Carolina, our Projects Supervisor, showing off a great placement in Liberia, which was painted last year by Projects Abroad volunteers!

My first experience in international volunteering and living with a host family was in Costa Rica at the age of 15, so I was thrilled to re-visit this beautiful country as a Projects Abroad staff member. Costa Rica is an amazing place with endless opportunities for volunteers. Our office is based in Liberia, the largest city in the Northwest, though coming from New York Liberia is actually quite a small town. Any concerns I had about finding my way around a place with no street signs and no street names, where addresses consist of number of meters from a landmark or shop, were immediately eradicated on my first walk around town. Everything is centered around the main plaza, and the straight streets and small city are very easy to navigate and learn.

The main street in Liberia

The Projects Abroad staff members here are really wonderful, fun people and I am having a great time getting to know them and visiting projects and host families in the area. Not only do we have projects in the city itself but also in surrounding small towns and villages, which are beautiful quiet places that are really in need of the help of our volunteers.

I’m really excited about all of the wonderful programs here in Costa Rica, in particular the new English teaching program we are offering in Liberia to students of any age and ability. The community has responded really well to this initiative and we already have many people signed up to learn English with our volunteers. This will be a really great service to the community who offer our volunteers so much in the form of incredible host families (and the amazing meals they cook for volunteers). Who knew rice and beans could be so good?

Needless to say, Costa Rica has amazing opportunities to travel on weekends or vacation after volunteers, and I’m really looking forward to visiting the volcanoes and beaches on my days off!

Jessye and Carmen visiting Lomas Barbudal, a Conservation program site

By Jessye Crowe-Rothstein

In England the 5th of November is celebrated to commemorate the day Guy Fawks attempted to blow up parliament. But at Taricaya we celebrate the day for two other reasons, firstly the celebration of the day we release our baby Taricaya turtles back into the wild.

During a day of heavy rain we took 992 Turtles back to the beach where we collected them (Playa Alta) where the Turtles made their way down the bank to the river and off to freedom!

Three of the Turtles making the short trek down the river bank to the wild river!

November 5th is also Taricaya’s (The lodge not turtles this time) Anniversary! This year we celebrated six years, which made me think about what we have achieved in this time.

- Over the course of the last 6 years we have received approximately 600 volunteers.
- Created around 40km of trails (Which need to be maintained every few months)
- Built 20 buildings, including 7 platforms – including the highest canopy walkway in South America.
- Identified 56 species of mammals, 359 species of birds, 42 species of amphibian, 54 species of reptile and 110 species of butterfly.
- Released 130 animals back into the wild and rescued and released 2028 Taricaya turtles in three years.

We are now working with seven farmers and communities developing projects that we have tested in the farm. We have also made the new farm self-sustaining and increased profits from 0 soles to an average of 834 soles per month.

Pretty amazing work, I am sure you all hope, just like us, that the next six year will be just as amazing!

Our Taricaya Birthday cake in the shape of a turtle, which was absolutely AMAZING!! Thank you Maria!

- Richard Munday

Volunteers with kids in Phnom Penh

n true Projects Abroad fashion my trip to Cambodiawas quite last minute! Before I knew it I was sat on the floor of Bangkok airport waiting for my connecting flight to Phnom Penh (and judging by Ian’s blog comments regarding airport preferences, I would totally agree that it is in fact the cleanest airport I have ever been in).

Now, throughout my time at Projects Abroad I have heard numerous stories about the ’Kingdom of Cambodia’ from our ex-volunteer’s and my colleagues, but not once did anyone hasten to add that my main form of transport would be via moto-taxi (baring in mind I am one of those people that refuses to go anywhere near a motorbike!! I might be a speed demon on four wheels but put me on two and you are asking for trouble!).

Moto-bikes in Phnom Penh

The bustling metropolis that is Phnom Penh was just as I expected – loud, busy and full of adventure. Despite my initial fear of the traffic, I very quickly took to Phnom Penh and the Cambodian people. The main purpose of my visit was to work with our staff team, to further develop our Khmer Project and a new staff role. Khmer cultural traditions are an integral part of Cambodian history and still very prevalent in today’s Cambodian society. Of the 10 million people, 90%of them are ethnic Khmers. Our Khmer project volunteer’s have the chance to learn the language (I think I managed about one word!!!), take part in local puppetry, Khmer painting, silk weaving as well as time spent working at the many ancient temples in Siem Reap.

Petro, the Country Director and I, managed to fit in a trip to Siem Reap during the latter part of my trip. After all, it would be a travesty to go to Cambodia and not witness the architectural masterpiece that is Angkor Wat. As a Khmer project volunteer you would spend time at a number of the Khmer temples in the region, as well as working directly with the APSARA authority, (in charge of all Cambodian heritage sites) to conserve and restore many of the ancient statues and ruins. Siem Reap offers a light relief from time to time for our volunteer’s who wish to escape the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh. The air feels cleaner, the temperature cooler and I was extremely pleased to see….far fewer moto -taxis!!!

Petro at Angkor Wat

Fayes tells us after the jump about one of the most unique things she has ever eaten

Unfortunately, my time in Siem Reap was short lived. There is only one road back to Phnom Penh and not that long ago it was still dirt road. However, I was pretty thankful for the invention of tarmac, when Petro started overtaking on corners at 90mph (I think we call them blind corners for a reason!!). I don’t know about you, but in England a traditional car journey treat might be a bag of sweets to share, so you can imagine my shock when we stopped on the side of the road to buy two cans of coke and a bag of spiders!!!! I think I can officially add that to my list of bizarre foods (and funnily enough, I differed with the opinion that ‘it just tastes like chicken!!).

Faye eating a you-know-what

The majority of Cambodian families all sleep in the one bed (I hope that’s King size!), so if you choose to volunteer with us in Cambodia then you will be living in one of our volunteer apartment’s right in the centre of Phnom Penh. Sophan, our Assistant Country Manager and Nareth, our Desk Officer are frequent house guests and along with the other staff members in the team work incredibly hard to make sure our volunteer’s enjoy their time in Cambodia. I managed to squeeze in visiting as many of our volunteer’s as possible on our Care, Teaching and Medical programmes.

Volunteers at Apartment 1

I have to admit of all the countries I’ve been to; I instantly warmed to Cambodia. The countries recovery from the effects of war, genocide and the virtual elimination of its skilled workforce has been slow, but steady, and you cannot help but be humbled by the kindness of the Khmer people.

-Faye Stickings

Team North America: Rob, Tom, Will and Kelsy

We are trying to make the concept of “Cultural Dinner Night” a tradition here at the New York office of Projects Abroad. Every month or so we go to a restaurant featuring the food of one of our destination countries, with the purpose of getting out of the office but also learning about one of our countries through its cuisine.

Last night the featured country was Sri Lanka. Jessye couldn’t make it since she was in Costa Rica but we had the pleasure of Rob Levine, the Director of Canada, joining us as he was in New York for a short stop over after visiting our programs in Peru.

We ate at Sigiri (see-gih-REE-yah) a Sri Lankan restaurant in the East Village and sampled a lot of dishes from the dhal vade (friend lentil patties with Sri Lankan spices) to several different curries! Below are my delicious aapa or hoppers which are bowl shaped rice pancakes and are great for spooning up some black curry.

What is your favorite Sri Lankan food?

My aapa or hoppers