Cultivating Communities’ Costa Rica program provides a purposeful travel experience in the green foothills of the Valle Central (Central Valley).   All programs include educational, cultural, and recreational elements, resulting in a visit that is full, challenging, and rewarding.   Accommodation and meals, Spanish classes (two hours daily), in-country facilitation, transportation, usually by local bus, and park entrance and tour fees are included.   Choose from the two-week program , the one-month program , or contact us for other options.   In each program, we work with our local partners in La Flor to accomplish projects that benefit the community in the areas of sustainable agriculture (organic gardening and Permaculture design), alternative building techniques, municipal green projects, and community economic development.   The educational element of Cultivating Communities programs includes Spanish classes,  edu-sessions on topics that relate to sustainability and the program projects; and of course field work – the guts and glory of the program. Of course, there’s no such thing as too much time for recreation and exploration.  We’ll step out of La Flor on numerous occasions – to the Volcan Irazu , to Finca Cristina , a local coffee farm and mill, and to the Tapanti rain forest , and other places, depending on your chosen program.  And we schedule free time galore, as well as offerings like movie nights, fire pit celebrations, yoga sessions, football (soccer) in the plaza, and jogging, biking and hiking. Participants stay with local families in their homes – an excellent way to practice your Spanish. Our families provide at least three meals a day (sometimes snacks!), a comfortable room, and laundry service if required.  This home-stay program forms the basis of the cultural experience of Cultivating Communities.  The residents of La Flor are abundantly warm and welcoming.  Share the food that they’ve grown, and see the village through their eyes.  Be a part of their every day life.  The projects that Cultivating Communities participants work on are projects and ideas that host families or other residents have proposed.  We want you to go home feeling like you really know your hosts, like you really get La Flor and the Costa Rican culture and understand just how the projects you worked on create sustainability within it. You will always be remembered by your host family; this is an opportunity to create lasting bonds with them and others.  Immersing yourself in a home-stay experience like this is one of the most rewarding ways to travel.  Enjoy. Learn more…