Having learned a fair amount of Spanish in Sucre I still felt fairly unpractised. Probably because the majority of my time was spent drinking rum and talking bollocks in English. So, feeling like I should be more constructive with my time, I wanted to find somewhere to volunteer where I could practice my Spanish and possibly get involved in a proper project. Nothing too strenuous of course, just something more constructive than going to Mitos three times a week and gorging on dodgy street burgers. I did some research and found an interesting ecotourism organisation called El Poncho outside the city of Cochabamba. So I bid farewell to Laura, Byron and Ginger Mike and caught a night bus from Potosi to Cocha.
Cochabamba itself is a warm, friendly city but is not much of a tourist destination. There are some awesome buildings and a beautiful plaza but not much else worth mentioning. So after one night I was ready to get to El Poncho.
El Poncho is an ecotourism lodge based 20kms outside of the city in a beautiful, tranquil setting at the base of an epic mountain range. It was set up with the idea of using local and ancient building techniques and natural materials to present a real alternative to modern forms of tourism. The family who started the lodge are passionate about sustainability and the importance of ancient Bolivian heritage. The buildings onsite are absolutely amazing having been built according to a variety of traditional Bolivian methods. Each one is significant for a different reason and there’s an emphasis on where the buildings are placed in relation to certain constellations. It has an amazingly calm, relaxing energy and it was a great place to spend a week. It was slightly disappointing to find I was the only volunteer and/or guest because I was hoping to volunteer on a proper project. But it did allow me (and my liver) a week of relaxation. My volunteering time was spent mainly on gardening and maintenance. It was awesome to work outside in such a beautiful setting and I managed to practice a little bit of Spanish with the staff. There were countless dogs running around and they even had a few llamas. One of the llamas was seriously aggressive and every time I got near it spat a mouthful of grass at me. Luckily its aim was terrible but I’m convinced it had some sort of personal beef. It became routine to round the corner and have a hissing llama with a mouthful of grass looking like it wanted to kill me.
So it was an excellent week of reading, writing, taking photos and stand-offs with the llama. The staff were extremely friendly and I had plenty of time to myself. I also learned a lot from Daniel, the guy who runs El Poncho, and it was amazing to hear a little bit about the lodge and some of the ancient beliefs and customs. By the end I felt properly relaxed and slightly in party-withdrawal. Next stop: La Paz.
Check out the photos here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150180973061890.303139.514871889&l=e0f25bf26f
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