Visions Service Adventures

Please note: Costa Rica is available for Custom Programs only.  VISIONS can customize week and longer programs to Costa Rica on a year round basis.

Nowhere else in such a small area of the world is there such diversity of flora, fauna and natural habitats. Costa Rica’s position in the Western Hemisphere made it the link for millions of years between North and South America for animal species and eco-systems, and for the earliest humans and ancient cultures.

Costa Rica has the highest standard of living and education rate in Central America due largely to tourism and the absence of political upheaval. Even so, economic pressures, unemployment, poverty, and limited access to formal education persist. With nearly a quarter of the national budget earmarked for foreign debt payments, educational programs and environmental regulations, so critical to preserving Costa Rica's beauty, suffer from under-funding. And a growing ex-pat population has driven up the cost of living.

While accustomed to Westernization, Ticos maintain a culture that is pura vida, as they say. Kind and open, ready with stories and willing to listen, unhurried, ever-patient Ticos go about their lives holding friendships, family, community, and laughter as the standards of a good and pure life.

Costa Rica's charms are the small towns with few roads, one little shop, and only a couple places to eat. Despite well traveled tourist paths, one can as easily find a completely out-of-the way spot absent of tourists. It's relatively simple still to stray off the beaten track to a little place serving gallo pinto con salsa lizano and all the fresh fruit you can eat.

Ticos are mindful of their relationship with nature and display an evident awareness of environmental issues (cab drivers discuss global warming with their fares, for example). Whether through protecting sea turtles, planting trees to create a forested corridor from mid-Costa Rica to Nicaragua, building potable water systems or organic community gardens, VISIONS groups discover how Ticos approach the fine balance between human activity and the environment.

VISIONS works in two locations in Costa Rica. Quelonios del Caribe, a remote sea turtle reserve accessed by boat, is located on the Caribbean coast. Roberto and Maytsi Solano operate this small protection effort, which VISIONS assists through beach patrols, collecting and recording sea turtle data, by building or renovating hatcheries and other structures. The second of VISIONS' program locations is San Ramon de Guayaba, Roberto and Maytsi's home village, located on the edge of Guayaba National Park in Cartago Province, a central mountainous region. Service projects there mix construction, renovation, organic gardening, farming and more.  Whether in Quelonios, San Ramon, or a blend of both, VISIONS groups can plan on working, exploring and relaxing with Roberto, Maytsi, their children, and other Tico friends.

Recreation and exploration can include rafting, jungle trekking, touring canals, visiting small towns, hot springs, waterfalls, organic farms and nature preserves.