Sarah & Dan

United Kingdom
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Profile information

Travel information
We are currently
Travelling
Description
Hello!

We are Sarah and Dan, a young British couple in our early 30s and will be volunteering and traveling in south/central America from January 2023.

We're both fluent in English and can speak basic Spanish, but are looking for opportunities to develop our Spanish speaking skills!

We are huge animal lovers, enjoy walking, hiking and spending time in the great outdoors. Sarah is a keen scuba diver and ocean lover and Dan loves endurance sports, particularly running. We're hard working and looking for experiences to develop new skills and learn about different cultures.

We have a particular interest in animal welfare, conservation, eco/farm work, teaching and construction.

Hope to meet you soon :)
Interests
Dancing
DIY & crafts
Charity work
Events & social
Photography
Mountain
Outdoor activities
Sailing / Boating
Culture
Farming
Cycling
Camping
Cooking & food
Beach
Movies & TV
Team sports
Sustainability
Fitness
Languages
Self development

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Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Beginner
More details about my language interests
We are both currently learning beginners Spanish and are very interested in developing our ability and becoming fluent. We would love to practice Spanish with our hosts, and other workawayers. And we would also be happy to speak and teach English to others.
Find a language buddy
Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn
We're interested in:
Gardening
DIY and building projects
General Maintenance
Life at a Farmstay
Eco Projects
Some knowledge of:
Being an elderly companion
Animal Care
Charity Work
Languages
Teaching
Able to teach about:
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Helping around the house
Hospitality/Tourism
Helping with Computers/ Internet
More details about your skills
- We both grew up with animals, and have experience volunteering in animal shelters
- We both love cooking and hosting meals
- Dan is a day skipper and has boat driving experience
- Sarah is a qualified snorkel instructor and PADI Divemaster
- We both have good business skills (accounting, marketing, presentations)
Age
32 & 33
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
  No
- Special dietary requirements
  Not strictly but preferably local, sustainable produce. We are both on the road to becoming vegetarian but will be flexible with meat when we are travelling - or very hungry! :)

Feedback

22 Feb 2024

Left by host (Help on a small coffee farm, ...) for Workawayer (Sarah & Dan)

Mi experiencia con Sarah y Dan, fué de gran ayuda en la finca como:
Pintar un espacio grande de la casa, recoger leña para cocinar y servir alimentos a los niños del comedor infantil.
Ellos son una pareja de los cuales pude aprender mucho de sus experiencias y sus conocimientos.
Cocinaron sus tradicionales recetas, las cuales disfrutamos mucho.… read more

(Excellent )

13 Feb 2024

Left by Workawayer (Sarah & Dan) for host (Help on a small coffee farm, ...)

We spent an amazing 2 weeks with Misael at his home in Matagalpa. The second week there was another volunteer, Camila, who was a great addition to our stay.

Misael is a warm, friendly, generous and welcoming man. It was a real cultural exchange of food and language, and we learned so much about Nicaragua during our time here. What he and his… read more

(Excellent )

23 Dec 2023

Left by host (Help to empower local ...) for Workawayer (Sarah & Dan)

Sarah and Dan stayed with us for 2 weeks and we had a wonderful experience with them! they are lovely people who are willing to help and share their knowledge. they both were kind and did a great job working with kids and the kids loved them! we will be happy to see them again:)

(Excellent )

27 Nov 2023

Left by Workawayer (Sarah & Dan) for host (Help to empower local ...)

We spent 2 weeks at Casa Aimbo and had an incredible time. We’d recommend this to anyone unreservedly, and we only wished we had stayed longer.

There is teaching at the school 3-5 pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with Saturdays 9-1/2. There are loads of opportunities to help or run classes for the kids and in our short time we taught maths,… read more English and led a science lesson. Alongside this there is ‘volunteer work’ which is 9-11 Monday/wed/Fri. This is time to help with maintenance of the school, we did some DIY, created a world map and prepped for our lessons. We also helped with occasional sport sessions as well. You are not expected to attend both volunteer and teaching sessions every day, but you should if you can to get the most out of your time. The kids are amazing and so eager to learn, some of them don’t attend school so this is there main source of education. It really is a deprived area, some of the kids don’t even own shoes, so this is a great opportunity to share your skills and time to hopefully make a small difference.

The work is really flexible and can be tailored to your strengths and interests, the project is new and open to any and all ideas - a great place to be creative.

We stayed with Ericka’s family (Ericka handles the day to day running of the school). We had a private double room upstairs, which they built the day we arrived! The family is amazing, so welcoming, generous snd friendly, we were invited to drinks, play football, hang out in the beach and many meals. We shared the house with the family (11 people) plus volunteers (5-9 people) so it was busy, but there is a real ‘muck in’ attitude where people share meals and food: occasionally the family would cook for everyone, they may ask for a small contribution (3-5 soles) or sometimes not. The house is simple but perfectly comfortable, and it’s a great opportunity to live with a local Iquitos family. They aren’t paid to accommodate volunteers and do so just to support the project, which is amazing and really appreciated. They are happy for you to use the kitchen whenever. The positive energy from both the house and the school is really inspiring.

We were lucky enough to meet Bertha (charity owner) and Karin while we were there. They are both so lovely, and their passion for the project is incredible. Both spent time to understand what we could do to help, and gave us specific tasks to carry out alongside the teaching.

The other volunteers really added to our experience too. They were all like minded and willing to work hard, but everyone was up for socialising and other activities too.

This is a fantastic Workaway to really experience how the people of Iquitos live. The school is in a deprived area, and if you come with an open mind and a willingness to work - your contribution will be genuinely valued. We are really grateful to Bertha, Karin and Ericka for allowing us to contribute to this amazing project, and we know we’ll be back in the future to see how it’s all progressed. Thank you again

Dan and Sarah (la voz)

(Excellent )

17 Nov 2023

Left by Workawayer (Sarah & Dan) for host (Help with horses and huskies ...)

