Semana de los aborigenes

I arrived in time to celebrate the panamerican week of the aborigenes in the IERP supported school for the people of Takuapi, a small indigenous community close to Ruiz de Montoya in the province of Misiones. As if some director had put me into a documentary about contemporary indian lifestyle, I was accompanying the community performing traditional dances on the central square, shooting with arrows, singing, greeting, talking differently.

Even more: Differences to the european lifestyle were so obvious that I have to speak in cliches while describing. Kids were much closer to nature, showing me animals which I hadn't ever noticed, walking barefooted everywhere, talking the first rainy day in months completely for granted, and beyond, there was no annoying noise, no boredom and almost no violence among them. Especially by comparing with all projects with kids elsewhere, it finally became so hard to say what's progress. At the same time, living conditions in the wooden huts without any further equipment, appealed to me so poor, that I could never imagine myself living or surviving there. The school of Takuapi tries the mission impossible by enabling keeping and promoting the traditional culture of the community of Takuapi and adopting them at the same time to culture of mayoritarian Argentinian Society. It was a great pleasure participating for two days.

Playing "take the maniok out of the ground", during the lesson, white meets brown during a meeting in the regular school of Ruiz, having breakfast.