Unfortunately I couldn’t write as soon as we had our excursion – which was on the 29th of September – but it is never late to share this fantastic day with you all. I must say, Tamam is not very popular among our kids only because of the great Tamam volunteers who have been visiting them ;), but also because of the excursions that have been funding by Tamam! Thanks to San Bernanindo excursion, now I know why they were insistently asking about this outing since the day I arrived.

Around 8 o’clock in the morning we met in front of the center. When I arrived there with our director Elisabeth, the kids were already in a line, all ready with their little backpacks and their energetic moods. We were 51 people in total with 42 children, and a mother in addition to the educators and volunteers. As the kids were so thrilled about toddling off Abasto for the excursion, they left their mischievousness at the center before boarding. There was only one problem: as they are not so much used to travel by a vehicle, a lot of them got travel sick and the bus ride turned into a ‘fiesta del vomito.’

The destination was a town called San Bernanindo, located on the shores of Ypacarai Lake, in the outskirts of Asuncion, approximately 35 kilometers away from Abasto. The town was founded in the late 1880s by the German colonists and thus, have the German influence in the architecture and style. They say it is a very popular place to be during the summer and is the place where Asuncion people – who can afford it – have their summer houses.

It was the first time of more than half of our little travellers being in San Bernanindo, ever. Yet, their only focus was the water! We first had a walk around the town and climbed up to a hill to see the view of the lake and a big statue – which looks like a smaller female version of the Jesus Christ statue in Rio. After the short tour, once we came back to the lake, everyone got rid of their clothes and jumped into the water. Except for the boat trip and lunch, they did not come out of the water until it was time to leave.

Although kids often get into fight at the center in Abasto, during the trip everyone was so respectful and responsible. The ones who had younger siblings always watched after their little brothers or sisters; helped them to get dressed, eat their lunch, swim and even vomit, during the bus ride. When the boat was edged in, the 7 years old Kevin anomalously jumped into the water, where it was quite deep. Before any of the adults, the 14 years old Ignasio right away jumped after Kevin and scooped him out of the water. Elizabeth, who organized the trip was also very happy with the result, which she expressed as “ a “very harmonious experience with all relaxed, good humored people and no complaints.”

We are all very thankful to Tamam for funding our trip to San Bernanindo that covered the transportation, boat trip and snacks of 52 of us! The kids are already very excited about the next excursions :].