Summary of my GapBreak in Argentina!

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

Our volunteering was an experience like no other. We spent the afternoons in our banged up van driving out to ‘las villas’, the slums of Buenos Aires. There, we worked with children filling their time after school with fun activities so they weren’t left to wander around the dangerous slums alone. Although the surroundings were confronting our afternoons were certainly filled with joy as we skipped, played with puzzles and taught some of the older kids English.

The way our placement was structured meant that we were essentially living in a student residence in Buenos Aires for 3 months. For all of us this was the first time we lived away from our parents, leaving us to take care of ourselves in a new city far away from the comfort of Australia.

Our volunteering was much more flexible than most, giving us quite a bit of downtime to explore BA and Argentina. We spent a lot of this time exploring the city and doing touristy activities such as a graffiti tour, a day trip to Tigre and ‘La bomba del Tiempo’, a local percussion concert just to name a few. We spent a weekend in Mendoza, Argentina’s wine country and went on a trip with our volunteering organisation to Northern Argentina and Iguazu Falls. For many of us, this was the highlight of the trip working in the Peruti Village as we got the opportunity to see a totally different side of poverty in Argentina which was unlike our work in the slums.

We froze in the snow in the Andes and cycled in 34 degree heat through Misiones. We ate our weight in $2 pizzas from 'Fabrica’s' and spent a day in Uruguay. We met some interesting people, from sassy Argentinians to loud Germans and everything in between. We played puzzles, read (very poorly) in Spanish and woke up with sore muscles from piggybacks in the villas. We laughed, we cried and we spent a confusing day in Paraguay. All in all, it was a crazy, incredible and unforgettable way to spend a gap year.

Ticking off the bucket list before saying "Adios, Argentina!"

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

I have tried to start this blog about 5 times now and every time I have chickened out because I don't want to face the fact that we are leaving Buenos Aires. To sound as cliché as ever 3 months has just flown by. The fact that we are packing is incomprehensible and the thought of leaving the Reina Madre tomorrow is constantly being forced to the back of my mind, though despite that I will try to wrap up the last 3 months as best I can.

On the weekend Tarun and Andreas went to Patagonia, to which I will hand you over to Tarun… "Patagonia was an amazing experience, definitely a highlight of the trip. In El Calafate we walked on a Glacier and in El Chalten we scaled a mountain, two adventures that I certainly will not forget any time soon."

A couple of weekends ago we attended 'La Ventana', one of the best tango shows in Buenos Aires, and it certainly lived up to its name. Beginning with a (very successful) Tango class, then dinner and a show it was definitely a highlight of our time in BA.

We have spent our final few weeks in BA ticking touristy things off our bucket list as well as revisiting our favourite places. A spontaneous trip to Tigre for a grand total of 15 cents, a graffiti tour, a trip to the Japanese gardens and a Halloween party were some of the highlights. We bid farewell to our token American Zyanya, thus making the 8 amigos a group of 7 again. We have dedicated our final week to eating our body weight in food from our favourite restaurants and plan on spending our last day in Buenos Aires at the final tourist attraction on our list, Floralis Generica.

Saying goodbye to Buenos Aires will be tough, but not as tough as it was to say goodbye to the children in the villas. Our last volunteering day was a weird cocktail of reminisce, sadness and a pinch of happiness that the kids exude everyday. As we drove out of Villa Luango for the final time I hoped that we did- however small- make a difference to the lives of those we met volunteering along the way.

We have a crazy week ahead of us as we part our separate ways. Georgia is the first to leave, home to the Gold Coast on Sunday night. Tarun and Andreas leave with a lovely 3am taxi to the airport on Monday bound for Sydney and Brisbane respectively. Which leaves Joe, Jaci, Annabelle and Clem to galavant around South America for another month or so!

