Program Reviews

I initially joined this program on a bit of a whim and didn't quite know what to expect, but I can say without a doubt that it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Our days were a perfect mix of education and fun, with a variety of partner organizations and adventurous activities. The service work we did was not only well-tied to our curriculum of environmental conservation but also encouraged teamwork among volunteers. My two favorite service days included our hike and trail maintenance on Mount Elbert and helping harvest, plant, and maintain a Salida community farm. By the end of each work day, I really felt like I had made a positive impact for our planet and learned valuable skills to continue to protect the environment, and all in such gorgeous scenery. One particularly unique experience was our day at the Ute Mountain Tribal Park, where a Ute tour guide led us through the Ancestral Land of the Pueblo people. We were able to see many thousand-year-old ruins and artifacts and learn their history in a very genuine and authentic way; I gained a new perspective and respect for the Native people of Colorado and their land.
However, by far my favorite part about the trip, and the part I expected the least, was the amazing and diverse people I was able to meet and get to know. From playing Uno the first night to the 3 day rafting trip to blasting music on car rides, each moment was a chance to learn something new about someone and bond and grow together. We helped each other through highs and lows and created some absolutely amazing memories along the way, I truly feel like I've made some lifelong friends. As cheesy as it sounds, this trip was life changing for me and there is so much knowledge I am excited to bring back to my community, I am so thankful for the amazing opportunities the Colorado program gave me!

I was a bit skeptical of the three-week pod program at first, but I had an incredible time! I believe it is a great way to get your toes wet in Amigos. You have the support of various other English-speaking teens, but still get to live with a local host family and experience Spanish-emmersion. Cuenca is breathtaking! From above looks like a sea of red rooves. Lush green mountains surround the city. Cuenca also is the perfect temperature in the day time. It has perfect weather for hikes unless it is raining. Be prepared for the mud!

Some trip highlights:
- Seeing a cow give birth
- Visiting the Cuenca botanical gardens
- Hiking in Cajas National Park
- Eating amazing food
- Participating in a Kichwa lesson
- Having group discussions
- Painting a mural

I will never forget to long drives with John Denver, Vampire Weekend and Kora's playlists on the speakers, the exhausting hikes that endured with altitude fatigue, the beautiful nature, and certainly the amazing volunteers and staff that made it so memorable (shoutout to Hrittik’s doll - you’re the best one <3).

Oh the volunteering part? It was really good as well. We got our hands on sustainable farming to combat food insecurity in the Gunnison basin, and community gardening for the school district in Salida, both CSA-related programs (Community-Supported Agriculture), which was fun, productive, and eye-opening to learn about the technology, methods, and procedures they have doing these work. We also did gruesome trailwork on gargoyles, which had us tremendously appreciate the work put in these simple-looking routes. We did some land maintenance through cleaning up wood twigs and pigsties (amazing!). All of these put us into perspective and blah blah blah… But really though, it was an experience to connect and talk to people who are helping to enrich and protect the landscape and communities of Colorado.

There were curriculums and purely educational excursions as well, where we talked to scientists, conservationists, activists about different issues around conservation like domestic sheeps vs. bighorn sheeps vs. wolves, or Ne$tlé’s increasing influence on water and politics in Colorado, or smaller activities like testing water quality or spraying native seeds in the forest. I also enjoyed learning about climate change in tribal parks without mentioning the word.

Still what popped out most was the beautiful scenery in Colorado. As we toured around the Western Slope, there was almost a pervading connection to nature. I loved the morning breeze of the mountains, the vast eternity of tree lines, and even though I’m not supposed to, the aromatic smell of pine needles. I loved seeing the water lines in rivers and reservoirs, and longed to break AMIGOS rules of only being able to wade in water.

Colorado was a distant, peaceful getaway in the summer, but it felt home for the cool people, pretty nature, vibrant rhythm, and constant reflections during the trip.

I was on the Ecuador: La Costa 3 week project, and I had quite the experience. I really loved staying at Rio Muchacho, an eco-lodge, and learning about the city of Bahía de Caraquez more each time we visited it. I also loved boating out to beautiful, nature-rich islands, and spending time at the beach. One of my favorite parts was the service day, where we drove to a rural community called Sitio Nuevo that was leading an environmental/community based service initiative. AMIGOS worked with local volunteer groups to plant trees by the river, paint a school house, plant a garden, and help out with some other community things. Talking to the children of the community was a fun and heartwarming experience I'll never forget. I wished we could have done even more service work, and that we could have interacted more with local families, but this year was weird because of the COVID pandemic, which limited our contact with people (ex. we stayed as a group and not in homestays). Unfortunately, some of us volunteers ran into issues with mental health and with the project staff. Personally, I found the program to be too challenging in terms of how much sleep we were getting and how many activities were packed into the day. I felt tired and overwhelmed by the second week, and I started to take it easier after that. There were some conduct issues among some other volunteers that escalated into 5 volunteers being sent home 3 days early, which was stressful for the whole group. However, I think that we had a great group and great project staff, and what went down was pretty unlucky. I felt that the project staff were very supportive of me, and I really appreciated their help and empathy. By the end of the 3 weeks, I was very ready to go home, because I was stressed and burnt out, but I was simultaneously sad to leave the beautiful places we visited and leave the wonderful friends I made in the group. I'd say overall, I'm glad I went despite the challenges.

