I went to Proyecto on Monday, and didn't do much out of the ordinary! The organization asked me for a $150 donation that I completely did not know about or expect. When I explained this to them, the current volunteer coordinator told me that I was notified about it in an email and helped dig it up for me. When I looked over the text, it was there. However, it's only mentioned once in over 30 emails that I exchanged with the organization. It's in the very first email that is really lengthy and includes an additional volunteer FAQ document - about 3/4 of the way down the email in two sentences or so. I received this email last November - a lot has happened since. It doesn't even say it is necessary - the email says "There is no fee to volunteer with us" followed by saying that short-term volunteers are "asked" to raise a minimum of $150. The most curious thing is that this "donation" is not mentioned on the volunteering page on the website, was not brought up when I confirmed my arrival, was not talked about when I arrived, and I was never asked for it until now - over a month into my stay.
I had been considering leaving this week. My original plan was to leave around Wednesday of next week, but it didn't make sense to me to travel this weekend and pay for a bus ticket back to Cochabamba for the couple of extra days of volunteering when it would be more economical for me to just stay in Sucre and move on to Potosi from there. I also haven't been to Toro Toro National Park near Cochabamba, so I think Monday was my last day. I didn't intend for it to be this way - I genuinely like working with the kids and $150 is not a huge sum - but it is significant when that is rent for a month here. The organization should have been much more transparent with the fee. If I had known about it, I probably would have tried to find another organization. If I had stayed with Proyecto, I would at least know to expect it.
If it is my last day (I may go one more day) - I'm not sure because I'm staying in the city for a couple more days to take advantage of the Couchsurf I have set up and to get my last Spanish lessons in - then I have to say that it was a great situation overall for me to volunteer with Proyecto. Even though the commute was usually about one hour there and about 30 minutes in public transportation/30-45 minutes walking back, it helped me learn to use Couchsurfing, get used to a city in Bolivia, and slow down my travels a bit. I was fed breakfast each day if I arrived early enough, a snack, and a sizable lunch without fail - healthy options, and clean since I never got sick from it or had diarrhea as a result. I have saved a lot of money and have had time to read, keep my blog, take Spanish lessons, etc. There are some things that I could have taken more advantage of, but overall, it's been good! I'm excited to move on and get back on the road though.
When I left, I went with Daniel to the market again. I think my phone charger was pickpocketed on Friday since I know I left volunteering with it, but could find it nowhere when I got back. I had a sort of backup charger that I bought with the power bank last weekend, but for some reason it was really terrible at charging - my phone kept saying it wasn't a verified Apple product and "may not work reliably" - I was worried, especially since people don't have many Apple products here. I got a new one for about $6.50, though, and it seems to work fine! Thank goodness. On the other hand, Daniel had his phone pickpocketed - we tried to retrace our steps and everything, but found nothing. It's quite unfortunate and reminds me to make sure I don't make the same mistake of not paying attention during the rest of my time traveling. On the bright side, I bought one of those samosa-looking things for a snack again! Delicious.
I also had forgotten until Saturday that my visa was about to expire. I arrived in Bolivia on 6/7, and was given 30 days. However, I completely forgot to go to Immigration to renew it until Monday. I went to the office after volunteering, but when I got there I was told that I could either apply for a year-long visa for a TON of money (about $200) which I would not need at all, or pay a fine of 20 Bs each day I stay over. There really was no other option. Well, okay, I guess I'm paying just about $3 per day to stay in the country.
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