Program Reviews

My AMIGOS summer program experience was incredible. I went to Santa Elena, Ecuador and stayed there for 4 weeks in total, 3 weeks in a host family. Throughout the entire trip, I met a ton of awesome people and learned a lot of Spanish and more importantly, about the culture and people. The first few days in Ecuador were spent with my other volunteers and Project Staff.
We bonded over the course of those days and went over how to be safe and healthy as well as what we would be doing in our communities. Friendships between us volunteers turned into who our community partners would be and too soon we were sent into community in groups of 2 and 1 group of three because we had an odd number of volunteers.
Being in community meant being in a host family and speaking in Spanish full time. I especially had to really only speak in Spanish because I was grouped with a Ecuadorian volunteer named Christopher.
We both had our own host families. My host family was so nice and welcoming even though I was a complete stranger living in their home. My host family consisted of my host dad, Joffre, my host mom, Diana, my older host sisters, Vivianna and Geovanna and finally my younger host brothers, John and Mateo. At first, I was shy with both my host family and Christopher but soon enough I grew comfortable around them and was able to talk to them freely and confidently.
My community, Buena Fuente was a really small community where most people knew each other and it was safer than I could have ever imagined. Most of the shops I saw in Ecuador were held in someone's home and my host family actually ran a shop where they mostly sold ice cream. Their shop ties into the community being safe because my host family's front door was almost always open during the day for the community's people to just come by and buy an ice cream because of Ecuador's hot and humid climate.
The work that Christopher and I did in community was host "extracurricular activities" in meetings on weekdays in the "Casita PLAN" which was a little building that had been built up by the organization PLAN International. During those meetings, we would try to get as many kids from the community to show up and we would have lessons about how to have a healthy hygiene, why throwing away trash is important, that the kids need to hone in on their skills and try to follow in the steps of their most significant role model. Each session started with a little "get to know you" game so that the kids could move around and get excited for the day.
Since I love playing soccer and the kids over there did too, they would drag me over to play with them and it was really fun. Sometimes we could play for hours and then have to go home because it was getting too dark to see. Playing soccer was one of the main things I did during my time in Ecuador. I was lucky to be in my specific host family because my host brother, John, loved playing soccer as well and we would play together in the afternoons with the other kids from the community but also kick a ball around inside the house.
Due to AMIGOS not allowing devices on the program, I had a lot of spare time that I didn't spend on my phone. With that time, I read the books I brought to country, I hung out with Christopher and talked with my host family about what life looks like in my city.
My host mom, Diana, would do most of the chores around the house like cooking, cleaning and doing the laundry. Most of these things I help my family do around my house and I was expecting to do more chores than I ended up doing because Diana would just tell me not to worry and do it for me.
Despite what I thought before going to Ecuador, the people of the community didn't live in poverty and although they might not have as big a house as I do, they had the essentials and were living happily.
Overall, the experience was great and I have no regrets because although some of the extracurricular activities were difficult to teach to the kids, I feel I really created lots of connections with everyone there. My host family became a close second family and I am so grateful to have been their volunteer because they really changed me. The most important things I got out of being in a home stay for three weeks in Ecuador are the friendships I made with all the people I met in Buena Fuente, what I learned about the culture in Ecuador and how I was changed in just a month.
The program went by quickly, unlike my 12 hour stay in the Panama Airport both ways. The day I had to leave my community with Christopher, all the kids were allowed out of school to come say bye to us. It was heart-warming that so many children were really eager to give us hugs and say their farewells. I hugged many of the little kids and said goodbye to all my friends and my host family. A lot of people were crying because of the sad moment and when I saw my host brother -who had become my favorite person in the community- crying, I cried as well which shows how attached I had become to Buena Fuente.
I will always remember that moment as one of the many beautiful events I was able to be a part of during my time in Ecuador.

I feel like the experience opened my eyes to new places and new people which helped me grow as an individual. Since the program was not a vacation, it enabled me to immerse myself more into the culture and speak more of the native language. I enjoyed making the tamales and not being so picky with what was offered. I learned not to take things and moments for granted. For example, working in the rain paid off in the end as the community was one step closer to their mission. Even during the course of a week, the young U.S. volunteers wanted to help out and contribute to the greater good. The local people were super friendly and I felt like I could talk to anyone. Everything we did felt like it had a lot of love and purpose, including the service projects.

