I decided some time ago that I wanted to do some volunteer work over the duration of my trip, and with the support of my employer I signed up for one of Habitat for Humanity’s “Global Village” projects in Bolivia. Habitat for Humanity is a US-based and church-affiliated non-profit that builds low-cost housing around the globe. The Global Village projects allow people from many different walks of life to give both time and money to the organisation.
I flew up from Buenos Aires to the city of Santa Cruz in Bolivia, in the eastern lowlands of the country, and met up with a few members of the group there. While we were working in a village outside of the city, we were housed in a (I have to say pretty nice) hotel on the city’s outskirts. Over the weekend we greeted other members of the group as they arrived, and took the chance to explore a little of the city centre and adjust to the climate. the tropical heat and humidity of the Amazon basin in wet season was quite an adjustment after the dry heat of Buenos Aires!
Plaza Principal in Santa Cruz:
Sunday Market:
A busy church schedule…!
By Monday morning we had all members of the group (bar one) and were ready to start work on the house. The local affiliate arranged a minibus to take us to the site, and we drove around 30 minutes south-west from Santa Cruz to the small rural village of El Torno.
On the build site:
The house starts to take shape. Steve works on the septic tank pit.
I get started on “The Hole”. Everyone busy at work…
Steve in the hole – 3m deep by now!
Time Off in the Evenings:
Enjoying a local football match. Local schoolkids put on a show for us.
Before I forget, thanks soooo much to those of you who sent me birthday wishes for the 13th!!!! Have to admit however that there’s nothing much worth celebrating getting this old! While I didn’t do anything “special” on the big day, I did see in the day dancing salsa and saw it out singing kareoke, so it aint all bad!! As my birthday fell on a Saturday I was keen to get out of the city and explore a little of the region over the weekend. Together with the rest of the Habitat group we chartered a minibus to drive us to Samaipata, a small town up in the cooler climes west of Santa Cruz.
Pre-Incan ruins at La Fuerte. You can’t beat a good waterfall…
Here are a few pics from my last night out on the town (I’m off to Bolivia to do some volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity over the next few weeks). With a bunch of mates from the language school we kicked things off at the uber-retro Soul Cafe before heading on to Opera Bay, a monsterous nightclub down in Puerto Madero that looks kinda-sorta like Sydney’s Opera House.
For New Years I took up an offer from my mate Tanya to join her and some friends in the beach resort town of Punta del Este. I’ve known Tanya since my days at Monash Uni and she’s living in Boston at the moment. I knew she was planning a Christmas trip with a group of classmates (she’s completing her MBA at HBS) down in Argentina and Uruguay, and I was hoping to cross paths with her. We were able to meet up for dinner and a couple of drinks in Buenos Aires, and organised then to meet up in Punta for New Years.
I left Buenos Aires on the midday ferry to Montevideo, a three-hour trip east across the Rió de la Plata (River Plate) delta. Uruguay’s capital didn’t look like much as the ship pulled into the harbour, but admittedly I didn’t really see that much of the place as I was immediately whisked away on a connecting bus. Two hours later the bus arrived at Punta, a fairly generic beach resort town with high-rise apartments and a swagger of restaurants, bars, clubs and gift shops. I had time to kill as I had to wait for Tanya and her friends to arrive, so I grabbed some dinner and chilled out down at the beach until I got the address of the enormous house they’d rented.
We had a great couple of days in and around Punta. We spent most of our time, including New Years, in La Barra, a smallish town that reminded me of some of the smaller towns along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road: a single thoroughfare with lots of surf shops, ice creameries, cafes, restaurants, bars and clubs. We spent a few days on Playa Montoya there, a nice little beach with some good surf, and one day drove 30 minutes further east to Jose Ignacio, a fantastic beach with a few groovy cocktail bars on the sand and all of Uruguay’s “beautiful people” there to be seen (up to and including a model photo shoot at sunset!). We ate out most nights (including a rip-off $100 set menu at a sushi place for New Years) but the best meal had to be the Mother of all Parrillas (read: Very Big Barbecue) we did back at the house.
(L) Happy New Year!!! (R) Tanya and friends.
One enormous and very hot Argentinian parrilla!
A few of the delightful sights along the beach…
(L) Work the camera baby! (R) Indeed…