Central America can be a very inexpensive place to live and travel. Check out our tips for how to travel on a budget and find the best accommodations below.
Stories from the places we visited to give you a feel for the area.
Volunteering is a great way to get to know a country and its people. Here are a few opportunities that we enjoyed.
In Costa Rica, we explored Tortuguero, a town with no cars, slide down into a volcano walked beaches and watched sloths climb trees. It’s a jungle out there!
As we turned the corner into San Jose’s red zone, a woman with her eyes to the sky staggered toward us. She wore years of hardship on her face and a hopelessness to her gait. I’m sure the three older women that we were with could protect us. At least they wanted to. They did not need to be here either, but they wanted to help feed the children in the red zone.
I was carrying a bag of cupcakes that our host, Ana, baked the night before. Trin carried a bag of children’s clothes that were being donated by Ana and her sister, Frances, who also was with us. Together with Juanita, who was our contact to the soup kitchen, all five of us progressed further into what is locally known as the Zona Roja in San Jose.
We walked past the two men sleeping on the sidewalk which smelled of urine. Vendors cluttered the streets and garbage lay where it was thrown. This zone is seemingly left to rot on its own.
I pulled out my iPhone to take some pictures, but Frances gestured to keep it out of sight. “Muy peligroso,” she said in a low tone. She has an edge to her that, at first, I could not put a finger on, until I found out later that she lives in Ticoblock, a tiny neighborhood that itself could be considered a red zone in the suburb of Guadalupe.
Another woman stormed by stoned out of her mind in a bikini top and short jean skirt. A liquor bottle was stuffed in her waistband. Her skin was leather and hung on her frame like it was an old coat, instead of being part of her body. A man with clothes twice his size that dragged ragged around his bare feet stood up from where he was lounging against a soot-covered wall and stumbled toward the garbage can to look for his lunch.
Juanita stopped and knocked on a metal door squeezed between two storefronts, right across Terminal 7-10. Eventually, someone opened the door and we followed a man up a dark stairwell.
Looking out over the rusted rooftops at the edge of the red zone.
Upstairs was a small meeting room and a kitchen where lunch would be made for the forgotten children of the red zone. I swept the kitchen floor and then began to mop. It was a hot day, and there was no airflow. Sweat dripped from my face. Trin was washing dishes when he heard a noise above his head. He looked up toward a hole in the roof where a stray cat poked its head down and meowed at him.
Trin chopping tomatoes with Ana. Her sister Frances cooking a meal at the stove. Juanita, our third guide is at the sink.
Frances took over the mopping for me while we sat down with the director. He told us about how they are trying to keep children off the street and help drug addicts get clean. They also work with an indigenous group in Northern Costa Rica. These are people devoted to helping those who are forgotten or overlooked by society. Loving people where they are, not stopping to ask if a choice or uncontrolled circumstances got them there.
Mopping the floor with a curious cat watching
At noon, the children came and gathered in the meeting area where they sang worship songs and the pastor spoke to them. Then we ushered the children to the meal area where they enjoyed the meals that we prepared and the cupcakes that Ana baked. We sent them home with the donated clothes.
Despite our foray into the red zone, we had a much better impression of San Jose this week than we did five months ago when we were here for the first stage of Trin’s dental implant surgery.
There are probably a few reasons for this:
First, the Airbnb home where we are staying is much better than the run-down cheap hostel that we stayed in the first time.
The bed barely fit in the squalid little room of CRLove where we stayed four months ago. The host admitted to us that she did not like customers.
In fact, I think we found the best deal in town and it feels like home. We are staying with Ana who has a quick and easy laugh and a kind persona, and her wonderful family in a tranquil gated neighborhood.
The home of Ana in San Jose. The best deal in town. The nicest host.
Second, we were also able to see more of the nice parks in San Jose.
Plaza de la Cultura, San Jose
Third, Trin was in pain when he had his jaw drilled. This visit is much more exciting as the dental crowns were installed and he is able to eat on both sides of his mouth for the first time in six months.
Trin and his dental impressions
Lastly, maybe because the first time we came here, it was directly from the US, while this time we came to San Jose after two and a half months in Nicaragua. I always try to be objective in each new place we visit but it is difficult to keep all subconscious comparisons from influencing my perception.
