Day tour “Pai Pukú”

Departure north on the Transchaco route. 7.30 / 8.00am Stop in the Villa Hayes to take a walk along the coast of the Paraguay River.

We make a few stops along the route to admire the wildlife of this region, especially the many species of birds that stay here all winter.

The María Medianera Comprehensive Training Center, better known as the Pai Puku School in Chaco, is unique in its kind. Since June 1965 it has been on km 156 of the Transchaco route in the Benjamin Aceval district in the department Pdte Hayes in operation. It offers full education to low-income students. Of the 550 students and 60 teachers, almost 90 percent live there thanks to their self-administration during the school year. Their mission is to contribute to strengthening educational work, human and Christian support. It covers an area of six hectares and its large complex is made of materials from Chaco, such as karanday and palm trees. The center was “baptized” by the residents as the “Pai Puku School” in honor of its founder, the Belgian priest Pedro Shaw.

local farmers and friends of Shaw who had joined together with the main goal of supporting the initiatives and activities of the school. It includes polyprofessional education for children and teenagers from the Paraguayan Chaco, although some students come from the eastern region, but only because their parents work at Estancias in the Chaco. However, all students come from low-income families. A specialty of this educational center is its self-administration, in which the students themselves are protagonists. They also work and produce beautiful furniture on an industrial scale. They have four organic gardens run by very young people, in addition to cutting and sewing activities, housekeeping, rural health promotion, hairdressing, typing, computers, electricity, beekeeping and plumbing. At 3:00 pm we retake the journey back to Asunción.