Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
13 Jan 2025
Reply rate
88.4 %
Usually responds within 2 days
Feedback
21
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Details
Description
Hi! My name is Gabriela, an artist and teacher. Two years ago I started the journey towards the renovation of my grandmothers (very old) house in Valparaíso. I moved in with my daughter and two dogs right before the pandemic hit and since then we've been pretty slowly working on it, with the help of my younger sister as well.
Now that one of the rooms is ready to move in I'm offering accommodation for one person to help us for around 3 hours daily of work (with free weekends).
We like trying out ideas, playing with second hand materials or repurposed items and being as sustainable as possible with what we have and what we can do with our own hands. This said, we'd love the help and will definitely be appreciative of any skills related to restoration! It's important to mention that we are very welcoming and understanding, we're lgbtq+ friendly and our diet is mainly lacto-ovo-vegetarian so there's no need to worry about food preferences or diets.
As for more details about the location, the house is located in Playa Ancha. It's near transport (10 minutes away from the city center), near local shops, universities (UPLA, Universidad de Valparaíso, PUCV among others), near restaurants and cafes and also very close to the 21 de Mayo walkaway and funicular.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
This is a great opportunity to create an exchange of culture, we'd love helping you with your spanish and at the same time learning some more english ourselves. You'll have plenty of free time to explore the beautiful city of Valparaíso and also enjoy views of the ocean and the city from the house itself. We can guide you through some of the most touristic areas and amazing hidden spots full of color, give you tips to visit the many walkaways or explore the center of the city.
Help
As mentioned before, we want to restore a very old house. Some of the areas and rooms are in pretty bad shape due to the years, so we're looking for help in home repairs such as: plastering walls, sanding, painting, organizing and decluttering, cleaning, up-cycling furniture, arranging furniture, garden, etc.
Any woodworking knowledge or skills with drills, sander or any kind of work tools would be highly valued but not really necessary.
Languages
Languages spoken
Spanish: Fluent
English: Intermediate
Japanese: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
One of the rooms in the first floor is ready to accommodate two persons. It has a single loft bed (with a certain height), a single bed, and a closet to hang your belongings. There's a couple more closets/drawers around the house that are not being used, in case you need some more space for your things! The room is big and it's located next to the hall and stairs, very close to the kitchen and the entrance of the house. It also has a big wooden window that looks over to the street.
The only other thing in the room is a grand piano that can't be moved due to the size, but there's still plenty of space. Im preparing other rooms as well to make them available for other volunteers.
I must add that the bathroom will be shared and there's a laundry room that you can use as you need, letting me know in advance.
You can use the refrigerator or kitchen to store your meals, but in case you want to eat all the meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and other snacks during the day) in the house this has a cost CLP $50,000 chilean pesos a week per person. Anyway to eat with us and contribute money for this is completely optional, and you can choose as you like, but is the preferred option for the volunteers and they have been very satisfied, since that way they can make better use of their time to walk and see different places and they have also really liked the preparations we make at home 😁 (see feedback comments).
What else ...
We live in a very quiet area of Playa Ancha but everything is close by. There's a bus stop only a minute away and from there you can go both to the city center of Valparaíso or go to Viña del mar, to the beach, or visit the other hills such as Cerro Alegre or Cerro Concepción, for example.
If there's any places you'd like to visit we can definitely point you in the right direction!! Feel free to ask about it during your stay with us.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
The room we offer is near the router so wifi is very good there.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Feedback (17)
Fantastic place to hang out for a couple of weeks and help with house renovation. Gabriela cooks very well and is very generous with her space. I enjoyed playa ancha as a place to stay and it's accessibility to town. The views from the back garden are so good; and it's not too far to the beach.… read more
Photos
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
Fantastic place to hang out for a couple of weeks and help with house renovation. Gabriela cooks very well and is very generous with her space. I enjoyed playa ancha as a place to stay and it's accessibility to town. The views from the back garden are so good; and it's not too far to the beach.… read more
Gabriela taught me more about Chilean cuisine than I learnt in my previous 2 weeks in Santiago. The same goes for the improvement of my Spanish-speaking skills. I’ll have to come back to Valpo again… read more
We worked a few hours during the day and we had our afternoon free to explore the city. When I was there, we mostly wprk on the walls, patching holes, removing old paint and cleaning the walls, but there's a lot more… read more
I spent 10 days at Gabriela's place sanding the walls of her house and I was asked to work 4-5 hours for 5 days a week. I had a great working relationship with Gabriela, with much respect and understanding, and we ended up becoming great friends.… read more
