That Volunteer Life...

It's a crazy time here at UP CLOSE Bolivia! Projects are evolving rapidly, volunteers are swiftly coming and going, and travel and adventure are always in the air.

It's beautiful here. We live in shared volunteer houses overlooking a campground, where interesting travelers from around the world are always coming and going.

...Unless they're waiting for a stove. When they're waiting for a stove, they never seem to leave...

Below the campground is a raging river, and the mountains are abundant all around us.

On any given morning, a few select people rise early to go to the children's center or the zoo. The children's center consists of either helping in the kitchen (60+ kids eating 2 meals and 2 snacks each day, and dishwashers aren't exactly common in Bolivia! That kitchen sure keeps a person busy) or helping in one of the classrooms. The kids are a joy and shout "HOLA TIA!!" all the way across the center even before they've met you. And the tias are some of the friendliest and funniest people I've ever met!

We are currently building a greenhouse in the zoo out of empty pop bottles. After clearing away the raging weeds in the old greenhouse, we began to wash and chop off the bottoms of the bottles. It's a long, intense project and seems to be moving very slowly, but it's undeniable that progress is being made! We also get to wear these funky zoo outfits, which come in limited sizes so I always somehow end up with XXL. The zoo is a really nice project though, because it allows us time to really bond as volunteers. The only strategy necessary for the zoo - try and avoid thinking about the fact that the lions have to eat... Poor donkeys!!

The volunteers who don't have morning activities generally have planning of some kind in that time period. So nobody's snoozing the day away! (I may have accidentally done that once when the battery of the device with my alarm died in the middle of the night...oops!)

I'm part of the English teaching team, and I LOVE IT!! We currently have two different sets of classes going - Well, the second one starts tomorrow! We will be doing a six week class for teens and tweens in their school. 

We have been doing an evening class for the mother's club so far, and the people who attend are extremely fun and easygoing. Even when we fail miserably to express our point in Spanish, or say something terribly wrong, they laugh and communicate to each other what we intended to say, and it's great. Planning can be a challenge though, as the students range in age by about 50 years and range in English experience from never spoken a word to studied several years in school. They are always open to having fun though! We did a mock restaurant yesterday, and I brought legitimate food in... for some of the items. For example, a cookie was a real cookie, but pasta with sauce was an uncooked noodle with a drop of soy sauce. Hmmm....

And then there's everybody's favorite project - the albergue! "Albergue" means "shelter" in Spanish, and in this case it's a temporary home for children of all ages who have been rescued from some traumatic situation, be it trafficking or abuse or unsatisfactory care. We go for two hours three times a week and do activities with the 6 to 17-year-olds. On Tuesdays we do a project of some kind with the girls, Thursdays with the boys, and on Wednesdays we all go outside and have a big sports day! (Wednesdays are the BEST!) And these people aren't amateurs when it comes to sports. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm not playing in the World Cup, because that's what it feels like! Today we were playing futból 12 vs. 2, and the team with 2 was absolutely kicking butt! It was unbelievable. And, simply stated, every single person there is absolutely incredible and funny and sweet and wonderful in every way imaginable.

On weekends we have Fundación Porvenir, which is horse therapy for children with special needs. We play with the kids while they're not riding the horses, and they have SO MUCH ENERGY! I don't understand how anyone can have that much energy so early in the morning on a weekend, but somehow they manage it. We play on the little playground with them, or in whatever other creative way they come up with.

Many of us have elected to take Spanish lessons on top of our volunteer work, which take place down in the campground about 4 hours per week. Our teacher is SO nice and easily caters to every possible Spanish level. In the mere eight hours I've had so far, I've learned several varieties of past and future tense, many other technical details I had previously overlooked, and expanded my vocabulary immensely. It's so great!

There are currently 12 volunteers here and we come from 5 different countries - New Zealand, Germany, Holland, UK, and USA. We come from all different backgrounds and walks of life, but we're all here with one purpose: to create positive change in Bolivia while Bolivia creates positive change in us.

In the evenings we can often be found at the restaurant down the street that serves a complete delicious meal for just 10bs (about USD$1.50), at a café in San Miguel, bonding over a movie, or simply chatting and enjoying each other's company. We also have frequent barbeques, and the other day I bought supplies for s'mores and all the Americans gave a lesson to everybody else on how to make them.

People from other countries: (while staring skeptically) "Well, this is underwhelming..."

Americans: "Wait until it's in your mouth!!!"

However, Everybody ended up wanting some more s'mores (ha, get it? Hehe.)

Many people here, myself included, are recovering from a little bug caused by eating unsafe food, so not much weekend travel has occurred for me yet, but I'm excited for the weekends to come!

Also unfortunate is that half of the volunteers currently here are leaving this weekend! It's a sad coincidence that everyone is leaving at once, but I suppose we'll have to carry on.

So that's daily life here as seen through a window of words! Although i wish everyone could look out my actual bedroom window here - the view is absolutely stellar!