Real laboratory on resource-efficient living in the tropics

5.0

(1 review)1

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The experience

We - two environmental activists- are currently setting up two projects on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We are looking for people who want to help us.
Our finca (Project Yuyo- Spanish for weed) is located in the core of an environmentally important corridor. We need all the help we can get with maintenance and to reach self-sufficiency by permaculture and agroforestry.
We also want to build up a foundation to guard a piece of jungle here.

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What you offer

20 hours of help per week

Cleaning: Help clean the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and common areas.

Building & Repairing: Help with a wide range of repairs or building.

Farming: Plant crops, sow seeds and help in outside tasks.

Gardening: Help grow plants and cultivate gardens

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What you get

2 days off per week

Shared Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other travelers.

Language lessons: Take free language classes at our place.

Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.

Basic Internet Access: Basic speed internet for you to work remotely

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Requirements

Beginner English

Only hosts solo volunteers (doesn’t accept couples or partners)

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What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

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Program Details

On the actual finca property, we welcome support in these areas:

- Expanding self-sufficiency capacity by growing appropriate crops using agroforestry and permaculture.
- Maintenance of wooden houses
- Installation of a solar system
- Demolition of the old and rebuilding of a biogas and composting plant
- Expansion of the networking and further education infrastructure (cinema, wood workshop, atelier, etc.)
- Establishing further education offers (direct action, Spanish, English, German, snakes, butterflies, tropical plants, birds, permaculture, agroforestry, etc.)
- Creating an internet presence, content management social media, etc.

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Activities & Shift

The workday starts at 08:30 am with repro work. That means cleaning of one commonly used room, for example the open office. You take a broom and clean it. That takes approx. 30 Minutes. Afterwards we have different tasks like helping with construction e. g. installing rainwater system, compost toilet, biogas facility or others. Or you help planting trees, do gardening, harvest fruits, etc. Shift ends at 1 pm (Monday to Thursday) or at 10:30 (Friday) for a total of 20 hours a week.

Additional activities we offer are a basic Spanish course on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2pm to 3pm and a climbing and knot-course Thursdays from 03:00 pm to 4 pm. We have a Dartboard and a Pingpong Table.

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Rules

- You see for yourselves how you get here.
- You work 5 days a week Monday to Thursday from 08:30 am to 1 pm, Fridays from 08:30 am to 10:30 am.
- Please bring your own clothes that can get dirty, rubber boots & rain gear for working (whatever you need).
- Only vegan food. We tolerate Cheese in the volunteers kitchen. Also coffee and industrial sugar.
- A cat lives with us. As the house is very spacious and open, you don't have to have any contact with it if you don't want to.
- If you want to use drugs, do it outside the premises and never before or during working hours.
- Minimum stay is 30 days, preferably longer.
- Our free agreement is that on Costa Rica's public holidays and on the Yuyo holiday (May 8) only the repro work has to be done (Monday through Friday).
2024 Holidays: Jan 1, Mar 28, Mar 29, Apr 15, May 1, May 8, July 29, Aug 2, Aug 15, Aug 31, Sept 15, Dec 1, Dec 25