Mi experiencia en Costa Rica

My name is Louisa and I was a volunteer in Costa Rica for 6 month. I had applied for the Wildlife program because I wanted to do something which was unique for Costa Rica and which I couldn’t experience in Germany. I also like animals and enjoy being in the nature, so this was my decision. I was very excited about my project would be alike and when the information and my project details reached me I couldn’t wait to start.

My project was in a natural reserve in La Fortuna city, which is a nice, little village next to the volcano Arenal. There I lived in two host families. 

I was in my project together with another volunteer. The park is not that big but it’s really beautiful and they have many species of Animals (crocodiles, butterflies, frogs, snakes, caimans, turtles). As a tourist you can book a day tour where you are shown the exhibition part, or a night tour, where you walk around the trails and look for wild animals. And there are so many! Our main job as volunteers was to help the reserve as tour guides for visitors. The cool thing about that was, that we could do the tours in English, Spanish and German. What I also really liked was that you get to know so many different, lovely people. And also all the information we had to learn before, we won’t forget so soon, which is amazing too; learning so much about the different animals. We also had to help the gardener in his tasks. Almost everyday we had to clean the trails, the reception and the services. In the end we could help in attending the tourists at the reception. Sometimes we helped in cleaning the butterfly cage, and one time some tourists left the doors of the cage open and we had to catch all the butterflies again. We also found many wild animals in the wilderness, mainly snakes and frogs, and one baby sloth.

All in all, was this project a good experience with amazing moments. I had never fed a baby sloth before and will probably never do it again. But those moments were little moments which couldn’t make up for the rest…

My second project then was in a kindergarten in San Ramon. And I really loved working there. So, in the end, everything turned out very well for me. As I already said, even though not everything turns out as you expect and wish it to, you can always make your own decisions and create your own, unique experience. And mine was a really great one, which I will never forget!