Baron Garden House

As previously mentioned my Brazilian sojourn is no fruitless holiday. Well at least not advertised as one. Towards the end of February this year I decided to enroll myself in a volunteer project in Brazil. The project aptly titled Work Experience at a Surf School in Rio is one of many volunteer project offered by the organisation i-to-i. For a somewhat debatable sum of $1800 AUD I have been given the opportunity to work in Brazil with the locals and been given temporary accommodation. The place where all Rio De Janeiro based volunteers are setup is in the small local suburb of Glória. Due to sheer laziness this post will again be predominantly photos.

The place is called Baron Garden House where guests stay in a hostel-esque arrangement. The place itself is locate on top of a hill with the local shops below. Walk up from the Glória shops to the Gardens takes about 5 minutes, the climb is quite steep and most people are left short of breath by the time they reach the house:

The house:

Baron Gardens offers different living arrangements, rooms are not strictly reserved for volunteers and there are always travelers showing up. There are also long term residents who look after the estate. Currently I'm sharing a 3 person room with another volunteer. The male volunteers stay downstairs with majority of the female tenants upstairs. Our room:

My mattress, actually mattress is an overstatement, I would rather considerate a large foam sponge which I suspect is home to many fleas and pests:

The main bathroom:

The kitchen/eating area:

Each house member is given a small tray and allocated a fridge to store groceries and cupboard space to store condiments and food:

Filtered water:

Entertainment Quarters:

Upstairs:


The courageous protectors of the house who by day sleep and laze around the house but are at their noisiest during the early evenings and even earlier mornings.

The Local:

So far my time here has been enjoyable and definitely a new experience. Most of the other volunteers are easily approachable and some of the most entertaining people I've met. That is the insurance of living with people who have put aside their own time and money to give a little back. Majority of the volunteers are English with a handful from America and another from Australia. My latest dilemma is deciding if I should extend my trip...