Eco-conservation coffee plantation

I had an amazing time spending a week in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I wanted to do service work abroad, I only had a week, and I wanted to do something outdoors and environmental related since I'd never really done anything like this before. I was a little unsure at first what the work would be like, what the town would be like, or what my family would be like but they were all wonderful. My family was kind and patient and it was great to have the service work connected to the family itself and their livelihood. My first day, my first hour, of work, was already the most meaningful community service I had ever participated in. Unlike internships or jobs in college where I felt like people were creating work for me to do that didn't really matter too much, the work at this coffee farm was clearly deeply valuable to the farmers; if it wasn't us (the volunteers) working, it would have been them. The work was hard, but good. My week, in mid-August, we were helping prepare the nursery. We packed bags with fertilizer that were going to be filled with the baby coffee plants. The farmers were clearing land and creating spaces to place rows of bags. They had 4000 bags to fill and there was two men, one of their sons, and sometimes another daughter - and that was it! But they were creating this nursery, and had purchased their own roaster, so that they could work for themselves (not in maintanence, like one farmer had at a nearby school), work their own land, and do what made them happy. It was amazing to feel included in this process, know that I was contributing in a positive way to their lives. the work could get tedious, and it was hot, but we were never alone, always working with and talking with the farmers and families, learning about them and sharing about ourselves. Also, the region is stunningly beautiful and the work days were short enough to have plenty of time to explore, hike and walk around this small, rural, rustic community and setting.