A Day in the Life of a Villa Maria Volunteer By Tilly Danby and Zoe Kayton Ten alarm clocks sound at 6.15 am and the team awakens with the good intention of going for a jog. On a usual day about half us will actually leave the cosy confines of our beds and head out […]

This past week, the 11 of us departed into the wilderness for our second trek. This time we were accompanied by 3 mules, their leader, Don Luis, and OUR beloved leader, Pedro. We trekked up and down mountainsides, passing waterfalls, many llamas, and lakes. One time we even needed to take off our hiking boots […]

Our first week went by in a flash of Spanish learning, speaking and exploring. Having arrived on the Monday morning in La Paz, we met Matty, the rugged explorer, in a bright yellow Mr Happy t-shirt with whom we got our delayed (Bolivian style) flight to Sucre. We settled easily into the hostel and despite […]

INTI WARRA YASSI – SUN MOON  STARS  Upon our arrival to Ambue Ari we were given packets of reading to do on the park and the animals there. Into the night (while the other volunteers slept, approximately 7:30 PM) we read and let the anticipation build; what cat would be ours? The first night in […]

Not for the first time, the Quest Group cruised down into La Paz’s famous bowl to be greeted by the vast array of lights which illuminate the city by night. This time though, I think it would be fair to say the group was much less impressed than our first visit; namely because we weren’t […]

Fresh from our first trek and nursing sore legs and shoulders, we hopped on a bus in search of Peru. We soon approached the vast blue lake that could only be Titicaca and a few hours later found ourselves crossing the border, earning another eagerly anticipated stamp on our passports. Our first Peruvian night was […]

The last week has faced us with challenges but also rewarded us with once in a life time experiences. After our couple of days at sea level in Lima our bodies had to reacclimatise to high altitude. Our single day acclimatisation trek led us to a “very blue” (in Sophia’s words) Laguna 69. The altitude […]

Welcome to the Jungle!  This blog will briefly summarize our trip from our respective countries of origin to Bolivia and our 4 days at the first animal sanctuary of Jacq Cuisi.   As some of us took slightly different routes I can only comment on my own, which was Heathrow – Madrid – Lima – […]

Hola! We have finally settled in the land of the ceviche! Everything is going well and no major mishaps so far. There are nine of us in the group including our leader, Emily; Please allow me to introduce James, Nikita, Becca, Eleanor, Hannah, Alex, Holly and Isabella. Here is what we have done so far: […]

Thanks to Alex for our latest update Day 5: Today was our first day of construction. We are building a house for a single mother and her son who has severe hip problems. The cost of his six operations has made the family very poor and for the last 15 years they have lived in […]