Work Trips And Educational Tour

Don’t just travel; make it an unforgettable, life-changing experience!
Get to know Nicaragua from the inside.

Click here to read one workcamper's experience building a lavandero in El Sauce

Work Trips

Each year, El Porvenir offers one-week and two-week work trips to Nicaragua. Groups of 10-15 people work in a village assisting Nicaraguan families in the construction of water, sanitation, or reforestation projects. The group is accompanied at all times by a bilingual El Porvenir staff member. Neither Spanish nor construction skills are required, though both are useful and welcome.

Work trips cost $800 to $1075 and the fee covers the following expenses:

  • Cost of project materials, tools and equipment
  • Pre-project organization, materials purchase and delivery
  • Reservations, airport transfers, special arrangements
  • Lodging, meals and transportation within Nicaragua
  • Services of group coordinators/interpreters
  • A recreational weekend at the beach or in the mountains
  • Health/accident/baggage insurance

In addition, each participant is responsible for his/her own round trip airline ticket. If you do not have a travel agent, we can recommend some travel agents with experience in obtaining low-cost tickets to Central America.

Work Trip Schedule:

  • August 9 to 18, 2008 — FULL
  • November 8 to 17, 2008 — Open
  • January 10 to 24, 2009 — FULL
  • January 31 to February 7, 2009 — Open
  • February 20 to 28, 2009 — Open
  • February 28 to March 7, 2009 — FULL

Click here for frequently asked questions.


Elderhostel Service Program

If you are 55 years old or over, you can sign up for an Elderhostel Service Project trip. The Elderhostel work trip operates in the same manner as our work trips. Please consult the Elderhostel catalog or website at www.elderhostel.org for costs and details.

Elderhostel Service Program Schedule:

  • No programs scheduled at this time. Please check back.

Birding Tour

El Porvenir invites you to experience the stunning natural beauty of Nicaragua and to see an astonishing array of birds and wildlife. On this tour you will visit natural reserves around volcanic crater lakes, in rivers, in the central mountains. Local experts, Nicaraguan and North American, will guide birding tours. In addition to many days of birding, the tour will include a visit to some of El Porvenir’s sustainable development projects in rural areas, and a day in two artisan centers of the country. The fee for all expenses including airport transfers, hotels, restaurants, in-country transportation, interpreters, and guides is $1200 to $1500.

  • February 15 to 23, 2009 — Open

Educational Tour

El Porvenir invites you to get to know Nicaragua from the inside and see El Porvenir’s projects first hand. On this tour, you will visit Nicaraguan villages and see several El Porvenir water, sanitation, and reforestation projects. El Porvenir’s staff will arrange meetings and conversations with local organizations and individuals in response to the specific interests of your group. You will get to know Nicaraguans from all walks of life. You may have lunch or dinner with an economist, a politician, a teacher, a religious leader, a health worker; and your group may visit an artist making pottery, a cooperative cheese factory, or an archeological museum. You will spend a day or two in and around the capital exploring a crafts market, visiting a cloud forest, walking to the rim of a live volcano, or attending a concert of Nicaraguan music. Educational tours cost $1500.

  • March 8 to 15, 2009 — Open



Work camp participants: click on the following links to open these documents.

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