I ALWAYS KNEW that there were poor people that lived in horrendous environments. Reading about it is something, seeing it is something that words could not even come close to explaining. Last summer 2009, I went to Matagalpa, Nicaragua. I went through a program called Global Glimpse with a scholarship from MatadorTravel.

When we got off the plane, I realized how different it was compared to the US. As a Mexican American, I realized that Nicaragua had an environment that was affiliated with the Mexican culture. On the ride to lunch, we passed through Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. As I was looking out the window, I saw that there were some people living in plastic bag houses. It was strange to see this happen in the capital of the country.

My immediate thoughts were that Nicaragua was a place where there was extreme poverty. Soon after, the coordinators of the program told us that they were on a protest that has been going on for years against foreign companies using pesticides.

When the coordinators gave us a tour in Managua we found ourselves in a situation that was unpleasant and extremely heartbreaking for many of us. As soon as we got off the bus, there were kids around 11 years old that were either begging for money or selling figures made by long leaves. It was devastating to see that kids had to be the ones getting their own money by their own means.

It made me sad to see the lifestyle of the children in the capital of a nation so pretty and green like Nicaragua. It made me reflect on how my father had to work since he was five to get something to eat. However, I was disappointed to see kids begging for money instead of being in school. Sometimes I even asked myself, “Where are their parents?”

I was raised to work for what I want and it seemed unreasonable to see some work for money while others just asked for money. I even saw a kid that looked like he had gangrene in his leg and was still working to get money.

Seeing this 6-year old in these conditions working for money made me want to cry. These living conditions made me cry of how sad and angry I was with society, with the government, with their parents, and especially with myself for letting this happen.

Lunch was held in a shopping center. They had clothing stores, shoe stores, a movie theater, and other types of stores. Towards the middle of the day, I noticed the difference in communities when we were going to Matagalpa.

Going to Matagalpa I saw how the company buildings turned into little houses. The people were wearing different clothes. I saw that there were more farms and farming machines on the sides of the road.

The coffee trees on the farms were tall and green with little buds of coffee. Everywhere I turned I saw exotic flowers I have never seen before people’s hair as well as children with darker skin. But what I really enjoyed doing was the activities we did with the organizations we visited.

One of my favorite organizations in Nicaragua was Las Hormiguitas. This organization helps people in poverty by providing them with food, clothing, and education. That day we went with them to the city dump. At the city dump we had the opportunity to interact with the people.

We interacted through games, teaching them how to multiply, talking to them, and breaking a piñata. We had to first keep our distance in order to not get them alarmed. During the time I was in the bus, I saw how the people were digging through the garbage looking for something to eat or something useful.

I saw how there were people fighting with cows in order to obtain something they valued with their life. It was shocking to see people digging through what I thought was trash. There is no doubt that one’s trash is another person’s treasure. It made me think about so many things I take for granted and how I could give it to someone else and it will make their day.

I do have to say that I am fortunate to be born in America. I am fortunate because of my parents’ wise decision to bring me to a country where I do have more opportunities and resources than another country.

After, we started to unload the mobile school at the dump. In the beginning we did not get as many people, but we did start to make eye contact with the kids. After a while they started to come up to play, learn, or even look at us analyzing everything we were doing.

After a while of teaching and playing, we had a little game of piñata. The kids loved the idea of candy. I spoke to a family that was the grandparents and the grandsons living together at the dump. The man explained his experience and asked if I could take a picture and bring it to California since he couldn’t go and didn’t have any hopes of visiting. His grandsons were 5 and 6 years old and he was well over 50.

Every time a truck passed by us, most of the people left our activities to see what they could find following the garbage truck. Again, it was amazing to me how I could experience what I thought was garbage could be someone else’s treasure.

Later in the day I had the opportunity to give out notebooks as well as pencils to the kids that attended the mobile school. I was happy that I could help them at least with something in my reach. I couldn’t take them to the hotel I was in but I could certainly give them a good time and school supplies.

This is not the only place where I saw poverty in Nicaragua. I also saw poverty in the streets. I could see the impact poverty can create on someone’s life. Seeing glue on the streets seemed awkward to me until they explained to us that most teens used it as drugs because they couldn’t afford paying for weed.

I see how people as well as I complain that we need this and we need that when we are living like rich people in another country’s eyes.

I feel like when I get my college degree I need to help these people out so we don’t have a huge gap in poverty lines between countries. I will create houses suitable for the type of environment people in poverty are living in and economically affordable.

