Pure! Bolivia

Placement organization

Name of organization: Pure! Bolivia
Town/city: La Paz
Country: Nederland
Website: http://bolivia-pure.com

Student

Name of student: Doris Hovinga

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Pure! Bolivia is a B2B tour operator based in Bolivia, and part of the Pure! Travel Group. Pure! Bolivia offers tailor-made services to the inbound market. The company has partners in many countries, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, the US and Australia.

The organisation performs many activities in the departments sales, operations, product and finance. Making quotes, itineraries, reservations and planners are important daily tasks. The product department is constantly making sure the services that are delivered are of high quality. This is done by means of inspections. Moreover, Pure! Bolivia organises its own tours in the area of La Paz, whereas in the rest of Bolivia, they work with providers.
Target group of the organization: Inbound tourism – European, North American and Australian market
Company culture: The company culture has a strict hierarchy where the general manager decides everything. Communication is done directly with the general manager or through the team leader, who oversees the sales and operations departments. Although the atmosphere is informal, it is not easy to bring in suggestions or give comments. The employees are very friendly among each other and I met them a lot after work time.
Number of employees: 12
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? No

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I have worked in most of the departments, such as sales, operations and product. I have learned the whole process that happens from the moment a partner has requested a program for their clients until the moment the passengers are in the country. It was possible to work in different departments, which has learned me a lot of different tasks.

Brief description of your daily activities: Sales department – In this department I worked the most. The daily activities existed out of making quotes and programs, checking details on tours and research information when a program was requested that was different from the classic programs. Moreover, you have to communicate with the product department about the tours and what they entail, to make sure you give the correct information.

Operations department – In this department I sent emails to confirm services to our partners and made travel documents for the passengers. Moreover, I was in contact with our passengers by phone or in person.

Product – For the product department, I travelled throughout Bolivia for the inspection of transport, hotels and tours. For the inspections it was important to take a lot of pictures and ask questions about the facilities or services provided. After the inspection trips, I had to write reports on my travels. Also I had to sort the pictures and reports for the company’s server.

Brief description of your company assignment: Evaluate the customer satisfaction through different methods. Investigate where the issues are. Prepare a digital survey for Pure! Bolivia. Give recommendations for the future.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision could have been much better. After one week, I was doing all my tasks individually. I could always ask the team leader for help but she was not my supervisor.
I believe if the supervision would have been better, I could have done my tasks better and contribute more. There was always work to do for me, but the company could have used my skills in a better way.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, stress-proof, resilient, optimistic
Additional company requirements for this placement? Microsoft Office
English: Advanced
Spanish: Advanced
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Found a place to live through my co-worker
How did you go to work every day? Public transport – minibus = €0,25 one way

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No, or at least the company did not arrange this.
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: I did not. I stayed on a tourist visa, which is valid for 90 days officially.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 1 week

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes, your level of Spanish should be around B1.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1200
Accommodation (monthly): € 200
Local transport (monthly): € 50
General costs of living (monthly): € 150
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Pure! Bolivia paid me $300 a month, plus some expenses I did when travelling for work, such as accommodation and tours.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not prepare for the culture, however I read about Bolivia a lot and asked my friends that had been to Bolivia.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: dorishovinga@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Bolivia is a extremely diverse country! You can do so many things and there is a lot to see.
I would recommend Isla del Sol, Coroico, Death Road, Rurrenabaque (Amazon, visit Madidi National Park), Sucre, Potosí for Cerro Rico and Salar de Uyuni. Try to go to the carnival in Oruro!

In La Paz you have to be a bit careful at night but nothing bad ever happened to me. Only take radio taxi’s and never carry too much money with you. People get robbed often in the clubs at night, but this is easy to avoid by buying a bum bag or fanny pack.

Try to live in Sopocachi, a very safe and friendly neighbourhood! There are many shops, restaurants, cafes, clubs and bars. It is also fairly close to the city centre.
The first week you will be affected by the high altitude of the city (3700 meters). It helped me to drink a lot of mate (a kind of tea) and take it slow, for example do not walk too much, just take a taxi as they are very cheap!
Also, La Paz gets really cold at night and the sun is super strong during the day. Be warned!

If you consider this placement, please contact me!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: La Paz is a large city, which has many different neighbourhoods. In general, Bolivia is a poor country but the city has more wealthy parts too. Everything we have in Europe, you can also find here, like gyms and clubs, just less. The best leisure activity in La Paz is to walk around, try some of the street food, take one of the cable car lines (they use them as public transportation and it is also cheap) and enjoy the beautiful view! In the south of La Paz, you can already find some stunning nature, like the Moon Valley. La Paz is centrally located, you can make weekend trips to various destinations.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link