Hola!
What a great trip! For the past week I have been volunteering and adventuring in northern Argentina often quite clueless of where I was exactly and what was coming up next. After sixteen hours on the road, we (10 other LIFE volunteers and I) arrived at our "half star motel," as the trip leader called it, had a little lunch and headed to the Peruti village. About 300 indigenous people, if I remember correctly, make up this village of red earth, shanty houses, and a school building/eating hall with "running water" (from a rain catching tank). We spent Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday and Wednesday at the village playing and working.
A little background info about the village: The people speak both Guarani, their native language, and Spanish, the language they learn in school. The majority of the village's men leave to find work and only return a handful of times throughout the year. Family sizes are quite large. Most Peruti women have a minimum of 6 children. I met a 12-year-old girl who was the youngest of 11 children. I also met the girl's niece, an 8-year-old girl who was one of 8 children. The people have almost nothing as far as things or school supplies, but the children are chock full of life and laughter.
On the first day, we prepared a snack of milk and granola bars and watched as 150 or so barefooted children lined up in front of the school house. Also on the first day, we set up a de-licing (sp?!) station with vinegar, large and small combs, and prizes (2 hair accessories for each girl) and got to combing. Just thinking back on the amount of lice in these girls' hair makes me feel itchy. With each pass through their hair came insects and eggs galore. Bleck. Needless to say, we all became a little more distant with our hugs and cuddles but continued nonetheless.
On the second day, we arrived early in the morning and set up the TOMS shoe station. We had an assembly line with a washer, a dryer, and a fitter. I was the dryer for awhile and saw hundreds of little toenails all filled with red dirt. It would have taken days to properly clean the kids' feet, so they all just got a quick soapy rinse. While a handful of kids came to the station with worn out flip-flops, most of them arrived barefooted and left with their first ever pair of shoes. Johnny, whose actual name is Axil, who is in many of my pictures showed off his new shoes to me about 10 times throughout the day. After the shoe drop, we prepared lunch for the children who each lined up with a bowl and spoon in hand and then went to sit on the ground and eat. After lunch all the volunteers and a couple handfuls of children took about a 15 minute stroll to the river across the highway. It may have been brown, but we sure did swim and it felt amazing. The kids had absolutely no shame in stripping down to their undies and taking a dip. We stayed for a couple hours and then headed back to the village. Unlike the barefooted children who seemingly flew across the steep rocks and jungle paths, we were much more cautious. I suppose they've had a little more practice.
On the third day, it rained and rained and rained and all the brand new shoes were first dyed red with dirt and then nowhere to be seen. On this day, we organized the donated clothing according to sex and age on tables inside the school building and the women and teens came in and shopped. Each woman was allowed to select one item for each member in her family. I am not sure how to explain my feelings about this shopping event, so I'll just say it didn't seem as though the women were all that thrilled with the whole thing.
Some of the children had mouths full of rotten teeth, but smiled with bright eyes all the same. The play was the same as always: jumping rope, spinning, dancing, and tag. The magic word, however, was 'foto' (picture). The kids loved having their pictures taken, but even more than that playing photographer. I was a bit hesitant at first to hand over my camera, but then decided I wasn't going to win the battle and gave in. I gave the following specific instructions: 1) you must wear the loop around your wrist when you are holding the camera and 2) you may not touch the lens or the flash. I gave it to one little boy, watched him have his fun, and then witnessed one of the cutest things I have ever seen. He (a 6-or-so year old boy) took the loop off his wrist, handed the camera to another 6-year-old boy and passed on my instructions, which the new mini-photographer followed perfectly.
Upon leaving the village for the final time around 7pm on Wednesday night, we blew the kids kisses and watched as they caught them and put them in their pretend pockets, smacked their faces, and ate a couple of them whole. Although exhausted and a little itchy, we all left with the same thought, "what darling children."
More posts to come regarding the rest of the trip! Please feel free to email me at wendy.nh222@gmail.com if you have more questions about the village. I understand that I am being a bit brief!
Abrazos!
wendy
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
I leave tonight!!! Wahooo!
Hola!