I will travel around the world in order to help as many people in poverty have at least a house to survive in. I might be with an organization or make my own business, but I will help people in developing countries decrease the gap between America’s poverty line and developing countries.

Community Connection

Do you remember your very first travel experience? Share your reflections with our Brave New Travelers in the comment section below.

Learn more about the Matador Youth Scholarship Fund.

In the small city of Las Piedras on the outskirts of Montevideo, El Abrojo focuses on helping children who work and live on the streets.

The name of the NGO is often believed to be a shortened version of the Spanish phrase, “Abre Los Ojos,” meaning to open one’s eyes. But El Abrojo is actually named after a plant, the abrojo. In Bolivia, Brasil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile the spiny abrojo grows in the countryside.

People who walk through terrain where the abrojo grows often get abrojo spines stuck on their clothing. The organization appropriated the image, but recast it with a positive spin: El Abrojo seeks to help society by joining with the people on their road to building a more just and stable community.

At the Las Piedras location, children range from six to 15 years old and have not been attending traditional school for one of two reasons:

• 1. Their families are unable to generate enough income and are forced to send their kids to work on the streets.
• 2. The child was neglected or abused and left the family.

El Abrojo’s aim is to help the kids return to traditional schooling after they have received individual attention from educational and health professionals, as well as help families get back together and become self-sufficient.

I visited El Abrojo just before Christmas to celebrate the year-end festival with them. The smiles and laughter of the kids were visible. After spending some time with this project, it was clear that their goals are being accomplished.

If you are ever in Uruguay and would like to spend time with these children, volunteer opportunities can be arranged by calling the organization at (598-2) 903 0144 or e-mailing elabrojo@elabrojo.org.uy.

My name is Pete Morrow, but most people just called me Pedro by the end of my two months in Peru. I couldn’t tell you why I chose Peru over all the other projects offered, but to be honest, I don’t think it gets much better than South America.

I am originally from Vermont. I did some volunteer work in high school, but always had an interest in volunteering abroad. That said, after high school I found that college wasn’t an immediate interest of mine, but travel definitely was.

By some random fluke of luck, Projects Abroad came to my school senior year and offered a good opportunity to go somewhere and do something cool. I won’t lie, it did put a dent in my financial status…but you will soon realize it’s worth it when you get picked up from the airport with a friendly smile.

After you’ve had a five or six hour layover in Lima airport, tried sleeping on every bench, and realized that no one is speaking English anymore, you may be freaking out a little bit. Knowing that somebody from Projects Abroad is waiting to pick you up in Cusco is a relief.

Typical market in Cusco. Photo: Szeke.

Peru is pretty sweet for a couple reasons… For one, the daily weather forecast is the same every day, sunny with blue skies and a high probability of sunburn. You’re guaranteed to see a least five street festivals a week. Even if you can’t dance remotely well, the discotecas in Cuzco will always welcome you in for a good time on weekends.

I was in Peru for a total of two months, living and working in a town named Calca. It became my home in every sense of the word. I had family, food, neighbors, friends, cousins, fiestas, and, in my case, even an adoptive dog named Poncho.

Poncho was from Cusco originally, but found his new home in Calca when he followed my friend Carrie and I onto the bus and rode with us an hour and a half to his new home with la familia Estrada. I wouldn’t recommend adopting stray dogs, and to be honest, it wasn’t really in our control, but it did make for a good topic of conversation.

By the end of two months I had a complete routine: Go to work, then meet Carrie and Poncho to go to our regulars…the Internet café, visit the juice bar lady, and later hit up the pastry shop.

Machu Picchu. Photo: Szeke.

I was working as a care program volunteer and a sports program volunteer for the full two months. Five days of the week I got to work with twenty-five of the cutest kindergarten kids I’ve ever seen as a part of the Care Program.

I’ll admit, I had no idea what I was doing on the first day of class. I thought, how am I supposed to deal with a class full of five year olds, and do it all in Spanish?

The answer was to be a kid again, let down all guards, and remember how to play.

My first week I helped the kids cut things out, paint, peeled fruits for them at snack, and became a human jungle gym during recess. Later, I got more comfortable and involved by teaching a weekly animal in English, and making picture books for the class.

You gain more from the experience as you get more involved with the work, and ultimately it affects the class much more than if you just sit and aide the teacher in everyday things. I wanted to bring new fresh ideas to the table, things that made learning unique.

