Easy going, animal loving travellers welcome to join us in Punta Banco, Costa Rica

Details

• 

  Description

  I have a small farm in Costa Rica where in the past 2 years I have built my home, planted hundreds of fruit trees and flowering plants, and started rescuing animals and re-homing them when possible. We currently have 16 dogs, 3 cats, 6 pigs, 3 goats, a 2 cows and a horse. I am vegan and love to cook and share meals with others. Eventually on the property we will have guest houses and space to host individuals or groups for retreats, but for now it is just our home and lots of animals.
  More info- ask us for the link

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We live in the most beautiful, quiet, friendly town in Costa Rica. It is a magical place that offers so many off the beaten path opportunities to adventure, meet new people and learn about Costa Rican culture first hand. In our home we speak Spanish, as my partner is Tico, so we can help you if you’d like to learn. We live next door to an indigenous reserve, where you can visit by foot or on horse and meet local people and buy their handmade crafts. Here you will learn about local plants, animals, and foods. And of course, you will be taking care of animals that you may not be familiar with, and experience life at a super small-scale rescue operation in Costa Rica. There are so many weekly activities to participate in, like outdoor markets, dance class, taco night, open mic night, live music at restaurants, cacao ceremonies, ecstatic dance, yoga, pilates, etc etc.. I go to many of these and would be happy to help with transportation to others or we offer motor bikes for rent for more flexibility.
  
  We also give English lessons to the kids at our local school on Fridays, if you're interested in participating please let me know!

• 

  Help

  ***IMPORTANT***—> PLEASE only message me if you can stay 14 days or more!!! To fully immerse yourself in village and farm life we request you stay at least 2 weeks. It is busy here and sometimes you’ll only make it down to beach or adventure once a week, so in order for you to be present here and also have time to get to know the area 2 weeks is necessary. If you cannot commit to this amount of time you can follow us on instagram and reach out in the future when you have more time. Thank you!
  
  *** We prefer working with volunteers who are 21+. ☺️***
  
  This is a super rewarding full on volunteer opportunity, but it’s not for everyone. We are up in the mountain above the beach, and with rainy season approaching you will be here on the farm a lot. If you know how to drive a motorcycle that will help you get up and down, but besides that your options are walking 30 minutes or going down with us when we run errands or have a day out.
  
  Our ideal volunteer would have a love for animals and experience in caring for them, most importantly. Any experience with obedience training would be beneficial to our new dogs who are looking for homes, but not necessary. Besides helping with the day to day care of the animals, we always have projects to do around the farm, mostly gardening, planting, watering, weeding, etc. Interest or knowledge in permaculture would be awesome! Helping with cleaning will be a big part of the help we need, as I do most cooking, but I appreciate help with dishes, sweeping, and cleaning up animal messes, and maybe a meal a week if you enjoy cooking. If there is an interest in other types of projects, there is opportunity to help sand, varnish, paint, build simple structures for the animals, and finish some projects in the house.
  Your schedule will be mainly feeding and cleaning between 7ish-11:30ish, and random help throughout the afternoon with projects if they’re on or with animals.

• 

  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent

• 

  Accommodation

  We have just built a second structure next to our home that will eventually be our art/work studio, but for now it’s temporary volunteer space. It’s one big room with lots of shelves, tables and chairs, bathroom with toilet and sink, and three beds. It is also used for storage and is shared with some of our dogs. In our home we have a kitchen and bathroom with a hot water shower to share.
  
  For food we have two options! First option is everything included. I like to cook GOOD vegan food, using imported spices and expensive ingredients, like avocados, nuts, local organic greens, tofu, tons of veggies and fruit, etc. I generally cook twice a day, and the 3rd meal is something already in the fridge or whatever you’d like to make from available supplies. You will have free range of the kitchen and can help yourself to fruit and other snacks. For this I ask for $7 a day optional contribution towards groceries.
  Second option is breakfast and dinner, lunch and snacks supplied by you. Meals will be a bit more basic, but it will be no cost to you.
  Costa Rica is expensive, and I want to be able to supply good food and a good time to my volunteers, so asking this amount allows me the freedom to host and take care of you as if you were friends or family visiting, without being totally burdened by the cost. This area is otherwise very cheap and you can spend most days going to the beach or river without spending any money at all.

• 

  What else ...

  We live 5 minutes drive from the beach, and 20 minutes from the second largest left in the world, in Pavones. You can store a surfboard near the beach or if you would like to learn we can offer lessons. There are beautiful tidepools and waterfalls nearby, classes available like painting, ceramics, chocolate making, dance, spanish, yoga, Pilates, etc. There is a weekly market and offerings of live music, open mics, ecstatic dance, and other fun community events.
  Important!!
  Vista de Mar is up a steep hill from Punta Banco and the beach. It’s a 30-45 min walk depending if it’s up or down and how fit you are. It’s a beautiful walk, and great exercise, but most people don’t do it every day. I have a car and can give rides when convenient, and we also have motos and quads for rent for cheap if you’d like more independence.
  Also important!!!
  We have a small home and many animals, which creates chaos at times. I will share some examples of every day situations in the farm that come up, and if it scares you this may not be the place for you 🫣😇 ex; dogs barking any time someone shows up, small fights between the dogs, accidents in the house, Frida the 3 legged dog getting into the bathroom trash, the goats escaping and sneaking into my neighbors yard, power going out, rain interrupting the clothes drying outside, a scorpion in the dirty laundry, a spider (or one of my cats) sneaking into your tent, running out of propane right before dinner is ready, etc. Some of these happen every day and some very rarely!! This is the jungle after all. Can’t wait to host you and share with you our beautiful chaos.

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  Can possibly accept pets

  Must do well with many other dogs and other animals

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

Website Safety

Feedback (4)