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Host rating
85 %
Last replied
11 Jun 2025
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Details
Description
Dear Friends, we are a mixed couple (Italian/Ecuadorian), both we traveled and volunteered before and we like to connect with new people. We also love spending time at the family 'finca', it's a beautiful 2 acre fruit garden (no animal farm) full of trees like avocado, orange, lemon, guanabana, papaya, banana, plantain and some vegetables too. The finca is located on the other side of the island, 25 km from town. We don't live at the finca, so we try to go there two or three times per week whenever we have time. We are committed to grow part of our own food and there are always so many things to do. We have jobs in town but we dream one day to live fully at the finca. It's a very simple and slow life on the island. In our free time we like to show you around, go snorkeling and hiking together.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
Farmstay help
Interests
Plant care
Farming
Hiking
Beach
Adventure sports
Water sports
Outdoor activities
Camping
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We can teach you about tropical plants and fruits we grow at the finca, we can show you the island and give recommendations where to go, go snorkeling and hiking together. We can teach you cook local dishes sometimes. We like to talk with our guests and exchange opinions, skills and advices.
Help
Collecting fruits such as oranges, lemons, passion fruit/maracuya (this ones also need to be procesed at home), weeding and planting, digging holes to plant banana trees and bringing the fruits with the wheelbarrow. (Warning: it is involved some heavy lifting)
We would like you to help 3 days per week, non-consecutive days, which means you always get at least one day off after we go at the finca.
I say day because the finca is 20 km from where we live, so we need to go there together, sometimes we go with the farmer public transport (waking up at 4:30 am) and we have breakfast and lunch to-go there, so in total we spend there all the morning till early afternoon, but we will also have time to relax, eat fresh fruits and lunch there. The majority of the days we are going there with the motorbike (waking up at 6 am) and in this case we have breakfast and lunch at home.
About hours of help, when we go by motorbike, let say we leave at 6:30, get at the finca at 7..leave at 12:30..back home around 13..that would be around 5 hours of help, plus half an hour to rest.
The maybe one/two times we go with farmers transport, it takes longer, because it takes one hour to go there, but we also eat there, it's not all the time you have to do tasks. So something like leaving home at 5, get to the finca at 6, eat breakfast, start doing something 6:30 .. having lunch around 10:30..11-12:30 getting things out with the wheelbarrow, rest for one hour while waiting the transport, transport usually arrives at finca around 14, back home 15. So it takes longer but effectively is also 5 maximum 6 hours of help, the rest of the time is commute, eating, resting.
Going at the finca implies waking up early, because at mid-day the sun is too strong. Also it can rain, so be prepared to the crazy tropical climate conditions. Better to bring a long sleeve pant and shirt that you don't mind getting dirty (some stains from plants are permanents), mid calf socks, a rain jacket, a hat, sunscreen and mosquito repellant. We have gloves and regarding shoes, we can borrow a pair of boots that fits European sizes 39/40/41. Other sizes it's not sure we can provide, but if you have your own trekking boots, it should be fine too.
You'll never be alone at the finca, we'll do the tasks together.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
German: Intermediate
French: Intermediate
Turkish: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
You can practice your Spanish with us. Happy to learn your language and teach any of the languages listed.
Accommodation
You'll have your own room, we share the bathroom and the kitchen. Wifi and warm shower are available. It's a simple home without any luxury.
For example the roof is noisy when it rains and we don't have a washing machine. There is a place to hand wash clothes in the back garden or you can bring your clothes to the laundry, they charge 1$ per kilo.
Regarding food, please it is very important to note we provide breakfast and lunch only on the day we go to the finca.
On your days off you can use the kitchen to cook by yourself. All the fruits/vegetables we collect at the finca are always at your disposal to eat and cook. All year around we usually have banana, green plantain (platano verde), papaya, cucumber, green pepper, cassava (yuca), pumpkin, lemons and in the right season we have avocado, oranges, maracuya, guanabana and many more. We don't have any coffee/tea, seed oil and sugar at home. We have salt.
You buy other food you might need to cook on your days off, such as rice/pasta, seed oil, plant-based proteins/meat/fish, eggs, cheese, potatos, onion or I can also give you reccomandation where to eat for 5$ in town (that's the cheapest meal served in some local restaurants). There is also a bakery and 3 small grocery store with mainly canned food 1 minute on foot from home.
In town there are more options for grocery but you need to consider that food options are limited in Galapagos and expensive as most of the products need to be shipped from mainland. The islands are an expensive destination compared to the rest of Ecuador, everything is double the price. We are generous and we will for sure share extra food, just we don't want you to expect from us to cook on your days off or that you take for granted you can use things we bought.
We usually buy and share with you filtered water to drink that comes in a big container, 20 liters for 2,5$, it would be nice you can cooperate with this once during your stay.
We live not far from the town, around 7 km from the town/beach, you can borrow my bike (and snorkeling gear too), downhill take 10/15 minutes..uphill depends on your training. But there are also bus and collective taxi option for 0,50 or 0,75 cents. Private taxi is 4$.
We have a small dog, he lives in the garden and not in the house. He is a cutie, nothing to be afraid of.
Warning: no smoking at home or around home. We have zero tolerance for drugs, including weed and any substance that makes you high, including electronic smoking devices. Social drinking is tolerated.
If you have any relevant medical contion and you take daily medicines or treatment, we would like to know what is about, to make sure we can provide assistance in case of emergency. There is only one hospital in town, the ER is free.
What else ...
Very important, before accepting any requests we would like to have a video call with you, to get to know eachother and just to make sure we are on the same page and that we can communicate well, (understand eachother well in basic Spanish at least). Also I'm glad to answer any questions you might have about us and about the islands. We believe having good communication is key to have a nice experience for everyone.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
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