Suarez- Jardin Travesuras

I woke up to the stumble of Lauren´s footsteps entering my room (or shall I say her guest room) at 7:10 AM. Why? At the age of 20, Lauren´s sister, Dana Mayber, started her own charity called Bear Hugs. The goal of her organization is to send a S.M.I.LE. (Shelter, Medical assistance, Independence, Love, and Education) to disadvantaged children locally and globally. Please check out Dana´s amazing website and help contribute to her inspiring organization. www.bearhugsonline.com

Lauren and I planned to spend the morning in a ¨school¨ called Jardin Travesuras in Suarez. (Suarez is one of the poorest towns in Argentina and it happens to be a 30 minutes train ride outside of Buenos Aires.) After spending this past Monday buying toys and gifts for these disadvantaged children, we took a train and delivered bags of toys to the school.

At the train stop, we met two English speaking girls, and they escorted us to the school. The only way I can describe Suarez is by comparing it to a demolished 3rd world country---There were mounds and mounds of garbage piled on every corner, unpaved-dirt roads, and ghostly looking dogs and cats roaming the roads. The town is so poor that people can´t afford to take buses or cabs, so they take Remisses all over the city. A remisse is a BEAT up car (ghetto bouncers don´t even compare to these electronic machines) that has a standard price for each passenger. It is a mix between a bus and cab in the sense that it´s a car but it has set stops. When you get in the ¨car,¨ you tell the driver what stop you´re going to. Also the best part is---there is no set limit on passengers....meaning, the more people that can squeeze in the remisse the better. So lying horizontally across random passengers is definitely standard...trust me it happened to us! When the girls told us we´re going in this cruiser I was like alright...I´m definitely going to have a real South American experience today. Jajaja. We squeezed ourselves in the car and for starters, the driver looked like the most Hispanic version of Michael J. Fox as you can get, (he was even wearing a paper boy hat). Also, the amount of Reggaeton I heard in the car was unreal...even the clubs here don´t play it with that much intensity...I definitely wasn´t in Kansas anymore. The car ride was a 15 minute ride, but on normal roads it would´ve taken a maximum of 5 minutes. In order to get to the school, he needed to drive through massive swamps---I´m assuming he thought he was driving a Ranger or Hummer, but clearly not. We made it through the minor creeks and walked a few blocks to the school. The amount of rubbish piles I saw made a typical garbage-can look as if it was part of ¨Honey I Shrunk the Kids.¨ The whole town smelled atrocious.

We made it to the school, stopped at the fence and rang the doorbell. Two of the cutest boys I have ever seen opened the door for us and kissed us hello. The school consisted of 40 kids all around the ages of 3-5 years old and were compiled into two small rooms and a yard to play in. These kids were the happiest children I have ever seen. Even though most of them didn´t have shoes and their teeth were insanely rotting...they were so happy to have visitors. Lauren and I played and got to know them. It was hard seeing kids like these because all I thought about was how my own nieces and nephews have everything they can ask for...shoes, clothing, healthy teeth, food, a loving family, and an over abundance of toys---and still they´ll cry if they don´t get their way.  (sorry Anna...I still love them to DEATH!). The average child in the U.S. is extremely fortunate...it was hard yet a beautiful experience seeing the happiness of these children even though they have so little. One girl, Lordes, (she probably will be the future Miss Universe) showed me where her house was...what she considered her house was what I consider a shack. I was soooo sad for her, but seeing her happy smile made me smile. And that´s the point of Dana´s organization---if you help and give to the unfortunate---they will smile and so too you will!

We delivered the toys we bought for the kids to them, and when I say I thought they were happy when I first met them...I clearly was wrong. They were ecstatic and screaming with joy when they saw the bags of presents.  It was incredible to hear the noises that came from these little human beings just from the simple fact that we got them coloring books, dolls, toy cars, and pens...Every kid loved their present to the nth degree. Lauren and I noticed something that would never happen in the U-S---when each kid got their present they didn´t complain even if their friend got something bigger and better. They were grateful getting something new and were happy that people thought to buy them gifts. (I know this is a bold statement, but the fact of the matter is that it is true---In the U.S. I can´t describe how every kid wants to be the same as their friend and have the same things. Every one needs to have the latest toy or gadget...there´s no individuality. So, if you give a girl a teddy bear her friend is going to cry until she gets the same teddy bear or something grander. The simple kids of Jardin Travesuras simply wanted attention from other people, and this attention happened to come with presents.

We left the Jardin and asked where can we pick up a Remisse. The teachers said, ¨Walk 2 blocks until you see the swamp and wait there until someone comes.¨ After walking those short but smelly 2 blocks, I finally made it to the swamp BUT in order to get to the Remisse you had to cross the swamp. There were areas of the swamp there were pretty dry so that´s where we crossed...of course, I obviously tripped and dunked my ¨clean¨ feet in the DIRTY brown gunky water. Typical. I ran for the shotgun of the remisse (so I wouldn´t have to lay horizontally again) and got dropped off at the train station.

Visiting the town of Suarez and the Jardin Travesuras really made me realize the importance of being happy with what you have. Lauren and I both concluded this was by far one of the most influential and memorable experiences in our lives and especially during our stay in Argentina.