All work and no play...

…is certainly not the case at Proyecto Horizonte! There is always lots going on both within the project and outside, be it birthday celebrations, welcome dinners, farewell parties, cinema trips, relaxing at the swimming pool, going hiking – we’re never short of something to do.

Last week saw the culmination of the Proyecto Horizonte volleyball tournament. Five teams participated, representing the different areas of the organization – Centro Inicial, Colegio, Centro de Salud, Administración and Voluntarios. Friendly competition was the atmosphere at the weekly matches, which was lucky as anything more serious would have certainly resulted in my eviction from the team given my sub-optimal performance (nine times out of ten when I touch the ball it goes flying, usually sideways or backwards, but rarely over the net). The final results were as follows: in first place was the Colegio, followed by the Centro de Salud, Administración, Centro Inicial and finally, Voluntarios. Despite coming last, we all had lots of fun, and can at least say that we’ve improved – so bring on the next tournament! (I’m now feeling super-confident having overcome my initial fear of the ball…)

The weekends have been really busy recently too and have included a pretty exhausting, but beautiful hike to Pico Tunari – the highest mountain around Cochabamba - and a weekend trip to Toro Toro National Park, where you can go caving, swim under waterfalls, see dinosaur footprints, and go exploring for fossils. Not to mention our recent journey to Uyuni to see the salt flats – a must-see for anyone travelling in Bolivia. In Cocha you’re really never at a loss for brilliant things to do. In a few weeks time some of us are planning to go to the jungle at Villa Tunari, where there is a nature reserve and lots of wildlife to see (as well as a lot of relaxation to be done by the pool) - we’re really looking forward to it, just hoping it doesn’t rain!

Having carried on about all the activities here besides work, I should point out that the day-to-day happenings at Proyecto Horizonte are far from tedious – so much so, in fact, that volunteers are often loathe to take days off work when they go travelling for a long weekend! How’s that for the best of both worlds?!