We've frozen in the snow in the Andes and cycled in 34 degree heat through Misiones. We've eaten our weight in $2 pizzas from Fabricas and spent a day in Uruguay. We've met some interesting people, from loud Germans to sassy Argentines and everything in between. We've played puzzles, read (very poorly) to children in Spanish and woken up with sore muscles from piggybacks in the villas. We've laughed, we've cried and we've spent a bizarre day in Paraguay. It's safe to say that we've had fun as the Seven Michael Bevans (the only thing that rhymes with 7) and I couldn't have asked for a better group to share this insane experience with.

6 border crossings, 3 new countries and a whole lot of memories

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

We have officially hit the two-month mark on our trip, leaving us with the scary realisation that we only have one month left in Buenos Aires. It has been our craziest few weeks yet, with six border crossings, three new countries to add to the passport and a whole lot of memories to last.

We spent the last week in the Misiones region of Northern Argentina on a trip organised by our Antipodeans partners. The trip included two days of volunteering before heading further north to do some sightseeing at Iguazu Falls and the Jesuit town of San Ignacio.

It's hard to compare the volunteering in the slums and our work in the Peruti Village - both equally rewarding but incredibly different. We spent the weekend working with an Indigenous community whose lives to us seemed very basic - the work we did was not so much simply playing with the children but cooking nutritious meals, lice treatment, collecting clean water from the creek and donating clothes and basic sanitary items to the community. We were also given a tour of the village by the local children, who were keen to lead us through overgrown jungle, over rocks and up very steep hills to the river where the kids and some of the group cooled down and got to relax before facing the 8km walk back to the school.

After our exhausting yet rewarding weekend in Montecarlo we were keen to head to Puerto Iguazu for some sightseeing. Our first day was spent crossing borders on a local bus bound for Ciudad de Este, Paraguay - it was definitely an authentic South American experience sitting on the floor of an overcrowded bus surrounded by boxes of illegal goods being smuggled out of Argentina! Torrential rain and long bus waits mixed with our tiredness made our day… interesting- to put it nicely. We all likened Paraguay to Southeast Asia, with many of us asking the question "what is Paraguay?" To be honest, even after a day there I'm still confused.

Overnight the sun cleared in time for our day at the incredible Iguazu Falls. Going to one of the Seven Wonders of the World was on everyone's bucket list and as always, our photos do not do the beautiful place justice. We experienced the falls in all their glory on a boat ride that took us right underneath and explored the parklands all day before heading home to relax by the pool.

Our final two days in Misiones were spent in the town of San Ignacio, where we experienced a local Asado, visited the Jesuit ruins and lay in the sun in the wonderful 35 degree heat. Although our week in Iguazu had a few hiccups - thousands of mozzie bites, standing in front of a bus to prevent it from leaving with our luggage, lunch being stolen by possum-like creatures, a scary border crossing, headlice and some definite cases of heatstroke, the Misiones trip was once in a lifetime. Throughout our travels, we have definitely learnt that even though on paper many of our plans didn't work out, sometimes that's just the way it is. All in all, I absolutely loved our Northern Argentina trip.

Speaking of border crossings, a few weekends ago we took a trip to Colonia Del Sacramento in Uruguay, a small coastal town two hours from Buenos Aires by ferry. It had been raining all morning so our trip initially felt a little glum but the sun came out just in time for us to see the most amazing sunset over the water (see picture right at the top).

Back in Buenos Aires life is going swimmingly. Our volunteering is as fun as ever and we now know most of the children in the villas by name. Last week we finally ventured to La Boca - the famous colourful streets, home to the worshipped soccer team Boca Juniors. We also attended Mundo Lingo - a bilingual speed dating-esque event to practice our Spanish- somewhat successfully too! Some of the group also went to see the All Blacks beat Argentina (before Argentina beat the Aussies, so we hear).

Plans are being made to take a trip to Patagonia to see every corner of this beautiful country and we are filling up our weekends with as much sightseeing as possible. As summer looms and the days get warmer the city is beginning to liven up as we make the most of our final month here. We are two months in and I continue to fall in love with Buenos Aires more and more each day.