“We got to do a significant amount of cultural immersion and exchange with the local community: understand their way of life and values, participate in their traditions (tamales on Christmas, for example), eat in family members' homes every day, and share our perspectives with them. We could see where our program fees would improve the local community (construction materials, families hosting us for meals, etc). We worked on a project that was right-sized for our small group of 2 people (building tables at a local community center) and were able to see the results at the end.
We had enough personal downtime to process our experiences within the community, especially with a small group of 2. Accommodations were good. There was enough space, and we enjoyed having coffee and snacks in the kitchen and trying local Costa Rican cooking. Some of the things we liked best were the cultural exchange and project work, a leisure trip to local hot springs, and our coordinator, Federico!
Federico was great. He spent a lot of time with us, communicating what to expect and soliciting our feedback on how to get the most out of our time in Orosi Valley. He did lots of translation. We also tried using our limited Spanish to interact and apps like Google Translate to carry on direct conversations.”
Keith Torluemke
Orosi Valley, Costa Rica.
November, 2024
