jenste98

Hello fellow travelers,

I am seeking a volunteer site in Costa Rica that offers low cost volunteer opportunities. If you have any suggestions, please share them here.

Here is a list of things that I am looking for:

-low cost ($200-250 per week for food and accommodations)
-small registration fee (max $200)
-short term (3 weeks)
-lodging with local family or other native speakers
-an opportunity to use my intermediate level Spanish skills (so no teaching English)
-interacting mostly with adults (a little bit with children is ok, just not all of the time)

While I am interested in women's issues, I am open to other options too that will be of benefit to a local community.

After hours of searching, I finally found a great site that offers placements in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Unfortunately, I realized later that airfare to Peru is 3 times greater than Costa Rica. So due to my budget, I really need to stay within Costa Rica.

Here is a link to the organization I was talking about though. It has such great rates, I think it needs to be shared.

www.ubelong.org

qwovadis

montanalinda.com latortugafeliz.com couple of good ones.
You are right many online scammers no one should pay large
sums to "volunteer" scammers. Find my best ops boots on the ground usually from $100/wk.

If you go for SA spirit.com has cheap flights to LIM from FLL. As little as $239 RT total Jan 2 years ago for me. Ninoshotel.com a great op with homeless children in Cusco for me. guanguiltagua.com in Ecuador great for me last down there.

Doctorswithoutborders.org for Haiti need is greatest. Stipend meaningful medical volunteering for me in the past but not for the faint of heart. Also hh4honduras.org worldvision.org
Samaritan's Purse all great and cheap for me in the past.

Happy Hunting!

jenste98

You're right, qwovadis. It's much cheaper to fly into Fort Lauderdale first. Instead of $1200 it would cost me about $800 instead.

I still think I'll go to Costa Rica. It's a bargain at only $415 round trip and I've always wanted to go there to see the rainforest.

I spent about 4-5 hours searching again last night and I will add some of what I found here. This info is so hard to find, I think it should be shared with other travelers.

http://www.spanishatlocations.com/
Only $15-22/day for accommodations with family, no volunteer placement fees.

http://www.sangerardocostarica.com/2...unity-in-2012/
Only $250 for room and board per month. No volunteer placement fees, but min of 6 weeks required.

I think that locally based language schools may be the cheapest way to go. Some offer a choice between volunteer work, language classes or both and you can get a fairly priced homestay with a local family. Sometimes you give the money to the family directly, so you know that a middle person isn't taking a lot of your money that could go to the locals. I am also finding that they don't tend to charge anything for volunteer work. You just pay for the homestay.

I think I'll check out some guidebooks too like Lonely Planet and see what they recommend. Looking forward to hearing more suggestions. Happy travels.

Volunteer4life

Hi -

There is an organization called Green Life volunteers - I went with them on a turtle conservation project and it was fantastic. Great community and amazing beach were turtles arrive EVERY night!

They also have other projects, for example in Monteverde.

Some projects are quite cheap - others more expensive, but the organizational fees are low and from the second week onward you only pay a weekly fee for host family accommodation and food!

They also do research and support conservation projects, so the fees are well spend.

www.glvolunteers.com



J

jenste98

I was hoping to volunteer at a place where very little English is spoken to maximize my chances to speak Spanish. But I love dogs and I will have to keep this place on my list. Perhaps I could work at a location which has more local volunteers than other foreigners like myself. Thanks for the link! I will definitely look into it.

Volunteer4life

Hi again - they also have a dog rescue project, actually they work with two different dog rescue centers I think, and one of them is "Tico" run - so not much English.
You'll stay with a host family so your Spanish will definitely improve - and you'll get the chance to learn and practice lots.
My Spanish got soo much better after staying with the host family, spending all time with them, and making Tico friends.
The dog rescue place is in their main location - Grecia - which is very Tico and not touristy at all. Glad I could help.

jenste98

So this place and another one in Turrialba are at the top of my list so far. I was just wondering, how do people spend their free time in Grecia? Is it convenient to get to a cafe, restaurant, a place to go dancing or catch a bus for a day trip into a nearby town?

volcanogirl

I know Proyecto Asis offers work at the animal rescue center and in an orphanage, but I'm not sure of the costs. The rescue center is great if you want to check it out.

Volunteer4life

Hey,

great. Grecia is a typical town in the Central Valley hills of Costa Rica... plenty of cafes, bars, restaurants - definitely places to dance (tico style , and there are good bus connections! The bus to San Jose only takes 60 minutes, and there are plenty of other towns to explore nearby. Monteverde and Volcano Arenal are only a 3 hour bus ride away, and the nearest coast and beach is like 2 hours away.
I really like the town - it's a beautiful place and the people are lovely.

About Proyecto Asis- I have been to that place - it's a nice rescue center... quite small but well run! They only have wildlife though - no dogs. I would definitely visit rescue centers like that in your free time... it's worth it!

volcanogirl

We were just there, and they actually had several dogs when we were there. We asked about them, and they said people keep dropping them off, so they keep accepting them.

jenste98

Thanks volunteerforlife. Your description of Grecia was really helpful. Do you know anything about Turrialba? I'm just wondering if it's just as convenient to get to interesting towns by bus and if there's a decent selection of cafes, restaurants or places to go dancing.
Thanks! I can't wait to check it out.

Volunteer4life

Haven't been to Turriabla so unfortunately no idea... sorry! Good luck making your decision

colibri

Turrialba is a great little town, a bit off the tourist track, so I think your bus connections to both beaches, cloud forests and volcano (other than Irazu) would be better from Grecia.

I stayed in Turrialba with a Tica amiga there a few years ago and loved it, but wasn't trying to get anywhere out of the region. We visited CATIE, Lankester Gardens, Cartago, Cachi and Orosi, but those destinations are all convenient to Turrialba which is about 2 hours the other side of San Jose from Grecia.

jenste98

Now I have a 3rd option to choose from. It's a Spanish school in La Guacima that can set you up with volunteer work (no Spanish classes required). There really isn't much about La Guacima on the internet, which gives me the impression that it's a very small town.

If you've been there before, could you tell me what kind of entertainment choices are available in this town and if I could easily visit nearby towns and attracts by bus?

jenste98

Volunteer4life:

Just wanted to thank you for your suggestion about Green Life volunteers. After many, many hours of searching it turns out that your suggestion about Green Life Volunteers was the best one for me in terms of location, price and programs offered and I plan to volunteer with them.

They just added a new program for working with people with special needs that looks interesting, and I will probably do a week of the dog rescue too. Not the mention, the prices have dropped a little bit in the past few days (I think it's because they are in desperate need of volunteers for certain projects).

Anyhow, I am SO excited about my trip. It's going to be great. I can't wait!!

amagkid

While I see you have found a great organization, in case you fall in love and with this country and want to stay longer, PRETOMA is a fabulous organization whose focus is Sea Turtle Rescue/Preservation. They will place you in very remote regions, with other volunteers from around the world, and you work with the community and depend on them for support. You get to know the locals, live in paradise, and work with the turtles. While it can be a but rustic, it is worth it!

SeverinS

Have a look here:

http://aim-research-project.com/en/v...erincostarica/

They have many interesting projects like artifical reef project, shark protection, beach clean ups etc. Plus you can make your diving certificate and take spanish lessons!