My first few days WWOOFing

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I arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica, at around noon on July 25th with the intention of finding a bus to take to Ciudad Colon to begin WWOOFing. I was a bit nervous. San Jose can be dangerous, and the bus station is located in an area nicknamed the "red zone" due to all of the muggings and pickpocketings that occur. Being a gringo is enough to make one stand out in San Jose, and the enormous backpack I was hauling made me feel like even more of a spectacle. I walked quickly and stuck to more crowded streets and was able to reach the bus station without any trouble.

A cab driver talked me into buying a ride from him. This cost me $20 as opposed to the 50 cents that the bus would have cost, but apparently there had been a car crash and the bus was like 3 hours late. The cab dropped me off at a restaurant about a half kilometer from "downtown" Ciudad Colon, and I walked for about 35 minutes into the countryside to the farm. Robert, the owner, had emailed me very specific directions, so I had no trouble finding my way.

Alex, a British traveler working here, unlocked the gate and introduced me to everyone. There are 10 people at the farm, but only 6 of us are travelers.

I was taken on a quick tour of the property. The farm is set on something like 4 acres, and is mostly taken up by different fruit trees and vegetable beds. The back side of the property is bordering the rainforest, and there is a very steep path leading down to a river that can be followed to a waterfall. In the back corner of the property is a little wooden structure that is great for getting away for some peace and quiet. From there we walked past beautiful flowers and banana trees to get back to the main area. This main area consists of a pool, a kitchen, Robert's house, and the warehouse that the workers sleep in. The warehouse is attached to Robert's house and has some mattresses, clotheslines, a ping-pong table, and other basic things. I strung up my hammock and organized my stuff in a corner.

Soon after, I met Robert. He is a very nice man, and possesses an incredible amount of knowledge about plants. However, he doesn't hang around us workers (he calls us students) very much, so it will be a while before I can comment farther on him.

Everyone wrapped up work soon after this (around 1:30), and we sat around in the kitchen and talked and ate. The food is good and plentiful. Most of it is grown on the farm, but some things like cereal are provided for us. We generally cook it as a group as we hang out.

I spent the rest of the day walking around Ciudad Colon with a couple of the girls here, and then reading a book in my hammock back at the farm.

The next morning, my first day of work, I woke around 7:15. There is no official time we need to start working; as long as we get a decent amount of work in before it begins to rain (mid afternoon) Robert is happy. Given my lack of prior farming experience, I was a bit apprehensive about my ability to work productively. This, however, was not a problem. After eating breakfast and looking over Robert's job list, Alex and I went out to build some vegetable beds. The vegetable beds were one of the larger tasks assigned to us, but it was one that Alex could easily teach me.

Alex and I spent probably an hour and a half digging up weeds, tilling the soil, and hauling manure to the area we were working on. My hands began to blister a bit, but it was good hard work, the sun was shining, and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. When we were finished with the first two beds, Alex went to work on another project and I began building the other beds on my own.

Work finished at about 1 o'clock when Alex, Allie, Michael, Brookes, and I decided to try to attempt a jungle hike to find a waterfall. The hike out of the back of Robert's farm was perilously steep, but some past worker had rigged it with rope and bamboo to make it a bit easier. After the steep part we followed a trail to a river at the bottom of the valley, then began to pick our way upriver by jumping from rock to rock. We proceeded this way for about an hour and a half through gorgeous, vibrantly green hills and a myriad of miniature waterfalls. Finally, the valley's sides transformed into higher cliffs, and I began to hear the roar of water. Rambunctious lime-green parakeets flew above us as they headed to their nests in the cliffs. I rounded a bend in the river to see the waterfall tumbling 150 feet or so into a clear pool of water. The impact created a cool misty wind that blew over us as we all stripped down and went for a swim. The cool water felt fantastic after a long day of work and a sweaty hike.

On the hike back it began to pour rain. As I was slipping in the mud attempting to climb the steep hill at the back of Robert's property, with the world suffused in water and green plants, it really hit me how awesome this place is.

Back at the farm, we found a tarp and some dish soap and created a slip-and-slide. This kept us occupied for the remainder of the storm, and then the weather cleared and we went for a swim in Robert's .

An hour or so later we had dinner and rather spontaneously decided to have a party. Alex is leaving on Saturday and one of the lady's didn't have to watch her daughter, so we decided we had enough excuses. A couple of them went to town and purchased a pretty ridiculous amount of rum and Costa Rican beer, and we spent the rest of the night playing circle of death and swimming in the pool as the Tico handyman, Henry, DJed us with his music. It was a blast.

Today was not a blast. We all woke around 11 a.m. Everyone was incredibly hung over, and only two of us did any work. Most of the people had been there long enough to take a day off, but I felt that I had to work since today was only my second day. I chugged some water, grabbed my ipod, and started building a compost pile. It was not complicated work, but it was a bit strenuous. I started by turning over all of the grass in the area, then using a wheelbarrow to bring rich soil over. I then went and mucked the chicken coup, shoveling all of their disgusting crap into the wheelbarrow and adding it to the compost pile. Finally, I used a machete to cut down a bunch of grass that I used to create a "clean" floor for the chicken coup.

And that's about it so far. Normally I would supplement this information with thoughts, but I am exhausted and have been on my computer for too long.

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Comments

[Emma Macey]

WWOOFing in Costa Rica in Jan 14
Hi There, Your post is wonderful. Thanks for sharing your experience! I will be WWOOFing in Costa Rica in Jan and am going to Robert's farm in Feb. Do you have any advice for me before I go/ anymore feedback about what to expect on Robert's farm? Do you have any other recommendations for farms? I hope to hear from you soon! Thank you!! Emma

[jctksu]

Emma, really my biggest piece of advice would be to just soak it in. I'm in Nicaragua right now, and I have worked on different farms all through Mexico and Central America, and I haven't come across another farm that quite has what Robert's farm has. There is so much opportunity for learning, healthy living, and just plain fun. Of course, a lot of your experience will depend on the other volunteers who are working there with you, but places like Robert's farm tend to attract good, adventurous, like-minded people. So soak it in! Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll do what I can to help.