Help us develop our eco-hostel outside of San Gil, Columbia

I've spent so much time here that in the end I forgot that I've been volunteering there and I forgot to write a feedback straightaway.
I came for 3 weeks and I stayed for 3 months, I guess that says something about the place :) It's super relaxed, not many rules, guys who run this finca-hostel are amazing, so generous, good-hearted people...… read more After a while you feel like beeing a part of a family.
The work depends on what's currently going on, what project they're up to so it can vary from physical work to general, daily maintenance. The location is few km outside of San Gil but it's easy to get to the town either hitch-hiking or taking a bus which passes by each hour so, for me, it was just perfect. And there are lots of places to see and things to do in the area so you won't be bored.
Summing up: if you want to stay somewhere for a while, relax while doing a bit of working and get to know real life in Colombia, this is the place. I highly recommend!

Muchas Gracias Familia! My stay at Villa Isabella with all the loving inhabitants was amazing. The work was never too much and always fair ( i got some muscels from using the machete), we had great food and shared the cooking. I really love eating healthy so this was the perfect spot. Fabian is quite flexible with the working hours, so if you plan… read more to do something there is never a problem. Of course it is a give and take but everyone here has sincere intentions. The surrounding of SanGil is beautiful and there are lots of waterfalls and mountains to explore. I can recommend this place to everyone who likes to share, live in peace, learn and grow.

This was my first workaway experience and I enjoyed every minute of it. (I`m very sorry for not writing feedback sooner). But anyways, I fell in love with this place and everything about it. Host Fabian was so friendly and kind. At that time there were only us three- me, my travel companion Renate and Fabian and we didn`t have to do that much work… read more so we had a lot of spare time to learn about life in Colombia (San Gil), nature, sacred rituals and so on. It is truly a very peacefull place to stay and work. Thank you Fabian. I will never forget experience I had staying at your beautiful home. And I miss it time to time very much.
Say hi to doggies and cats. Miss them very much. :)

fabi, sos lo maximo amigo querido, personas como vos quiziera encontrarme siempre en mi camino, asi cualquiera quiziera viajar jeje, te deseo muchisima felicidad papa, merecidisima por ese corazon, saludos a polll jeje un grandee, una exelente persona. visitare nuevamente compañeros abrazooooo de gollll!!!!

Momento pasado bacano y agradable es retrete lleno de vida, de sonrisas, de sentido común y de bellos valores. Buena energía que rodea este lugar gracia a un poderoso Índio que procura que las cosas buenas y dulces pasan allí y perduran. Vaya usted también poner su piedras al edificio, su color al cuadro, y su criada energia y creatividad a este… read more bello compromiso y este bello pequeño mundo vale la pena y el mérito...
Qué de dulces recuerdos, tarde en mí en volver a pasar, esperando deseo y envío que de buenas ondas....
Gracias, besitos y hasta pronto

AHUUU

My time at this finca was little less than a month, with it being a great experience that seemed to get better as I stayed longer. It started off with hard strong work like mixing cement, cutting down bamboo trees, and lifting heavy bags in the hot sun. For me and my lack of muscles it proved difficult at times while leaving me exhausted for the… read more rest of the day. The thing to know is that the work starts off very early in the morning, 6 or 7, so that is is cooler out when work is being done in the garden area or building space that Fabian is putting together. This is a very new space with only a couple months of being opened, its impressive in the fact that there isn't much to offer but the finca really utilizes every bit of resource including food from the garden, fire wood from the backyard, and rocks from the ground, (Not all tools you need are accesible so make shift tools and new ideas really is how work gets done around the place)... About half way through my time Fabian let me paint a huge mural in the dorm room in exchange for three meals a day. This was fantastic and exactly the change of pace I needed with long hours of painting and listening to music while being just outside of San Gil. I would say that my favorite part of staying here was the food, it being always fresh, vegetarian, and leaving my body feeling great! Fabian isn't really the type to order people around so it is kind of up to each person to find ways to help out around the area like sweeping, cleaning the kitchen, ... everyone kind of does their part to help out and the pets really provide a relaxed but joyous atmosphere.
Some things to know about the location is that it is out of the city, shortly 3 km which you usually have to take a bus from San Gil to get there. Depending on the day hitchhiking works really well to get into town; most of the time I hitchhiked into town. Around the finca itself there is a small tienda about a 15 min walk up the rode which is nice and farther up is a viewpoint of the San Gil city. There isn't any wifi currently at the finca but I do believe that there will be shortly. A good amount of time was spent sitting talking around a bonfire with a beer and great conversation but since Fabian is also a local tour guide he was able to provide some cool insight on some traditional ceremonies in the area and even took us workers along on a two day hike through Canyon Chicomocha. It was a ton of fun and like I said before, my experience seemed to get better with a longer stay.

