Building on Experience

After leaving Iguazu Falls, I visited some friends in Santa Fe last week for my first stop in Argentina on the slow cross-continent trek to Chile. A friend that I met last time I passed through Santa Fe invited me to visit the school where she works and speak with the class about some of my experiences since beginning the trip. She was discussing the ideas of micro enterprise and sustainability, so I felt that it was appropriate to share what I learned on the permaculture site in Brazil.

The school is called La Cecilia - La Nueva Cultura (The New Culture), and it is a naturalist school with a significantly different philosophy of learning than any other I have encountered. Students are able to choose what they want to learn about and how they spend their time. The campus also has a small organic garden, so many of the permaculture ideas that I learned while at Sitio São Francisco in Brazil were suprisingly applicable to this completely different setting.

Showing pictures from the site to one of the classes

If you understand Spanish, you can read more about the school on their website. Two students interested in journalism pulled me aside for an interview (no, I didn't sign any autographs, though they did compare me to a couple of celebrities), and a film student took video. You can see the video from the interview on the school's blog.

A Welcomed Rainy Day - Not Just For Me

To a traveler, rainy days can often be a nuisance preventing sightseeing or ruining outdoor excursions. The last few days in Santa Fe brought almost daily showers and an impressive electrical storm on Friday night that kept me indoors. It was actually a nice break to stay in and spend time with my new friends in Santa Fe while enjoying some home-cooked food and popular Latin American music (I still have a cheesy but very catchy Reggaeton song stuck in my head - "Te amo" by Macano).

Besides my enjoyment of a few relaxing days and a break from the heat, the real reason that the recent rain is a blessing is the drought (la sequía) that has seriously affected the country. Every day the newspapers here print another story discussing the effects of the drought or what government officials or the farmers association are doing in response to the crisis. Livestock and crops are dying leaving few options for farmers throughout the country, and what is worse is that the drought is affecting most of the country rather than a localized region.

Below are a few recent articles about the crisis:

Argentina declares drought crisis, BBC News Article January 27, 2009

Argentine president declares farm emergency, International Herald Tribune Article January 27, 2009
Cow skulls and dust: Drought grips Argentina, International Herald Tribune Article January 23, 2009

Favorite Children's Games

After an interesting experience in Córdoba, I arrived in Santa Fe, Argentina yesterday (Sunday 1/25) and really love the feel of the city. This morning I went and spoke with an organization called CILSA (www.cilsa.org) that operates four different types of programs here in Santa Fe. They have a few activities that I can help out with including a birthday party this Thursday or Friday for the children in their recreation program. I will share a bit more about the organization after I work with them, but for now I need some suggestions.

CILSA asked if I could organize some type of game for the children to play. There are 30-35 kids, so the game has to include all of them. The children are between 3 and 13. If you have any suggestions, send me an e-mail (TwentyTwelves@gmail.com or CicatrizJCP@gmail.com) and explain how to play. A friend of mine in Atlanta (thanks Magen!) suggested Red Rover. I LOVE that game! I have to come up with some kind of rhyme in Spanish to replace, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Jaime right over".

Thanks for the suggestions!

I've added a Myspace page, mainly for posting pictures. Making montages takes too much time. www.myspace.com/twentytwelvesproject. If you aren't familiar with Myspace, all you have to do is click on the picture on the main page to go to the Photo Gallery.

Cheers