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(12)

Help a rainforest and butterfly regeneration project in Alajuela, Costa Rica

Costa Rica
Last activity : 12 Jan 2025

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Host rating
100 %
Last replied
12 Jan 2025
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 4 days
Feedback
13
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Availability

2025

Min stay requested: 1 month or more

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What's this?

Details

Description
We have a volunteer program for persons who have a strong desire to make a difference by helping us heal Mother Earth; through giving your time and talent to specific projects. Our mission is demonstrating how nature can be restored in an area of previously cut rainforest, and the Project contains the largest Butterfly Exhibition in Costa Rica.

Our working language is Spanish, and improving your comprehension is part of the program.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Teaching
Gardening
Hospitality/Tourism
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
...
...
What's this?
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
The Project Vision is to become the best Learning Center for butterfly and nature regeneration in Costa Rica; by expanding and enhancing the various nature exhibitions and biodiversity demonstrations, to provide an educational resource in Costa Rica that people can visit and appreciate for years to come. (We are not a traditional farm, and only raise limited quantities of organic food for personal consumption. Also our animals are butterflies and frogs along with a growing list of wild creatures and birds that are beginning to habitat with us).
Help
The primary work our volunteers perform is guiding visitors through the Project.
Our training program for volunteers will build your knowledge of butterflies, tropical frogs, and plants so that you learn to become a Docent Nature Guide at the Conservatory. Volunteers assist tourist visitors from around the world, to understand more about the balance of nature and to inspire these guests to do something positive for the Planet when they return home.
Additionally you may be ask to help with regular maintenance on trails, or with special projects, along with learning how we plant and create the trees and other types of shrubs, herbs, and ferns growing within our gardens and forested areas.
You may also have the opportunity to work on a personal project that will allow you to express your talents freely. We ask for a 4 week minimum stay with us.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
This host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
Our volunteer house is large and spacious, but built in typical Costa Rica style and is basic. You will have a private bedroom for your convenience, and there will be up to 4 other persons that share the rest of the house, such as the common living areas, kitchen, terraces, and large back yard with spring fed river running through it. Not everyone is vegetarian, but none are smokers... and no party animals please.
There is dedicated broad band internet service available in the Volunteer House.

Cooking is done in the kitchen of the Volunteer House by yourself or with other volunteers. You will receive a food allowance each day to assist you with buying the types of food that you want to eat.
What else ...
We are located in the remote village of El Castillo 26km from La Fortuna, in the shadow of the Arenal Volcano and on the shores of Lake Arenal. The village is small and rural, but it is safe and an area of natural beauty. You will likely meet and make new friends while here with us.
There are lake activities, several water falls in the area, and rainforest trails that can be explored in your time off.

There is bus service to and from La Fortuna 1 time a day, that make the many other types of adventure activities in the area available on your days off.
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
- Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two

Host ref number: 289263619241

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Feedback (12)

11 Jul 2024

Left by Workawayer (Lisa) for host

This was my first Workaway and it was a great experience! I stayed for 5 weeks from the last week in May to the end of June. I stayed in the volunteer house which is basic, but I had my own room and my bed was comfortable. I also had sole use of a bathroom with shower. There was only cold water, but I felt hot most of the time, so this wasn’t a… read more

(Excellent )

9 Apr 2024

Left by Workawayer (Lise) for host

It was my first workaway and overall the experience was very good during the four weeks I spent there. If you love nature this place is for you, as wildlife is everywhere (even in the house most of the time!), I have seen toucans in the streets, lots of different kinds of birds and monkeys in the sanctuary. Many different tourist excursions are… read more

(Very good )

11 Feb 2024

Left by Workawayer (Jarlath) for host

Jarlath from Ireland: I helped here in July and August last year and my experience exceeded all expectations. The house is a two minute walk away surrounded by beautiful views. The work is ideal for anyone who enjoys chatting with people while embracing the nature of the area. Every day I saw some unusual creature I had not seen before! I loved… 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:
(4.7)

Cultural exchange:
(4.9)

Communication:
(4.7)

11 Jul 2024

Left by Workawayer (Lisa) for host

(Excellent)

9 Apr 2024

Left by Workawayer (Lise) for host

(Very good)

11 Feb 2024

Left by Workawayer (Jarlath) for host

(Excellent)

18 Jan 2024

Left by Workawayer (Kari) for host

What a wonderful place to learn and teach! I volunteered here for about 6 weeks and met lots of wonderful people while guiding tours:) El Castillo is a tranquil place, yet still full of life. Glenn and Ana are kind and very knowledgeable. I feel very grateful to have been able to be a part of this project!! Muchas gracias:)🌳🦋🌈

(Excellent)

15 Nov 2023

Left by Workawayer (Karen) for host

This was my first workaway, & it was really a great experience. I ended up coming back twice more after my initial 2 month stay, for a total of 4 months.
The work as a tour guide was fun & easy, and I learned a lot about butterflies & frogs. All of the staff are very friendly & helpful, and I felt like a valued team/family member immediately.
The… read more

