The AMAUTA Volunteer Work Program provides the unique opportunity to live and work in Peru and Argentina. Students will experience first-hand its rich cultural diversity while cultivating a superior level of Spanish proficiency. Through the Volunteer Program, AMAUTA and the volunteers are able to make contributions to local society and to help bridge the gap between foreign visitors and native people.

Participants may choose both, the field and preferred location, of their volunteer placement. Possible fields of interest include social work, education, tourism, cultural work and catering. A 4 week Spanish course is included for all volunteers as well as accommodation with a local host family or at our student residences, where you you will share daily life with many other students.

Participation in AMAUTA Student Activities (e.g. lectures, tango classes) is totally for free for all volunteers during the course of their volunteer work.
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One big joke… on you. But definitely an experience not to be missed!

If you are new to the traveling world, things can seem a little but crazy at first. I know that when I began traveling there were a lot of things I had to get accustomed to. From the irregularity of the bus system to the lack of streets signs, South America at times feels like one big joke…on you. To make a long story short, the fundamental character of traveling (especially in South America) is that of unpredictability. For those of you who are a little stressed or anxious about what lies ahead, here are some things to keep in mind on your first journey into the unknown.

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It’s impossible for me to tell how important something as nervous, challenging, dangerous and yet adventurous traveling to another country! Let alone that country and that community to be Cuzco, Peru. A place on the globe that I frankly no nothing about. I was content to a degree in the place I was before i made the trip here; Chicago Illinois, is the place I called home just a few days ago yet somehow Cusco Peru was calling me too. September 26th is when i arrived in Cusco after a quite pleasant twenty hour bus ride on “Cruz de Sur” from Lima. Greeted with just the unknown I can say I was more than nervous! Armed with the knowledge of knowing how to count to twenty, say hello, goodbye, thank you, and how much is it. (más…)

Living in a new place is hard. But learning a new language is a whole different ball game. I know from personal experience how difficult it can be. This is the second time I have set up shop in a foreign country. Two years ago I lived in Athens, Greece. Even though I was there for four months, I left the country with barely any understanding of the language. To make matters even worse, I had been taking Greek language classes at a school. You might be thinking, how could this happen? Who lives in a place, studies the language, and still does not learn anything? Well, I can tell you how: I was too scared to ever speak in public. As you can expect, my failure to learn Greek, came as a big disappointment. So this time around, when I finalized my plans to move to Buenos Aires, I promised myself that things would be different. I would learn from my past mistakes.

I have been here for a little bit over a month, and I can already see the difference speaking in public has made for my comprehension of the Spanish language. Where as in Greece I never opened my mouth, here in Buenos Aires I am sure to speak Spanish at any opportunity. When I go to the Supermercado or to the “verdulería” I try to make conversation with the workers. Even if we just talk for two minutes or I simply ask “¿cómo estás?” or “¿cuánto cuesta?” I feel accomplished after speaking en espanol. Just the other day, I stopped by my favorite Fruteria to pick up some mandarinas, and ended up talking to the store owner for ten minutes. We covered all the basics–¿de donde es? cuanto tiempo querés quedarte?–and he gave me the time I needed to respond effectively in Spanish.

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Studying Spanish in Buenos Aires was one of the best decisions I made in my entire life. Here is my list of The 10 best things about BsAs. And just to be sure to be objective, I also made my list of “10 worst things” about “the city of the cities”:

1. Food – The beef here is amazing! Never pay more than 30 pesos for a bife de lomo, which is the best cut of meat they serve. Chicken is never disappointing either. Anything that’s cooked on the parrilla is always a good idea. Try the ice cream too. Freddo and Persico are the two most popular ice cream shops. My personal favorite: frutos del bosque.
2. Public transportation – Buy a Guia-T from a street vendor, and you’re worry free. The tiny little book contains a map of the entire city on 30 little pages and gives you the routs of every bus and train. Prices are very cheap, and even a taxi won’t burn a hole in your pocket.


3. Cost of living – Anything made in Argentina is guaranteed to be cheap. Expect everything to be about a third of the US price. Fruits and veggies are practically free!.
4. Ferias – Every weekend, every neighborhood has a big open air market. The ones in Recoleta and San Telmo are the largest and most popular. There are always tons of street performers and good live music. The food is good and cheap too. Try the fresh-squeezed juices. (más…)

The game of Truco is truly an Argentine experience. While studying at the AMAUTA Language School in Buenos Aires I had the opportunity to participate and learn the fun and interesting card game, complete with an extremely enthusiastic porteña- one of the AMAUTA teachers.
To set the table, we heated up the water, prepared the maté, found the bombilla (metal straw), and dealt the special truco cards. Nothing would be complete here in Argentina without maté, it’s just one of those things. We all sat down and learned about all the different suits or “palos” (basto, oro, espada and copa) and the order of power. There are also many subtle nuances to the game that can only be picked up over time, such as sneaky moves based on lies and facial gestures to inform your partner of your hand.  The word ‘truco’ means ‘trick’ in Spanish, and the game is very tricky indeed!  We learned the basics of team play and did a couple of practice games, with each one bringing us closer to understanding the full game. (más…)

I can’t believe my time in Argentina is approaching 4 months. No thoughts of returning to my homeland just yet, as its getting cooler which means I can put a jumper over my man boobs and go out with more confidence.