I was a staff member for this program in summer 2020, and I was so impressed by not only the communities we immersed ourselves in and the curriculum we taught, but also the group of teens that participated. Get involved with AMIGOS if you want the best opportunity possible to step outside of your comfort zone, learn about the region with a heavy dose of cultural humility, and experience what true collaboration with partner organizations looks like. In this project, we spent 10 days in a cloud forest community, learning about sustainability and conservation through a combination of local tours, impactful volunteer opportunities, in-house workshops, and ecotourism excursions. We then ventured to a remote town on the Atlantic coast, accessible only by river boat, where we worked with a partner organization to protect the local sea turtle population against poachers and other threats. We built upon each work or volunteer opportunity with interactive lessons on power and privilege, intercultural exchange, climate justice, and youth leadership. Students who choose to do AMIGOS care deeply about the world and their place in it, and this trip has the power to widen their perspective even further! I would strongly recommend it to those who are traveling to the region for the first time, as Costa Rica is an easy country to travel through, and has a very developed ecotourism base to learn from.

Learning through knowledge of other cultures is invaluable, the recognition that the land we live in is in crisis is inevitable and the small steps we can take to seek a better future are right in front of us.

The culture of the Ecuadorian Coast gives an endless number of new places, far from each other but with a clear theme to think about and is; What are we doing to save our land and ourselves? What can we change in our daily lives? How are we protecting the animals and species that inhabit the planet, such as sea turtles or whales?

This experience was beautiful not because of the landscapes you can find, but because of the questions you can ask yourself and the answers you find in the middle of a farm or in front of the immense sea, seeing the beauty of a giant whale near the boat you are in or exploring the islands where the whales and sea lions are, as well as trying different kinds of food, without the need to use foods based on animal protein.

We can all do something small to change the course of our resources and take care of our planet.

I had the time of my life on this trip. Not only did I get to learn so much about the community and about coffee farming, but I made so many new friends and I learned a lot about myself. I can tell you that spending over a year in quarantine as a 15-16-year-old was not fun. Other than the company of my wonderful family, I was really deprived of social interaction. Being on this program introduced me to 22 other people that I am proud to call my friends and AMIGOS family. This trip connected me with so many people that I would have never gotten to meet. I learned so much from the other participants and from the community members that I got to meet. Personally seeing how coffee farmers lived was an eye-opening experience. Hearing and learning about their struggles highlighted what it is truly like to be a farmer. I gained invaluable knowledge and had the experience of a lifetime. This summer was one of the best summers I've had in a long time and I got to let loose a little. I wasn't pressured by other people to appear a certain way or act a certain way, I could be myself and let out some of my inner child. It was an entirely different experience. Not having to worry about what the people in my life think about me, what I'm going to make for breakfast, and what I'm going to do that day allowed me to truly soak up the opportunity. Every day was filled with activities and excursions that always left me in awe. I am so extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this and I hope you choose to experience this as well. Pura Vida!

If you are looking for a challenge, finding yourself, your goals and fuel (motivation), making life-lasting relations, and experience the amazing culture and hospitality of a beautiful country while you explore and appreciate nature, great lakes, and active volcanoes, stop thinking about it and come to the Nicaragua program. You will discover colonial cities and unique mixed cultures within the country. Going to excursions to natural reserves, canyon trips, and waterfalls and appreciate the flora and fauna of a tropical land while you learn about renewable energies and the potential that Nicaragua has in this area from the voice and knowledge of tops of the experts and partner organizations working in this area. Also, you will have the opportunity to engage with locals that will be as excited as you to talk, teach and learn and create amazing bonds and friendships. As a Program Coordinator in this program, I felt really proud of myself, my team, and the volunteers we were working with and very happy to show my country and its culture while we all learn and live as a big family and awaken our leadership and many other skills. You will definitely get out of your comfort zone and the only thing you will regret is not coming.

This experience changed my life. Not only did I make new friends but I learned lessons that I will keep with my throughout the rest of my life. It gave me a new understanding of a different culture and improved my Spanish so much. I went in with no idea how it was gonna be and this experience definitely exceeded my expectations. Trying new food, meeting new people, and learning more and more Spanish were some of my favorite parts of the experience. I would definitely recommend AMIGOS to anyone!!

The province of Manabi where la Costa Program mainly takes place has been hit by El Nino natural phenomenon in 2008, which affected the communities greatly. El Nino produced massive rainfalls and this led to landslides due to the deforestation that had being going on for decades. Many community-based environmental organizations formed and reforestation initiatives arose. In 2016 the province also suffered from an earthquake and since then there were different movements to support natural construction with bamboo, for being earthquake resistance and sustainable, as well as typical from the area. This context makes this region a great place to learn about climate change, and how communities overcome natural disasters.
At this project volunteers stay in a permaculture farm, and visit 2 other farms. With all of these experiences, volunteers get exposed to permaculture, organic agriculture, sustainable cattle ranching, natural construction and so on.
In this program volunteers interact and work hand in hand with several youth led organizations that are working towards various environmental initiatives, such as beach clean ups, turtle conservation, the study of the tropical dry forest, etc.
We also get to do a lot of fun stuff like chocolate making, handicrafts, salsa dancing and nice hikes
We ended this trip with a renewed sense of possibility…possibility to live an alternative lifestyle that is in harmony with nature, and therefore can assure our own survival through generations.