Project Overview
- Region: Latin America
- Program: Volunteer Costa Rica
- Location: San Ramon
- Base Price: $797 for 2 Weeks
- Price for Extra Weeks: $154
- Groups & Family: Yes
- Language Required: Basic Spanish
- Minimum Duration: 2 Week
- Minimum Age: 18 Years
- Accommodation Type: Dorm
- Meals Included: 2 Meals
- Start Dates: Friday, Every 2 weeks
- Airport Pick-up: Included in price
- Travel Insurance Included: Yes
What's not included: Flight, Visa Costs, In-country Transportation
Project Details
Project Overview: We've teamed up with a Canadian - Costa Rican organization that funds rural housing in Costa Rica. This foundation gives affordable home loans to Costa Rican families with low incomes, and then supervises construction to make sure the money is being spent in the right way. Volunteer help is welcome by the organization and families since it helps reduce labor costs and allows funds to be used for higher quality materials and appliances. The paid workers are often members of local families with limited means, so the program helps the local economy by sending income to these households. The organization supports housing development in the rural outskirts of San Ramon.
Volunteers in this project will find the work extremely rewarding. You can see the results of your work through the completion of a permanent home for a family in need. The labor will be physical, so those who are in good shape will be able to help the most.
What will I be doing? Your work will cover many stages of the construction process, and depends on the number of laborers and other volunteers working on the project. Tasks include cement mixing, roof tiling, digging foundation holes, building septic tanks, painting walls, and any other necessary work for fixing up or constructing community buildings and homes.
Where will I be volunteering? You will be based in San Ramon, Alajuela. San Ramon is one of the larger Central Valley coffee towns and is set in a scenic basin enclosed by rolling mountains. It is a very traditional, unique and close knit town. National Geographic Magazine referred to San Ramon as having the best climate in the world.
San Ramon is about an hour drive north of the capital San Jose. It has the central Pacific Coast beaches located a couple of hours to the west and is located just south of Costa Rica's cloud forest belt and west of Lake Arenal.
San Ramon central location makes it an ideal base for travel around Costa Rica. Apart from its weather and central location, the people of San Ramon are some of the friendliest people you will meet in Costa Rica. They are genuinely welcoming to travelers, and are eager to make everyone feel welcome. The town has campuses of the 3 main Costa Rican universities; this ensures that San Ramon has a vibrant social life.
What will be my schedule? The project schedule requires that you work 4 days a week, Monday to Thursday, for a maximum of 6 hours per day in the mornings.
Read This Project's Testimonials
Below are testimonials of previous volunteers on this project. Click though to their full reports where you can view their video reports, photos and you can also contact them directly by email to ask about their experiences with us in Costa Rica.
Thanks uVolunteer for the experience of a life time and something I wont ever forget (hence why I got my tattoo) "Pura Vida"- something Costa Ricans live by! It means directly to english "Pure Life", but here they say it to and for everything! Ask how its going? Pura Vida! Ask how your day is, weekend, sleep, anything almost and they say Pura Vida" Even one time I asked a local "what time is it" and luckily he spoke english, because he replied with Pura Vida, and said it doesn't matter man, Life is good, no worries. And that's why I got my tattoo. Something to remember my trip by, and it's like Hakuna Mattata. No worries, life is good! Costa Rican people are so friendly and I really advise a trip here! Volunteering!
