Costa Rica Plastic Oceans Gap Year

Welcome to Costa Rica
Upon touchdown you will travel by bus and boat to the Nicoya Peninsula on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. Utterly beautiful so stay awake.

Your ultimate destination is the Jakera Camp, based in the lively beach town of Santa Teresa, world famous for surf breaks across beaches so pristine, uncrowded and seemingly endless that they are regularly listed in the World’s 10 Best Beaches.

After a day of surfing, sunbathing, Spanish lessons and volunteering, you’ll have time to explore the town which comes alive with funky surf shops, cafes, restaurants and nightspots for every taste and budget.

Accommodation

Jakera Camp
Your base in Santa Teresa will be at the house called Jakera Camp which is just a 10 min walk from the beach. This is a buzzing place - lots of bungalows dotted around the tropical gardens and central hub where you eat and chill out.
Single sex dorms, with bunk beds, western style WC and showers with hot and cold water.

While you are here you will meet other volunteers from all over Europe, creating a great social scene. You all live together but do separate projects.

Food

Breakfast and lunch only.
Dinner is not included. Most volunteers either eat in one of the local restaurants or cook whatever they want in the camp kitchen.

Settling in week
During your first week you'll combine Spanish lessons, designed to help you interact with the local community, with surf instruction, so you can take advantage of the beaches on your door step.

Spanish Lessons
You will have two x 45 minute Spanish lessons each weekday, tailored to suit all levels.

Surfing
A surf instructor will teach you the basic skills required to get you surf safe.

Spanish and Conservation
During these weeks you will combine Spanish with a mix of the following:

Beach and plastic projects
The beaches around Santa Teresa are stunning and have been awarded the "Blue Flag status" which enables them to get international recognition so they can attract more tourists and investment. However, keeping the standards high is an ongoing battle so your help is required with the community led, weekly beach clean-ups. In addition to this Leap volunteers help out at Bionics (a re-cycling centre set up by Pharrell Williams) with a mission of turning the plastic waste into consumer goods including clothes.

On other day you will help build recycling points along the beaches, paint signs and help with other inspiring plastic projects such as the Lego project which converts bottles into life guard towers and bottle tops into cool household accessories.

Turtle Conservation
Cirenas stands for 'The Centre for Investigation of Natural and Social Resources. They work in a number of special areas around Costa Rica to protect beaches, forests and rural communities. Through us you have the chance to help them on their Playa Manzanillo Sea Turtle Conservation Project along the coast from Santa Teresa. It is an utterly stunning reserve which includes a farm, forests, rivers and an untouched beach.

Protect and Conserve
Here you’ll be helping protect the eggs and hatchlings of Olive Ridley, Black Turtle, Hawksbill and Leatherback species, who visit this ‘semi-intensive’ nesting beach at night to nest. The main objective of the project is to protect adult female turtles and their nests, from human predators, wildlife and flooding.

You will spend 3 nights and 4 days here working for between 4-6 hours per day. Your jobs will include; hatchery maintenance, beach cleaning, night patrols to look for nesting female turtles (in season), transport of food and water, collection of data and releasing baby turtles in to the ocean (in season).

Accommodation

Cirenas' volunteer house is a rustic, cool bungalow just a 10 mins walk from their private beach. Bathrooms have flushing toilets and cold water showers.

Food

3 meals a day provided.

Turtle conservation continued
During this week you will refocus your time back onto the turtles who nest at the nearby beach of Playa Carmen. This is a community run project who always need help - or head to the remote turtle sanctuary at Samara Beach.

Here you will help identify the nests and escort the hatchlings down into the water when needed. Alongside directly helping with the turtles you'll also spend your time helping to conquer the huge amount of plastic pollution, keeping the beach environment free from litter and obstacles. As well as being dangerously consumed by the turtles, the plastic strewed on beaches can confuse and divert hatchlings trying to reach the water for the first time.

Venture Inland
Set on top of the spine of Costa Rica’s continental divide, Monteverde is a world above the coastal towns that dot the country's famous shoreline. It is a place of cloud forests, coffee plantations, monkeys, mist, and friendly locals. The town of Santa Elena is small and quaint, filled with tasty restaurants and folksy artisan shops, while the nearby rainforest hosts a remarkable amount of biodiversity.

Due to its high altitude – some 4,662 ft (1,440 m) above sea level – Monteverde is privileged to receive a steady supply of clouds and the life-giving moisture that they contain. This moisture, often in the form of fog, catches on the branches of the tallest trees and drips down to the other organisms below. This helps to support a complex and far-reaching ecosystem, one that harbours over 100 species of mammals, 400 species of birds, tens of thousands of insect species, and over 2,500 varieties of plants, 420 of which are orchids alone.

Trek and Zip Wire Under The Canopy
You will have the chance to explore this internationally recognised environment from trails and trams, along canopy tours or inside museums.

On a daily basis you will walk and explore this amazing location - 2 guided half day hikes are included on day 2 and 3. There are also some amazing optional extra activities like their famous zip wire, horse riding and a coffee tour.

It is a 6-8 hour drive from Santa Teresa, which includes a 2 hour ferry. You will spend about 3 nights, 4 days here during this week.

Accommodation

Guest house in dorm style rooms. Bathrooms, with hot showers.

Food

Breakfast and lunch only.

Dinner will be extra in one of the local restaurants.

One happy social bubble
On arrival the team will talk you through the camp and town rules, so you know what is expected of you, so you stay safe and limit the chance of infection or transmission to you or others.

If at any point you feel unwell with any covid symptoms (flu like feelings, loss of taste/smell, new continuous cough etc) you need to let the staff know immediately so they can take the necessary action, get you tested and isolated in camp if required.

As you know there is always a risk of catching covid, which the FCDO advice highlights, but by following these instructions you minimise the risk to yourself and others in your team. Respectful teamwork with regard following covid protocol has never been so important, to protect you and others, in order to also avoid covid disrupting your or anyone else’s program.

Please note: If anyone consistently flounces the covid safety rules, undermining the team’s safety, then you may be asked to leave the program with no refund.