Workers, volunteers, and time will definitely catalyst this finca, shortly, into a great spot to experience a nature filled, world loving experience that I got to see start to shine. i will miss my time there and I am glad I got to stay longer than originally planned, it left a big smile on my face and i cant wait to hear how the place continues to grow!

Bueno, yo llegué a la Villa justo para la Semana Senta, es decir la noche anterior y Fabián me explicó que ibamos a trabajar duro durante esta semana de temporada alta. El próximo día llegaron los primeros huéspedes y me daron la posibilidad de involucrarme en todo lo que hace falta cuando quieras ser buen anfitión.
Pues, durante una semana… read more limpiamos/cocinamos/recibimos y despedimos huespedes/organizamos/fuimos de compra etc. durante todo el día.
Durante las dos semanas siguientes (me quedé casí tres semanas en vez de solo 10 días planificados) el trabajo fue mucho más relajado, yo me ocupaba de la cocina (desayuno, almuerzo, cena) y de la limpieza general de la casa. Sembré y organizé un poco la huerta (que todavía necesita mucho trabajo y amor). Fabián agradece cualquier tipo de consejo, idea etc. en cuanto al mejoramiento del ambiente, de la casa y su entorno.
Bueno, lo más importante: desde el primer momento me sentí tan a casa que no encuentro palabras para describirlo. Estar ahí arriba, en plena naturaleza con los chicos maravillosos me enseñó muchas cosas sobre la vida, la convivencia y les doy las gracias a Fabián, Jhonny, Paul y los demás que pasaron por la casa por este tiempo maravilloso.
¡Espero mucho que nos volvemos a ver pronto!

I had a good experience while spending just a little over a week at the hostel/finca. Fabian is an interesting guy and has a great sense of humor. His English is great and well enough to work with only English speakers if necessary. Also, as long as you talk to him, his is wiling to change and adjust things if necessary.

The work at the finca… read more varies, but its it real work. Most of what I did along with other volunteers was digging holes, breaking though old concrete, forming structures, moving heavy logs, ect.... There was a little bit of gardening I did on my own, but most everything is manual labor. Fabian is just starting this hostel so I believe his budget is limited and his methods of construction is not primitive, but it is very thrifty. This means as a volunteer you have to expect to not always have the most desired tool and you might have to improvise. This can make things hard and challenging at times.

The day here starts early so be ready. Fabian does some work outs in the morning sometimes, so you might as well join as the day starts early anyway with the hot sun and animal roaming around and barking. The food is great and the breakfast is provided but you can pitch in about 60mil a week to take part in lunch and dinner. This depends on you, but I eat too much for how much food was provides so I cooked my own food in the little kitchen. There is a little store with some basics like bread, rice, bear, hygiene gear ect... a brisk 10 min walk up hill. The finca house itself it nice and homely, but clean. The dorm is a 4 bed dorm and it does the job. But because you are in the jungle there are bugs everywhere, so bring a net if you dont think you can stand the bites. I got bit a lot, but just delt with it. You will also do your laundry by hand.

All in all i had a pretty decent experience. I think the work was really hard, and not having wifi was a little difficult for me, but if you are ready for some real hard work and good local company you will do good. I say at least give it a shot for week, as a week is not to long and its a good amount of time to see things. If you like it, you will always have the opportunity to stay longer.