Paul

Germany
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Profile information

Travel information
I am currently
Travelling
Description
Enthusiastic about travelling to new countries and experiencing different cultures!
Interests
Winter sports
Water sports
Technology
Team sports
Sailing / Boating
Outdoor activities
Nature
Movies & TV
Mountain
Languages
Hiking
Fitness
Events & social
Culture
Cooking & food
Camping
Beach
Adventure sports
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Spanish: Beginner
More details about my language interests
Would love to get back into/improve my spanish. I am fluent in english and german, so I am able to help/teach both.
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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
Charity Work
Eco Projects
Some knowledge of:
Gardening
Animal Care
Hospitality/Tourism
General Maintenance
Able to teach about:
Languages
Teaching
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Helping around the house
Helping with Computers/ Internet
More details about your skills
Experience in general work in hostels, gastronomy (kitchen and service) and wildlife conservation
Age
24
What else ...
Fell in love with surfing in my first work and travel trip in Chile. Also have been playing tennis for years and play it weekly. Big fan of cooking new meals, I cook almost every day and worked in gastronomy for a bit.
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
- Special dietary requirements

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8 Jan 2024

Left by Workawayer (Paul) for host (Bring your inspiration and ...)

I recently spent 6 weeks volunteering in Santa Teresa and I want to give an honest overview of my time there. When I arrived, me and the other volunteers were working directly with Mel and Jay (two former Workawayers who came back to the team to work as managers). Working with them was great and they are one of the most loving and caring people… read more I’ve met. During our shifts (8 am to 2 pm or 2 pm to 8 pm) we mainly worked on the construction site of a new house doing tasks such as sanding, varnishing, painting or cleaning in the area. Mel and Jay always showed us the tasks they had set out for us at the beginning of the shift and let us work independently after. While they were still here, we rarely interacted with Tule (one of the owners) and later Uky (the other owner who was away for my first 4 weeks). In the following I want to list a few positive and negative experiences during my stay.

Communication and Organisation: Mel and Jay were perfectly organised and communicated very well with us. The owners (Uky and Tule) on the other hand are not very organised and communication was not great in my opinion. After Mel and Jay left, there was a lack of planning for the tasks we had to do during the shift and talking to them was always difficult. It was not easy to approach them (especially Uky) and get a plan of tasks to do and there was a general feeling that asking questions was not welcome. The constant vibe was that tasks had to be done perfectly to their expectation without exception but without asking them for their exact wishes in as little time as possible. Mistakes should never happen and the tiniest mistakes were made to feel like a disaster, threatening to be kicked out. I made three mistakes during my time (getting paint splashes on the floor and oven hob and accidentally breaking a glass) and was scrutinized for it. The paint was easily wiped away and all my mistakes were genuine but I was made aware that that cannot happen again or I will be kicked out. They were furious after the glass plate broke on me after and I was kicked out to leave the same day twice in one day. Luckily I was able to convince them to let me stay for my remaining days explaining the work I had done, but the vibe between volunteers and owners worsened after. I am fully convinced that I always did my work with the upmost effort from start to finish and even helped guests after my shift was over. I never slacked off, was late or refused to do any tasks they set me, yet my genuine mistakes were met with no understanding or sympathy. Similarly, there was no empathy when threatening to kick me out the same day knowing that I am travelling and might not have planned to spend more money on accommodation let alone on such a short notice. Two other volunteers were kicked out to leave the next day at the beginning of my time there after they arrived a few days earlier with little reason.

The Accommodation: They held true to their promise and I was in a private room for my whole 6 weeks, but due to poor planning and foresight I had to move rooms 6 times, once in the morning with no prior notice. There is a mould problem in the rooms I stayed in due to the high humidity in Costa Rica with the “volunteer room” being the worst. After previous volunteers complained about it, we had to sand off the mould from the wall and seal it to better the conditions. The state improved, but I still had to keep the door open most of the time to not have too much humidity/mould build up. Mind you, this is common in Costa Rica, but complaining to the owners about it was not well received and I stopped talking to them due to fear of being kicked out. The final room I stayed in had a lot of mould spots on the ceiling which previous guests complained about and I wiped them off using bleach to make it liveable for the time I was there. Overall there were constant discussions about which volunteer stays where.

The work: As mentioned the work was mainly on the construction, but I did enjoy it for most of the time. It was physically exhausting sometimes, especially in the heat, but I did not mind that. Apart from the mentioned lack of planning and expectations of perfectionism without allowing mistakes, I did enjoy the time during work hours. We were allowed to listen to music while working on the construction site. Some tasks were not the best (e.g. sanding off the mould, cleaning a maggot infested fridge) but as it was only for 6h, 4 days a week I think it was a fair deal. You do get fairly dirty so it is good to bring work clothes that you can throw away after.

The hostel: The hostel is a cozy and great place and especially the girls dorm is probably the nicest dorm I have ever seen. There is attention to detail with a few issues here and there but I would recommend the hostel to other travellers. The shared bathroom I used was nice and cleaned daily, the only issue was the toilet that was blocked/had issues flushing during my whole 6 weeks there. At one point this got so bad that my room flooded, soaking a lot of my things and electronics in toilet water. The toilet was still not fixed by the time I left and we volunteers often had to unclog the toilet at night for guests (this was not mandated by the owners but we did share the same common spaces with the guests)

Host/Volunteer Atmosphere: As I mentioned before, the atmosphere between me as a volunteers and the hosts was not the best. I did not feel appreciated and was under the constant fear of behaving or saying the wrong thing towards the hosts and consequently getting kicked out the next day. They did have the occasional social event for the whole team where we had dinner together that they bought and prepared which was very nice and I am thankful for.

Overall I would still recommend the hostel to other, but you have to be aware to not come for the work or the time with hosts. I did have an amazing time with the other volunteers and despite Santa Teresa being expensive, it is a very nice beach town with great sunsets. I also have to mention that I felt that Tule was making a lot of effort towards being more empathetic and welcoming at the end of my stay and I did get along great with him during that time. I do hope that both hosts continue to make an effort towards the volunteers and try to be more empathetic to our situation as we do pay for our plane ticket and food to come to a different country and are not just cheap, disposable labour.

I do still want to thank them all for having me in Santa Teresa and wish them all the best for the future.

(Good )

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