TESTIMONY from Jacqueline, volunteer in Costa Rica (7 months)

A Volunteers life in Costa Rica

Arriving in San Jose, quite possibly the ugliest city I have ever seen, I wondered why on earth I had chosen Costa Rica, and where all this beautiful nature was that everyone talked about. But after a few days of induction I was on the bus over the Cerra de la Muerte (literally mountain of the dead!) where I saw some spectacular views as I entered the town of San Isidro, my home for the next 7 months, and I soon realized what a beautiful country I was in.  When I first arrived at my host family it was pretty daunting, they just chatted away at me in Spanish, and I had no idea what anyone was saying to me. I spent the first week feeling lonely, confused and with my head in the dictionary. After a few weeks it started getting better, and after a month I was able to have a conversation with my host family in Spanish which was amazing! Although I am nowhere near fluent I know enough to understand and make myself understood.

The long walk up to my project (45mins uphill) felt like it was never going to end, and I wondered how the hell I would do this every day, but again day by day it got easier and now I can get up there in half an hour. Arriving at my project was wonderful, it is such a beautiful place, with so many amazing birds and butterflies just flying around, and when we are really lucky the white faced monkeys pop out to say hello.

As the only long-term volunteer at the project it can be hard sometimes, because other volunteers will come and just as you are getting to know them they leave, but at the same time its lots of fun and I get to meet different people from all over the world, Denmark, Switzerland and the U.S as an example.

The project at times can be frustrating because of the way of working here, everything takes soooo much longer than in the U.K and starting my own project was hard. I got involved in the local school and helped out with their vegetable garden and organized environmental education projects. We made solar ovens, tetra pack wallets and bird feeders out of plastic bottles. Things didn´t work out quite like they would in the U.K with all the high volumes of rain here, and the bird seed actually grew in the bird feeders (something which has never happened when I did the same project in England!) Working with the kids was a great way to help my Spanish, and get more involved in the local community.

Day to day tasks include general maintenance of the trails, cleaning out the lagoon, checking in the butterfly garden for eggs and looking after the sensory garden. As well as this I deal with English speaking tourists and spent some time translating all their info into English.

But it´s not all work, and as well as Quebradas I have been lucky enough to explore the country too (and a trip to Nicaragua for my visa renewal) Costa Rica is a beautiful country, and if you are into wildlife then it is definitely worth a visit. I spent new years at the beach, Christmas in the sun and have climbed up a Volcano, seen 4 different species of monkey in the wild, trekked through the cloudforest, had a thrilling zip line canopy tour, and been white water rafting.

I have had an amazing experience and would recommend anyone who is thinking about an EVS project just to go for it!

Jacqueline, Volunteer in Costa Rica.

Project part of BREAKING BARRIERS
BUILDING PARTNERSHIP
and supported by EACEA

and the Youth in Action Programme

of the European Commission.

For more information about BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING PARTNERSHIP, visit the special webapge in clicking here.