Tropical Adventures is not new to the quaint community of Hojancha, Guanacaste, but now our presence has increased quite a bit. For the past six years, the organization has been sending volunteers to this community to assist at the local Daycare & Nutritional Center along with other seasonal projects. The community has been very receptive of our volunteers and interns, so it became clear that this would be a great place for us to grow our project into a permanent program. Hojancha is rich in traditional Costa Rican values of community collaboration and neighborly support, and it was out of these values that the program's mission organically developed.

Although there are some areas of need, such as in employment and eduction, the community is not looking for services, but they are looking for a partnership, an exchange. The program has been named "Vecinos del Mundo," meaning "Neighbors of the World." The mission is to bring cultures and people together in the community of Hojancha, Costa Rica in a collaborative effort to increase cross-cultural understanding with an emphasis in community development, education, culture and conservation.  

It was important for us as an organization to be careful in developing a program in this community, as we needed to know that our presence is both beneficial and desirable for the community. This is why we have been gradually developing the program as we are becoming more immersed and part of the community. 

Many Costa Rican people have expressed how much they appreciate the community of Hojancha and how it reflects the traditional way of life which may be sadly fading away in other parts of the country. We want to be able to share this traditional experience with volunteers from around the world in such a way which creates a positive impact for them, as well as members of the community. We know that the community is interested in participating in some of the planned activities based on a previous feasibility study, but now we are collecting more data and community input in the coming weeks to ensure the effectiveness of our desired activities.

The concentration areas of Vecinos del Mundo are cross-cultural exchange, youth engagement, and environmental conservation education. Interns and volunteers will be sharing their own cultural backgrounds and languages with the community in Hojancha. 

We have many goals and ideas for future projects but our current initiatives are for a language-exchange program, open-air cinema nights, and youth activities. Elementary school children in Costa Rica either go to morning or afternoon school sessions, leaving plenty of free time for youth to engage inactivities which enhance educational aims. 

We are currently developing youth activities with work in conjunction with classrooms in the United States, allowing for cross-cultural interaction and education through means of the Internet. The program will help link students in the United States and Costa Rica in an effort to build not only cross-cultural understanding but also environmental conservation education. It is our goal that these programs will help build up the local economy and eventually provide new opportunities and experiences for people to learn and grow. In the near future we hope to gain donations and funding which will help this program grow in capacity and obtain a facility to house programming.