Also, it became clear that a sense of humor is probably a good thing to keep in your back pocket, as a class full of five year olds will undoubtedly laugh at any mistake you make.

Around noon, I’d walk half the class home. One student, Darwin, would insist that his house was on my route home. (It wasn’t: One weekend I passed by a house with a familiar face in the door, Darwin, on the complete other side of town from where I was living.)

After walking ten to fifteen kids home, I had just enough time for lunch and a siesta before I went and helped run after-school sports practices.

Basketball would meet three times a week, and soccer twice a week. Most of the kids doing after-school sports were around my age.

Working alongside the coach, I got to have a whistle and run drills. I’ve never been handed a whistle and a large group of kids, but it’s pretty awesome. Being a coach for kids that are only a few years younger than you is a lot like having a pick up game after school. It is definitely a good way to make friends if nothing else.

As a Projects Abroad alumni, bottom line, I think volunteering abroad is cool beans. And if it’s your first time doing this sort of thing, Projects Abroad is a solid group to do it through. Everyone is really nice, and if you have any problems they will be there to try and straighten things out for you.

Even if you don’t go to Peru, I’m sure that any of the other places they offer would provide an equally great experience abroad.

Feature photo by Programa No Gubernamental de Protección a Defenso. Photo above by KyleEJohnson.

Organizational Overview

Being a delegate with Witness for Peace is one of the most unique and interesting travel experiences available to the passionate, social justice minded traveler. Witness for Peace hosts groups of American delegates interested in creating peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by learning about and working to change U.S. policies and corporate practices that contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America.

Specifically, “Witness for Peace concentrates on issues such as peace in Colombia, fair trade, labor rights and international debt relief.” (http://witnessforpeace.org/article.php?id=75). The organization is committed to non-violence and dedicates pre-trip training sessions to the principles of non-violent and grassroots organizing.

Volunteers who participate in a nine-day or two-week delegation learn about policy advocacy, international peacemaking, conflict mediation, cross-cultural sensitivity, diplomacy, and foreign policy, while also gaining an insider’s look at a country in a way that wouldn’t be possible on one’s own. If you want an intimate look at daily life in Latin America and are ready to challenge your understanding of the world, a WfP trip is definitely for you!

Personal Experiences: Volunteering with Witness for Peace in Colombia

As a Witness for Peace delegate to Colombia I had the opportunity to see the effects of US drug war policy on Colombia first-hand. Witness for Peace (WfP) delegations to Colombia are the riskiest of the organization’s trips as the country is in the midst of a 40 year old civil war and traffics most of the world’s cocaine.

Though a WfP delegation is not for the cautious traveler, these trips are neither reckless nor ill-conceived. While there is an inherent danger of traveling in the region, all precautions are taken to ensure a safe return.

Feature photo by Programa No Gubernamental de Protección a Defenso.

The background on Colombia:

Through Plan Colombia, the US funds the destruction of crops and coca fields on the Colombian-Ecuadorian border zone of Putumayo, a sparsely populated region of the Amazon. In the drive to eradicate coca crops (the raw material for cocaine), however, the US gives billions of dollars in aid to a Colombian military rife with corruption and boasting one of the worst records of human rights abuses in the world.

During my two weeks in Colombia I got an intimate look at the results of these policies on everyday Colombians.

WfP believes that the truth can best be reached by hearing all sides of the story, so throughout our trip we met with people with many different vantage points on the politics of Colombia and the US war on drugs. These included human rights activists, clergy working for social justice, military officials, farmers growing coca and farmers growing food, US Department of State officials, and community leaders.

Our bus was boarded by right-wing paramilitary troops, we saw oil pipelines recently bombed by the left-wing guerrillas, and visited coca farms and processing sites which turn raw leaves into coca paste, soon to be cocaine.

We also documented the destruction of food crops and the sicknesses caused by the coca eradications, which we presented to the US State Department officials during our meeting with them. All in all we got a very well rounded, in depth portrait of the country in a short time, and with many moments I will remember for the rest of my life.

Rarely while traveling have I gotten such a complete picture of what daily life is for someone so different from myself than that of farmers living in Putumayo, Colombia. Walking through their farms and seeing their crops, coca fields, and the military presence, I gained a greater understanding of the daily pain and sacrifice that life in a war zone can require.

