What a lousy piece of news to receive at the beginning of my last week. The Costa Rican Institute of Tourism opted not to renew its contract to place a CREST teacher in Puerto Jimenez for the next term. I know these things happen. The tourist season was slow this year, with the recession. I’m [...]
Posts Tagged ‘community development’
“When are you coming back?”
To go away is to die a little, it is to die to that which one loves. Everywhere and always, one leaves behind a part of oneself. – Edmund Haraucourt Field work requires comfort with transience. Many development workers parachute into places, build their lives from scratch, weave themselves i[...]
Field Loneliness in Colombia
Amazon rainforest In an indigenous community of the Amazonian rainforest, the line between family and community becomes blurry. The village consists of five inhabitants, all of whom are related by blood or marriage. Every November, tribe members flock to the maloka, the hut-like structure that hou[...]
Productive Uses Create Sustainable Energy
There are many steps to help create energy independence within blueEnergy’s mission. One of the final stages is to create ways in which our communities can use the wind turbines, solar panels and other energy systems we provide for productive uses. Broadly speaking, productive uses refer to projec[...]
Responsible Tourism: Coming to a Cloud Forest Near You!
I am happy to report that in the Intag cloud forest region of northern Ecuador, community-based tourism is heating up. Just two hours from the market town of Otavalo, Intag’s ecological reserves have begun to attract a steady stream of travelers. Organizations like the Red Ecoturistica de Inta[...]
January 20th, 2010 - 12:11 pm § in Mexico, Tips & Resources
Coming to Mexico? 10 Tips for Living Responsibly AND with Style
Greetings La Vida! I am stoked to be a new blogger, and for my inaugural entry I compiled a list of the essential advice for working/volunteering/traveling in Mexico responsibly and with style. I first came to Mexico as a student a few years ago, and for the last three and a half months I have been [...]
5 Surprises About International Volunteering: #5 – We’re All Connected
Over the last several weeks, we’ve been writing about the things that we didn’t quite expect as international volunteers: disorganized organizations, language non-barriers and living with less. This week, we’re getting into the biggie – the most profound “surpriseR[...]
