By Faye Stickings, Programme Advisor

Considering Bolivia borders Argentina to the north, it surprisingly still took the best part of a days flying to get to my next destination after Cochabamba, the province of Cordoba in Argentina.

I must admit to being incredibly surprised to begin with as to how European and modern Cordoba was. Its grid system of roads had a very distinct New York feel to it and coupled with the yellow taxis on every corner, I had to check I had reached the correct destination! I only had four days in Argentina to assist our staff team in their quest to secure a new office and view our medical programmes. Our teaching and care projects are based in and around Ville Allende, a small town (and now where we have a brand new spanking office!) about a 40min bus ride from Cordoba. For volunteers taking part in a medical programme, you will be based in Cordoba city where we work with a number of private clinics, as well as various departments in central hospitals.

The surgeons and doctors are incredibly keen for more volunteers, although a slight word of warning, make sure your Spanish is up to scratch first! Teaching & Projects Abroad also welcomes a new member of staff to our Argentinean team, Ines Marianni, who will be our Assistant Country Manager. I did feel for Ines, it was only her first week of work and she was thrown in at the deep end having to work with me for the week!! After four very hectic, busy days I was extremely pleased on the last night to finally get my chops around a real Argentine steak – bliss!!

Yum!

Steak, wine and tango – a heady mix under any circumstances. All the more enjoyable under a warm sun, in the lush green environs or beautiful Argentina.

I’ve been living in Argentina for 7 weeks now, helping out the local team here as the projects get more popular and busy, and it’s great.

A typical asada

The first few weeks in a new place are always the best time for me to spot what may be strange or different for volunteers coming here fresh, before it all becomes second nature to me, but really, it’s not too hard to adjust to life here. The families I’ve met are all so friendly and the city of Córdoba has a very European feel – just the right balance between historical buildings and modern bars. Many volunteers live and work in smaller towns around Córdoba city, as I do, which is nice as life in the little towns is tranquil, but the city is only an hour away if you fancy a night out. I went out last Saturday and Argentineans really know how to party! People never get to clubs until 2 am and usually carry on until 6 or 7 in the morning. As I staggered out about 5am (obviously not hardcore enough!) there was a queue of people waiting go in and get started!

Family parties are something else I’ve been enjoying, in the form of asadas - huge bonfires with all the delcious steak you can eat, plus other treats such as empanadas (similar to Cornish pasties) and icecream – dulce de leche-flavoured of course: I’m sure that stuff runs through people’s veins here.

Volunteers can have a great time here and it’s not all parties! More and more projects are being added – there’s now dentistry here, for example – and more and more volunteers are heeding the call of this charming southern country that enjoys the height of summer when things are chilly in the Northern hemisphere. There’s a really good group of volunteers at the moment, and more coming soon. I’m happy I have the chance to live and work here and experience Argentine culture first hand: it’s a rich blend of European and Latin American culture that many people fall in love with, including me.

Ian, our Senior Programme Executive, who is in charge of Marketing for Projects Abroad around the globe sent in a post about his recent trip to Argentina:

Hola. Como estas?

I am starting to remember my Spanish just about after four years of not using it. It has been great to visit Cordoba and the projects.

We have teaching, care and medical projects. Within a day of being here I had been made the godfather of a new school which is being built to replace the basic village school we have volunteers working in at the moment. The staff is so welcoming and keen to have volunteers help out. You can make a real difference. Without volunteers they have no one to teach English.

I met the mother superior at Hogar San Francisco orphanage which has had lots of volunteers. She proceeded to get out all her photos of volunteers and tell me about everyone that had helped out. They have created a vegetable patch for each of the children. The literal and figurative fruits of their labour are starting to appear with flowers as well as tomatoes coming to the fore.

At the hospital the main supervisor told me about the volunteers he has had - One even ended up attending a congress of doctors from around the world. Others have presented reports on AIDS around the world. There are some real opportunities to see how an Argentinean hospital works.

One of the first things I realised when I arrived is that it is difficult to starve in Argentina! The steaks are huge and they taste great. I was amused the other day when a lady who saw half a chicken on my plate asked why I wasn’t having meat! There are also lots of Italian influences with pizza, spaghetti and ravioli. Our vegetarians have lots of options although lots of Argentineans are a bit bemused at why people don’t want to eat their steak!

We have a real mix of volunteers with Belgian, Dutch, American and Germans all speaking a mix of English and Spanish. Unquillo where we are based is about an hour from the centre of Cordoba and is surrounded by countryside. It is a bustling town with lots of Argentinean tourists at the moment.

Cordoba is a great place to go travelling from with the Iguazu Falls in the north, Buenos Aires in the south and Mendoza in the west. Everyone that has been to Patagonia says it is well worth the journey.

Henning, a current volunteer, who has been in Argentina for five months, has worked out that if his travels in Argentina were all put together in one line it would take him from his home in Germany to Beijing. That is a lot of bus rides!

We have some exciting developments - moving to a new office in the next couple of weeks as well as Laura joining the team from our Mexican office. We have a couple of new projects that we shall hopefully introduce in the next few months. More on that later.

Ciao, Ian.