EXPEDITION LIFE
Accommodation
Food
A Day In The Life
Who Else Is Going?
Weather
What better way to make a positive impact than by going to the heart of the Bolivian Amazon and working with animals where help is needed most?
This 3 month GAP is perfect for those with a love of animals, who want to learn Spanish (or improve it), who want to do some voluntary work and explore some of South America's highlights. Whilst volunteers do not need any prior experience of working with animals, the project would especially suit those who are trying to obtain hands-on experience in animal behaviour, species conservation or veterinary studies. Volunteers wishing to gain veterinary experience may ask to assist the onsite vet, Pascal, with his daily duties.
Accommodation
Language Phase:
You will start your trip staying in a lovely old colonial building with its own internal courtyard. QUEST has use of the entire hostel for the full 3 weeks of your stay, and so it becomes like a second home. Volunteers usually share a simple room with 2-4 beds and nearly all rooms are en-suite. Volunteers have their own kitchen and dining room where they can cook and store drinks. The hostel is a 2 minute walk to the closest shops, internet cafes, restaurants and bars.
Project Phase:
One of the wonderful aspects of this project is that volunteers live and work in two different locations:
Parque Machia
The volunteer “Casa” on the edge of the jungle. The house has a basic kitchen with a refrigerator and a communal area. 1-3 QUEST volunteers usually share a simple room, toilets and hot showers are found outside.
Ambue Ari
Here you'll stay in a traditional wooden-sided building with a thatched roof, in the picturesque village of Santa Maria. The accommodation is very rustic and volunteers sleep in bunk beds.
Explorer Phase:
This will range from tented accommodation on treks, to dormitory accommodation, to twin rooms; depending on the location and activity. All will be clean and of good quality but none will be a luxury! We choose our accommodation because of the outstanding locations, because of friendly reliable local staff, and because of the great atmosphere and warm welcome you'll feel when you arrive.
Food
Language Phase:
In Sucre you will have breakfast and lunch cooked for you at the hostel. Sometimes hostel meals will be cooked for you (usually on return from a weekend away), at other times, you'll eat out at local restaurants or cook for yourselves at the hostel. No one is expected to have any prior cooking experience but it's certainly welcomed! Groups of 3-4 will usually take it in turns to shop in the colourful food markets and cook for the rest of the team which is great practice for your Spanish.
A typical daily meal might be:
Breakfast: freshly squeezed fruit juice, tea/coffee, scrambled eggs, bread and jam.
Lunch: a hearty Bolivian Soup followed by a main dish of rice, potatoes, salad and chicken.
Dinner: pique a lo macho; a local Bolivian dish with beef, fried potatoes, onions, hard boiled eggs and peppers.
Drinking water is provided for you at the hostel and can easily be bought in shops in Sucre and throughout most of Bolivia.
Project Phase:
Parque Machia
Whilst at Parque Machia volunteers have breakfast and lunch at the new vegetarian café (run by Bolivian volunteers with proceeds going to the park) next to the volunteer house. For dinner, volunteers usually go into the village to eat at one of the local restaurants, but will also occasionally cook for themselves in the kitchen.
Ambue Ari
Whilst at Ambue Ari volunteers have breakfast cooked for them in Santa Maria before heading off to the park for the day. Lunch is prepared by a local cook at park, and dinner is had back in Santa Maria.
A typical daily meal might be:
Breakfast: a choice of fruits, bread, pancakes, muesli and yoghurt, tea/coffee (eggs and cheese sometimes available at Ambue Ari)
Lunch: traditional Bolivian vegetarian meal, usually with rice, pasta, beans, lentils or chips
Evening: at Parque Machia; a range of meals from the local restaurants, as well as more international foods such as pizza and Chinese. At Ambue Ari; Meals prepared by one of the local ladies living in Santa Maria, usually includes chicken, rice, corn, vegetables.
Explorer Phase:
On the expedition you will be getting the chance to sample traditional South American cuisine. In general you will be eating at your hostel for breakfast, in town for lunch and in a local restaurant in the evening. Volunteers are given some responsibility over the team's food budgets and will mainly eat together, but will also have the opportunity to go out in smaller groups. On treks the team will take it in turn to cook simple meals on camping stoves.
A Day In The Life
Language Phase:
This phase will be different day to day but will include a mix of classroom sessions and getting out to practice your skills. Evenings will be spent on social activities and getting to know each other as a team.
