Volunteer in Costa Rica | Education, Healthcare, Environment or Wildlife

I work with Go Overseas and had the opportunity to participate in a INLEXCA's volunteer project in Costa Rica this past month -- I cannot rave more about my experience! I highly recommend this organization to anyone who is looking to volunteer abroad in Central America.

INLEXCA was highly organized start to finish. I was connected with my project coordinator (Tanya) pre-departure and felt fully supported of before leaving the United States. Upon arrival in Costa Rica, Tanya and Carlos (INLEXCA's Co-Founder) were at my gate right on time with big smiles on their faces. I came to Costa Rica knowing little-to-no Spanish, so the smooth pickup was extremely comforting!

I was impressed that Tanya and Carlos went the extra mile to personally drop each volunteer off at their homestay and spend time at the house while the volunteers (myself included) got adjusted. Tanya even had each volunteer's contact on Whatsapp and remained connected throughout my stay. I already miss her daily check-ins!

My host family was more than I could have asked for. I spent the week with the kindest, most caring couple and their family. While they spoke no English, and I barely spoke Spanish, so we found ways to communicated through food and dance. Every night I came home from my project and my host family would give me amazing food, turn on music, and we would enjoy each other's company. It was very clear that they viewed me as a part of the family. All of my meals were home cooked (I felt so spoiled!) and I found that I needed to learn how to say "gracias, estoy lleno" very quickly.

The project itself was also great. I chose a childcare project in San Ramon, at Guarderia Creciendo con Amor. I spent my days busy playing with children from infancy - 12 years old. Even after only a week, I felt that I was able to provide concrete assistance to the teachers and form strong connections with the children. They were lively, sweet, and eager to learn. It's amazing how much care the staff at Guarderia Creciendo con Amor put into their work and I'm proud to have been a part of the impact these experiences will have on the kids.

One thing I will say is that there is a solid amount of free time when you are not working on your volunteer project, and it is up to the volunteers to make the most of it! Carlos and Tanya provided us with every single outlet we needed to make the most of our stay and encourage the volunteers to meet up with each other and get out of the house. Many of my nights were spent at a cafe or restaurant after my project getting the know my fellow volunteer which really made my experience the most memorable. I'm thankful for the strong connections I was able to make in such a short amount of time.

Again, I can't recommend this program enough. If you're an experienced Spanish speaker, or know no Spanish at all, INLEXCA will have a project fit for you. Take advantage of the staff's amazing support and guidance, and make a big impact on the community!

I had an amazing experience with my host family & with the program. The coordinator Tanya is amazing, she is always there when you need her. I worked at a church with several kids but the church needed a bit more organization & to distribute work for all volunteers. Overreal amazing experience & I would definitely do it again. The children made a huge impact in me & it felt amazing to help them as well. This experience really helped me understand the lifestyle & culture in Costa Rica

The conservation internship was great because I was always outside and able to be active, which I was hoping to be able to do during my time abroad. I also got first-hand experience with the widlife of the Costa Rican cloud forest, a truly surreal privilege to have experienced. I think future interns should know that you will always be moving and will always be kept busy in a fun and intellectually enhancing way. I left the program with knowledge pertinent to several academic fields and memories of the amazing biodiversity unique to the cloud forest.

All in all, it was a great experience.
So I just wanna mention some facts that I likes especially or also some I did not like. To help you to improve and to write an honest review.

I especially liked:
- that the coordinator was always there to help
- that there were also other volunteers in my town, it makes the first weeks way easier
- that my boss in my work was openminded for my ideas

what could be improved:
- the job was very different than described in the brochure in Germany
- some more activities together with the coordinator and the volunteers could be organized
- the host family was more like a hotel than a family - they were lovely, but needed the money and I was treated more like in a hotel than like living together with a family.

Last summer after passing my final exams in high-school I decided to go to Costa Rica to learn Spanish and getting to know the Latin Culture.
There are various organizations which offer trips and volunteer-stays in Central America, especially in Costa Rica which is knwon as the saftiest country in this region. The reason I choose to go with Inlex was because there programmes in community developement sounded more interesting to me than caring for children or passing my days in a butterfly-farm.
I had a great time and made some great experiences, I met friendly people all over the country and i achieved an important goal by speaking spanish fluently within six month.
But overall I have to say I am kind of disappointed.Dont get me wrong, I don't want to blame anyone of the people with who I passed half a year. People who always care for you, if you need help, people do the best they can, to provide you a wonderful time. But still I have to say I was kind of bored most of the time. If you are the nature guy, I am sure you will love Costa Rica. The rainforest in the mountains, the dry and hot areas in the north, the carreaben beaches which look exactly like directly from Hollywood - all these are beatiful and impressing places. If you are the social guy who likes to meet many interesting people, who loves a good conversation and needs some cultural input there is good chance to you won't be satisfied. Sometimes I had the feeling Costa Rica lacks of these things. Of course, that is unfair to say because even in half a year I had the chance to see only a small part of Costa Rica, also it is my very subjective point of view on the other hand that is just a resume of the expierence I made. You won't find much indigenoues culture, you won't find that romatic socialist touch you may think of when you hear stories about Latin America. Instead you will feel the big influence of the U.S. (I don't want to say that's bad thing, but maybe not the reason why you take a long journey to Costa Rica), you will probably pass many hours in malls because thats how many Ticos spend their time, many nights in mostly German and American hostels because these are the nicest and cheapest all along the coast... I guess all depends on your expectations so make sure they fit. Honestly I have to admit that there were many others who had a great time and I defenitly don't regret I went to CR but after all the experiences I made would have gone to a bigger city with more social activities and more intellectual-input.

I had a great time in Costa Rica. The people and the way of living made it easy for me to feel at ease and i soon started to get closer to the culture and to other people - natives and other volunteers. I made a lot of new friends and discovered the kindness of so many people. The work as such gave me the feeling to be needed in some way, but also to find myself in working with and talking to people, so different in many ways.
I was lucky to be in contact with such nice, helpful and lovely persons and I had the chance to learn to speak and to communicate in my own way (in an other language).
All in all I can say that i don't regret having made this decision to go to Costa Rica and to work with and for INLEX.
I am grateful to all the people who made my stay there as comfortable as i could imagine. The people who were/are in charge of the costa rican program were so kind, nice, helpful and became true friends.