We spent 3 months over winter in Pino Hachado with Hernan and Tilly and it will definitely be an experience that we will never forget!

All of the cabins are so impressive in the way that everything has been hand made and we soon felt at home in the cozy volunteer house which we had to ourselves for 1 month and then shared with another volunteer… read more for the following 2. You live in close quarters with the other volunteers, thankfully our housemate was a fire red legend. It was humbling to have to make fires to get your hot water in the morning, and we were sometimes without lights or water but it was all part of the experience learning how all the systems worked and how to fix them.

Our daily tasks were to feed and poo pick the dogs which we did every morning and evening whilst we were there, alongside this we would chop firewood, clean the guest cabins and change/wash and hang bedding, deliver wood to cabins, help with general maintenance around the house, cook, help harness the dogs for husky tours and assisting with tours when required. A key responsibility for the volunteers is to ensure there is always someone present at the house, so if there are regular tours and no other volunteers - you are expected to stay at the house until someone returns. This could often mean long periods spent alone and not able to leave the immediate vicinity of the house. Obviously it is an amazing place to be alone, but it can be slightly restricting at times, so volunteers need to be comfortable with their own/each others’ company. Instructions, requests (or critiques) can be very direct/blunt at times, but that comes with territory and its best not to take them too personally! :)

Hernan & Tilly were away for 2 weeks and we looked after the house alone, which was fine and we were made aware of this before. We had a few floods due to very (unusually) heavy rain but they were always really responsive and available if we needed any help.

Getting to know all of the dogs and then seeing them in action and at work on the sleds was an amazing experience. They are all so friendly and have their individual characters and we miss them all, including the house dogs and cat! <3

It was a particularly warm winter (June-Aug) whilst we were there so we didn’t go out with the dogs as much as we would have liked, but we did have fun trying out Canicross around the track and exploring and hiking more of the beautiful surroundings. The business is so dependant on the weather, and showed what a hard place it is to run a tour company. The frustration was apparent at times, but we were impressed with how Hernan and Tilly adapt to keep the business running.

Outside of the daily tasks you usually don't know what you are going to be doing day to day, sometimes hour to hour but that is the Andean weather, so be prepared for plans to change last minute. Tilly and Hernan are very busy, and will occasionally disappear on an errand without notice. I think any volunteer needs to be flexible and up for an unconventional routine which can often change with minimal or no notice.

We were always extremely well fed with breakfast supplies provided and lunch/ dinners prepared in the main house when Tilly or Hernan were around. If not, there was usually ample food in the house and the hosts are very liberal in letting you help yourself to ingredients (within reason), We had lots of asados and pizza nights, often with guests as well, and it was fun learning how to make pizzas, empanadas and tortas fritas, and Tilly is an extremely good baker!! She kindly made a birthday cake which was one of the best we’ve ever had - and baked over a wood fire! We cooked lunches and dinners a few times for everyone. There was usually a trip to town/the shops every week so we could give some extra money to buy extra snacks or beers if we wanted.

Although it was a particularly patchy winter, TIlly and Hernan allowed us to accompany them on a 4 day sled tour at the end of the stay. This was incredible and is an experience we are really grateful for. The food and hospitality was amazing, and spending the final days out with the dogs was the best way to cap off a challenging but incredibly rewarding 3 months.

Thanks both for a unique experience, and we can’t wait to see you again in the Spring :)

(Excellent )

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22 Feb 2024

Left by host (Help on a small coffee farm, ...) for Workawayer (Sarah & Dan)

(Excellent )

13 Feb 2024

Left by Workawayer (Sarah & Dan) for host (Help on a small coffee farm, ...)

(Excellent )

23 Dec 2023

Left by host (Help to empower local ...) for Workawayer (Sarah & Dan)

(Excellent )

27 Nov 2023

Left by Workawayer (Sarah & Dan) for host (Help to empower local ...)

(Excellent )

17 Nov 2023

Left by Workawayer (Sarah & Dan) for host (Help with horses and huskies ...)

(Excellent )

15 Jun 2023

Left by Workawayer (Sarah & Dan) for host (Help build this beautiful ...)

We had a very memorable stay with Juan at the estancia at the end of May. There is a very relaxed atmosphere here, and it felt good to slow and down and learn about the gaucho way of life! Our daily tasks included preparing the dogs food and feeding them every evening, and taking George the pig his food scraps in the mornings. There is a 'see what… read more

(Excellent )

12 Jun 2023

Left by host (Help build this beautiful ...) for Workawayer (Sarah & Dan)

Dan and Shara were with us for a few weeks. They are two incredible people, we share many very good moments together. They were always willing to help in all kinds of jobs, such as animal care, general maintenance, wood collection. etc .
always with a positive attitude and common sense.
Thank you very much for your help Dan and Shara and have a… read more

(Excellent )

18 May 2023

Left by Workawayer (Sarah & Dan) for host (Home projects, wooden ...)

We spent a fantastic week with Leda and her family in April, and as our first ever Workaway it definitely exceeded our expectations. Leda was super organized with what she wanted us to help her with during the week, digging trenches in the garden for composting, painting furniture and making a gravel drive for the motorhome at the front of the… read more

(Excellent )

10 May 2023

Left by host (Home projects, wooden ...) for Workawayer (Sarah & Dan)

Sarah and Dan shared a week with us and we had a great time together. They are a very cute couple, with very good humor.
We share talks and board games.
Dan helped us with the vegetable garden and Sarah with the improvement of the parking for the motorhome, which was very well done.
Thank you both for all the help and for your good vibes!!!

(Excellent )

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