Parque Ambiental Municipal RIO LORO | ACICR10-20 | 2023-03-03 - 2024-03-03 | ENVI,EDU | Age: 18 - 99

The Municipality Environmental Park “Rio Loro” is located in the Central Mountain Range of Costa Rica at approximately 1200 meters above the sea level and consists of 23 hectares of land. The creation of the park was an initiative of the Running Water Technical Commission of the Municipality of Cartago, with the aim of protecting the springs that provide running water to the nearby communities and also to offer environmental education and a place for leisure for the people of these communities and of city of Cartago. The park protects a very important water spring that supplies drinking water to the communities of Ochomogo, Loyola and Quircot, from the district of San Nicolás in the province of Cartago. During the school year (from March to November) the park receives groups of elementary school students. Over the weekends and during the “summer” vacation (from December to April) the park receives visitors that come to spend the day with their families and friends. The park furthermore has a butterfly garden with the purpose of preservation, reproduction and ecological education, as well as two composts where organic residue can be used sustainably throughout the park. Objectives: -Conservation of the water resource and the biodiversity of the region. -Environmental Education. -To be a spare time area for the local people. Services: -Protection of local water resource. -Information about the local ecosystem. -Butterfly, Snakes and Turtles Hatchery Zoo. -Bird watching Tower. -Trails in the park. -Picnic area. -Multi functional court field. -Children Playground. Description of the living situation: All volunteers who support RIO LORO will be living in Local Host Families from the nearest main city which in this case, it is the city of CARTAGO, located in the east side of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. These families will supply all needed food and lodging to all volunteers.

Work: Volunteers would be working in: -Management and maintenance (direct work in the field) in the Little Land Turtle´s Pond, the Sneak Pond and the Butterfly Garden. -Maintenance of trails and green areas in the park. -Construction and reparation of small bridges into the trails for public use. -Maintenance of the infrastructure of the project, building facilities, stairs and ranches in the park. -General cleaning of the infrastructure. -Support in environmental education activities towards the local community (local schools for example). -Reforestation Campaign in the community. -Cleaning the local rivers in the community. -Design of multimedia material (articles, posts, short videos, testimonials, online interviews, etc). -Design of an Awareness Campaign to support the local conservation of the biodiversity of flora and fauna of the region on national level and Management of Solid Waste.

Accomodation and food: (X) Hosting situation provided by Local Family. ( ) Hosting situation provided by the Project. There are 2 host local families in the City of Cartago. Volunteers will have their own room.

Location: CartagoCartagoProvinceCostaRica

Location and Leisure: RIO LORO is located about 30 minutes away by driving from the City of Cartago. Cartago is one of the 4 main and biggest cities together with San José (the capital city), located in the Central Valley Area of Costa Rica or what we call the Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica. Cartago then has all facilities and services from a regular middle – big city. Hospitals, Medical Facilities, Supermarkets, Banks, ATMs, Cinemas, Shopping Malls, Restaurants and Cafeterias, Sport Facilities and many other places are available.

Airport: SJO

Train/Bus station: Volunteers will be picked up at the airport.

Requirements:  Has to be an honest, positive, organized, punctual and structured person. (Very important).  The volunteer should enjoy working with environmental topics.  Proactivity is a must.  Creative and motivated person.  Interest in intercultural issues.  Leadership Skills.  Good attitude.  Open to flexibility of schedules.  The volunteer needs to be willing to work in a natural environment and to work physically.  To be respectful towards the internal rules the project.  To love nature as the main goal of this project is the protection of water resource and nature.  To be very flexible and to do different tasks during the day which may involve cleaning as volunteers may be also responsible of taking care of the park.

Volunteers will be picked up at the airport.

Language: esp

Extra Fee: 300 USD

Rio Loro is a permanent project, so they receive volunteers all year long. They have a capacity of around 4 volunteers per week and there are no limitations in the number of female or male volunteers, but yes, we recommend volunteers to be adults (+18).