Types of Jobs in Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a land rich with lush rainforests, exotic wildlife, luxury hotels and beautiful white and black sand beaches. An ideal setting for surfers and animal lovers, jobs in Costa Rica center on ecological tourism, conservation, sustainable agriculture, coffee farming and teaching English. You can guide tourists through the rain forest in your native language or pitch in at a small rainforest inn. While the jobs aren't especially high-paying and settling into this wild habitat takes creativity and budgeting, you can have a rewarding experience working in Costa Rica. Volunteer possibilities could turn into full-time or life-time positions.
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Conservation
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Observe wild macaws. Volunteers are accepted year-round and even on short-notice at conservation lodges. You can volunteer or work at lodges throughout the country, specializing in the animal or plant life you are an expert in or want to learn more about. You might live in a jungle hut, where you will write and research. You might play soccer with the locals in the evening and learn Spanish while you're there. Write or call a lodge that inspires you to inquire about a position.
Coffee
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Pitch-in at a coffee plantation. You can find a local café or coffee plantation to help out at. Harvesting coffee beans requires a lot of labor. But if you are up for it, volunteer to work the fields. If you're not into the sweating, help on the business side. Market coffee to potential partners and buyers. Meet locals and develop relationships.
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Teaching
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Inspire students. You can teach English in the rainforest. For classroom teaching, get certified with a teaching a foreign language course. Programs usually take around four weeks to complete and offer amenities like low-cost host family stays, modern classrooms (with computer labs or Wi-Fi connection), over 100 hours of classroom teaching time and quality observation hours.
You might also try arranging a homestay with a family in exchange for teaching the family English. A certification program can connect you up with a low-cost family stay during the month-long training. You will probably also learn Spanish in return. Talk with your students outside of class in their local Spanish dialect. Be aware that such programs do not include round-trip airfare to the host country, money for personal expenses and visa costs and paperwork fees.
Animal Rehabilitation
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Protect endangered monkeys. If you are an animal lover, you can help protect them. From monkeys to parrots to toucans, sanctuaries provide care for abandoned, poached or abused wildlife. At wildlife sanctuaries, volunteers assist vets and biologists by providing care to the center's adopted animals. Investigate sanctuaries you might be interested in working with and what kind of animals they care for. An animal rescue center could take in overnight wild deer, coyotes, monkeys or tropical birds to release back into the wild.
Other rescue centers permanently adopt animals that cannot return to their wild habitat. Aquarium centers rehabilitate lion fish, sharks, sea horses and stingrays. Volunteers help both professionals in their projects and tasks and also help advertise tourist activities that help run the project. Research carefully when deciding on a sanctuary.
Volunteer Farming
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Volunteer on a farm. Promote environmentally friendly farming by harvesting crops on an organic farm. Bridge the gap between conscientious consumers and farmers. Contact the farm you wish to visit. Arrange for your stay by giving the duration of your stay (from a few weeks to a couple months) and projects you're especially capable of (building fences or construction vs farming and milking cows). Daily chores may include harvesting, preparing soil for planting, milking, cleaning pens, digging trenches, maintaining fences and such. Each farm has its own chores, rules and schedules.
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