Sorata
La Paz
Cochabamba
Potosí
Sucre
Santa Cruz
Program Overview
In the heart of South America, the Andes mountains and dense jungles of the Amazon inform daily life at every turn...
Known as a land of extremes, Bolivia is home to some of the most staggering cultural and ecological diversity on the planet. Hosting 36 distinct ethnic and language groups, vast mountain ranges, dense and remote Amazon jungle, and a shifting socio-political landscape, Bolivia provides an exciting panorama for exploring the links between past and present in the heart of the South American continent. This program offers the opportunity to integrate into a local community through an extended homestay, focused language study, exposure to pressing issues of development in the region, and trekking through one of the highest mountain ranges on earth.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS & OUTCOMES
- Deepen your Spanish language skills through 40+ hours of personalized classes and an extended homestay in a welcoming and picturesque farming community.
Known as a land of extremes, Bolivia is home to some of the most staggering cultural and ecological diversity on the planet. Hosting 36 distinct ethnic and language groups, vast mountain ranges, dense and remote Amazon jungle, and a shifting socio-political landscape, Bolivia provides an exciting panorama for exploring the links between past and present in the heart of the South American continent. This program offers the opportunity to integrate into a local community through an extended homestay, focused language study, exposure to pressing issues of development in the region, and trekking through one of the highest mountain ranges on earth.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS & OUTCOMES
- Deepen your Spanish language skills through 40+ hours of personalized classes and an extended homestay in a welcoming and picturesque farming community.
- Learn about Bolivia’s cultural and ecological diversity, while building your trekking skills by hiking along ancient Incan roadways from snow-capped Andean peaks into subtropical cloud forests.
- Gain knowledge about themes related to Bolivian social mobilization, resistance, US imperialism, social justice, and Indigenous representation.
- Apprentice with a local master to build new skills related to an area of interest such as cooking, charango making, music, dance, photography, traditional medicine, and more.
Beginning in Cochabamba, located in the fertile valleys between the high mountains and tropical lowlands, we settle into an extended homestay in a Quechua farming neighborhood. Here students enjoy daily Spanish language instruction while learning about the vibrant history of grassroots mobilization and resistance in the Andes. Students connect with scholars, activists, journalists, and local organizations in the city of Cochabamba, while engaging intimately with the farming community where our program is based. Opportunities for delving into Independent Study topics serve to deepen the experience, while gaining a sense of the richness, diversity and complexity of modern Bolivia.
To broaden our perspective, our journey then takes us into the high Andes for a mountain trek. In remote villages, we engage with the realities of rural communities that comprise the majority of Bolivia’s population. From glittering snow-capped peaks in the Cordillera Real range, we then descend along an Incan trail into dense cloud forest to the edge of the Amazon basin below. Observing striking ecological transitions, we discuss issues in conservation and resource management in one of the most bio-diverse pockets of the planet. Our trek ends in the Yungas region, known for producing chocolate, coffee and coca, and home to Bolivia’s Afro-Bolivian population. We settle into a relaxing retreat for the final days of the course, to celebrate our journey and focus on the transference of lessons learned.
Dragons program in Bolivia dives into the heart of the land through intimate homestays, language immersion, and workshops around leadership and global citizenship. Students gain skills and insights relating to the complicated dynamics of this country and of Latin America in general. This is a course for students interested in gaining language and leadership skills while learning about the web of relationships and influences at play in the region.