When I think of the trip, brief moments of struggle and strength flash through my mind: a 65 year-old woman digging into the mud to pull out a WfP delegate’s shoe that had been sucked off his foot and into her muddy field; a farmer crying as he spoke of the fish dying off when his pond and fields were fumigated for the fourth time, destroying his livelihood yet again.

I will carry these stories and these lives with me forever, along with the beautiful ways Colombians cope with their hardship through warmth and kindness and sharing generously with others.

Photo by adman_as.

The Trip: Logistics

Every delegation is accompanied by two WfP staff members, Americans who live in the country and act as translators throughout the trip. There are 12-14 delegates, including two trip leaders who organized the trip from the US and are particularly expert in the topic of your delegation.

Once you pay for your international flight and delegate fee (around $1000), everything is arranged for you – all meals, hotels, and in-country transportation, as well as trainings and scheduling.

You are well informed of health and safety precautions and background material on the country before you leave. There is also a full day of training at the start of your trip which addresses cultural awareness, the principles of consensus process and non-violence, as well as the historic and current political reality of the country you’re visiting.

Back Home: The Lasting Lessons of WfP

In addition to providing an amazing travel experience, WfP helps give travelers the tools they need to create change at home. At the end of the trip you learn how to use what you have seen and learned to influence change in US foreign policy.

With your fellow delegates, you develop talking points to discuss with your elected officials, receive helpful advice about writing letters to editors of newspapers and other publications, and are assured of ongoing support from your contacts at WfP. This program and the training I received helped me to become someone who meets with and contacts my elected officials about the issues that are important to me, in Latin America and beyond.

Check them out on the web at: witnesforpeace.org

For more information email: witness@witnessforpeace.org

Photo by yewenyi

As someone who has lived in and taught in several Asian countries, namely China, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, India, and now, Turkey, I am often asked by Westerners who want to break into ESL teaching, “What do I need to know if I want to teach English in Asia?”

Having endured everything on my way to paradise, from wild bouts of culture shock to the wrath of mafia bosses, I have produced several practical suggestions.

Pre-Departure Tips: Choosing a Country

This is perhaps the most crucial part of the planning process – it can make or break your teaching and living experience. While asking your future employer questions, you must also make several inquiries into yourself.

For those with their eye on a job in a third world country, it helps to be realistic about what living conditions you are able to tolerate. If residing in a place where things don’t always work would have you running off stage screaming, then living in a developing region is probably not your best choice. Hot water, heating, and washing machines are not always available in these areas, and neither is comfort, although for me, the feeling of being on an adventure always makes up for it.

Keep in mind that in many Asian countries, most communication is indirect. In many places, emotions such as anger, sadness, and frustration are not openly expressed, and are seen to cause embarrassment to one’s self and others if they are aired openly. For a Westerner, communicating under these circumstances can be extremely challenging. If you are an expressive person, choosing an Asian city where people interact a lot with foreigners, or a Mediterranean country, such as Turkey, may be most satisfying for you.

Certainly, there is a great variation in how people are everywhere, but in my experience, in most of Asia, this is how communication functions. Remember that while we can change ourselves, we can never change others, or an entire Eastern culture, which has spent thousands of years building itself on respect for those in positions of authority.

Finding a Job in Asia

photo by yewenyi

The most essential step for the soon-to-be English teacher is to ask as many questions as possible, and to resist accepting the job and buying the plane ticket until they are answered satisfactorily. You should also have some teaching qualifications, as a bare minimum, a TESOL or DELTA certificate, and in Korea and Taiwan, a university degree in any subject.

Be sure to watch out for “desperation vibes” – a needy tone given out by schools with high turnover rates that promise the moon and the stars, and are likely to give you neither. For example, if you send a prospective employer an email, without any questions being asked of you, and the person writes back, “You’re hired!” common sense should dictate that this is not a good school to work for.

Check the teacher testimonials on ESL job websites. If twenty teachers have written that it is not a good place to work, then one can assume that they’re right.

Don’t hesitate to ask for detailed descriptions of work hours, scheduling, benefits, and compensation, and carefully review the contract before signing. Should the company violate the contract on several counts after you get to your job, and you have done everything possible to peacefully try and rectify the situation, you can always pull what English teachers refer to as “a midnight run” (leaving unannounced in the middle of the night), but this is never a teacher’s first choice, and it should be avoided at all costs.

If you get a bad feeling from a school at the outset, trust that instinct and move on to better prospects. While a great many employers in Asia are wonderful, some, as in any country, are not. Do your homework to help avoid negative situations.

