To know before you
come!
Click this to open the website where you can find bus timetable. You put in search button Mendoza – Las avispas and you’ll see the times. It’s Andesmar línea 401/402 that goes to Uspallata and stops in front of our terrain. You don’t get off at Las Avispas, you get off at the next stop ‘restaurante origen de I’ (500m before that stop). You have to tell the driver to stop there as you get closer. He will stop right in front of our property if asked. So follow carefully GPS on your maps.
We also cash out with Western Union, and most of our volunteers do too. So we came up with an idea to economize by doing them together and splitting the fees. We can send you money in USD, GBP, EUR, or PLN to your bank account, ideally through Revolut, Wise or Paypal then we cash out in a single transaction.
If you are coming from another country (Chile, Europe or America), we would like to ask a favour. There are several things we use that are not available in Argentina or are more than 10 times as expensive in other countries. Since you are coming from places where they are easily available, we would like to ask you if you can bring them for us. We will pay for those products, and we will be considerate of your luggage capacity as well. What we would ask for is completely legal to bring, and we take full responsibility.
Some examples: Europe: LIDL shop sells peri-peri spice bags each for 39 cents and weigh 10 grams. In this case, we would be happy if you could bring 10 of them.
where you'll
sleep!
You will either be given a bed inside our modified bus or in a private house.
The Private house is a 18sq meter 1 bedroom (Single or double bed) and a living room with ensuite toilet, kitchen, fridge, shelves and dining table. The preference is given in the following order – digital nomads, couples then single long stay volunteers.
The Bus is a shared space usually rented out on Hostelworld and Airbnb but also accommodates volunteers. It has three bedrooms, a kitchen, a shower, and a toilet. All facilities for this bus are shared between volunteers, clients, and us. If the bus is fully booked out, you will either be placed in a treehouse or yurt.
what you'll
eat!
All volunteers cook together. The list of food changes seasonally. Basic food products for cooking are provided at the beginning of your week. Either you can make-do with what is given if you are on a budget or buy additional stuffs to have tastier foods. What we offer does not include meat, diary or snacks.
We organize social events such as BBQ (Argentinian Asado) where our volunteers are welcome to join us. You can choose to eat with us by paying your share of the bill for the ingredients used for cooking. We are open and clear with the costs to be fair. This is usually accompanied by live music, or karaoke sessions afterwards.
We go shopping once a week. As we are far away from supermarket, we are happy to buy you anything when we go. You can also buy what you need before coming or during your days off.
what you'll
do!
- construction (we have several projects trying to improve the life quality in the terrain, greenhouse, chicken house, yoga-meditation retreat) – general help, passing the tools, holding ladders, painting etc
- animal care – feeding, watering, taking horses out to the pasture, horse training (if experienced)
- child care – generally our children (6&8 yo) are very independent, but sometimes we will ask you to engage in some activities (playing games, taking them horse riding, sharing any useful skills you may have)
- cleaning common spaces – attention to detail is important
Please let us know in the Quiz form below the page, so we can organize ourselves to offer you something to do based on your knowledge and experience. Which will be utmost helpful
what you'll
get!
HORSE RIDING and spending a day out with horses is treated as a reward for your help in the property. Your first week is a trial week and if we don’t feel like your being helpful, we will not feel motivated to offer you horse riding. We had way too many people coming to us for free horse riding, without contributing anything to our project. So we decided that during your first week you won’t be going out with horses. Later you have possibility to do it up to two times a week.
For beginners, we can teach you horse riding basics, horse care, understanding, and communicating with horses. After 4 weeks, you will be able to prepare and ride all by yourself. If you’re a beginner it’s recommended to commit to 4 weeks stay, otherwise you won’t have enough time to learn the basics.
If you’re an advanced horse rider there are plenty of trails in the mountains where you can go on horseback and explore. Since we don’t have to teach you the basics, you will have more time to enjoy on horseback.
when you'll be
free!
Since we offer food, accommodation and activity you are required to work 5 days per week and you will have 2 days per week to enjoy Mendoza. During your days off you’re required to provide your food. You can stay in our accommodation if we don’t have clients. You can also spend the night in the city or go camping in the mountains
25 hours of required weekly help are spread across 5 days. If on one day you work less hours, you can work more hours on the next day. You will be helping more or less 3 hours in the morning between 8-12 and then late afternoon 2 hours usually 6-8pm. The split is due to hot weather and siesta habits in Argentina. So you will generally have free time during the day. Alternatively, if you can do some jobs alone without help, you may choose to do 5 hours continuously and then go out for part of the day to explore as well.
when you'll need to
know!
– We are located in a very rural part, resources such as water, electricity, and gas are more expensive than in towns, so you will be taught to use them efficiently. On very cloudy days, electricity may be turned off at nights if the batteries are low. The fridge may be turned off if there isn’t much sun
- We have 4 well-trained guard dogs who are not pets – not for playing or petting
- the dogs are tied to their place with long chains to facilitate movement as some volunteers cannot accept this we decided to clarify this beforehand. This action was enforced by the Police after they escaped by breaking metal fences and killing livestock of neighbors.
- Cats and rooster are pets, they just are there to be loved and petted
- Starlink high-speed Wi-Fi does not allow torrents or pirated downloads.
- We do have limited cellphone signal thanks to our Signal amplification antenna.
- There is no restriction in terms of Data usage
- The signal is available all around the property, but the 5g super-fast connection is only available in the restaurant
Since we are in the mountains, it can be extremely cold, hot or cloudy. The weather affects our work days, going out on horses etc. Being something we can’t control, if this happens during your work day yet we can’t do any work, you will probably be given day off.
All volunteers cook together. The list of food changes seasonally. Basic food products for cooking are provided at the beginning of your week. Either you can make-do with what is given if you are on a budget or buy additional stuffs to have tastier foods. What we offer does not include meat, diary or snacks.
We organize social events such as BBQ (Argentinian Asado) where our volunteers are welcome to join us. You can choose to eat with us by paying your share of the bill for the ingredients used for cooking. We are open and clear with the costs to be fair. This is usually accompanied by live music, or karaoke sessions afterwards.
We go shopping once a week. As we are far away from supermarket, we are happy to buy you anything when we go. You can also buy what you need before coming or during your days off.
