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Join us with tourists on a small agri-tourism farm in the jungle near Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Costa Rica
Last activity : 13 Aug 2026

Profile information

Host rating

80 %
Last replied

12 Aug 2026
Feedback

13
Email verified

Country info

If you are not from Costa Rica and planning to visit to volunteer, work or study you will need the correct visa. To find out more information you need to contact the embassy in your home country before travelling.

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Availability

2026

Min stay requested: at least 1 month

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What's this?

Details

Description

We are a 100-acre tropical agri-tourism farm located in the foothills of the jungle northeast of Quepos with 5 horses, chickens, 3 dogs, and a cat. Most of the land is secondary and primary forest which we try to protect or improve (as regards the secondary forest). We are taking great care of our animals and try to involve our local community to understand and see how we treat our animals.

We are also working on an extended trail system, planting grass, trees, flowers etc. We already have 5km of trails through the jungle. Maintenance is hard work and we usually have local labor to perform that task.

At the moment we are focusing on renting four houses to guests, providing them with meals and offering horseback-riding tours. We have a truly beautiful place and are highly rated by our customers. We strive for excellence of customer service and expect the same level of commitment from our volunteers. In return you get to enjoy a beautiful setting in a remote place, but close enough to enjoy a trip to the beach at times.
Types of help and learning opportunities

Light gardening

Creative DIY projects

Farmstay help

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Light maintenance
Interests

Farming

Technology

Pets

Sustainability

Books

Plant care

Cooking & food

Carpentry

Animals

Nature

Mountain

Outdoor activities

Hiking
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

We are committed to building up our local community through social involvment. Our strategy is that of sustainability and social responsibility. We welcome the opportunity to share this beautiful area and culture with you. You will interact closely with our local labor force.
Help

At the moment we need help for the tasks below:

1) Welcoming guests and general help with tourists

2) Help with maintenance tasks, such as painting, repairing, wood work, tiling etc. If you like intense manual labour, there is also plenty of work in the gardens, pasture and forest.

We are a on a big property, so there are always things to be done. If you have any special interest or expertise just let us know!

Please note the following before applying:
- Clearly specify the time you would like to come (Dates)
- Provide information whether you are familiar with horses
- Fluency in English is required, Spanish is a plus
- We are looking for people that want to stay a full 4 week.
- Sorry, but at the moment we can only accept male individual travellers (only one shared room available)
- We provide breakfast and dinner

We expect you to work 5 hours a day, schedule to be discussed.
Languages spoken

German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
Accommodation

We have a room for volunteers with attached bathroom, max. 2 people in one room.
What else ...

We are in a remote location in the jungle, but only 25minutes by car from town or beautiful beaches. However, there is no public transport close to our farm. Next bus stop is about 7km away. Closest supermarket is about 4km away. Taxis are available on call who will bring you to the next busstop for about 4usd.

Internet is available, and usually sufficient for normal means of communication, entertainment etc.
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
- Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?

Two
My animals / pets

Chickens

Strudel

Cocoa

Camilla

Crinkly

Schubert

Elly

Host ref number: 189684397781

Website Safety

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Feedback (10)

19 Feb 2024

Left by Workawayer (Betty) for host

This was an overall good workaway experience. The food was good, the pool after work was really nice, the lookout from the room is awesome as were all the animals around. To me, the soul of this place is the cook, Montserrat. She is the sweetest person and was very patient helping me to improve my Spanish. Besides those positive aspects there are … read more three things I want to point out you might want to consider before staying here:
1) Be aware that this is NOT this "family-like/everyone's eating together/cultural exchange" kind of workaway. It's a plain and more serious exchange of work for food/accommodation. Here they have the opinion that you are just a workawayer and you are treated that way too. If you are looking for being in close contact with the host and want to feel those special "participating vibes" this is not your place. Markus is a nice and quiet person who always kept his distance to me which I respected.
2) On the one hand most of the time I didn't have enough work to fill 5 hours so often I artificially had to kill time (and even when working with the horses there was time left). If you are not experienced with horses and are not creative enough to know how to keep them busy this time killing might be a little annoying for you. On the other hand when there was a horseback riding tour (which you usually don't join) you just sit around 2 to 3 hours and wait for the horses to return to finish them. This I found very unfortunate because then you are bonded much longer than those 5 hours which you don't get credit for and weren't even really productive. Don't get me wrong, working longer is usually not a problem for me and no credit too but there has to be an actual purpose. For the host I recommend expanding the workawayer's chores or officially cutting back on hours (or creating a climate were proactive work is being promoted, considering pt. 3).
3) During my stay there were many expectations which were very detailed. When I arrived I got a sheet with more than 40 hints or rules workawayers have to follow. Some of these rules apparently derive from bad experiences with workawayers who - unfortunately - most hosts had to deal with. For those bad experiences I feel sorry but in this case I felt like the host didn't even give me the chance to do it right. If you forget one of those rules you get miscredit for it (much later and not directed at you personally). And even for things you just possibly can't know you get miscredit because you just should have known. Maybe it's because of the bad experiences in their workawaying-past but it felt like they were expecting me to do wrong and it is impossible to please their expectations. This led to me sometimes feeling very overcautious to do something wrong which made me feel uncomfortable. This setting caused me not being
proactive like I usually really am.
I recommend a personal instruction to the hacienda and how things are operated (where all the fences are, how the garbage system, the ice machine and the stable works,...). That way it is just much more memorable than just reading it from a sheet which bullet points you obviously can't all remember (and it's not even complete).

