Outdoor Activities and Environmental Education

  Argentina

Rural Areas

Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 5-8 weeks
Dates: Flexible

Description: Host Organization Description: The Club Andino Cholila (Cholila Andean Club, or CACH) is a young non-profit born out of its founding members´ commitment to protecting the natural wonders of the Patagonian region. The organization's objectives are the following:

- To promote and spread knowledge about nature and the environment
- To promote flora and fauna conservation
- To promote safe mountaineering, hiking, and climbing activities
- To encourage the community to participate in outdoor activities
- To clear new hiking trails and paths, and create new mountain shelters

Volunteering Placement Description: Cholila is a small town in the Andean mountain range with a population of 2500 located 120 Km from Esquel (where MAPU Association is based).

Most of CACH´s activities and outings originate from the mountain shelter "El Kaleuche", located about 3 Km from Cholila next to lake "El Mosquito". The shelter was built by two founding members of CACH, Darío and Laura, who also run a responsible-tourism small enterprise ("Cholila Explorers") which offers mountain guides and camp-sites. The goal of this enterprise is to preserve the natural beauty of the pristine Patagonian landscape while promoting a sustainable lifestyle in harmony with the natural surroundings.

Darío and Laura coordinate all activities, which vary greatly depending on the experience and knowledge of each volunteer.

- Environmental Education: creating trail/topography maps of the region, designing a brochure (with basic tourist information and maps), recording the songs of singing birds, putting together a brochure about native species, drawing/designing a constellation sky map, running environmental education workshops and outdoor activities for kids and teenagers, etc.

- Maintenance and Recovery of the Region: removing trash from the shores of the nearby river and lake; cutting away bushes and roots to eliminate a certain species of "Rose Hip", a non-native plant that overtakes native flora and has rendered large swathes of land useless; clearing and marking new hiking trails; etc.

- Organic Farming: creating an herb garden, gardening, harvesting and picking fruits/vegetables, etc.

- Construction: gathering and placing stones, gravel, and sand for construction purposes; completing masonry and carpentry projects; etc.

- Other Activities: gathering firewood for heating; making and dispersing yellow-jacket traps (to combat a non-native species of yellow jackets whose voraciousness and carnivorousness have inspired their nickname, "meat-eating bees"); installing water filters; exploring; cooking; etc.

Highlights: The objective of this volunteering placement is for each volunteer to contribute his/her experience, knowledge, and energy to help the Cholila Andean Club achieve its goals.

Qualifications: Requirements: For this volunteering placement you need to be very interested in outdoor activities, the mountains, being in nature, protecting the environment, educating others about the environment, etc. Although specific experience doing any of the above is a great benefit to you and to the organization, no specific experience is required.

You also need to enjoy outdoor life; you will be living in a tent, using a sleeping bag at night, and spending most of your days doing activities outside (note that the shelter provides necessary comforts such as hot water, bathrooms, and a fully-equipped kitchen). Furthermore, you need to be energetic, proactive, in decent physical shape, and eager to help out.

Languages: Intermediate Spanish

Notes: This volunteer placement is perfect for people who enjoy outdoor activities, mountaineering, rowing, being in nature, and engaging in physical activity. Furthermore, this volunteering placement offers not only the possibility of seeing first-hand the native Mapuche population's social problems, but also the ability to actively contribute to their fight for their rights.

Cost in US$: 360

Also, this cost includes...
* Before your trip to Patagonia:
- Organization of your volunteer work placement with clearly defined activities and objectives, according to your profile and preferences and to the needs of your host organization.
- If necessary, translation and/or edition of your Letter of Intent and Curriculum Vitae so that the host organizations can decide whether your profile is suitable to their projects and needs.
- Regular communication with the Patagonia Volunteer's Coordinators, who will answer your doubts, give you advice, tell you about their own experience as volunteers, and help you with the practical aspects of the organization of your trip.
- Access to orientation material which will help you have clear and realistic expectations about your Patagonia experience, and will provide you with some tools to get ready to give your best during your volunteer placement.

* During your volunteer work in Patagonia:
- Volunteers' orientation and preparation workshop: analysis of the different local realities and tools to interpret them, role and position of the international volunteer, information and preparation for the specific projects, etc.
- Guidance and supervision during your volunteer work from the Patagonia Volunteer's Coordinators and from your host organization coordinator.
- Contacts to find a local partner for practicing Spanish and making a language exchange.
- Organization of your accommodation with a local family (for about 150 EUR to 200 EUR monthly).

* After your volunteer work in Patagonia
- Possibility of keeping involved with the MAPU Association's projects through virtual volunteering.
- Opportunities to return to Patagonia to perform another volunteer work project in Patagonia, as often as you want or as often as you can, without having to pay again the volunteer organization placement fee.
- A network of friends with experiences and objectives in common who walk towards the same direction, sharing both interests and differences.

Experience Required: no

Age Range: 19-45

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel to Argentina Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently

Application Process Involves:

• Written Application

MAPU Association's Mission Statement: MAPU Association is a young non-profit, founded in Madrid, Spain, in April 2006. The main objective of MAPU Association is to encourage and promote cooperation and development projects within the communities of Argentinean and Chilean Patagonia in order to foster local self-sufficiency, augment the locals' resources, and improve their capabilities for positive and sustainable development. Patagonia Volunteer is a program developed by MAPU Association as a community, social and environmental development tool in the frame of International Cooperation. Its goal is to offer solutions to the locals' needs, problems and social interests, while contributing to fostering fairer relations between this southern region and the developed countries of the north.

Year Founded: 2006