03/19/2001
   Paildad - Chiloé Isl - CHILE
  S 41°51    W 73°36
  + 98

At dawn, the bathroom's door opens and closes continuously. What's going on ?

Bloouurggg, bleuuaaarggg ! There's is an acid smell around. Zombies come and go to vomit. In the toilets, a mix of foam, coriander, tomatoes and various herbs. There is no doubt: we've been intoxicated.

On the first black list. Theo, Marco and Ithaca seem severely touched... but we think it's not the end.

Today, we have an appointment in the school of Paildad. Chins up ! Vale gives us the energy of the Car@van's spirit.

Accompanied by Marcos, Carmen and Teresa, the Team embarks on the Titanic, our host's little boat. We cross the fjord and stop in front of a small yellow church, surrounded with cows, pigs and swans.

Close to it stands Paildad's small school, three little wooden houses with smoking chimneys.

"Bienvenidos a la escuela" the master says, smiling. We go in with a lot of excitation as the 22 pupils stare at us.

The Car@van will tell them a lot about the World, trying to make the children smile, who seem so cold in the unheated classroom.

But read the Anecdotes and watch the Video !

PS: to cure Ithaca, Marcos put a strange little stone under her bed... the magic of the island continues.

 Paildad's little school.

The children are between 5 and 10 years old and are quite good and well-educated. They all are very shy.

We divide the class in two groups. In the first one, Nicole explains how to use a video camera and let the children film. As you will see, some of the shots are done by the children themselves... guess which ones !

With a globe, Marco and Aleko describe the Car@van's project. They show the best videos on a laptop. The children will laugh a lot with Priscilla and the Zebras.

Theo plays the clown and gives many sweets and surprises to them.

Today, Vale is our third eye; holding the camera, she films the whole situation, for you, virtual ! At last, as a good logistician, she decides to give one of our bags, full of games and gadgets to the school.

The master thanks us by organizing a little concert with the children: xylophones, flutes, tambours, guitar...

We'd really like you to be with us to share this moment with the Car@van...

Nicole, after editing the umpteenth video, says: "When we are back, I'll leave you all in my fridge to forget you for a while !"

Vale, who just cooked a new apple pie: "Mum, please teach me to cook something else for the next round the world tour"

Theo "when I vomit, it's like a great jump. All my body blocks and I can't control anything."

Marco "I hadn't felt like this since 1995."

Aleko "Hell... ! we're all gonna die here! Must be some kind of black magic !?"

At lunch, the institutor tells us the reality about schools in rural villages.

Classes are formed with children of different ages and levels of education.

The first cycle lasts 8 years, but Paildad's school lasts only 6 years. The children have to go to the closest city to be able to study in a boarding school. Unfortunately, only half of the fathers let their children go on. For the institutor, the most difficult work is to teach the parents to let their children study ! They are more important to work in the fields..

Teaching the children the new technologies is another challenge. How would you explain them the usefulness of a computer as the school has only a small (broken) generator of electricity and there is no telephone line ? At home, nearly none of them has electricity.

We hope we gave them some keys to understand this even more complex but fascinating world.

 

... All will depend on the number of ill persons... increasing...

We may go back to a city !! The Team is in full intestine depression.

Bloeuuuaaaarghh ! The Team.

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