Day 1
Arrive in Costa Rica and meet your project staff and fellow volunteers.
Days 2–6
Travel to the Southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica to collaborate with an endangered sea turtle protection project and begin briefing, group preparation and training for your time abroad. Learn first-hand how local organizations work to protect endangered marine life by supporting with beach cleanups and preparing turtle egg hatcheries. You might get lucky and spot a rare sea turtle!
Days 4–6
Volunteer as a group on the beach with an endangered sea turtle protection project.
Days 7–12
Travel to host community in the rolling green hills of southern Costa Rica. Meet your host family and work on a community service project alongside local students.
Days 12–13
Despedida (going away party) in your host community. As a group, visit cool spots in the region. Reflect on your experience and prepare to return home.
Day 14
Pack your bags and fly home!
Costa Rica is a rugged, rainforested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity. Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, teeming with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds.
Tropical
You’ll get to see biodiversity and conservation in action while volunteering with a sea turtle protection project. Part of your stay will take place in a rural community, where you’ll get the chance to live with a host family for a few days! While you’re there, you’ll work with your AMIGOS partners to lead fun and educational activities for children each day. You’ll also collaborate on a service project that’s specific to the community in which you’re staying.
AMIGOS has run programs in the United States and Latin America for more than 55 years. We’re the expert in service and immersion programs in Latin America and the industry leader in health and safety. We book the airfare for each of our volunteers and an AMIGOS representative travels with the group on the international leg of their flight. Volunteers will be accompanied by AMIGOS staff members at all times.
AMIGOS programs provide a unique opportunity to experience a new culture as a local, not a tourist. Volunteers who already know some Spanish will play a leadership role in their group, translating and practicing the language in a real-world context. Living in an immersive environment and spending time with a host family makes it more fun and easier to learn. You will not believe how fast your Spanish improves when you use it in conversation everyday!
We work with trusted local partner organizations to identify communities that are passionate and committed to working with our volunteers on service projects. You’ll get to collaborate on a service project with volunteers your own age as well as other members of the community.
Do more than just travel — live with a host family, sharing in their day-to-day life! You will become part of your host community, and you’ll connect with people you otherwise would never have the chance to meet. Bond with your host family, make friends, and spend time with your fellow volunteers.
Travel to must-see spots in your host country! You’ll visit unique destinations like volcanoes, national parks, and historical sites, and see these places from the distinct perspective of someone who has lived in the country and learned about the culture firsthand. Plus, you’ll bond with fellow volunteers and have fun!
Earn 30 service hours while you work on an environmental project that protects wildlife. Be a champion for endangered sea turtles by working with local agencies to clean up the beach and conserve turtle eggs. You’ll get to have a hands on part in local conservation and you’ll get to lead activities with kids in your host community.
AMIGOS prepares volunteers with pre-departure and in-country training in topics like multicultural understanding, health and safety, community development, travel safety, Spanish, leadership, and team building.
While abroad, volunteers join in on nightly reflections led by AMIGOS staff members. At the end of their service, volunteers come together as a group to participate in debriefing — putting what they learned in context, preparing to go home, and exploring their host country on group excursions.
We believe it is crucial to work with local communities, not for them. If we listen to what communities actually want, instead of making decisions for them, the service projects that volunteers implement will be more successful and sustainable. Local buy-in facilitates a deeper, more meaningful experience for volunteers and paves the way to building positive relationships across cultures.
Length | Requirements | Dates | Ages | Application Deadline |
Price | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Session A | 2 weeks |
Online and incorporated into briefing |
June 17–July 1 |
13–15 | April 7, 2020 |
$3,695 |
Session B | 2 weeks |
Online and incorporated into briefing |
July 8–22 |
13–15 | April 7, 2020 |
$3,695 |
Session C | 2 weeks |
Online and incorporated into briefing |
July 29–August 12 |
13–15 | April 7, 2020 |
$3,695 |
Online and incorporated into briefing
June 17–July 1
$3,695
Online and incorporated into briefing
July 8–22
$3,695
Online and incorporated into briefing
July 29–August 12
$3,695
The goodbye party made me feel very welcome and happy, even though it was our last day at the school. It made me feel very special that they would share their culture with us.
—Jordan, Discover AMIGOS Volunteer, 2018
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