1) The Road Less Traveled Rainforest Village Experience
2) Costa Rica Caribbean Community Experience
Costa Rica is a cultural and natural paradise, but most travelers only see its impersonal and touristy side. Globe Aware’s two Costa Rica programs offer a unique opportunity to help small communities improve their livelihoods and create a sustainable future in ecologically important areas.
1) The Road Less Traveled Rainforest Village Experience
Work Project
A decade ago, the government set aside land for the spectacular Carara Rainforest Reserve, which borders the tiny village where volunteers will be immersed. Although the villagers love their nature paradise, they have struggled to make ends meet as much of their farmland was taken over by the national park. They hope to create sustainable community-based tourism, and Globe Aware volunteers will work on community development projects to help them reach this goal. Projects will be determined based on the community’s needs at the time of your trip as well as prior group progress.
Sample Completed Projects
- Built pedestrian bridges
- Buried and installed new PVC water pipe to bring new clean water source into community
- Painted school
- Built cabinas
- Planted hundreds of trees
- Built book shelves for school
- Built fence around school
- Set up First Aid center
- Made oil lamps to line public road
- Made and installed road signs to community
- Painted communal hall
- Built recycling stations
- Built waste receptacles
- Painted and installed identifying signs in rain forest
Projects will vary depending on the number of volunteers, which projects were finished with the prior group, what priorities have changed, weather conditions, which supplies are available, and often the interest and fitness level of the volunteers. For these reasons, specific projects are often not fixed until the week prior to your arrival and can even change upon arrival.
Click here to view a short video on this program.
Please note it may take a couple of minutes to buffer before viewing, but it does NOT download to your desktop.
Some of our Super Volunteer Coordinators
Leisure Activities
- Nature hikes
- Horse-back riding
- Cheese making
- Traditional sugar cane processing
- Bird-watching
- Incredible star gazing
- Coffee tasting
- Relaxing in a hammock
Click here to view a video made by one of our volunteers.
Food and Lodging
Do NOT expect squalor. Prior volunteers have constructed 2 darling "cabinas"in traditional Costa Rican style, furnished with fans & comfortable beds. These include Western-style bathrooms and showers, though the water is unheated (unlikely to be missed in the tropical climate). Volunteers are fed plenty of fresh, healthy, abundant, Costa Rican dishes. Electricity is available, though on a relatively limited basis.
Arranging Your Airfare
For more on flight tips,click here .
2) Costa Rica Caribbean Community Experience
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Work Project
Caribbean community is surrounded by water on all sides and hosts a wealth of natural resources, including sandy beaches where sea turtles nest. The local people are hoping to foster community development and pride by improving common facilities and infrastructure. They also hope to improve livelihoods by finding alternatives to poaching endangered sea turtles and their eggs. Volunteers will work together with local community members to help with projects that they choose as important.
Possible Projects:
- Improve high school structure
- Create a recycling program and facility
- Build high school cafeteria
- Computer lessons
- Build butterfly, orchid, and dart frog sanctuary
- Maintenance and repair to municipal buildings
- Build playground, improve park
- Improve sports fields
- Clean beaches and build watchtowers
- Build sea turtle nurseries
- Arts and crafts with children
- Lending library
Projects will vary depending on the number of volunteers, which projects were finished with the prior group, what priorities have changed, weather conditions, which supplies are available, and often the interest and fitness level of the volunteers. For these reasons, specific projects are often not fixed until the week prior to your arrival and can even change upon arrival.
Food and Lodging
Volunteers will be housed in the lovely “casona,” a four bedroom three bathroom house located right on the beach. Meals will be eaten with local families, and a wide variety of fresh fish, beans, rice, and fruit will be available.
Leisure Activities
- Boat ride through canals to view wildlife
- Coconut oil and fish salting demo
- Swim at lagoon
- Play soccer
- Tour banana plantation
- Hair Braiding
- Salsa and Meringue lessons
Arranging Your Airfare
You will need to arrange to be at the meet-up point in San Jose by 12:30 on the Saturday your program begins. The program ends at 9am the following Saturday and it takes approximately 3.5 hours to get you back to San Jose. You would not want to arrange a flight any earlier than 3:30 p.m. on the return. For more on flight tips, click hereSafety and Security
Health and safety concerns are minimal at both program sites. As always, caution and common sense minimize risks. However, if you decide to travel independently to urban areas such as San Jose, special care should be taken to prevent pick pocketing when in crowded areas.. In 2007 there was a marked increase in the number of reported cases of dengue. San Jose and the Central Valley can be affected, which is the main airport you fly into to come to Costa Rica.
Malaria is also common in Costa Rica, especially in areas close to banana growing areas, which is where our Caribbean experience is located. To date we have no known volunteers who have had problems with either, however it is worth discussing this with a travel medicine doctor six weeks prior to coming to be on the safe side. More Safety and Security.
Want to volunteer for more than a week?
Upon registration, you will have a very detailed orientation packet sent to you with more information on the program, what to pack, etc.