Teatro Nacional in San Jose
It’s all about perspective. Seeing past all the noise that often obstructs our viewpoints and seeing people for who they really are.
In Costa Rica, we explored Tortuguero, a town with no cars, slide down into a volcano walked beaches and watched sloths climb trees. It’s a jungle out there!
Read about our first week in the refugio here.
The Spanish word Solté means let go. In this refuge, you can let go of everything, including the sense of fashion as Trin did. He has his shorts and shirt on inside out. He is spray-painting the dining room chairs black with an air compressor.
He’s been dodging raindrops to try and get some of the 40 plus chairs painted black. The previous day I just finished priming most of them with white KILZ primer.
The lounge chairs are done along with the end tables and bunk beds. We are just waiting on a final can of varnish to finish the plywood bottoms of each bed.
One day, while Trin was sanding the bunk bed and I was varnishing after him, Wim came walking by with a couple bags of groceries. I was surprised to see him as I didn’t hear the jeep (and it can definitely be heard clearly in this solitude!). He said that his jeep didn’t make it up the hill and he wanted to know if we could help pull him out with the Land Cruiser which we have come to call the tank.
Trin was more than happy to help. We drove partway down the mountain to a very steep and slick part of the mud and gravel road. We attached a tow cable to the frames of both vehicles. Trin backed up the hill with the tank and pulled Wim’s jeep out and up the hill. Trin got to drive the tank up the rest of the steep slopes leading to the refuge. He had a blast.
On Friday morning we took advantage of the sunny day and the opportunity to catch a ride into town and spent the day in Playa Uvita. We walked to the beach and out onto the whale’s tail-shaped section. On the narrow part of the tail, there are waves coming at you from both sides.
We swam and enjoyed the sunshine. It was a hot day and the beach sand was also hot to the feet. The water was warm but refreshing. I floated in the surf for a while just enjoying a bit of a cool down in the water.
When it was time to go back, we decided to hike up the mountain back to Refugio, just for kicks. It’s an anaerobic cardio workout straight up the mountain. Partway up the dirt road, we hitchhiked in a passing Honda CRV for about half a mile, until we had to disembark to take a turnoff for the steeper part of the road.
We were racing against the onset of nighttime at this point. The sun had gone from the horizon with only its fast-fading reflection against the darkening sky illuminating our path. We had a flashlight but at that moment it was sitting uselessly on the bedside table. With still about 2 kilometers to go in the thick woods, we quickened our pace even more. We started to feel raindrops against our skin. We turned a corner, looked up and, impossibly, there stood Wim.
He had just dropped off the Tico who mowed the lawn that day (with a Weed Wacker). The guy wrecked his dirt bike on the way up the mountain and couldn’t get all the way to Refugio so Wim picked him up with the tank. Later that day Wim dropped him off where he left his bike. Just on a whim (ha!), Wim decided to walk just a bit of a way down to see if we might be close. And that’s how we ended up having a ride for the steepest part of the trail. By the time we arrived at Refugio rain was pouring. We had an awesome day but were so glad to be home and it truly feels like home here.
Later during our stay, we got to interact with Marianne, Wim’s wife. She was bedridden for a few days due to an operation. She was affable, funny, and prone to quick outbursts of laughter whenever she talked.
We also got to know the two interns, Rachel and Saralyn. Rachel is taking a gap year after high school and was volunteering as a nanny to the director’s children via a Christian nanny organization. Next year she will be going to New Zealand for a Christian mission camp.
Saralyn has been with the Refugio for almost a year. She knows her way in the kitchen and also made use of a lot of the indigenous fruits and herbs growing around Refugio, like lemons, limes, lemongrass and cilantro (she makes an excellent Gallo pinto). She talked about setting up a food truck when she returns to the United States. Both Saralyn and Rachel were a pleasure to meet and get to know a bit. Very sweet strong girls.
There’s a lot of wildlife that hangs out near Refugio. Throughout the days we would hear the loud howler monkeys and got to see them up close as well. There were also a variety of Toucans that would fly from tree to tree around the Refuge.
There’s a coati that roams around the place. Coatis belong to the raccoon family. They could get aggressive if you feed them and they demand more.