In For The Long Haul: How to Make the Most of a Long-term Stay

photo by KONNO,dai

After you have arrived at your new placement, you may be going through anything from minor, to major, culture shock. Asia is, in many places, highly populated, and very different culturally. Some Westerners find it difficult to fit into the social fabric of the society and to interact with local people. Westerners may also find products from home difficult to find. Even a trip to the grocery store can seem deeply overwhelming when you can’t read any of the signs, don’t know where to look for what you want, and can’t ask for things in English.

Finding a language exchange partner is a great way to get to know and help a local person, who will in turn, assist you in your cultural adjustment. There will be scores of local people, some of them your students, who will be lined up to trade languages with you. It will save them money, and is likely to enrich your life abroad.

While talking to locals may seem intimidating at first, particularly in that communication is sometimes a struggle, a few minutes of silence is no big deal, as are the small misunderstandings that sometimes come up in this type of relationship.

In addition, the local staff at your school can usually be of help, and most will enthusiastically welcome your questions and concerns. Try to get to know them, and avoid joining “The Expat Club”, an unofficial organization in which foreigners who come to experience life in another country tend to do just the opposite, only hanging around with themselves. While it’s great to become friends with other Westerners, this shouldn’t be the only form of social interaction you have.

Finally, enjoy your stay. Try to embrace the differences you share with other people. Though you may find things to criticize about your new country, try to maintain a positive, respectful and proactive attitude. Living and working in Asia can be a magnificent experience. While it is not without its difficulties, it has been a rewarding and enlightening journey for me, and one that has lasted five consecutive years so far.

Feel free to consult some of the websites below for teaching jobs and other teaching resources:

www.ajarn.com (Thai teaching site)

www.tealit.com (Taiwanese teaching site)

www.eslcafe.com (for teaching jobs all over the world)

Many people choose to go with a recruiter (one I have gone with is Footprints at www.footprintsrecruiting.com) to arrange their teaching placement for them. It’s sometimes helpful for a recruiter to negotiate their job and other details with the school, to avoid misunderstandings and disasters with disreputable teaching companies in the future.

Happy Travels!

Photo by N. Chrystine Olson

Ever want to wrangle a rhino? Go to Swaziland and volunteer at the Mkhaya Game Reserve.

In the Mountain Kingdom of Swaziland you’ll find the Mkhaya Game Reserve. It is one of the few places in Africa where you are practically guaranteed to see a rare black rhino in the wild.

The park is sanctioned by the World Wildlife Fund and, for a very reasonable price, an ecologically minded traveler can assist with the important work of rhino conservation.

Getting to Swaziland

Ecovolunteers are expected to book their own travel. Once in Johannesburg there are frequent short commuter flights to Manzini, Swaziland. Once there you will be picked up, most likely by Carrie Reilly, the wife of the park’s manager.

It’s an hour ride to Mkhaya, located between Manzini and Big Bend, in the center of Swaziland. An eco-camp is set up near the park’s guest lodge, where you are shuttled upon arrival.

For at least the next two weeks your home will be a roomy, canvas tent pitched by the dry river bed, just below a common cooking and dining area.

Straight Into Action

photo by N. Chrystine Olson

When I arrived there was no time to unload my gear before a radio call had Carrie taking us out into the low veld to assist her husband in doctoring a sick eland.

It was several hours past dusk before I was able to catch my breath, but I loved the fact we were out on the ground immediately.

It was an intense and bittersweet start. A mother eland, who’s ears had been eaten away by a tick born disease, was successfully transported to a corral and released back into the wild a few weeks later, her four month old calf, however, did not survive Mr Toad’s Wild Ride from the field to the boma.

The routine ranges from intense physical labor – eradicating noxious weeds, fence maintenance and haying duties – to more relaxed days patrolling different sections of the park.

The experience is very intimate; there are usually only one or two volunteers at a time unless you book as a group.

Mick Reilly, the third generation of Swaziland’s first family of conservation, will make certain you are on hand for any important wildlife translocation or captures.

I helped set traps for hippos on a nearby sugar plantation, transfer sable antelopes to new pastures for breeding purposes, and wrangle a three year old male white rhino for relocation to a new game park in South Africa.

What You Need To Know

Participants need to be in good physical condition, speak English and be able to handle the heat if they are coming during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer (December through March).

While in camp all cooking, cleaning and domestic chores are the sole responsibility of the ecovolunteers. There is no hot water, no use of mind altering substances while in the park, and no wandering without a guide or ranger.

