COSTA RICA VOLUNTEER VACATIONSMake a difference AND have fun. Volunteer vacations in Costa Rica offer a variety of great experiences
Whatever your skill or educational level, there’s something for you. And, many of these volunteer programs are tax deductible (check with each program). Here’s a small sampling of great activities for your Costa Rica vacation volunteer experience and, of course, more will be added as we go along.
    EcoteerIf you dream about living in or visiting Costa Rica and helping others but don’t have much money, check out Ecoteer.Projects ranging from ethical ecotourism, conservation, teaching, farm, to humanitarian aid are available. And many are free or very cheap. Click to visit
Ecoteer.
Global Volunteers: Lend a HandGlobal Volunteers is a non-profit, non-sectarian charity that provides a short-term helping hand to communities.In Costa Rica, you’ll likely be in the spectacular Monteverde region (one of Costa Rica’s Seven Wonders) where you can teach conversational English (even if you’ve never taught before); provide health care services; paint, build, and repair buildings; or work with people from infants to the elderly. Click here to learn more about Global Volunteers Want to Save Sea Turtles AND Learn Spanish on the Caribbean?
Click to check out The Happy Turtle---in Spanish, La Tortuga Feliz. Friends of the OsaNational Geographic describes the Osa Peninsula as one of the most “biologically intense” places on earth.Formed in 2003, Friends of the Osa is a non-profit conservation group seeking to preserve this important global diversity in one of the last truly wild, but increasingly threatened areas, of Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. Many kinds of conservation volunteer services are available in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Click here to look over the Friends of the Osa.
Corcovado FoundationThere's a magical place on the Osa Peninsula, perhaps the planet's last Eden. It's tiny, but perhaps more biologically diverse than any other place on the planet. It's called Corcovado National Park, clickBut, it isn't by luck or especially great governmental management that it remains so. No, it's because of dedicated people who, bit by bit, are preserving and conserving one of the last wild places on Earth. This is one of the volunteer vacations that makes a real difference. It's called the Corcovado Foundation, click. Wwoof, Wwoof! You'll Howl with Delight!Interested in organic farming and sustainable agriculture?Willing to work for your board? Things like harvesting, preparing soil for planting, milking, cleaning pens, digging trenches, and maintaining fences? Come to a Costa Rica host organic farm. Stay a few days, a few weeks, a few months. Work hard, learn, and enjoy. And, in return, be hosted free on your Costa Rica vacation. This is something to bark about!
Wwoof, wwoof! click
PRETOMA Marine ConservationFounded in 1997, PRETOMA is a Costa-Rica non-profit marine conservation group that has important programs to conserve Costa Rica’s sharks and turtles.Ever heard of “shark-finning?” It's the barbaric practice of catching sharks, killing them, cutting off their fins (for shark-fin soup in the Orient), and throwing the carcasses overboard. In the last 50 years, 90% of the world’s shark population has been decimated and Costa Rica waters have been under attack by shark plunderers. PRETOMA gathered 80,000 signatures demanding an end to this practice in Costa Rica. Additionally, it has protected 170,000 turtle hatchlings along the Pacific Coast. This group works closely with the Costa Rica Ministry of the Environment and has filed many lawsuits to preserve the country’s marine resources. Volunteer vacations from one week to five months a year are available. Lend your hand to Costa Rica's marine conservation, click here to be a Pretoma volunteer. Children's Eternal Forest in Monteverde
The Children's Eternal Forest is a 55,000-acre reserve where there are opportunities for volunteers to help with trail maintenance, surveying, administration and biological research. There is an incredible, true story here. In 1987, a Swedish schoolboy heard about Costa Rica while in class about conservation. That one little boy mobilized other children in his class, then his town, then his country, then the world to preserve Costa Rica, bit-by-bit—and the Children’s Eternal Forest was created in the northwest part of Costa Rica called Monteverde. From an initial purchase of 15 acres, the Children's Eternal Forest is now 55,000 acres and growing! When you visit magnificent Monteverde National Park, you'll be close to the One little boy proved the world can be saved, little-by-little, and now folks who come here for volunteer vacations help. Children's Eternal Forest. WorldTeach
WorldTeach is a non-governmental organization based at the Center for International Development at Harvard University.Since 1992, WorldTeach has been working with the Costa Rica Ministry of Education to provide 20-30 year-long volunteer teachers in rural Costa Rica. You won’t make a lot of money (maybe $100 a month) but you’ll get memories for a life-time living and teaching in rural Costa Rica. For more information and real-life stories from Costa Rica volunteer vacationers, just click to learn about WorldTeach. Global Vision International: Teach the IndigenousVolunteer vacations to help indigenous (many are native indian) communities are found at Global Vision International. Volunteers teach literacy, math, and English in poor rural indigenous communities close to Cahuita along Costa Rica's gorgeous Caribbean Coast. A student? There's a triple bonus for you.First, you'll be close to some of the best surfing beaches in the country. Second, you'll have the experience of a life-time. And third, you may qualify for credits. Check with GVI's college credit page for more information. You may even get a scholarship! Click for
study abroad scholarships.
Click to check out
Global Vision
volunteer vacations.
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