WORKAWAY

I read about Workaway, an organisation that matched volunteers with people needing help, in the Guardian. Although we were making good progress with building the house, the task of clearing and landscaping our 10+ acres was being neglected. We had previously discounted using volunteers in favour of giving Bolivian workers employment, but we could not physically transport any more men from Sucre out to the land, nor find more local help.

After signing up to Workaway we received a steady stream of enquiries interested in helping us, mostly travelling in South America and wanting a more authentic experience than the usual tours on offer.

Dominic from Manchester, England, contacted us and hooked up with Thomas from Holland in La Paz on the way to Sucre. We decided to give them the task of creating a campsite on the land where they could stay, and with subsequent volunteers adding to the amenities.

They cleared a few spaces, set up the tent, pruned a tree to provide shade......

and made a fire pit.

Dominic tackled the removal of a particularly nasty dead thorn bush.

He hacked away at the trunk with an axe, but the wood was so hard it sounded as if it was made of steel. He wrestled with it, but the core was like iron cable.



Finally Dom was victorious! ...so we made a bonfire from the stubborn bush.