Volunteer in Costa Rica | Education, Healthcare, & more

I have spent a month in San Ramon, Costa Rica. I enjoyed my time in the programme where i have learn to care of others and be more independent. I was in a kinder garden which helps single mothers and families who have struggles. Also i loved the country and the people, who were so warm and made me feel like home. I would love to return and know more places. I really liked the culture and the joy of the people. I highly recommed doing a job as a volunteer because it helps you to grow as a person.

I just finished a six months internship in Costa Roca, I had so much fun and gained a lot of knowledge in language and in my field. As a Muslim girl I went to Costa Rica with some fear and hesitation because of the very different culture but when I arrived there, the people and staff were very welcoming and understanding for these differences and I felt like home! I would encourage anyone to go for this ! The language was not a barrier because most people there speak and understand English!!!!!!

I had a great experience volunteering in Costa Rica. I have met incredible people and the two coordinators (Tania & David) of the program have been amazing. The host family has been also perfect.

As regards the project I have been working with people with disabilities in the Universidad de San José, helping them to enhance their oral expression skills. Comparing to previous volunteering experiences (and despite this has been the shorter period - just 2 weeks!) this has been the time that I have felt more useful for the people I have worked with. And also the best local NGO/coordinators (Integrated Learning Experiences - Volunteer
Abroad) I have met! Staying with the family facilitates also a more complete experience and sharing the same mother tongue has allowed me to connect more with local people. I had the chance to meet other volunteers, to cook local food, to know other host families, travel around this beautiful country, etc.

Nothing to complain about!
Many thanks,
Elena Sánchez

Living in Costa Rica was an incredible experience. I was doing the project on women empowerment and it was a great job, with a lot of things to learn and to achieve. Everybody was really welcomming and they were really nice. My family was great and I had a lot of fun with them, the room was good and the food that they gave me too! They are always open to talk and take care of your needs, wich is great when you are travelling and missing your homeland and family. Costa Rica is a really nice place to travel and it has amazing views, great people, food, beaches and animals. I was really glad that you could find really easily somebody to travel with and most of the people are open to it.
Glad to come back someday again and thank you very much!

I spent almost four months in San Ramon, a great city in the centre of Costa Rica.
My experience overseas started with a two-weeks language course which helped me a lot to learn about the specifics of the Costa Rican Spanish, to settle in and to prepare myself for the voluntary program.
I actually had two projects which I enjoyed a lot. The first project is a women empowerment project and it is the perfect place if you want to bring in your own ideas. I worked in the marketing and administration part, but although being a typical office job it was great to support a NGO with the knowledge I gained during my studies. Additionally I could exchange a lot with all participants, we had great events and I learned a lot about life in Costa Rica.
My second project was in the city hall, more specifically in the sustainable city development and here I could learn a lot about the efforts Costa Rica is undertaking in order to achieve their sustainability goals. The biggest part of my work consisted of supporting workshops in primary schools about recycling and it was super interesting to work with the children and teach them about this topic.
But my experience wouldn’t have been this great without my lovely host family. I felt like a family member and could really dig into the Costa Rican family life. For me it is a really important part of the voluntary program to also have this experience!
And to close I have always been supported greatly by my host organisation in San Ramon. I felt welcomed from the very first day and we also did great trips together.

I'm so happy to did this. It is a experince which i never forget. Thank you all for this.
I was in a kind of education project to support children who live in really poor areas and it was a pleasure to see how happy the children are in this project. It had a lot of work, in the morning i worked with the little ones and it was so so great. And in the afternoon i played with the older ones, for example soccer or other sports. It was really good to play and to see the children happy. For me it was the best decision in life and i want to do more in my future. Furthermore i had really good coordinaters in my procet who alwaysw support me. All in all it was a pleasure.
And the volunteering all in all was perfect, with my coordinaters and my spanisch lessons, it was so so good and i really miss it.

It was a unique experience. People here are incredible nice, they are really helpful and amicable.
I felt at home at the family where I was staying and the food there was amazing!
The programm was always looking out for you and they offered some activities for you to get to know all the volunteers.
Costa Rica is a really safe place to travel even if you go alone and if you need anything locals are always eager to help.
The volunteer work is very fulfilling. You get to learn a lot from profesional people and you feel like the work you do really matters.
It’s an incredible oportunity to embrace another culture and get to live it with the locals. Great for learning and getting the opportunity to grow in both work and personal level. Being able to travel alone and discover yourself is one of the best things of this volunteer.
Overall it was an incredible experience and I woult totally recommend this program.

I came to Costa Rica to practice speaking Spanish through immersion, to improve my teaching skills, to experience a new culture, and to have fun. I’ve definitely met all four of my goals.

I work as a teacher, and most of my students are from Spanish-speaking families. Teaching in Spanish with a new group of students helped me improve my Spanish, and my teaching skills, all at once.

I appreciate about INLEXCA that language immersion is important, as it helps one to be more of a participant in life here. Communication at the volunteer site, within the host family, and anywhere one wishes to travel are all greatly aided by knowing Spanish. INLEXCA makes the effort to connect volunteers with sites that can use their skills. It’s to everyone’s benefit that this is done, and creates a more meaningful experience for everyone.

I’m very happy with INLEXCA, and look forward to completing more programs in the future!

