TESTIMONIAL

¨My stay at the Camaronal Marine reserve was exactly what I needed, not only for an exciting experience abroad and a break from studies, but also to improve my work experience and CV. After leaving my home, family and friends I was slightly apprehensive, to say the least! However, on landing in Costa Rica I was picked up by the friendly staff, and driven through the tropics to my host family, who welcomed me with open arms into their beautiful home (Still the best food I have tasted during my time in Costa Rica).

Moving from my host family, I spent 8 weeks working in the beautiful Camaronal Marine Reserve helping conserve the coastal environment and the breading turtle communities, nesting on the beach. The volunteer program at Camaronal really taught me vast amounts of knowledge and has inspired me to work within the marine ecology field. Not only this, but it also gave me a brilliant opportunity to learn Spanish and meet a whole new group of friends and contacts from around the world!

I would recommend this volunteer project in Costa Rica to anyone who wants a change to their day-to-day lives, and put something back into the environment. Also, to anyone like me who is studying with an aim to work within the environmental sector. In such a competitive field, I truly believe this rewarding and truly enjoyable experience has given me a great head start!¨

I had a fantastic time in Cusco, Peru. The family and accommodation was exactly where I asked for; in the centre of Cusco so everything in walking distance. The family house, where I stayed with two other volunteers, turned out to be a family hostal, so well organized, clean rooms, hot showers and good meals! Very friendly the whole family even though we didn’t have all our meals always together. My Spanish wasn’t as good as I hoped, so the ideas which I had planned to do at the primary school turned out differently. I mainly helped the sports teachers with their lessons and the kids loved it. The private lessons Spanish at the partner school in Cusco were a great help to improve my communications skills, which is a necessity to get the most out of this amazing experience. I loved the children in Cusco. They are very open, curious and eager to learn. Mainly because of them, and many other things, this made the volunteer work an intense life experience.

It is really great I am enjoying my time here a lot. The pick-up did work out perfectly, and I love the residence here, the rooms are really nice, everything is so clean and the big kitchen is great!

Today I met with Marianne to go the project and it was really good, she explained me everything I needed to know and we visited the program together. This week there is not much to do but form next week on I will start every day at ten. The people there seemed really nice and Marianne helped a lot!

Thank you so much for all you help and I will keep you updated.