It’s actually taken four months to lose the weight I put on in the first three weeks here. 

I call that period in my life -  BEEF.

More food: Did someone mention meat? I also discovered what I like to call “The Boulevard of Broken Ribs” just near Avenue de los Italiaonos. For as far as the eye can see mobile grill vans offer succulent carcases on the banks of what was probably a river (now just weeds). Just yesterday I stopped for a huge roast beef roll, then walked 100 metres to get a roast pork sandwich, followed by some freshly squeezed OJ. Total price around $5US. Awesome.
Beer: I have found a bizarre (yet tasty) beer company that has its own theme park 30 minutes out of town (http://www.barbaroja.com.ar/). Beer, archery, beer, mini-golf, beer, you get the picture. 
Sport: I’ve started playing indoor soccer on Saturday afternoons in an abandoned warehouse a few suburbs away. The standard is far too high, especiallysince I haven’t played since 1990, though I do bring a bit of Australian Rules grunt to it. Most of the time the guys on my team bark orders at me to start playing defence, but Chris Canty doesn’t play defence. 
Once I had to ask to be interchanged early (lack of fitness) and said “Soy Caliente” (I’m hot). A few days later a mate told me I was actually saying “I’m horny” - that explains the phone numbers. They were also surprised to learn that the Tasmanian Devil was real. 

On Wednesday nights I play PADEL - it’s a game played only in Buenos Aires and is kinda hard to explain (squash meets royal tennis) - better to view it here www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkFL1gSiK8w.
Spanish Classes: I guess the major development is that I started intensive Spanish classes last month. While I breezed through the first week with my “Pub-Spanish” and “watching re-runs of Quantum Leap Spanish” it took me a few weeks more to realize that I was actually losing the ability to communicate. 
Let me explain – usually I would enter a pub, order a beer incorrectly, refer to the barwoman as a man, comment on being permanently randy and then say yes “I egg football on saturdays” (note “egg” and “play” sounds the same in Spanish).
Now I go into a pub, take 30 seconds remembering the correct informal greeting, then a further minute to remember what gender the actual beer is (yes its strange), then take a further 3 minutes to remember the correct terms for permanent/non-permanent “I am”. Talking correctly is time consuming and doesn’t get the laughs I’ve come accustomed to, but I know in the long run. it is for the best. 
St Paddies Day: St Paddies day has always been a fav on my calendar and this year proved no different. I discovered that over 500,000 Irish people lived here and the streets in the CBD were packed with party goers. I went to the local Irish pub where they hired bag pipe players to perform Scottish songs in front of teenage girls doing “lord of the dance” routines. We were the only “foreigns” there so people started taking photos of us as if we gave the event some type of authenticity. I woke up the next morning with a strange green pixie hat on. 
Speaking of “foreigns” take a look at this youtube mock clip. It sums up the stereotypical nature of expats here very well and yes that’s the tune to PERFECT STRANGERS.
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=54937942443&h=jahXD&u=0al-U&ref=mf

Jive, Porteño Style

When I arrived in Buenos Aires a couple of years back, I got off the plane thinking that my experience in other Spanish speaking countries and my rudimentary high school classes would allow me to get by, and they did. But it is one thing to get by and quite another to play truco like a native. This came home to me on my first visit to the market to buy some basics for the apartment. My shopping list, with the words I used to order them:

strawberries – fresas
pineapple – piña
butter – mantequilla
bananas – plátanos
Instead of a basket full of tasty fruits, all I received was a smirk from the greengrocer; all of these words might work just fine in Mexico City or Havana, but here the Argentines pride themselves on being just a little bit different from the rest of the Spanish-speaking world.
Now my shopping basket is full of:
strawberries – frutillas
pineapple – ananá
butter – manteca
bananas – bananas (that one was easy!)

So as you get ready to take a big bite of Argentine culture, here are some a basics on how to talk like a porteño:

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Lindsay Hatzenbuehler
United States

Each morning, on my walks up the steep winding street to the Saqsaywaman ruins or through the quiet streets in and around the central plaza, I excitedly ventured thru and around a city that is slowly becoming more modern yet is still home to a population that is religiously strong and culturally rich (the elders continue to speak Chechua and wear traditional clothing and restaurants serve traditional Peruvian food).

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I’ve been living here now for about two months and I can’t get enough of Peru.

Admittedly, Peru was not high on my list of places I wanted to visit. But then my previous job (marketing natural and fair trade foods) brought me to Peru early in 2008 to learn about fair trade mangoes and coffee. As soon as my plane landed in Lima, despite being exhausted from my long trip from Minneapolis and despite knowing barely any Spanish, I immediately felt a sense of, “This is where I want to be.