Today Ana Silvia, our Desk Officer in Bolivia, took me on a tour around the center of Cochabamba which is typically part of the induction tour ever volunteer receives after they arrive and a quick walk from our office on Calle Sucre. The main highlight of the tour was getting to around Cochabamba’s beautiful main square, Plaza 14 de Septiembre.

Here is an aerial shot of the Plaza 14 de Septiembre

The Plaza is a hive of daytime activity. The Plaza is surrounded by some gorgeous colonial buildings and one side is bordered by Cochabamba’s cathedral which was begun in 1571 and is the valley’s oldest religious structure. Given its central location and prominence in the city, any political activity or strike starts here making the Plaza very busy given the Bolivian proclivity for political demonstrations! Consequently, it is a great place to people watch or even watch a mime in action!

A mime doing his thing on the corner of the Plaza

If you are a volunteer in Bolivia or just find your way to Cochabamba, I would recommend heading to the Plaza 14 de Septiembre to soak up some Bolivian culture as well as some of Cochabamba’s beautiful weather.

Why can’t it be this nice in New York now?

There seem to be two “convenient” ways to get to Cochabamba, Bolivia where our office and the vast majority of our volunteer placements are. One is to fly through Buenos Aires, Argentina and the other is through Sao Paolo, Brazil. On the way there I took the Brazilian route from Sao Paolo to Bolivia. Since it was my first time in South America, I asked for a window seat and watched the world below and what a sight! About an hour into the flight all I could see below me was a sea of green, more green and then some more green. It was amazing. With no clouds in sight, all I could see 30,000 feet below me was untouched jungle. There were no roads, buildings or any sort of signs of human kind. In this ever so globalized world of 6 billion souls, it is hard to imagine a place without electricity, TV, internet or roads but that was exactly what I was seeing pass below me. It really makes you think about how big this planet is and how important it is to keep this untouched land untouched.

More about Cochabamba and our projects in Bolivia will be coming soon ….

It seems like we are on a Peru binge here at the Projects Abroad blog!

Although this landmark deal happened in the middle of September, I hadn’t heard of it until recently when a friend from university pointed it out to me. For the back story, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (which I visited with Tim DeWinter, our Peru Country Director last year) has an amazing collection of Incan artifacts which the Peruvian government claimed as rightfully theirs and Peruvian national treasures.

The artifacts were originally excavated from Machu Picchu between 1911 and 1915 on the expedition led by Yale professor Hiram Bingham III, who rediscovered the 15th century Incan city.

“Paccha” or ritual offering vessel, courtesy of Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

In return for the release of the artifacts, Yale will be able to hold onto several of the research materials but after a year artifacts from both Yale’s and Peru’s collection will go on an international traveling exhibition which will help raise awareness and interest in Peru’s past.

Following the exhibition’s tour, most of the museum-quality artifacts currently at Yale will be installed in a new museum and research center in Cuzco, Peru, which will be built by the Peruvian government to meet security and technical specifications provided by Yale.

As an art history buff, a graduate of Yale and a big fan of our Inca Projects program, it’s great to see my alma mater doing the right thing and returning these amazing artifacts back to Peru. But it is also notable that both Yale and Peru did so in a collaborative way that will hopefully expand research and scholarship.

If this is a topic you are interested in, take a look at our Inca program here.

Frank Seidel at the Open Day in Stuttgart

On Saturday, the 6th of October, we were happy to welcome about 100 people from Germany, Austria and Switzerland at our Open Day in the beautiful town of Stuttgart, which is also the home of Daimler Benz and Porsche. The special guests for the day were Peter Slowe from the UK, Frank Seidel from France as well as three former volunteers from Germany. We (Doris, Stephanie, Tanja and Michael) spent a very pleasant afternoon talking about different countries and cultures. Our volunteer Anna talked about her experiences in a Nepalese hospital, Sarah about her experiences at our Indian Model farm and Stefanie about her stay in Bolivia. Listening to them, one really felt the call of far-away places!

Though our projects are open to all age groups, most of the people at the Open Day were in their early twenties - no surprise - as all German pensioners seemed to be busy spending their day at German motorway restrooms, trying to run down Stefanie and Doris!

We are already looking forward to our next Open Day!

- Tanja Schädle