Conservation Volunteer Program in Costa Rica

This is my second year coming to volunteer in Costa Rica with Hibiscus Travels, and it was wonderful! There is a variety of options for excursions and service projects. We went to multiple beaches and a waterfall and zip lining. Our service project was working with toddlers in the mornings to teach English and play with them. Hibiscus Travels really works hard to make this experience exciting, memorable, and rewarding. I hope I get to return again next year and for more years to come. Pura vida!

This was a fun trip!! I was happy to see a new place such as Costa Rica! I enjoyed exploring and seeing new parts of the country. I enjoyed the hiking and going to the water fall. I also enjoyed seeing several beaches. It was nice to interact with young children, but also go on fun excursions. I also thought it was cool to experience the culture of Costa Rica. I would recommend this trip to anyone wanting to experience a new culture while volunteering. I am happy I was able to go on this trip! It is something I will always remember!

I loved working with the children! It was a great experience and everyone we worked with was very nice. Teaching and shaping the children’s minds was such a rewarding experience. We also went to so many fun experiences. Zip lining and the waterfall hike were both wonderful experiences. Overall, the trip was a success and I would love to come again in the future. I would recommend this experience to anyone who asked me about it. I will never forget what I have experienced or learned throughout this trip.

Very supportive staff who oversaw our group and were very proactive with change, scheduling, excursion trips and even night activities after our provided dinners. Had a fantastic driver who was very entertaining on some long drives, and was almost a part of our group by the end of the week. Service was impactful and provided excellent learning opportunities for Spanish language and culture, especially for college students. Several stores and restaurants located by our private house was perfect for late night snacks also.

This is the second experience we've had using Hibiscus Travels and it's been wonderful both times. Cuidad Cortes is such a beautiful, relaxing, and peaceful area. It is very The people are kind and welcoming. We love being able to bike everywhere in town. Pretty close to Manuel Antonio and Nauyaca Waterfall, both of which are amazing! We worked in an orphanage in our last project and this time we've been teaching English to children in the city while they are out of school. It is a wide spread of language experience on both sides of the classroom (teachers and students) but everyone is happy to be there and learns together. We have always received the best support from the coordinators of the program. You can rely on good advice, experience, and patience! They are so helpful and make sure you are happy with your experience. The projects they run are actual impactful for the communities they are serving and meet real needs. Both times we have come I have brought one of my daughters and we have had good experiences, never feeling unsafe. Both communities have been safe and I love being able to come to places we can immerse ourselves in the culture and community without being worried about that. We have stayed with a host family and stayed in the volunteer house and there are merits to both! I'm so glad I used Hibiscus again and will continue to do so in the future. I am so grateful for the flexibility and custom nature of the projects Hibiscus offers. It's afforded priceless opportunities for education for my family. We feel like part of the Hibiscus family.

Before I am a retired engineer and I have worked in the oil exploration industry all around the world. Last year, I did 160 hour TEOFL course online wirh the TEOFL academy which was very good. I wanted to use these skills on a project which would really help people. And RCDP which is based in Nepal and places volunteers all around the world recomended Hibiscus in Costa Rica as being ideal for me. Hibiscus is based in Ciudad cortes in the south west of Costa Rica.

It is a private organization that is run by American born Lauren Markey who has lived here for many years and seems to know everyone. Hibiscus gives people the chance to spend time Costa Rica, work on a project that will really make a difference and have a great time. I am teaching evening classes to local people who want to improve their English. Some are still at school and some are older working in tourist related businesses. They are a lovely lot. And I’m enjoying teaching them. Lessons take place on an upstairs veranda at a hotel art gallery. I live in the volunteers house which is on the outskirts of the town. It’s a very secure safe place with electricity and wonderfully cold showers.

Buses run north along the coast to some magnificent beaches. And south to the busy little town of Palmar Norte which has lots of shops that sell everything.

Cortes is an old court and from here the river terriba winds down to the sea. No beach is there but magnificent areas of mangrove which you can visit with the help of local fisherman or tour boat operators who will show you brightly colored birds and other wild life.

We’ve also done a couple of 4x4 trips up into the nearby hills to see the waterfalls and swim in the pools beneath. It’s not the first time I’ve been a volunteer but it’s definitely the best. I’m having a great time.

I volunteered for two weeks in a high school in Ciudad de Cortes in a special education group. The teacher responsible for the group, Carol, was simply inspirational. She is so patient and loving with her students. The students all need extra individual time and attention, but Carol has to take care of the whole group by herself.

I am so happy that I could come and give her a hand to create a responsabilization and valorization project through the creation of an at home garden for each of the students. This project was extremely rewarding for me. As a psychology bachelor, im glad I got to know a different way of living and successfully adapted to it. The students are extremely kind and eager to learn and did their absolute best to make sure I fit in despite my limited knowledge of Spanish.

Lauren, the Hibiscus coordinator, was also extremely helpful and always there to answer any questions I had. She helped me find the best activities to get to for my time off on weekends.

I feel like this project managed to get the students the extra support that they would need on an everyday basis. I strongly recommend this program to anyone wanting to make a change and work with a caring and appealing group of teenagers while getting out of their comfort zone.

Completing this service trip was an eye-opening experience to the lack of medical services available to those in need in Ciudad Cortes. I felt empowered to be a part of the small change our group of DPT students engaged in at the government-run nursing home! We had the opportunity to work one on one with patients and practice our PT skills, and we were able to donate four suitcases full of medical supplies to the facility.

I was very happily surprised by the people in this community and their genuineness - it's a wonderful place to immerse yourself! The food is great, and it's such a beautiful place. I hope more people can afford the opportunity to participate in this program, because help is needed and it is so much more rewarding than you can anticipate!