(Excellent)

10 May 2023

Left by Workawayer (Laurent) for host

My stay at Glenn's has been a wonderful experience, I learned a lot about butterflies and frogs, the place itself is beautiful, with four roomy habitats for the butterflies and one for the frog. Our main task was to guide the tourists along the place, giving information and answering questions.
The region is really nice, with a lot of activities,… read more

(Excellent)

16 Mar 2023

Left by host for Workawayer (Jack)

Jack is a model volunteer, he displayed competence and integrity while with us.
He learned about all the things we do at the place and passed that information on to guests.
I believe he will make a great contribution to any organization that hosts him.

(Excellent)

2 Mar 2023

Left by Workawayer (Jack) for host

I had an amazing, wonderful and fantastic month there! From day one Glenn made me feel very welcome, helped me settle in, then I started learning from Glenn and the other volunteer there about the butterflies, the different species and their unique characteristics. Before long I was giving tours myself. A third volunteer joined in my second week… read more and fit straight into the team. There are also half-a-dozen full-time spanish-speaking staff, all incredibly friendly and approachable - they taught me lots about the project and helped me practice my Spanish, and did not mind and answering my many curious questions about how everything worked (how the frogs are fed, for example!)
The work itself was very enjoyable and rewarding, often the time would fly past (just like the butterflies!) without me even realising and the day would already be over! It was an enriching experience that's left me with copious amounts of knowledge to take with me into the world. It wasn't just about educating the guests on regeneration and flora & fauna of the Arenal area, but also on being educated myself. There's so much to be gained if you dedicate the effort and curiosity into learning.
The work consists in meeting and greeting guests and showing them around the butterfly habitats, frog exhibit and gardens. All the guests were super friendly and curious. A couple of times I also offered to help with manual work in the gardens and the staff showed me what to do and seeing the all the hard work going on in the background was equally as enriching. Essentially, I spent my days having friendly chats with strangers and hanging out with butterflies - many of whom land on you (one of the Golden Owl Eyes I bonded with and named Barry!)
El Castillo is a lovely little village with a friendly community, I would hitchhike into La Fortuna on my days off (loads of nature-activities to do in the area, from waterfalls to hot springs to national parks and volcano views) and it was usually the villagers giving me a lift to and back! It's also surrounded by jungle and I had more encounters with wildlife than I could list here, but if you love nature and animals - don't give this place a miss! I have shared rooms with other volunteers at other workaway experiences, which is great fun, but it felt very luxurious to have my own private room for a month, in a house with three other people very close to the Conservatory. We had bathrooms, a laundry room, a kitchen and a garden leading onto the river at the back!
I had to leave because my 90 days visa-free travel in Costa Rica was at an end and I had to leave the country, but would have gladly stayed longer.
If you have any questions about the volunteering experience, Glenn is great at answering them and giving an in-depth explanation over the phone before arrival, then stays in touch and continues to help you and answer your questions on a daily basis once you're there!

(Excellent)

26 Nov 2022

Left by Workawayer (Elpidio) for host

I had a memorable experience at the conservatory and came out with even greater admiration for its mission of nature regeneration in Costa Rica. Glenn, the owner/director, agreed to take me as a volunteer. Unfortunately, when I arrived he was on a trip and I was not able to interact with him in person. The dedicated and hardworking staff that run… read more

(Excellent)

21 Aug 2022

Left by Workawayer (Alice) for host

I volunteered here in February and March 2021. I stayed there for 5 weeks and so far it is one of my best workaway experience for different reasons : doing the tours was entertaining and interesting, the place is great in the middle of nature with an amazing view on the volcano, you are surrounded by butterflies all day long and El Castillo is a… read more very nice and peacefull village with a lot of activities that you can do around like kayaking, horseriding, hiking and so on... And I really appreciated my time with the three other volunteers there as well !

I learnt a lot about butterflies, plants and animals in general but also about myself. At first, I was not so confident about doing the tours in english as english is not my mother-tongue. I had some fears of not being understood and not being able to understand well the guests (a lot of guests are Americans and American English is more difficult for me than British English). I was also afraid of making mistakes. But I managed very quickly to do the tours by myself thanks to the help of Sam, the volunteer who welcomed me there. I did the tours in French and English and I am sure after a bit more time I would had been able to do it in Spanish as well ! It might seem challenging at first to remember all the informations Glenn send to you about the butterflies, plants, frogs and turtles but at the end, you always repeat the same thing and get used to it very quickly. It is also very nice to be with people, talk with them, answer their questions and explain what you know.

When there were no guest, we would do some gardening. Not all tasks were interesting but it was also a good time to learn about plants and animals with the workers who are only spanish speakers. For me it was a good Spanish training. You are also immerged in nature and this is a great feeling. And who knows, you might encounter a strange animal ! We saw few snakes for example !