I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! Mine was pretty laid back as it was kinda rainy all weekend and I was trying to save money for my upcoming trip! This evening I am meeting about 10 other LIFE volunteers and a couple coordinators at the bus station to embark on a 18ish hour bus ride to an indigenous village in the jungle of northern Argentina. We will spend a couple days there playing with the children, making meals, teaching hygiene, giving out more TOMS, and distributing donated clothing. I will, of course, write more detailed blogs about that experience upon my return. After leaving the village we will make a few more stops befre going back to Buenos Aires that will include visits to a waterfall and ancient ruins. I am thrilled, not only for the specific events of the trip, but to get out of the city for a bit. I know this may sound a bit negative, but let me tell you that Buenos Aires has had some interesting effects on me.
First of all, many of you can attest to the fact that I am usually rather slow moving. In fact, some friends in college used to call me SPA (Slowest Person Alive). Since living in the city, however, my former wandering self has transformed into a crazy american girl with a blonde mullet (my hair has grown out quite a bit and is less than attractive) speeding down the sidewalk at a superhuman pace and waiting for the street crossing sign to change, not patiently on the curb as I did my first week in BA, but on the street with the locals. Why, you ask? Well, as you might guess, understanding public transportation in a major city is not a skill that I have. My city experience in Omaha did not teach me this much needed life skill, so instead of taking the bus or the subway, I walk. A lot. Miles every day. And quickly. So, I am ready for some SPA wandering in a serious way!
As I hoped I would, I have met some very nice and cool people while living in Buenos Aires. At the art and souvenir fair last week I met these two boys from the U.S. who came down to Argentina to work on an organic farm for a semester and then went back to graduate from college. While in Argentina, however, they were floored by the lack of spice in the food (so true, nothing is spicy... even the pollo picante "spicy chicken" that I ordered from the Chinese restaurant on my block the other night was mild at best), so they decided to return for about a year and sell homemade hot sauce called La Boca Roja "The Red Mouth" at the local fair. I bought a small bottle for 20 pesos (about $5). I also met a girl from Boston who visited Okoboji for the first time ever this summer and ate at Bracco, the restaurant where I was a waitress this summer. She just so happens to have a close college friend from Des Moines who finally convinced her to visit Iowa this year! Small world!
All in all, I am learning a lot but am beyond excited to get a little nature in my life. I will be leaving my computer in Buenos Aires for the week and should have many exciting stories and pictures when I come back next Monday the 17th!
Abrazos!
wendy
I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! Mine was pretty laid back as it was kinda rainy all weekend and I was trying to save money for my upcoming trip! This evening I am meeting about 10 other LIFE volunteers and a couple coordinators at the bus station to embark on a 18ish hour bus ride to an indigenous village in the jungle of northern Argentina. We will spend a couple days there playing with the children, making meals, teaching hygiene, giving out more TOMS, and distributing donated clothing. I will, of course, write more detailed blogs about that experience upon my return. After leaving the village we will make a few more stops befre going back to Buenos Aires that will include visits to a waterfall and ancient ruins. I am thrilled, not only for the specific events of the trip, but to get out of the city for a bit. I know this may sound a bit negative, but let me tell you that Buenos Aires has had some interesting effects on me.
First of all, many of you can attest to the fact that I am usually rather slow moving. In fact, some friends in college used to call me SPA (Slowest Person Alive). Since living in the city, however, my former wandering self has transformed into a crazy american girl with a blonde mullet (my hair has grown out quite a bit and is less than attractive) speeding down the sidewalk at a superhuman pace and waiting for the street crossing sign to change, not patiently on the curb as I did my first week in BA, but on the street with the locals. Why, you ask? Well, as you might guess, understanding public transportation in a major city is not a skill that I have. My city experience in Omaha did not teach me this much needed life skill, so instead of taking the bus or the subway, I walk. A lot. Miles every day. And quickly. So, I am ready for some SPA wandering in a serious way!
