156 CultureShock! Bolivia
Working With NGOs
With a maturing awareness of the root causes of social
problems, numerous NGOs have transcended the immediate
and limited goals of charity and opted for programmes of
sustainable projects in self-help and development.
Others, unfortunately, become bureaucratic and fundraising
takes priority over dedicated service. A little research will link
travellers planning to stay in Bolivia to an NGO within their
speciality, with far too many to list here. Some actually offer
a salary, but the majority, as exemplifi ed by FOBOMADE,
an activist environmental organisation, write that ‘we are
looking for volunteers to join projects in different parts of
Bolivia.’
Bolivia is a magnet for a large community of expatriates
who work together with idealistic local citizens in ambitious
economic, cultural and ecological programmes. These
programmes allow visitors to get to know Bolivia from the
ground up, literally. In the next section, we will get to know
Bolivia’s odd cities from the top down. Then we’ll wander
away from the asphalt road and into more remote corners of
this land of authentic adventure. These narrative descriptions
will be complemented by a Resource Guide at the end of this
book, with practical place-related information (distinctive
restaurants, hotels of special value or character, adventure
tours and other primary or aesthetic tips).LA PAZ: THE GREAT HOLE
Many non-governmental organisations are strategically
headquartered in La Paz, where they have direct access to
key government agencies and foreign embassies.
Long ago, La Paz lured the Executive and Congress away
from Bolivia’s offi cial capital and more beautiful city, Sucre.
Lovers of idyllic settings like Sucre, hillside villages like Sorata
or the jungle lavishness of Rurrenabaque and the Mamoré will
be inevitably seduced by the stunning, appalling, exquisite,
repulsive, magnifi cent city of La Paz.
Chuquiago, the original Aymara name for this ex-
indigenous mining settlement, is the antithesis of its fl atland
namesake Chicago. La Paz is an inside-out version of hilly