Tourism and volunteer work for students in Chile.

In July 2019 ChileMontaña had the privilege to operate a tourism and volunteer work trip for a group of British students. A team of 32 students plus seven staff members participated on this two-week expedition. They visited Santiago, Pan de Azucar National Park in the Atacama Desert and Easter Island.

First day in Santiago with ChileMontaña.

The group arrived to Santiago, ChileMontaña. staff picked them up at the airport and brought them to their hotel. After checking in and buying supplies for the upcoming days, the team explored the city, and had the chance to collect impressions about the people and their way of live.

Chile Montaña and volunteer community work in Pan de Azucar National Park.

ChileMontaña coordinated with the park management the stay of the group in the area. For the time there, a full program of tasks for the students, in benefit of the park, were set up. They included cleaning two beaches, cleaning up the photovoltaic panels of the solar plant for the local fisher community, paint the park rangers hut and a lot of trail maintenance work. The work was managed and supervised by the park personnel, the TSEC Staff and by team leaders from ChileMontaña.

Experiencing Nature with Chile Montaña.

During their 5-day stay in Pan de Azucar National Park the students used community tents to camp and sleep. They were responsible for their own cooking and cleaning, always supervised by the staff. They had enough time to share their impressions and to immerse into nature in this coastal area of Chile, 900 km north of Santiago, on the Atacama Desert. Not all was work: they hike the park trails, discovered the local fauna and flora, had the opportunity to observe the behaviour of families of Guanacos (Lama Guanicoe) and explore the Atacama sky with the help of a couple of young Chilean astroguides and a few telescopes.

Eastern Island with Chile Montaña.

Next step in this amazing expedition was fly to Eastern Island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and some 3800 km away from the Chilean coast. Here the students discovered the wonders of this mysterious corner of the Polynesia. The visit to the archaeological places in the island were guided by local bilingual guides with specific knowledge about the cultural legacy of the aborigines and the famous stone sculptures, the Moai, carved in volcanic rock.

School Visit in Santiago with Chile Montaña.

On the last day of their Chile expedition, a meeting with a local school in Santiago was organized, giving the students the opportunity to interact with Chilean youth and learn about education in Chile.

They learnt about the robotic program of the school, where the pupils can build their own mini robots with LEGO robotics building blocks and add some programming code to drive the robots using their smartphones. Some of the British students were familiar with the LEGO robotics for schools and this made the experience richer and funnier.

ChileMontaña and international volunteer work.

We as ChileMontaña are very proud about this joint project enabling young people from abroad to learn in the field about the culture and geography of Chile, giving them the chance to truly contribute to the local communities and exchange with counterparts in our country. During the whole expedition length, the group engaged in various joint activities with participants of the INJUV program. The INJUV is a part of the executive program to promote the youth, giving them opportunities and instances to participate in social life contributing to specific projects.