The wonderful thing about Tigre, is that Tigre's a wonderful thing...

The team that went

During the weekend of the 12th -14th Vida Estudiantil sponsored a service project trip to a place called Tigre.  Tigre is a town based on the edge of the river delta of the Río Paraná.  It is a maze of tributaries  which makes a lot of islands and perfectly preserved wilderness.  In fact, the only way to get around, and to and from town, is by boat.  Boats bring groceries up and down the river and shuttle people to and from town about 6 times a day.  The team that went to Tigre consisted of us STINTers (Katie, Tiffany, Ben and I),  some Argentine students, and some of the Argentine leaders in our movement.  In all there were about 15 people that went and it was such a great time.

Our project consisted of painting an elementary school in one of the islands and we also brought clothes that we had collected for the children.  This community is very poor and the kids that attend this school do not have much at all.  In fact sometimes, the only meal they get is at the school, so it was great to get to help them in whatever way we could.  Not only was this trip great because we got to help the less fortunate, but it was great for me because it was a much needed escape from the city.  To get to the school it took about 3 and a half hours in a boat going at a little over no-wake speed.  This may sound miserable to some, and it was to some of the people with us, but this was honestly my favorite part of the trip.  I had been missing nature a lot since being in the city so this was perfect for me.  The weather was nice too, so just cruising in the boat and looking at undisturbed, perfect nature was awesome.

Learning Truco

View from the boat

  When we arrived at the school we immediately got to work scraping and painting.  We took a break around dinner time and realized that we had actually forgotten some of the food we were supposed to bring.  Because the only food comes by boat the next day, I immediately started thinking how it was deer season in the States and if I only had my rifle... unfortunately I didn´t.  No worries though, because everything worked out in the end.  We had to take a little bit smaller rations than normal, but everyone had more than enough.  After dinner, my friend Richard and I braved the river and went for a little swim.  I figured it couldn´t be any worse than the Tallahatchie, and I´ve swam in it a couple of times.  After that we played a few team building games, had a devotion and were free until we wanted to go to bed.  I ended up learning a typical Argentine card game called truco (trick), which my friends Richard, Maru, and Osvaldo taught me. 

Drinking mate taking a break

One of the shuttle boats

 The next day we got up really early and finished the job, making sure to catch our boat back in to town at 2.  Then another 3 and a half hour boat ride (which I thoroughly enjoyed again) and we were back at the train station, ready to head back into BA.  It was such a great weekend and a real blessing to be helping others and be in nature too.  I really hope the new paint job puts a smile on the kid´s faces and that they enjoy the clothes as well.  




JM