What a trip!

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