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About Costa Rica: Magnificent, active volcanoes steam over cool highland cloud forests. Lush jungles blanket the lowland regions and give way to pristine beaches which unfold in startling, primitive serenity. There are 12 distinct microclimates found in this tiny nation, each of which creates a unique ecosystem home to an unparalleled biodiversity of plants and animals. The people of Costa Rica (“Ticos”) are a diverse group, blending indigenous, Afro-Caribbean, and European origins. Despite its national commitment to ecological conservation and reputation as Central America’s most stable democracy, Costa Rica suffers from wide­spread poverty, particularly in its more remote corners. Life in rural villages is made difficult by the country’s weak infrastructure, limited education system, and the widespread degradation of the environment.  

The Project: Participants fly as a group to the Costa Rican capital of San José, where they spend a day learning about the culture and history of the country. The next morning they travel to their home for the month, a rural town in an area surrounded by mountains and tropical forests teeming with exotic flora and fauna. Working with young people from the village, past summers’ groups repaired roofs on village houses, painted murals, and built a health clinic, an addition on a school, and a fence around a kindergarten. This summer’s participants have been invited by our warm and enthusiastic friends in the pueblos to work on municipal projects, rehabilitate village homes, teach English to young children, and continue work on environmental projects in nearby national parks. The living conditions for this project are basic: accommodations are in a small village house or school. Each day, students help a local cook prepare meals. The work day is full, starting early and including a break at noon to beat the heat. Students spend evenings relaxing with Tico friends, visiting their homes, playing soccer in the town square, and attending local fiestas.

Weekends: The group spends weekends exploring the natural wonders of Costa Rica, hiking volcanoes, luxuriating in hot springs and mud baths, surfing and snorkeling off deserted beaches, riding horseback, and searching for monkeys, anteaters, toucans, and other wildlife in the nation’s ecologically rich national parks. The program ends with a professionally guided river rafting excursion on the Pacuare River.