My time in the rural mountains of Coclé taught me much more than how to open a coconut with a machete or teach a class in Spanish;

The kindness of the strangers who invited me into their homes to talk for hours and share their mangoes and avocados with me gave me the confidence to start conversations with new people upon returning to the United States.

It has been a month since my trip, and I still talk with my host family, students from the local school, as well as the owner from the local store!

Coclé, I'll never forget you.

My experience on the Amigos de las Americas La Brunca project was extremely valuable and transformative. I met so many people from all over Costa Rica and the United States that became my family for three weeks. My time with my host family in community was so special, as I was able to connect and bond with my host siblings and improve my Spanish skills. I learned so much about sustainability and agriculture in Costa Rica and was able to become close with the other volunteers. It was an overall amazing experience and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

This experience was absolutely amazing and I would highly recommend the Amigos program. During my time in Santa Elena, I had the pleasure of working closely with the community and with one of Amigos' partner organizations. I met so many incredible people, and had the experience of fully immersing myself in the culture through the program's homestay feature. I made great friendships with the other volunteers, and the entire staff was very responsive, supportive, and made it a great experience for all!

Participating in this program was an experience that I will never forget and always cherish. I was surprised by how immersed in the community I became in just the span of one month. The community and school welcomed me with open arms, and I was in a comfortable environment to learn all about their culture and practice my Spanish speaking. I was able to overcome any challenges that came my way with the support of the wonderful staff and my host family. I would 100% recommend participating in Amigos to anyone that would like to experience a different culture and explore new places.

This experience has truly been something so incredible, I have learned so much about myself through the process, I have met so amazing people. I came out of this with so many amazing stories; I made homemade hot chocolate from cocoa trees, visited a waterfall, and even lived basically on top of a mountain. I lived with a host family for a month and they have become some of the most important people in my life, they truly are my second family. Even with all the challenges that I faced it was an experience that I have loved with my entire heart

If you told me that by the end of a single month spent in panama, I would have fully integrated myself into another language and culture, I would have never believed you. On this program I learned much more than just a language. I became part of a family, in a foreign country, all the while speaking a language that wasn't my mother tongue. The first week consisted of a breifing on all the details of the project: customs within the community, language classes, learning the rules of the volunteer handbook, how to run an "ECA", aswell as intermingling with the other volunteers. Our three days at briefing in Santa Clara ended with a Bonfire and the next day we boarded mini-buses along with our supervisor aswell as the other kids along our route. Each volunteer will be assigned a community along with one or two other volunteers. For 3 weeks, they will live alongside their host family and integrate themselves into the community. In doing so, they will form bonds that will last a lifetime. For example, I still talk to my host mother once or twice a week, and I'm able to visit my partner in community once a year even though we live on different coasts. This experience has completely changed the way that I see the world, learning to live in a completely different way, speak a new language, and just all in all, learning to slow down. Over the course of this program, my wellbeing aswell as self confidence improved substantially. Amigos trips are not a once in a lifetime opportunity. It is a summer program that is available to all no matter race, sex, spanish level, or financial status. It is a must for service leadership, and a builds worldly humans at such a young age.

This program is absolutely amazing. You get to work so closely with families in a small community to work toward a valuable, long-term goal. The experience of living in a small town where everyone knows everyone, and everybody is the nicest person you've ever met was completely unique to someone like me who comes from the suburbs. This program showed me what it was like to live in a community and gave me the opportunity to give back to that community. All of my fellow volunteers were incredible, and the project staff constantly worked to make sure we had the best experience possible.

Our fifteen year-old son participated in AMIGOS de las Americas Cartigo Y Caribe service program this summer and as my title states, it was a transformative experience. He was immersed in the culture, experienced multiple cities in Costa Rica and was able to provide service. AMIGOS did an amazing job of preparing him and us for his three week experience. He came home with such an appreciation for Costa Rica and learned invaluable skills. Safety is of the utmost importance in AMIGOS and we knew that we could trust the organization with him.