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• You are here: Home | AV Ventures | Costa Rica Venture | Itinerary

Itinerary - Africa and Asia Venture

Itinerary

ARRIVING IN COSTA RICA

The group flight departs from London Heathrow and will be seen off by one of the AV team. You will fly into fly into Costa Rica's capital, San Jose, arriving in the late afternoon/early evening, and be met by our representative. You will be taken to the language school in Centro Panamericano de Idiomas in San Joaquin de Flores, close to the international airport.

You will have your first briefing with the AV representative. This will cover the essentials, a guide to the area you will be living in and what will be happening over the next few days. At the end of this briefing your homestay families will arrive to collect you.  All the families have been carefully selected and offer a warm welcome to AV volunteers. You will spend the weekend getting to know them and settling into your new home before returning to the Spanish school for the start of lessons on Monday morning.

ORIENTATION + SPANISH COURSE

In Central and South America a basic grasp of Spanish goes a long way, not only when travelling but it will also be useful when living at the Pacuare turtle lodge. To help you the first three weeks of the project are spent living with homestay families in San Jose and attending Spanish school each day. The orientation course will run alongside your Spanish lessons, with briefings on Costa Rican history and culture, safety and options for the independent travel phase of the venture.

You will stay as an individual with a family and immerse yourself deep into the life (and language!) of the Costa Ricans. From Monday to Friday, by day, you will join the others in your group and attend three to four hours of Spanish at the level appropriate to you - absolute beginner to advanced. The rest of the teaching days are spent in the city doing some practical exercises, to bring on your confidence, and your evenings will be spent with your family or out on the town with the other AV volunteers and friends you will make.

THE PROJECT

At the end of the Spanish course you will start the volunteer phase of the venture at the Pacuare Turtle Lodge. AV has joined forces to work in partnership with Rainforest Concern and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, supporting their efforts to protect the great leather back and green turtles. The project takes place during the laying season on the Caribbean coast at Pacuare - the most important turtle beach in the country.  Working under the direction of biologists, you will keep overnight vigil, collect data, monitor birth sites and, perhaps, even help deliver the eggs.

The morning after your language course finishes, with all of you now speaking pretty good Spanish, the whole group will head off to Pacuare - a 3 hour journey. You will disembark at La Rocha jetty and board a boat for the last 30 minutes of your trip into Pacuare Turtle Lodge, overlooking the Caribbean.

After the initial familiarisation, you will spend a day on induction and briefings so that you have a clear understanding of the history, culture and customs of the people you will be living with and an introduction to turtle conservation. Your main task over the next two weeks will be night beach patrols, which can take between three to five hours depending on the number of turtles coming in to lay eggs.

Always accompanied by guides or biologists you could help measure or tag turtles, and also count eggs as they are laid. If the turtle has already laid her eggs, you will help try to disguise the nest from poachers. If she has still to lay her eggs, these may be collected in a bag while she lays and then placed in an artificial nest that is dug nearby, which can be more easily camouflaged from poacher.

There will be time for educational workshops on turtles and a chance for you to help tidy up the reserve - clearing the beach and even painting murals.