As a first blog/article attempt I thought I’d follow on from Eddy Kim’s discussion of expectations. Hopefully I can put death to any doubts some of you may have. Having been with Voluntario Global for about a week now I was really encouraged by how quickly I was brought into ‘La Casa’ to meet any ‘colleagues’ I’d be working with and the extremely friendly supervisors who are all assigned a certain amount of us volunteers. The welcome talk encourages you to embrace flexibility and become flexible yourself; this does not mean you should learn the splits or other gymnastics moves (but if you can then many congratulations!) but refers to how you may have to get used to hopping on a crowded 64 bus to La Boca at 8 in the morning with thrill-seeking, fare-evading  muchachos hanging off the doors one day... swiftly to be followed by time in the office sipping Maté and chatting in your finest Castellano.

The city of Buenos Aires itself is a mixture of rich and poor; high rise apartment blocks sit next to intricately carved institutions and you’re never far from a ‘villa’. You will find restaurants with beautiful decor and hard-working kitchens on almost every street and the bar-culture could be among the best in the world. Paying merely 20-30 pesos for a bottle of Malbec will surely bring anyone to this conclusion. On my first day off I managed to stumble through the searing yet comfortable day time heat until I saw the ‘Casa Rosada’ wonderfully lit up in the evening to really bring home why some have described the Capital Federal as a “nocturnal work of art”. Reading through past accounts of volunteers, many people talk of how privileged they feel to have their home after seeing parts of Buenos Aires. I think this works both ways; the beauty and flowing culture of such a place puts any “cosmopolitan city” to shame with the sheer ease with which you find yourself having a good time in extraordinary places.

There are easy links to the likes of Montevideo, Iguazu falls, Mendoza and even Rio de Janeiro and with enough planning it would be easy to make Buenos Aires your portal to South America. Although I am not staying in the volunteer’s house myself, I can say with confidence that anyone who is can consider themselves lucky. It is a large house with shared rooms which means you can’t help but become socially involved (the weekly ‘get togethers’ hugely aid this process). Any queries or concerns you have are only minutes (and metres) away from being answered. From tourist information to fresh laundry service, ‘La Casa’ will take care of your every need and set you up with a good base for your work and travels. It’s been said that new starts are the most exciting part of a job or of life. But I hope that you will find or have found that once arriving here, much like a high flying bird, the feeling of elation and perseverance will steadily continue throughout your journey.