This was an amazing projects I loved everyday. All the workers were friendly and made me laugh. They were great company and were always making jokes. The work was good however there were some times where we were just sitting around and waiting for someone to tells us what to do. Out of the two projects I construction was my favorite because there were other people in my position unlike in the research where it was only me and the two guides. however I know this is not because of the staff. However at the construction on my second week there were four of us which I felt was too many for that project at one time. The problem with research station was that I didn't know what to do when the Guides weren't there. They would leave me to do my own research if I had some but I didn't so I would just have to sit there and wait.

Initially my program was scheduled for 4 weeks in Villa Blanca and a two week Spanish course. The time I spent there was extremely rewarding because I was given the liberty to modify my work to be done. For example: I built a new pond, conducted research, review footage of trail cameras and gained the knowledge of the guides. These things were curtailed specifically for me. The Spanish classes were fantastic too with an exceptionally good teacher! Thank Tanya!
One thing that would be nice is to diversify the activities for example, in my 6 weeks in country I only visited a single school, a home for the disabled, and a Christian mission. I wished to spend more time in these various locations and perhaps other locations. With that said I understand I don’t not have the qualifications required to fulfill these roles. Thank you so much!

The program is very interesting for people into nature and physical work.
The work is normal very diverse, but can become repetitive for volunteers working in the Project eg. 6 months.
The guides and employees of the hotel are all very kind and willing to help.

I spent 10 great weeks in Costa Rica to work in a wildlife project with marine turtles. The project was locaded in a very beautiful place in Guanacaste, in the north of Costa Rica.
When I arrived at the first day, I felt a little bit lost because I didn't spoke Spanish that well and the project was remote from bigger cities and had no Wifi. But the people were very friendly and after a few days it felt like we were a big family. That was a thing I enjoyed very much, just like the beautiful beaches and the work with the turtles. I had the possibillity to learn many things about conservation and the nature of Costa Rica. The work showed me how important it is to protect the environment and how interesting biology is.
All in all I had an unforgetable time in Costa Rica and made many new and interesting experiences. Actually it was much more than I expected and I just can recommend this project.

Although I only undertook my placement for two weeks, I feel like I have learnt a lot of things in that time! I have discovered an environment completely different from those which I am used to, and I have been able to understand the importance of conserving that environment. It’s been amazing to see animals that I would never see in England, and to see many different places as well! Not only have I done the placement at Villa Blanca, but I have also had the opportunity to travel around as much as I could in two weeks, to beautiful places such as Puntarenas, La Fortuna and La Isla Tortuga. As well as this, I have met some really nice people who hopefully I will stay in contact with, and I think that my Spanish has improved a lot! I would definitely recommend staying with a host family, since they are so kind and generous, and I will be sad to leave! All in all, coming to Costa Rica has been a great experience, and I would love to come back one day! Also, do not be scared about coming on your own, because the country is very safe and you stay with the host family, so it is not like you have to stay anywhere on your own.

My name is Louisa and I was a volunteer in Costa Rica for 6 month. I had applied for the Wildlife program because I wanted to do something which was unique for Costa Rica and which I couldn’t experience in Germany. I also like animals and enjoy to be in the nature, so this was my decision. I was very excited what my project would be alike and when the information and my project details reached me I couldn’t wait to start.
My project was in an Ecological Park in La Fortuna, which is a nice, little village next to the volcano Arenal. There I lived in two host families. That was because the first family and I had some problems but luckily I could change the family and the new one has always been very lovely. That is the thing with these experiences. It doesn’t always work without obstacles.
I was in my project together with another volunteer. The park is not that big but it’s really beautiful and they have many species of Animals (crocodiles, butterflies, frogs, snakes, caimans, turtles). As a tourist you can book a day tour where you are shown the exhibition part, or a night tour, where you walk around the trails and look for wild animals. And there are so many! Our main job as volunteers was to help the park as tour guides. The cool thing about that was, that we could do the tours in english, spanish and german. What I also really liked was that you get to know so many different, lovely people. And also all the information we had to learn before, we won’t forget so soon, which is amazing too. To learn so much about the different animals. We also had to help the gardener in his tasks. Almost everyday we had to clean the trails, the reception and the toilets. In the end we could help in attending the tourists at the reception. Sometimes we helped in cleaning the butterfly cage, and one time some tourists left the doors of the cage open and we had to catch all the butterflies again. We also found many wild animals in the wilderness, mainly snakes and frogs, and one baby sloth.
In the end I have to say that I changed my project, due to the lack of things volunteers could do there. Also the working climate didn’t work out so well. But all in all was this project a good experience with amazing moments. I had never fed a baby sloth before and will probably never do it again. But those moments were little moments which couldn’t make up for the rest...
My second project then was in an kindergarden in San Ramon. And I really loved to work there. So in the end everything turned out very well for me. As I already said, even though not everything turns out as you expect and wish it to, you can always make your own decisions and create your own, unique experience. And mine was a really great one, which I will never forget!

My experience was amazing and also really good to get to know myself better because I had the possibility to get to know a completely different culture and adapt myself. On top of that I had fun in my programs and they were really interesting. I learned a lot helping in the school which has been my first program and every body was so nice and helpful there which is why I will miss them a lot. It was so beautiful to be able to help teaching the kids a little and I had a lot of fun. Furthermore I loved being in the kindergarten and made many experiences with babys, smaller kids and also children that already go to school. Of course I also got to know a lot of the country by travelling at the weekends and by living in a hostfamily and this was amazing.