The costs are reasonable and structured to encourage people to stay more than the minimum two weeks. The longer you are in Mkhaya the less they charge, throwing in the fifth week for free.

Including airfare from the States, my bill for a one month stay came to $2600. If you are coming from Europe the travel expenses will be less.

Find Out More

The project can be found through www.ecovolunteer.org. Search under either location or species, and you will find a full description of “Rhinos in Swaziland”, including costs, requirements, background on Swaziland, rhinoceros basics, and information on how to book. For more information on Mkhaya go to www.biggameparks.org.

photo by N. Chrystine Olson

Lasting Gratitude

For me, working on the Mkhaya Game Reserve fulfilled a childhood dream to travel in Africa and interact with the wildlife.

What was more amazing were the relationships I made and have kept with the Swazi people. As a rangeland ecologist I enjoyed an intimate connection with others committed to ecological goals. I even returned briefly three months later.

Turns out Swaziland and I are siblings of a sort; the country declared it’s independence from Britain on September 6th, the day I became the fourth member of my own clan. Nothing better than having a date with a black rhino named Shaka on your birthday.

The rangers gave me a siSwati name: “Bongiwe” – which means “grateful” in their language.

photo courtesy of Mei-Ling McNamara

Traveling is a calculated risk. Undoubtedly, the 21st century has allowed us to travel with greater ease, awareness and the miracle of modern medicine, but there are still unforeseen perils that can systematically sap the best of travelers.

Traveling is a calculated risk. Undoubtedly, the 21st century has allowed us to travel with greater ease, awareness and the miracle of modern medicine, but there are still unforeseen perils that can systematically sap the best of travelers. You might count yourself among the lucky ones: protected by a combination of street smarts, good fortune and some strong genes. But heed this warning: do not underestimate the debilitating power of bacteria, bush taxis or non-pasteurized milk.

You might call me a fatalist, but I prefer to think of myself as a realist. After a significant amount of time traversing a handful of continents, it would probably be the honorable thing for me to do to turn my body over to science. I have picked up my fair share of mysterious rashes, bone breaks, village viruses and abrupt fevers. I have more parasites and incalculable bacteria swimming in my bloodstream and floating through my digestive tract that I care to mention. However, I like to think that this is part of the risk of traveling, and it is a trade-off that I am prepared to make every time.

So, in that spirit, a few pieces of advice that might help you before you take that trip:

Before You Go

You cannot always prevent bad things from happening, but you can take measures to lessen the pain.

1. Visit the Doctor or Dentist …or Wish You Had – Get a check-up before you go, and take care of any minor aches and pains that may only become worse by intense travel. This comes from someone who received a root canal without anesthesia, was evacuated for rabies exposure, and contracted falcipirum – the early stages of virulent cerebral malaria. You cannot always prevent bad things from happening, but you can take measures to lessen the pain. Rushing to a local hospital or dentist, where you may run into language trouble, dubious medical instruments and a possible mis-diagnosis can be a nightmare. Though it may make for a colorful retelling later, trust me, it’s really not funny at the time. To make sure you have all of your injections before you go to and an update on the health situation in the country you are planning to visit, go to the World Health Organization travel site at: http://www.who.int/ith/en/

2. Real Risk-Takers Get Travel Insurance – Ranging from the most basic of coverage to the most extensive, buying travel insurance is one of the wisest things you can do before you leave. Unforeseen illnesses, tropical diseases, fractures, or worse…if you are in the hospital for any length of time, or if you need to be repatriated back to your home country for surgery, the small fee you pay per month can save you a massive medical bill later. If you are still unconvinced, consider this story that happened to a close friend: she was in a serious vehicle accident on a well-paved road in Madagascar, and had to be evacuated via helicopter for emergency surgery. The price tag for the 30-minute trip: $10,000 – not including treatment. A good travel insurance organization to check out is http://www.worldnomads.com that gives decent coverage for any type of traveler.

3. Stock Up Your Medical Kit – You don’t have to take the entire Red Cross disaster kit with you, but bringing along some basic supplies can stop minor injuries from becoming bigger problems. Look for things you might be hard-pressed to find in your visiting country. I am not necessarily talking about sutures here (unless you are prepared to sew up your own arm, or somebody else’s), but I do recommend bringing along extra needles, syringes, malaria medication (in tropical environs), hydrogen peroxide, a course of antibiotics for stomach bugs, re-hydration sachets and Band-Aids (plasters). There are many travel sites that give comprehensive and informative lists on what to pack in your medical kit.

