The center works to rehabilitate the monkeys both physically and behaviorally, and when possible, release them to monkey sanctuaries.
A baby monkey at the Centro de Rescate y Rehabilitación de Primates in Chile. Photo © Robinson Esparza, licensed Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike.
Veterinary students can help with checkups, but it is important to note that other volunteers cannot work directly with the monkeys.Volunteers work 8:30am-6pm Monday-Friday and 8:30am-noon Saturday. Responsibilities include preparing the monkeys’ food, cleaning the monkey habitat and the grounds, helping out at the monkeys’ fruit and vegetable patch, and constructing and repairing the structures on-site. Veterinary students can help with checkups, but it is important to note that other volunteers cannot work directly with the monkeys.Peñaflor is located 40 kilometers (25 mi) south of Santiago. In their free time, volunteers can head to Santiago, to the beach (for horseback riding, swimming, and surfing), or to the mountains.
Peñaflor, Chile
tel. 56/2-2812-1020
Application Process: Send an email. Volunteers must be 18 or older.
Cost: US$1,200 per month, including accommodations, meals, and transportation to and from the Santiago airport and the center. The fee also includes a donation to the project.
Placement Length: Minimum of two weeks.
Language Requirements: None.
Housing: Accommodations are homestays with the Almazán-Muñoz family, and volunteers usually share rooms. All homes have wireless Internet, washing machines, and dryers, and one of the homes has a swimming pool that volunteers can use. Meals are usually beef or chicken with rice or potatoes, fresh fruit, and vegetables; vegetarians can be accommodated without problem.
Operating Since: 1996; began accepting volunteers in 2007
Number of Volunteers: Five in 2012
Excerpted from the First Edition of Moon Volunteer Vacations in Latin America.