Whenever we walked between buildings at night, we carried a machete just in case.
This has been an enjoyable first experience with WorkAway. Refugio Solté is truly a special place.
In Costa Rica, we explored Tortuguero, a town with no cars, slide down into a volcano walked beaches and watched sloths climb trees. It’s a jungle out there!
It is 5am. The windows lay wide open allowing a breeze to fill the room with the fragrance of the jungle. It is already light outside but the clouds still hang low in a blanket over the top of the towering trees. The waterfall up the hill from our cabin creates a constant soothing background to howler monkeys in the distance. The Toucans and a myriad of other birds singing of the dawn.
Something falls to the metal roof above. Could be dropped by a bird, a tree branch, or sometimes monkeys throw stuff at us. A gecko runs across the screen as I gaze outside. I’ve always loved geckos, till they started leaving turds on our bed. Here I make the bed every day. Not only for the geckos but it also seems to help keep the dampness out of the sheets and pillow. Geckos are still cute.
A smell almost as bad as a skunk woke me up last night. Just a few wild boars wandering by, Wim told us later. With very little human noise the animals seem very comfortable wandering through the lawn and nearby trees.
Eleven days ago we got off a bus in the little town of Uvita de Osa Peninsula, known for its beach shaped like a whale’s tail.
The BM grocery store sat across the street from the station. We filled our cart with all the food we would need for a week. After purchasing our supplies, we pushed the cart outside where we met up with a guy named Wim. He greeted us and pointed to a green 1980’s era Toyota Land Cruiser where we could put our stuff. He ducked into the BM to pick up some groceries of his own.
The Land Cruiser was missing a fender. Ferns clung to the corner of the passenger window where the mirror used to be. Mud decorated the sides and was caked into the tires. Insulation from inside was gone, leaving behind was seemed like a metal tank. I grew excited about the next leg of this journey.
Wim appeared again with a few grocery bags. He then stopped at a bakery for bread and the gas station to get some gas for the generator. The refuge runs off solar panels, however, when it rains for days in a row the generator is a great backup.
We headed out of town. Eventually taking a right onto a dirt road that went up a mountain.
A local guy standing at the corner hollered something as we turned. We stopped and made room for him in the back seat next to me. It is a brutal hill to climb. We dropped him off two miles up the road where we turned into the jungle onto a small very steep rutted dirt road.
With 4WD engaged, we bounced and bounded up the mountain twisting turning and slipping. What a blast! Eventually, we arrived at a huge gate signifying our entrance into Refugio Solte. There we descended into a secluded refuge were we would spend the next couple weeks.
We found Refugio Solté through Workaway.org, a website that brings hosts and volunteers together for various efforts often in exchange for lodging. We applied to this one and were excited to get an invitation.
Wim and his wife Marianne have been at the jungle refuge for about five months now overseeing the upkeep of the place as guests come and go. They quit their jobs in the Netherlands to heed the call of God and do missionary work full time. They sold all their stuff, packed up their bags and their cute little dog named Tosha, and flew to Costa Rica.
Trin and I arrived just after one of the last groups for the season had gone. The place serves as a venue for retreats and ministry training.
New lounge chairs, coffee tables, and bunk beds had just been handcrafted and donated the prior week. They needed to be varnished before the moisture and bugs consumed them. Over 40 chairs had also been purchased that needed to be painted.
We originally signed on for five days to help with this task. But we were loving it so much here and there was so much work still to do we stayed on a bit longer.
Nights here are perfect for sleeping. A cool breeze blows through the windows and the darkness is complete. Both Trin and I love it very dark at night. We even cover the little laptop power cord indicator lights with electrical tape, as they are too bright.
We also had time to explore. Just up the mountain from Refugio Solté was supposed to be a beautiful clearing that provided great views of the entire beach. One foggy afternoon we headed up the mountain hoping to get a good view. The fog kept us cool as we climbed the steep path up.
The clouds resting in the valley gave the world a peaceful feeling. Then a breeze picked up and opened a path in the clouds giving us a brief glimpse of the ocean below. We waited as the path swept back and forth then opened up the view for us.
We loved the view so much we made the climb again on another day that promised a clear sky.
Just that morning we discussed staying for another week to help with the work. More on that in our next post.
