Location
  • Bolivia
    • La Paz
    • Cochabamba
    • Sucre

Program Details

Language
English
Age Min.
18
Timeframe
Spring Break Summer Winter Year Round
Housing
Guesthouse Host Family Hostel Tent
Groups
Small Group (1-15)

Pricing

Starting Price
2065
Price Details
Our program fee includes all on-the-ground costs including a comprehensive program itinerary and educational curriculum focused on the issues facing your specific region, accommodations, meals, transportation, excursions, and two experienced program leaders with you 24 hours a day.

The program fee does not include flights, insurance, or personal expenses such as souvenirs. We also ask team members for a community contribution that goes directly to support our local in-country partners.

As a registered non-profit, we're committed to financial accessibility. Our Financial Needs Grant can cover 15-25% of your five- or six-week program fee and is available for anyone experiencing financial strain, including individuals from low-income households, students, and recent graduates.
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Meals Transportation
What's Not Included
Airfare Travel Insurance Visa
Jun 07, 2018
Nov 28, 2017
5 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Bolivia is a country of contradictions and extremes, boasting one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world. Bolivia is home to a highly-elevated portion of the Andes, a chunk of the Amazon rainforest, tropical savannah, dry valleys, and the largest salt flat in the world. Culturally, Bolivia boasts 36 official languages besides Spanish, all of which belong to indigenous people of the Andes and the Amazon.

On Operation Groundswell’s Lands & Livelihoods program, we will try to understand how livelihoods are impacted by globalization’s push for rapid change and how one can resist this mass movement. We will examine how systemic pressures, food sustainability, and access to clean water all intersect with and affect climate change. And of course, we will also see the different forms of tourism and how it can impact a place and culture.

Get ready to think critically about the space we occupy as a traveler and deconstruct that power and harness it positively!

This program is no longer offered. View more programs from Operation Groundswell.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Discover diverse neighbourhoods, navigate the continent’s largest black market, and get your hands dirty with Fundacion Alternativas, an urban food sustainability project.
  • In the shadow of Bolivia’s snowy peaks, explore La Paz, the world’s highest capital city.
  • Hike to a remote community in the altiplano around Sucre to collaborate on a local development project while camping under the stars!
  • Immerse yourself in Bolivian culture and unpack the effects of climate change with local organizers and ecological producers in Central Bolivia.

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Program Reviews

5.00 Rating
based on 2 reviews
  • 5 rating 100%
  • 4 rating 0%
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  • 1 rating 0%
  • Impact 5
  • Support 5
  • Fun 5
  • Value 4.5
  • Safety 4.5
Showing 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Blair
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Environmental and Human Justice in Bolivia

Working and traveling with OG was genuinely the most incredible experience of my life; so far. I experienced cultures beyond Bolivian city-life, stretching from rural communities that spoke Quechua in Bolivian communities to meals in the backyards of Peruvian mothers in Colca Canyon. Along the way, I was taught how to be respectful and analyze what I was learning with a group of passionate adventurers. Each organization worked with had a unique mission but a similar goal, to improve life for someone. This journey encompassed service and the mountains-climbed and salt flats-licked in between were the cherries on top. I would advise anyone to take a leap of faith and travel with Operation Groundswell time after time.
From working in schools, gardens, and communities to playing fútbol with local kiddos, climbing an 18,000 ft mountain, and taking in Southern Hemisphere stars while in a natural hot spring, the potential for growth is endless. Group time prepares you for the encounters along the way and ensures confidence in your independent travel time. Lesson learned, book bus tickets at the station, not online. However, four taxi rides to fix the problem was a fun way to improve my Spanish. Returning home after this trip is when the culture-shock hit me in the best and hardest of ways. I am now conscious of any waste I produce, yearn to work with my hands and have cut down on all of my possessions. This trip put into perspective how little you need to truly be happy. In my 40 South American-days, I learned more than could fit in my joyfully full 65L backpack.

What would you improve about this program?
More of the cost of the trip could be allocated to the NPOs worked with and less to organizational fees at headquarters.
99 people found this review helpful.
Ryann
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Incredible and Profound

What an incredible 40 days of experiencing new cultures, learning more about myself, and making friendships for life! I'm so very lucky to have gone on this amazing journey with Operation Groundswell throughout Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, with such courageous and like-minded people. I can only hope this is the beginning to a lifetime of adventure. The friendships that I have made on this trip are deep and profound. Even months after being back home, we message back and forth daily and are extremely supportive of each and everyone's endeavors. Truly an experience to make friends for lifetime.
-Ryann Van der Zwiep (Bolivia: Lands & Livelihoods, Summer 2017)

What would you improve about this program?
I loved the autonomy that this program allowed us, but I do wish there was time set out with our leaders to help prepare ourselves for the 10 days we traveled alone.
99 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers