This is what a GapBreak is all about!

COUNTRY: Argentina
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Clem Rocks

Hello everyone! It has been a busy few weeks for our group of seven. We write to you from our 14-hour bus trip home from Mendoza, Argentina's wine region near the north border of Chile. It is amazing how after three weeks in Buenos Aires it really does feel like we are heading home after a weekend away.

Two weeks ago we had our orientation with Antips' in-country partners, who explained to us the significance of what we would be doing over the next three (now two) months. The primary objective is to "improve the children's quality of life in marginalised areas by generating opportunities for a better future in Argentina." The work that we do is primarily after school care, working in small community centres in 'las villas' playing with the children and essentially giving them something to do in the afternoons so they aren't wandering around the slums. Most of the activities we offer are recreational: puzzles, reading with the kids or playing soccer and skipping. For many of the children it is an escape and often the highlight of their day, and it is quickly becoming the highlight of our time here too. Only two weeks in and we have already chosen our favourite places and have fallen in love with these kids.

The group managed to get out of Buenos Aires on our first trip together - a long weekend in Mendoza. We arrived on Friday morning after a sleep on the overnight bus (in seats that are definitely business class standard) and that afternoon set off on a wine tasting tour of the region. Mendoza is known for having the best red wine in Argentina, though in addition to tasting the Malbecs and Shiraz we also had amazing olive oil at a small factory along the way and learnt the process of making wine at these vineyards.

The next day was Georgia's 19th birthday, and what a better way to spend it than on a high mountain tour of the Andes. Mendoza is semi-desert and it is quite rare for it to snow in the Andes at this time of year, so naturally we were expecting the blue skies and 20-degree weather we were told about. What we were met with was -7 degrees and snowing- definitely different to what we were prepared for, but so much better. We visited the highest mountain in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres and had lunch at an altitude of 3557m above sea level. We ended the tour in Las Cuevas, the final town before Chile with a population of only ten people before heading back via the Inca Bridge.

On our final day the girls opted for the city tour where we learnt about Mendoza's history and climbed 'Cerro de la Gloria', an iconic hill in Mendoza with spectacular panoramic views of the whole city; as usual, none of our photos do it justice.

Outside of volunteer hours we have also been very busy discovering more and more of Argentina. We dedicated last weekend to seeing many of the main tourist attractions in Buenos Aires. We visited Recoleta Cemetery, home of some the most elaborate graves we have ever seen, including that of the Peron family (see photo below). On the same day we also discovered El Ateneo, a beautiful theatre turned bookstore which was a lovely escape from the craziness of the city, even if just for an hour or so. On Sunday we returned to San Telmo markets with more determination than last week; not only did we make it the whole stretch this time but we also picked up some souvenirs to bring home along the way.

During the week we attended 'La bomba del Tiempo', an Argentine percussion show which we were told was one of the top three things to see in Buenos Aires- and it definitely lived up to this claim! The boys have joined a local football team, playing with and against other travellers about once a week. The girls attempted tango lessons which were less than successful (none of us are very coordinated), though we claim victory after the few 'buenos' we received from the teacher and are definitely as good as the locals now.

Today marks two months until we leave and although that feels like a long time we know that it will fly by. The combination of volunteering and travelling is really what a GapBreak is all about. We are planning to go to Uruguay in a couple of weeks and this weekend some of us are going to volunteer at a summer camp with the kids we see during the week. We are well and truly settling into life in Buenos Aires and are starting to feel like locals, though our thick Australian accents often give us away, along with our not-so-fluent Spanish.

Till next time!


Clem