A good site to check out is: http://goafrica.about.com/od/healthandsafety/a/firstaid.htm. A note: I have been to many hospitals in Africa where they have no needles. You heard me correctly. They have no needles. I’ve single-handedly stocked a hospital with my own needles. Bring your own as a precautionary measure, so as to ensure that they have not been re-used.

In-Country

If you are not a professional health care worker, it is best not pretending.

4. Do Not Self-Diagnose or Self-Medicate – If you are not a professional health care worker, it is best not pretending. If you buy medicine at a local clinic, only do so with the full knowledge of your illness and a prescription from a qualified physician. It is a lot easier to get serious pharmaceutical drugs over the counter in developing countries, so be warned before knocking back some drug you are unfamiliar with. For one, you may not know the correct dosage, and one misread word in the instructions could have serious consequences. Closely monitor fevers or any strange, new pains. If they get worse, tell someone. “Toughing it out” in the field when you could have something serious is just not clever in any situation. Come clean with any medical problems you might have with friends or doctors, whether pre-existing or newly formed. It could mean the difference between life and death.

Green Monkey, Senegal

5. Location, Location, Location – A big city may give you access to immediate medical care, but the situation is altogether different in the remote countryside. If you plan to be gone for more than a few weeks, consider taking a basic first-aid course before you leave, and bring along a medical kit for treatable wounds. One of my favorite travel medical books I like to take along is Expedition Medicine by David Warrell, which gives medical advice when traveling in any extreme environment in the world. It also has excellent tips on preparation and preventative measures to take before heading into remote zones.

Another book that is a favorite among the US Peace Corps is Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner. Informative, mildly paranoid-inducing, but excellent in charting fevers, explaining illnesses and breaking down the contents of certain medicines. However, please see the Don’t Self-Diagnose tip as a reminder to use this as a guide only, or you might convince yourself you have a rare tropical disease when it is really just a reaction to bad eggs.

The Buddy System – There’s a good chance if you travel for any length of time that you’ll end up in a clinic or hospital somewhere. That’s life, but it is a good idea to bring along a friend. They can help you make sure to take all relevant information with you to the hospital, including your passport, credit card, local currency, list of injections and medical history. They can also help serve as translator, evaluator of hygienic practices, moral support or general comic relief.

If I hadn’t had my friend Gerry with me in a Madagascar hospital, I might have never recognized that the guy giving me my rabies injection was the same man who fried donuts in the market. If I didn’t bring my friend Owen along with me for my root canal, the dentist may have never known the anesthesia wasn’t working. It’s all par for the course I guess, but if you can take the proper precautions, you may save yourself a little less pain, and a few more days, out on the road.

Happy travels.

photo courtesy of Barbara Hicks

Habla Ingles??

What if I told you that I just had a whole week’s vacation in a four-star villa in a small, beautiful village near Salamanca, Spain and it included three full meals a day with wine and it came with about forty new best friends …all for free?

I know what you’re thinking, ‘Yeah, right, Lisa, what’s the catch?’

Well, there was one catch — all I had to do was speak English. And considering it is my native language…it wasn’t all that difficult (OK, maybe it was difficult late at night after sampling a few too many Spanish wines).

Que?

Pueblo Inglés is not exactly a school for English—it’s more like an intense English ‘experience. It’s a unique opportunity for native English speakers to immerse themselves in Spain’s culture and people firsthand in exchange for simply chatting with Spaniards.

And for the Spanish folks, it’s like an intensive week-long English ‘sleep-away camp’ which gives them the opportunity to improve and practice their English-speaking skills the best way—by force of course.

For the duration of the week, they are forbidden to speak Spanish and must converse in and listen to English at all hours of the day…easy for me, not so much for them.

I was trawling the web one day looking for a job or volunteer work in Spain when the website for Pueblo Inglés popped up.

The idea scared and intrigued me at the same time—not only would I be able to travel for one week without spending a dime (that’s 15 cents in Euro), it would enable me to meet and connect with real Spaniards who mostly come from the professional business world—something often hard to do when you are a tourist on a budget (or globetrotting vagabond like me).

I applied on a whim, not knowing if I truly wanted to commit to this week of constant jibber-jabber. I figured they probably wouldn’t accept me on such short notice or I could always say ‘no.’ Exactly one day later I received an email: “Welcome! You’ve been accepted to Pueblo Ingles!”

