8/14/2019 7 the Metropolitan July 24, 2008
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JOE VACCARELLI FEATURES EDITOR [email protected] THE
METROPOLITAN JULY 24, 2008
Volunteers for America
The truth is, I went to Costa Rica to visit
a friend and relax on the beach.
It was July, the beginning of the rainy sea-
son when water only pours down from thesky in the afternoons and
not all day a time
when the beaches were said to be near empty
of tourists and the flights were more afford-
able. I had chosen the timing for purely selfish
reasons: I wanted a beach all to myself.
And there were few tourists ... at least,
the typical kind.
Traveling by bus from San Jose down to
the south-western coast I saw only one or
two other gringos. In Dominical, known as a
bustling surfer paradise during the high sea-
son, I was happy to find the dirt roads nearly
deserted with more dogs and chickens run-
ning around than people.
As I walked out onto the empty beach
and threw my towel down not far from
the crashing waves, I reveled in the idea of
spending the next week doing next to noth-
ing.
The small Central-American country
might be famous for its rain forests, cloud-
shrouded active volcanoes, flora and fauna,
but I was more interested in the sun, surf
and rum-based beverages.
To my embarrassment, when I finally
got up off my beach towel and ventured into
the lush hills inland, I found that some peo-ple spend their
vacations doing something
more than swaying in hammocks. I found
a jungle teaming with more than just mon-
keys and exotic birds. Everywhere I went
there were groups of working gringos.
When spring comes and the droves of
sunburned surfers and other beach dwellers
migrate back to their homes in the northern
climes, a rare breed of tourist begins to ap-
pear in Costa Rica.
The educational tourist, the strange indi-
vidual who enjoys spending vacations learn-
ing local languages, working on sustainable
organic farms, studying the jungles endless
biodiversity, arrives often in late spring or
early summer in time for harvest season be-
fore the heavy rains begin. Most spend two
to three weeks, many only several days and
some stay as long as six months. In return
for usually four, six to eight hour workdays,
the eco-volunteer gets cheap rent (often $10
to $20 a night) and all the knowledge about
the jungle they can absorb.
Sustainability at Pura Suerte means
working in concert with our environment to
provide for all of our needs, said Drenden
Flahive, owner of Pura Suerte, a 150 acrefarm in La Florita near
Dominical. Students
learn hands-on about reforestation, organic
permaculture, fruit orchards and traditional
tropical agriculture. Flahive said in the last
couple years the interest in such volunteer
programs has grown a lot. Every decision
we make, from our approach to organic gar-
dening and reforestation, to our buildings
and resource management, aims to have a
beneficial effect on our local ecology, and
people everywhere are starting to realize
how important these ideas are.
Max Mohtrose, a student at Regis Uni-
versity in Denver who volunteered at the
Pura Suerte farm, said snakes have fascinat-
ed him since he was a child and he came to
Costa Rica because it has some 130 species.
The whole ecology stuff and sustain-
able farming is interesting, Max Mohtrose
said. But I came for the snakes ... Ive al-
ready seen three on my list.
metrospective
By ANDREW [email protected]
For more information on volunteer or
other educational tourism:
Pura Suerte :www.purasuerte.comCross Cultural Solutions
:www.crossculturalsolutions.orgGlobal Vision International
:www.gvi.co.ukInternational Volunteer Programs Association
:www.volunteerinternational.comInstitute for Spanish Language
Studies : www.isls.com
PhotobyANDREWFLOHRSPENCE/[email protected]
du
