Apart from the costs of flights and the home-stay, what other costs do I need to factor in?

I volunteered in La Serena through A Broader View in 2011, helping in English classes. Back then, I had to pay a "reciprocity fee" at the airport upon entry, but this is no longer required for Canadian citizens (and American I believe). Some additional costs to consider are:

1) Did you factor the flight from Santiago to La Serena? Sky and Lan should both have flights. Sky was cheaper at the time. They have deals sometimes too. Right now, if you were to look at their website, the one hour flight is about US$184 (cheapest class).

2) Depending how far your home-stay is from the orphanage, you may need to take a bus or "colectivo" (like a shared taxi). I had two placements, so for one, my Chilean mom would drive me, but for the other, which was a bit out of the way, I took a colectivo. If I remember correctly, it cost 300 Chilean pesos each way, so roughly $0.60 in Canadian dollars.

3) I was fed well, but once in a while would have a snack out.

4) We had a walking tour as part of orientation. We stopped at a museum and a Japanese garden, which each cost around 300 pesos for students. On a weekend, I took a tour. I can't remember how much I paid for a tour through the Elqui Valley, maybe around $60-70, but it was very reasonable considering it was a full day tour with a meal.

5) La Recova is a wonderful market for souvenirs. You can pick lots of nice little gifts for a couple of dollars each.

6) Travel insurance.

7) I took some souvenirs from here to give as thank you gifts to my host family. I took extras and gave to the teachers I worked with, and also took donations to the schools I visited - things like books, stickers, games...

Hope this somewhat helps. I had a really great time. My host mom was named Wilma. I still communicate with her and I think she's still a host mom in La Serena for A Broader View. I don't know what percentage of the fees go to the host families, but my family did so so much for me. They too care of me and cared for me. They took me places on weekends, I cooked and swapped recipes with Wilma, and really got to practice my Spanish and learn some chilenismos. I've read excellent reviews of other host families in the program, so I definitely would recommend home-stays in La Serena. From my experience, it was the people who really made the experience memorable.

My A Broader View experience was fabulous, from beginning to end.

As I recall, I just needed my spending money for a little extra food, for travel, gifts etc.

Chile was very reasonable and the peso has fall a lot since I was there, so it will be cheaper now for Americans.