A typical day might involve:
07.30 Wake up
08.00 Breakfast at hostel
08.30 Leave for Spanish School
09.00 Lessons start
11.00 Break-time
11.15 Lessons
13.30 Lunch at hostel
14.00-15.00 Free (relax at hostel, check emails, wander around town)
15.00-17.00 Visit to dinosaur tracks
17.00-19.30 Free
19.30 Dinner
21.00 Salsa bar or playing a game of Wolly (the national sport of Bolivia, best described as playing volleyball in a squash court. Great fun and strangely addictive!)
Project Phase:
Parque Machia
Each volunteer has sole responsibility for one animal; a monkey, a toucan or even a puma or jaguar. The following is an example of what the working day can be like but it depends on what animal you are looking after.
06.30 Wake Up
07.00 Breakfast
07.30 Start work. Clean the monkey cages and feed them
09.00 Grooming and petting monkeys
11.00 Preparation of monkey food for lunch
12.30 Volunteer lunch
14.30 Basic construction and maintenance of monkey park. Food preparation.
16.00 Monkey dinner, final cleaning and monkeys prepared for night.
18.00 Finish work. Free-time.
20.00 Dinner
Ambue Ari
Here volunteers get to make a lasting contribution to the project by helping to construct much needed new infrastructure such as enclosures for the cats or a new vets clinic. Whilst the bulk of the work involves construction, there are numerous animals and each volunteer is given the chance of taking one of the jaguars or pumas for their daily walk through the rainforest with one of the Bolivian volunteers. If you are really lucky and get to take “Jagaroopee”, the jaguar for a walk then the chances are he will also want to go for a swim in the river with you too!
06.30 Wake Up
07.00 Breakfast
07.30 Bus from village to park
08.00 Attend to animals if on duty
08.30 Start construction work
12.30 Lunch
14.00 Return to work
17.00 Finish work. Tea time!
18.00 Bus back to Santa Maria
20.00 Dinner
Free Time:
Whilst at Parque Machia, volunteers will not have any weekdays off as it is important that each animal is given as much continuity as possible in terms of who is looking after them. Evenings are for relaxing, playing football against the locals and socialising with other park volunteers.
Whilst at Ambue Ari, volunteers on the 6 week project will get 1 day off each week. Days off are usually spent in Guarayos - a nearby lake where you can spend a lazy day swimming and chilling out in a hammock. Relaxing in the afternoons involves swimming in nearby rivers, playing football and just taking in life in the Amazon basin. Whilst the team is travelling between the two parks they will spend one or two nights in the city of Santa Cruz as the parks are too far apart from each other to do the journey all in one day.
Explorer Phase:
With such an active and full itinerary it is simply impossible to say what a typical day will be like. What is safe to say however is that nearly every day starts early and is full of adventure and excitement until the moment you go to bed; exhausted but buzzing! The expedition has been designed to ensure that you fit in as much as possible, whilst giving you the time to relax, chill out and take in all the amazing places around you.
Who Else Is Going?
The team will be a maximum of 18 volunteers and all team members take part for the entire 3 month trip. Whilst there is no specific age limit for any of our expeditions, volunteers tend to be aged 18-25.
Volunteers will meet and become friends with numerous local staff and also have the opportunity of working with other independent volunteers from all over the world who help out at the sanctuary for periods of 2 weeks - 1 year at a time.
Weather
Language Phase:
Sucre is Bolivia's beautiful capital city surrounded by mountains. It has a mild temperature, although it can get hot in the sunshine and a little chilly at night.
Project Phase:
Both parks are located in the hot and humid tropics and temperatures are high all year-round (22-28 Celsius, 71-83 Fahrenheit). Most of the rain falls during the summer months (British winter) although being in a rainforest means that there is a good measure of rain during the winter too which is a short welcome relief to the muggy tropical heat.
Ambue Ari is located further into the Amazon basin and as such can be considerably hotter than Parque Machia which stands at a slighty higher elevation. Only during the winter months (British summer) will it ever get cold enough to need a sleeping bag or warm clothing at night.
Andean Explorer Phase:
Due to the range of altitudes, climatic zones and environments you'll experience you will need a range of clothing suitable for the beach, for mountain environments, for humid rainforest and for cities. You are provided with a detailed kit list to ensure that you are suitably prepared.