say, you know, it's only going to be like that in Kenya, but I would just say that safari experience, the whole thing was just, probably tops my list. Yeah. We were just shocked from the very beginning. Cause as we flew in, we saw this clean,
very green city. we had just left Cairo. So it's, you know, a very dirty city comparatively. then Nairobi was so clean. And then we got to experience these wonderful encounters with the animals. I would agree with that. And the people and the yeah, just, just, just everything. Just, yeah.
Well, what's left at the top of your bucket list? Oh my gosh. We don't have time for you to go through. No, we don't have time to go through. So, I mean, definitely to hit all seven continents. We have that planned actually and booked now. So to go to Australia. So I guess we're going to talk about what's next anyway. But so that is on my bucket list, obviously, to hit Australia.
We want to go to New Zealand at some point. That's not a part of this because that you know, in Asia and then Asia for sure. is that the top of my bucket list? I would say also, this is a hilarious one. it kind of goes along with this trip that we're planning. but we've, I've always said I'd love to visit every Disney park in the world, you know, so that's on my bucket list. wanted to that story real quick. Sure. So the other day, we were.
walking in the neighborhood, walking the dogs. And we were talking about a trip that we're coming up on and, part of it was we're going to be in Hong Kong. And so I said, so are we going to do Disney Hong Kong while we're there? And your face like just lit up and you were like, my God, I forgot that there was a Disney, Hong Kong. Yeah, I just, you know, cause I'm thinking you did something really cool. You actually did a volunteer trip one time.
where you went to Hong Kong and you did this cool like transportation, like scavenger hunt thing. And for some reason that's always stuck out at me because there's just so many different ways, right? You can get around Hong Kong and it's funny because I was just going to be like, okay, we can go for a little while and then spend the night and fly out the next day. And you had a stay in two nights even before you even, I don't know, did you already have this in the back of your mind? And it just occurred to you later too. No, it's just when I was there last,
We were on that trip and we only had a few hours in Hong Kong because we were working outside the city. And so only had a few hours in Hong Kong. And I thought, well, we need more time than that because definitely didn't get to see everything. And also when you were there, you said that that Disney Hong Kong had just opened and people were literally throwing their children over the gate.
to be able to get into that. Yeah, it would reach capacity every day. And so they would throw their children over the fence just so their children would have an opportunity to go to that Disney park. Can you imagine? So then what else is on our bucket list? Oh my gosh. So Christmas markets at some point is on my bucket list. We've never done that. I would love to do a Go to Oktoberfest. And then of course, we've talked about at length our Max Adventure.
And some of the other ones that we would like to do such as part or like part of El Camino, I guess I should say. Let's start with that. You know, walking in places like France or Switzerland or so. I think that's Well, then we've talked about a little bit. Where are you going next?
So we have our Alaska cruise planned, but then super excited about the trip that we have planned, which will help us check off Australia and then Asia. So we actually booked a three week trip to where we can work remotely and also be able to do this trip, which will actually, instead of planning ourselves in one place in Australia, we'll get to see a good bit of
places in Australia and then a couple of places, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong before we come home. So really, really excited for that because I just think back about how much we enjoyed and how much we like to talk about that European trip because it was like a hop on hop off, what can we, know, what did we get to see? But then of course this will give us a good bit of time to, work.
our different jobs and create some content and share that along the way instead of being like rush, rush, rush. So I will get to check a lot of boxes I think with that.
If you're listening and have ever thought about joining a volunteer trip like this, maybe this is your sign. Whether it's with Habitat for Humanity or another organization, there are so many ways to make travel count for more. If you're interested in traveling with purpose, check out our episode 97, How to Travel with Purpose in 2025. It's volunteer and service travel trends that we were talking about earlier this year.
And if you're doing a service trip this year, we would love to hear about it. Email me scott at sunshine travelers.com and let me know where you're going and what you're going to be doing. And just remember the world is full of sunshine and surprises. Make 2025 the year that you explore beyond the familiar.
