jenste98

I am planning to stay in Costa Rica for 1 month to do volunteer work. Which towns would make a good home base for 1 month that have little English, but still have enough interesting things to do in my spare time (including coffee shops, restaurants and a couple of supermarkets)?

While it is not necessary, having access to a beach, rainforest or ranch with horses would be nice.

My main priorities are to hear very little English for one month and be able to easily and conveniently take day trips by bus to various towns and attractions on the weekend ex: rainforest, butterfly farm, hot springs, horseback riding, etc... I'd really prefer a town or small sized city.

I decided to cancel my trip to Turrialba due to recent volcanic activity so now I need to reserve a new place ASAP. Looking forward to hearing your town suggestions. Thanks!!

Jeff_Costa_Rica

Aren't you going about this backwards? Don't you have to find a volunteer opportunity before you find a town to live?

As for not wanting to speak English, that's pretty much up to you, and it's possible almost everywhere in Costa Rica. Interact with local people. They all speak Spanish and they are everywhere, even in tourist destinations. Most of the time, I function entirely in Spanish. People come to Costa Rica and they see McDonald's and shopping malls and they go home and talk about how "American" Costa Rica has become. No. It is not. And even if you go into McDonald's or a mall, the people who work there speak Spanish. Maybe they speak English, but no guarantees.

jenste98

I have to disagree on that point. When I was in Guatemala some places had a lot more English speaking tourists than others. In Antigua, Guatemala, for instance, wait staff and store clerks just start talking to you in English and hand you an English menu without asking which language you prefer.

I've spend several hours looking up organizations. I bet I've read up on nearly all of the main ones that exist in Costa Rica. I just want to do an internet search using the name of a different towns and see what comes up.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I disagree with you back. Certainly Antigua has a lot of foreign tourists. You don't have to interact with any of them if you don't want to. If a local person starts speaking to you in English, reply to them in Spanish. Do it nicely, of course. The person may want to practice their English.

My point is that these things are completely under your control, even in a heavily touristed destination. The vast majority of people you encounter in Costa Rica speak Spanish. If it's your desire to interact with them, do it. It's entirely your choice.

colibri

Jenste - you've researched many of the links to volunteer organizations that have been provided to you in your other two posts. So why not choose those that interest you - and then ask about the towns where they are located and whether there is a heavy expat presence?

Since you stated in your other posts that you want to live with a host family, I have to agree with Jeff that you can't just pick the town and then look for volunteer opportunities. Pick your top two or three volunteer organizations and then come back to the forum with questions about those two or three locations.

I'm not trying to criticize you but it seems like you are trying to reinvent the wheel since you've already been provided with a multitude of info in your other postings.

volcanogirl

We've found that the ability to easily and conveniently take day trips is inversely proportional to being a non English speaking area. If you want to be close to things like hot springs, butterfly farms, etc. you're probably going to end up where people speak a lot of English. If you want to practice your Spanish, they'll let you do that if you ask. We start speaking in Spanish (basic!) when we meet Costa Ricans, and they'll speak Spanish with us or sometimes they'll ask if they can practice their English with us. I think it's good advice to list the areas you've found that have the volunteer opportunities, host families, etc. that you're looking for and to get feedback on those particular areas. Good luck.

jenste98

Colibri: I am looking for some very specific things in a volunteer placement and very few places offer the combination that I am looking for.

1. Homestay with family - many offer accomodation with other volunteers
2. Short term for 4 wks - there are many opportunities for a minimum of 6 or 8 wks
3. Affordable - under $700 for 4 weeks, all included
-many places charge a minimum for $2000 or $3000 for 4 weeks
4. No speaking English - there are lots of opps to teach English
5. Lots of chances to speak Spanish - many opps to work with sea turtles or wildlife which don't require much speaking at all

I genuinely appreciate the time all the other posters took to give me their suggestions and advice. But some of them probably weren't reading in post carefully and many suggestion were offered that didn't involve a homestay, were over budget, etc.... So I didn't go for their suggestions.

GL Volunteers wants you to pay in full in advance, but it's a new organization and after doing some research it looks a bit sketchy so I had to turn it down.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

You might have to revise your expectations. I'm not sure any volunteer program anywhere meets all those criteria.

I did look at your other posts. What was wrong with the program in La Guacima?

Flars777

i understand your concerning, I was kinda untrusting in the beggining, gl volunteers does ask for full payment, but that is given to the commitment they get when volunteers dont show up and without money involved some people may turn it down in the end without any warning,what i would suggest, is talk to steve or Janina, he is a tico and she is german, they run the company and helped me very much with all the doubts and logistics, I did not pay the full amount at once, but that was arranged after we talked and they realized i was serious about i spent some time around costa rica and la guacima just does not feel like a good place to hang out,although the program sounds nice, there is a lot of poverty and crime, from what I heard from the guide., now with your criteria, it is hard to find something, but it was hard for me too, i am very pickie, and it all worked out fine for me.good luck, and talk to steve...would not hurt