Overall I think the host's communication needs to be improved! For example, the roles of each team member and their responsibilities were not clear to me in the beginning which led to quite a few misunderstandings. Also the host postponed my stay by 3 days only a couple days before my original arrival which costed me a bunch of money for finding a place to stay on such a short notice.
I think those improvements from the host's side are easy to work on but also neccessary to have an excellent exchange between the workawayer and host again. I am positive that there will be many more awesome people having a great stay at this place as long as you are not that kind of workawayer who prefers stays in family-like-settings and are able to do your own thing.

(Good )

30 Nov 2023

Left by Workawayer (Jade) for host

Thank you Markus for this great great time. Little bit late for the feedback but I had to do it because my stay with Markus was really good.
I stay almost 1 month here and the time have truly fly. The place is wonderful, the horses, dogs and cats are the cutest. The work is perfect for someone who loves horses. And most of all I would like to say … read more

(Excellent )

28 Nov 2023

Left by Workawayer (Shannon) for host

I really enjoyed my time here. The property is so beautiful and there are lots of trails to walk and swim in rivers when not working. The two meals were always delicious (I would recommend snacks or food to supplement a small lunch while there if you get hungry mid day). The work is fun because it's mainly caring for the horses and riding. … read more

(Excellent )

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Feedback

These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.

Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)

Cultural exchange:
(4.2)

Communication:
(4.4)

19 Feb 2024

Left by Workawayer (Betty) for host

(Good)

30 Nov 2023

Left by Workawayer (Jade) for host

(Excellent)

28 Nov 2023

Left by Workawayer (Shannon) for host

(Excellent)

9 Nov 2023

Left by host for Workawayer (Madeleine)

Unfortunately we had an agreement about the starting date and everything else, but Madeleine apparently decided not to show up. She also did not respond to my inquiries. Not only is this very rude it is also a behavior that harms the spirit of volunteering and workaway as a whole.

(Member cancelled stay at the last minute)

16 Jul 2023

Left by Workawayer (Mara & Nicolais) for host

I really enjoyed the 2 weeks at Markus little paradise. It was very peaceful to care for the horses whilst being surrounded by nature and a beautiful view.
I was very impressed by how finely the horses were trained and I'll never forget riding into the deeper water with Schubert :)
Markus really loves all his animals and deeply cares for them. … read more

(Excellent)

19 May 2023

Left by Workawayer (Elyne) for host

My first workaway experience was amazing ! This place is a real paradise in the middle of the jungle. The job is really nice : taking care of the horses, riding the horses, and accompanying the tourists on tours, and all this in idyllic nature. Thank you so much Markus for welcoming me and giving me the opportunity to stay at your beautiful place !

(Excellent)

15 Apr 2023

Left by host for Workawayer (Nicola)

Nicola is a young woman but full of energy and already with a lot of experience for her young age. She is very outgoing and excellent in dealing with guests and also animals. She will be a great addition for any tourist related activity. Be aware she also laughs a lot!

(Excellent)

15 Apr 2023

Left by Workawayer (Nicola) for host

I stayed in Markus' paradise for one month in March 2023 and I really loved it! The finca is so beautiful and the accommodation for the volunteers is awesome. We had our own bathroom with shower, toilet and sink and woke up everyday with an incredible view!
The work is pretty simple and easy. We got up at 6am and had to groom the 5 horses and … read more

(Excellent)

29 Jun 2020

Left by Workawayer (Jeanne & Éric) for host

We stayed 2 weeks at Markus's place and loved it. Markus is a super nice person, and is goal is really not to get some workers for free ! He is honest and gentle, with a sens of humour, easy to communicate with and very nice to be around :) Definitly genuine and open minded, we really appreciated that ! His place is like a paradise and we really … read more

(Excellent)

6 Feb 2020

Left by Workawayer (Carole) for host

Markus' place this December was an incredible experience: beautiful jungle surrounding us, riding the horses with the other volunteers to hidden rivers and natural pools. The property itself is beautiful with rivers, waterfalls, trails and it's own natural pools to swim. A few times we saw capucin monkeys in the trees around the guesthouse.
The … read more

(Excellent)

8 Jan 2020

Left by Workawayer (AngelinaMarina) for host

I had a wonderful and great time at Markus farm!
I enjoyed my work a lot (feeding, grooming and riding the horses, cleaning the stables, cooking etc.), the atmosphere is welcoming, calm and inviting and I was surrounded by most beautiful nature and very friendly people. The room I lived in was very clean, comfortable and bright. The food always … read more

(Excellent)

4 Dec 2019

Left by Workawayer (Jack) for host

I spent a couple weeks at this Workaway, and I can honestly say that I had an amazing time here. The living accommodations were great, and I everyday I learned something new about living on a finca and caring for horses. Markus is a great host, and I also loved spending time with the other workawayers. I also enjoyed exploring the nearby … read more

(Excellent)

12 Sep 2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Yara & Leo)

I had a wonderful time hosting Yara and Leo. I felt very comfortable having them around on the farm and enjoyed working with them. They were very easy going and all my animals loved them, too! I wish them all the best for their future adventures.

(Excellent)

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Join us with tourists on a small agri-tourism farm in the jungle near Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Profile information

Host rating

Last replied

Feedback

Email verified

Country info

Badges (3)

Find your perfect host

Availability

Details

Description

Types of help and learning opportunities

Interests

Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

Help

Languages spoken

Accommodation

What else ...

A little more information

How many Workawayers can stay?

My animals / pets

Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host

Feedback (10)

Photos

Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host

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