Oh, and it was starting in two days. Time to high-tail it to Madrid.

Donde?

The morning of the eight-day program we all gathered in a plaza in Madrid and were herded onto a bus. We rode for three hours west of the capital city to a tiny rural town called La Alberca full of winding cobblestone lanes. The countryside was dotted with clusters of trees, all dropping acorns and chestnuts onto the hilly green backdrop.

Our hotel was in a bucolic setting with shady paths and ponds and was more like a group of several chalets. I was joined by about 20 English-speaking volunteers from Canada, the US, England, Australia, and Ireland and 20 Spaniards from all over Spain with ages ranging from early twenties to sixty plus.

English Spoken Here

The program directors, Pablo from Spain and Akemi from California, laid down the law at the get-go: The most important rule of Pueblo Ingles–NO Spanish allowed. They really wanted this to be a true and hardcore immersion experience for the Spaniards—basically forcing them to drink, eat, sleep, and possibly dream in English.

The Agenda

Each morning after pants-splitting buffet breakfast we paired off into ‘couples’ for ‘one to one’ conversations that would last about 50 minutes. After a ten minute break, we would then swap and grab another Spaniard for the next hour and so on.

It was a bit like a speed dating scene—everyone gabbing at once, getting to know each other.Everyone was unique, friendly and fun. Despite my initial fears, we never once ran out of things to talk about.

photo courtesy of Alfredo Avila

Everyday I was paired with different people and we constantly did different activities. It certainly was an odd and funny sight to see all these coupled pairs of people wandering around the grounds, sitting in chairs, and strolling down the street.

If someone didn’t know better, it probably looked like some kind of psychiatric institution or rehab center at which we were all getting over our drug, alcohol, or other addictions. Of course, if they saw our parties every night, they would probably think it wasn’t a very good program.

We would usually have a break sometime in the morning and also other activities like games, conference calls, and presentations—during which lucky Spaniards got to tell us all about their jobs, or Anglos entertained us with some kind of unique skill they have (singing, dancing, and other random embarrassing behavior).

A tasty three-course lunch with plenty of vino (nothing gets conversations going like some cheap wine) was at two o’clock, followed by the very crucial Spanish siesta (nap time) which I really think we should instate here in America.

At five o’clock we continued with more talking, fun group discussions about anything and everything and hilarious skits.

It reminded me of some university days doing role playing and brainstorming to come up with the most entertaining performance. It was fun to just be silly and what I really remember most is laughing almost all the time.

One day we toured the lovely nearby medieval village for a bit of a break. A three-course dinner with more wine, of course, was at nine (a little late for the Anglos and too early for the Spaniards) and then their Inglés would really get tested as many of us hung out at the bar until the wee hours of the morning.

The Spanish really know how to party.

Jesus and David made me laugh my ass off. Vicente made me feel like the queen of the dance floor. Cecilia was a sweetheart who invited me to stay in her home in Madrid after the program.

I can’t say enough about the new friends I made here. Yes, the program was free and that was my initial draw to it, but I realized later that the experience was ‘worth’ so much more.

The Easy Life

The beauty of this program is that your entire schedule is laid out for you. There is really nothing to worry about. I had my own small ‘villa’ that I shared with Potola, a boisterous and hilarious flight attendant from Madrid.

Our ‘casa’ was just steps from the lobby and bar so it was so easy to stumble to bed before sunrise, and get up the next morning (even if it was only a few hours later) and just walk over to my next session of speaking English. There was no commute, no metro, no taxi. You just walked home in two minutes. Life was simple and good.

It was easy for me, but much harder and more tiring for the Spaniards who had to do everything in their second language. Imagine being constantly forced to speak Spanish all day. Your brain would be so tired. And even when they were ‘enjoying the fruits of the vine” (read: drunk) and dancing they were still speaking English.

After a week of fun, we all ‘graduated’ and received our certificates for completing not only a week long English ‘course’ but one of the most fun weeks I’ve had in a long time.

All in all, the 8 days spent at Pueblo Inglés was like an intense microcosm of life—a condensed, easy version and having to say goodbye after our amazing week together was hard for me.

Hopefully the Spaniards improved their English and I know I have made some amazing new friends in Spain that will remain in my heart and hopefully in my life forever.

To find out how you can have a free week in Spain, check out: www.puebloingles.com.