As I hoped I would, I have met some very nice and cool people while living in Buenos Aires. At the art and souvenir fair last week I met these two boys from the U.S. who came down to Argentina to work on an organic farm for a semester and then went back to graduate from college. While in Argentina, however, they were floored by the lack of spice in the food (so true, nothing is spicy... even the pollo picante "spicy chicken" that I ordered from the Chinese restaurant on my block the other night was mild at best), so they decided to return for about a year and sell homemade hot sauce called La Boca Roja "The Red Mouth" at the local fair. I bought a small bottle for 20 pesos (about $5). I also met a girl from Boston who visited Okoboji for the first time ever this summer and ate at Bracco, the restaurant where I was a waitress this summer. She just so happens to have a close college friend from Des Moines who finally convinced her to visit Iowa this year! Small world!
All in all, I am learning a lot but am beyond excited to get a little nature in my life. I will be leaving my computer in Buenos Aires for the week and should have many exciting stories and pictures when I come back next Monday the 17th!
Abrazos!
wendy
Friday, October 7, 2011
Just kidding!
Ok, to see the photos follow these steps:
1. Go to www.photobucket.com
2. Type wendynh in the Search Site bar at the top of the page
3. It will say "No matches were found for your search request" DO NOT PANIC!
4. Look right below the disappointing news to find something that says "Are you looking for the Photobucket user wendynh?"
5. Click where it tells you to click!
6. Enjoy photos!
1. Go to www.photobucket.com
2. Type wendynh in the Search Site bar at the top of the page
3. It will say "No matches were found for your search request" DO NOT PANIC!
4. Look right below the disappointing news to find something that says "Are you looking for the Photobucket user wendynh?"
5. Click where it tells you to click!
6. Enjoy photos!
Pictures... I hope!
Woops! Hopefully this will work better than the "Oh yeah" blank post. The flickr.com account did not work out. So, I think if you copy and paste the following link into the search, you will be able to see my photo album! Let me know if this works!
http://s1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff448/wendynh/
Abrazos!
wendy
http://s1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff448/wendynh/
Abrazos!
wendy
Thursday, October 6, 2011
I can hardly believe it! TOMS shoe drop!
Hola!
Have you ever heard of the company TOMS that gives away a pair of shoes for every pair purchased? Well, that company carries out what are called "shoe drops" where they give out TOMS (canvas shoes) to needy children all over the world. It's a pretty big deal. The other day one of the interns at LIFE informed us of a day trip to the veisha for 40 pesos (about $10) that included a taco lunch, playtime with the children, and the distribution of shoes. TOMS shoe drops was of course the first thought to cross my mind, but never in a million years did I actually think that we would in fact be giving out TOMS shoes at an official shoe drop! If you can't tell, I was suuuuper psyched! As I said, the day included a taco lunch free to the kids and their parents put on by a local Buenos Aires restaurant and lots of playtime. We hung LIFE posters and balloons, blocked off a part of the street, and got to playing. The craft of the day was finger painting. The canvases of the finger painting were empty Corona bottles from the taco restaurant. Very resourceful. After lunch and playing the shoe drop began and every child got fitted for a new pair of shoes. So awesome! I forgot my camera... lame, but some other volunteers got pictures that I hope to steal soon!
Other than that, all is good. Just settling into wander mode and learning new things each day.
Short and more frequent blog posts to come!
Abrazos!
wendy
Have you ever heard of the company TOMS that gives away a pair of shoes for every pair purchased? Well, that company carries out what are called "shoe drops" where they give out TOMS (canvas shoes) to needy children all over the world. It's a pretty big deal. The other day one of the interns at LIFE informed us of a day trip to the veisha for 40 pesos (about $10) that included a taco lunch, playtime with the children, and the distribution of shoes. TOMS shoe drops was of course the first thought to cross my mind, but never in a million years did I actually think that we would in fact be giving out TOMS shoes at an official shoe drop! If you can't tell, I was suuuuper psyched! As I said, the day included a taco lunch free to the kids and their parents put on by a local Buenos Aires restaurant and lots of playtime. We hung LIFE posters and balloons, blocked off a part of the street, and got to playing. The craft of the day was finger painting. The canvases of the finger painting were empty Corona bottles from the taco restaurant. Very resourceful. After lunch and playing the shoe drop began and every child got fitted for a new pair of shoes. So awesome! I forgot my camera... lame, but some other volunteers got pictures that I hope to steal soon!
Other than that, all is good. Just settling into wander mode and learning new things each day.
Short and more frequent blog posts to come!
Abrazos!
wendy
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