Coming up in October, our Teaching English and Teaching IT volunteers in Thailand will be able to see some of Thailand’s amazing festivals, including the celebration of the Naka Fire Balls and Loy KraThong Festival where hundreds of lanterns are released into the sky. The “Bang Fai Phaya Nak,” Festival celebrates the amazing natural phenomenon of the Naka fire balls which mysteriously rise from the Meakong River on the full moon night of the eleventh lunar month every year. Phon Phisai, the home base of our volunteers, is the best place to see the fireballs and people from all over Thailand gather on the Mekong River to watch the spectacle. Read the rest of this entry »
The sad day always comes when volunteers have to leave, but our local staff in San Ramon, Costa Rica didn’t want to let them go without expressing our appreciation for their hard work. Royce and I surprised two volunteers, Brett and Alexis, on their last day of community English classes to give them a little gift and send them off with a big thanks. Read the rest of this entry »
At 5:45am my alarm went off. We were going on a wildlife tour of the backwater canals in Tortuguero and if you want to see animals, you have to wake up early. We met our tour guide, Robyn, at the dock and loaded into a low, narrow boat. We took off into the wide river and quickly steered into narrower canals with jungle surrounding us.
Skimming down the canal we saw toucans, huge iguanas perched on low branches, different exotic birds and not to mention trees all around us accented with bright flowers. Although we were tired, it was quite a beautiful way to wake up - coasting through the canals and letting our eyes search from one tree branch to the next. The first thing Robyn pointed out was a crocodile. Initially none of us noticed it, but once we focused our eyes we saw the ridges on its head and its glassy eyes. Then white-faced monkeys swinging on the highest branches of the tree. It was hard to see them at first as well but our driver instructed us just to look for moving things. He had an amazing eye for spotting animals and told us he did it more by listening to the sounds of the animals than by sight. Read the rest of this entry »
We woke up in the lodge early, ready to pack into the van and explore the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. By 8:30 we were back on the unpaved road out of the Lodge and on our way to the remote beaches and rainforests of Tortuguero.
I always find you can learn a lot about a country just by driving through it and Costa Rica is a perfect example. We drove through banana plantations, pineapple fields, pastures of grazing cows and tiny Costa Rica villages that could only be distinguished by the different names of the local bars, always marked with a sign of Costa Rica’s local beer, Imperial. We drove by mountains and volcanoes in the distance and I was amazed by the diversity of the terrain that one little country contains.
For previous entries about the trip click here or read the rest of this entry:
New volunteers always arrive, but the past two weeks I’ve been saying a lot of goodbyes to volunteers that I’ve grown to love. As hard as it is for volunteers to leave each other though, saying farewell to the children they have gotten to know and love through teaching is sometimes even harder. Laura and I visited Nikki and Moritz on their last day teaching English and got to see how important they have become, as teachers and role models, to their students. The energetic and adorable second-graders almost caused Nikki to fall over backwards with the force of their hugs, and then they chased Moritz down the hall to keep him from leaving. Check out a video of that on our youtube page! Read the rest of this entry »
After four amazing weeks on his teaching English project in a monastery in Nepal, Samuel Condon headed back to the US. In his final weekly report he writes that the monks hope he will return next year and that he thinks he just might have to. Hopefully his month volunteering will turn into lifelong bonds.
We woke up at 8am and had breakfast in the Lodge. Everyone was learning to expect gallopinto (Costa Rican rice and beans) with every meal, and it was quite delicious with scrambled eggs and toast, and strong black coffee with milk. After breakfast we gathered outside the lodge, completely covered in bug spray, and Fabrizio led us on a hike through the woods. We would be working first, and then visiting Rio Celeste and hot springs. Camilo had to carry two large bags filled with the sacks so we assumed our work today would be similar to yesterday’s. We followed Fabrizio on a trail through the jungle up steep inclines with even steeper steps. Fabrizio told us to watch out for snakes and pointed out interesting insects and plants. The air was thick but cool. We hiked for about an hour and crossed a wobbly suspension bridge over a beautiful river and finally arrived at our work site. Because it is so muddy, the trails constantly need to be filled with rocks in order to maintain them, and that was our task for the morning. Read the rest of this entry »
I posted Samuel Condon’s experiences from his first two weeks teaching English in Kathmandu and after reading his week 3 report, I’ve almost decided I need to pack up and catch a flight to volunteer there. He is building bonds with the monks, immersing himself in their way of life and he’s really dedicated to his teaching project, which is certainly paying off.
Monday morning fourteen volunteers, Camilo and I packed into a van and hit the open road, prepared with snacks and lots of bug spray. We drove for three hours through beautiful winding roads, narrow with over-hanging trees that opened up into vast fields with clouded mountains in the distance. The road was sometimes bumpy and unpaved, and more than once we had to stop for cattle crossing, but nobody minded when we were surrounded by the amazing scenery of volcanoes and palm trees and sometimes both.
At uVolunteer we are all about finding that happy medium between work and play. Last week, our volunteers in San Ramon fully experienced the meaning of a volunteer vacation on a whirlwind tour of Costa Rica, and Camilo and I were lucky enough to go along with them. Schools in Costa Rica were closed for holidays so we planned this trip for volunteers to experience other parts of the country and partake in different volunteer projects.
Most of the volunteers had never been to any of our destinations – Rio Celeste, Tortuguero and Puerto Viejo – and none of us really knew what to expect, except of course, a good time.
In subsequent blog posts I will give you details and highlights of the amazing trip, but first, here is a quick overview – from rainforests in Rio Celeste, to wildlife in Tortuguero and finally, to relax on the beaches of Puerto Viejo:
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