So, I've just completed a month's volunteering here in Cochabamba for Proyecto Horizonte and I've had a really cool experience. My experience started back in the UK after I decided I wanted to work with Proyecto Horizonte. I had to decide what I wanted to do to raise money for the project. This in itself can be a fun experience. I personally went for one of those crazy physical challenges and cycled from London to Snowdon, and then climbed it. This fundraising effort meant that I managed to raise a lot more than the $150 dollar donation asked of volunteers working fewer than 3 months, but it also meant that I didn't have to dip into my own pocket to pay for it either. If you are thinking about volunteering for the project, and have time, then this is a good way of saving yourself some money and raising awareness about the project.
One of my apprehensions before coming to work for the project was that I didn't know a great deal about Cochabamba, and so wasn't sure what kind of a city it would be like to live in. Unfortunately, I arrived here on a Wednesday night when everything was dark and closed, which did nothing to allay my fears! However, Cochabamba itself is a pretty cool, lively, cheap city to live in for a month or so. The project had an apartment all ready and waiting for me upon my arrival and other volunteers who have stayed with host families have had only good things to report as well. One of the things I like about Cocha is that it isn't very touristy at all, so other than your fellows volunteers at the project, you don't come across many gringos. It also has a fairly lively night life and plenty of different cafes and restaurants to try out. Food and accommodation here is really affordable and there are some cool excursions that you can go on at weekends when you feel the need to get out of the city.
The fact that Cocha isn't a tourist town means that it is a great place to practise your spanish, and a great place to learn spanish too. The project put me in touch with a spanish teacher who was the best I've had so far in South America. I had some really fun lessons and the price is really affordable. My spanish isn't great and I thought I would have been able to pick up a bit more during my two months in Peru before coming to the project. It has made working here a little more difficult so I would strongly recommend getting the basics in order before starting as well as your phrases for "can you repeat that please?" , "could you speak a little slower please?", "I think I understand, but I'm not sure" etc etc - very useful indeed!
The project itself is a 10 km commute south of the city, but the trufi system here is cheap and reliable (unless there are road blockades!). Depending on where you are in the city and how bad the traffic is your commute should be between half and hour and an hour. The school is the bright spark at the centre of Mineros San Juan and does some great work within the community, which is a great thing to be a part of. The people you work with are friendly and easy to get on with. I worked in the guarderia (kindergarten) and on the summer vacation programme and the kids were (on the whole) great fun and respectful towards teachers and volunteers. It was a strange experience interacting with the children with limited spanish to start with, but I got by none the less and in the end really enjoyed it.
I was also able to help out around the place with some odd jobs such as painting the project logo on walls and other more manual tasks, which was a welcome change to work back home and is, of course, entirely optional. The project is also always actively marketing itself to raise awareness, man power and funding so there is also the opportunity to help out on the stand during promotional events and other campaigns as well.
All in all, I'm really glad I came to Proyecto Horizonte. It has been a great month, I've enjoyed the work and met some great people.
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