In the house, we were living with one of the workers, Gerardo.
He was very friendly and very funny as well ! His life story is just amazing and you have a lot to learn from him. He also knows a lot about snakes if you are interested in it !
I was volunteering there at the same time of Alexandra (one of the reviews) and I also found the house really too dirty to be happy to stay there at first. I spent all the first week cleaning everything (or trying !). But at the end I could deal with it. This might have changed now as I was there more than one year ago.

I would have enjoyed more specific teachings about the plants, the animals, the area and conservation in general. I had to do my own researches and I spent a lot of time asking the workers (in spanish) some more details about butterflies to be able to answer the questions of the guests (some of them ask a lot !). As I am a teacher when I am not travelling, it was really important for me to share only accurate information during the tours and I had to look for these informations myself as Glenn was not on site at this time. But in a way, it was also very rewarding to do all these reasearches by myself as you learn more if you do it yourself.
Except the informations you get by email before starting the volunteering, you don't get any more training about conservation or how to be a tour-guide but again it might be completely different when Glenn is on site as he is very friendly and happy to share his knowledge with you and did it with us when he could. And you learn a lot from him !
I don't know what amount of informations volunteers get when they arrive now, situation might have changed, as I was there a long time ago.

At the end, I was very happy of everything. I will remember forever all the amazing moments I spent there working or just chilling next to the river behind the house on the days off !

So if you love nature, are keen on learning by yourself, manage to speak a bit of spanish, need a peaceful place and a rewarding job (it is so nice to realise how much you are able to tell to people about butterflies and how carefully they listen to you !) this is the volunteering for you !

Thank you very much Glenn for the time I had there and all the best to the project !

(Excellent)

14 Aug 2022

Left by Workawayer (Sveva) for host

Excellent! The atmosphere is amazing , I had the opportunity to get information about many different animals and plants surrounded by super nice people; Glenn is very patient and helpful; El Castillo is a small typical village which is an example of the Costa Rican’s beautiful vegetation; it’s not hard to integrate because the volunteers and the… read more

(Excellent)

9 May 2022

Left by Workawayer (Elea) for host

Please see our feedback policy for more info about why this review is not displayed

(Good)

24 Sep 2021

Left by Workawayer (Alexandra) for host

The conservatory was absolutely beautiful. The animals are well kept and very cared for. The workers there were very passionate about their work at the sanctuary from giving tours, keeping animals, growing plants, and of course guiding WorkAwayers. The surrounding community is safe and friendly. They are very welcoming of volunteers. There are… read more also other projects in the area so there are more volunteers to meet. There are lots of tours and a national park nearby that you could easily hitch hike to and from. There is also a hike within walking distance from the volunteer house that passes through several farms with cows and horses and eventually goes into the rainforest to a wonderful waterfall that you can swim at.

Glenn was very reliable in terms of communication before my arrival. He picked me up in town and told me all about the area on the ride in. He seemed to be genuine in his desire to offer an opportunity for people to learn and go after their own desires. Glenn sends a lot of information to study before arriving, and giving the tours really concretes that information. It only takes a couple days to get a hang of the tours and before long you realize you have learned way more than you thought you were. The information is not easily available once you arrive-- there are no books and there is no real orientation or training. However if you ask and try your hardest to learn while you are there, the workers on site can provide you with a lot of knowledge about the sanctuary, the butterflies, the nature, and the culture of the area. It is also a great opportunity to practice Spanish for someone with a solid base in the language.

Glenn was absent for pretty much my entire stay, but the workers and other volunteers were able to help integrate me into the work. I do wish that there was more learning opportunity readily available- maybe this would be possible at a time when Glenn was on site. Regardless of this, I learned a lot in my time at the conservatory by talking with the workers and other volunteers and researching our questions.

My only complaint of my time there is the house. Every volunteer said they deep cleaned when they arrived, and yet it was still really gross. Glenn expressed that he leaves it to the volunteers to manage, but it was not manageable at the time I was there. Many ants, many many cockroaches, too dirty to go without shoes, and many of us cringed at using the kitchen. Maybe this has been taken care of by now. The roof also caved in when I was there over the front patio where we would all usually be sitting, but I assume this isn't a frequent thing. To be fair, the listing does say the house is bare bones. However the challenges presented in the housing is not the same as regular Costa Rica housing in my experience from living with locals throughout the country. I still stayed at the house for just over a month as the work and the experience were worth dealing with it for me... though I would definitely have enjoyed it more if the housing was better taken care of.

If you are a self-starter, hard worker, and can put up with a messy buggy house, then this is the volunteer gig for you.

(Very good)

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Help a rainforest and butterfly regeneration project in Alajuela, Costa Rica

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Find your perfect host

Availability

Details

Description

Types of help and learning opportunities

UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

Help

Languages

Accommodation

What else ...

A little more information

How many Workawayers can stay?

Feedback (12)

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