Rustic Pathways Reviews

I just returned from Heart of the Jungle and the trip was two of the best weeks of my life. We travelled around Costa Rica, saw many parts, including Corcovado National Park, the Osa Peninsula, Puerto Jimenez, and Uvita, did extreme adventure activities, like rappelling, rafting, zip lining, hiking, and kayaking, and service- and all was with great friends!!! The leaders were incredibly enthusiastic, knowledgable, and fun! And the kids on the trip were also amazing!

The nerves that I experienced going into this trip cannot be described, I knew no one and I did not know what to expect. The first reason for my nerves was completely irrational, I made best friends that I am closer with (in the space of one week) than my friends back home that I have known for years. Placed in a situation where no one knows each other, that's when your true self comes out as you look for those who are similar to you. I never realized how in sync I could be with a girl who lives in a completely different continent and how relatable another from, again, a completely different continent. The making of these two incredible friends is something that I will always thank Rustic Pathways for. As much as I made two close friends, we had a group of us that were constantly together. Every night we played Uno and told different stories of our life, as well as, laughing at many different slang words from our relative countries. The second reason for my nerves was completely correct, I had no idea that his trip would be so enjoyable and heart touching. With the relaxed environment in which you stay there is mo stress and you are truly able to embrace all that is around you. You learn things from religion, food, how to help others in the most beneficial way and about culture. It was beautiful and I am so grateful to have experienced what I did and been given the opportunity to go.

I had so much fun on this trip! I got to do something that I never thought I would do like surfing, sky diving, jet boating, and camping for the first time in my life. I would definitely advice other people to join this program.

I went in expecting the trip to be less fun than it actually was, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had on the trip with the friends i made, the orphans at the home, and in the country itself.
Most of our days in Jaipur would consist of a 45-minute drive to the children's home in the morning, 2 hours of teaching/having fun, lunch for about an hour or two, and then 2/3 more hours of interaction with the children. We would then have an evening activity planned out before having dinner at our hotel.
The kids were absolutely amazing and many of them already understand basic English. They loved teaching us words in Hindi, and were eager to learn.
We learned about the history of Jaipur, toured the city and its temples, forts, and streets. The program leaders were very helpful if we had any questions and enjoyed answering our queries.

This experience was one of the most eyeopening and life changing experiences of my life. Although living in the Zawita ahansal village was challenging it taught me to never take my life for granted. Also, it lead me to realize how unecessary material objects are and how, rather, love and the kindness of the human spirit are the true key to happiness and well being.

I was nervous at first to travel by myself. But after my trip I realized that I have made life long friends and memories. I know that I made a difference through all the hard work we performed and I cannot thank Rustic Pathways enough for the most AMAZING experience!

This is one of my greatest life experiences and I would recommend it to anyone looking for adventure. I felt very safe and had an incredible time, but found joy in giving to the community as well. Though we worked during the days, the nights were packed with fun activities such as Hong Night Out or Thai Massage. The staff was approachable and very young/hip. The Laos weekend trip is very worth the money. You will visit even more scenic landscape than in Thailand and get the more touristy side.

I loved all the day to day encounters with the animals but I wish we could have spent more time doing activities outside of the zoo other than just walking around Brisbane. Some planned activities would be fun.

This trip was amazing. The atmosphere of the trip was just fantastic. The houses we stayed in to the leaders and fellow students was all positive and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to start my summer!

This summer I participated in two Rustic Pathways programs in Costa Rica: Summer Camp Leadership and Turtle Conservation. I think that i got lucky with SCL because the group of people I met there will be my lifelong friends and the program was so much more fun with them. My TC group was not bad in the sense that I did not like them, but I definitely did not connect with them as much as the SCL group. Maybe this was partially because I did TC after SCL and I was still reminiscing over my great time, but the group dynamics definitely had an impact on each of my experiences. Aside, both trips were amazing in different ways. The SCL trip allowed me to explore the kind of community service I am interested in (working with kids) while also being able to explore the country of Costa Rica and the awesome adventure activities available there. The TC camp was much more service based, considering that we only had a week to pack in 30 hours of service along with a rafting trip, zip lining, and surfing. It was incredibly rewarding to be able to see a sea turtle actually make her nest and lay eggs. I felt like we were really contributing to saving the turtles by protecting their eggs and cleaning the beach. Before I got to Costa Rica, I was expecting to spend my first night in a hotel. I wasn't anticipating anything super nice, but I definitely was surprised when we arrived to a hostile on the first night and were not fed dinner or anything. To say the least, Rustic Pathways lives up to its "#sorustic" promise from the onset of the trip. I stayed in 7 different locations throughout my 3 week stay in Costa Rica and many were cramped, dirty, buggy, communal, and slightly uncomfortable. However, this (along with the constant rice and beans) would probably be my only complaint about this trip. Although the locations we stayed in were super rustic, they allowed us to experience the "real" Costa Rican lifestyle. Overall, I would definitely recommend Rustic. I would recommend going on only one program (whether it is 1 or 2 weeks) for your first time with Rustic because for me, the switchover was very hard.