International Volunteering, Spanish Study Abroad and Cultural Immersion with Travel Alive!
Welcome!
Travel Alive provides international volunteers with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to live, work, and study in Central America and South America, experiencing life from the viewpoint of local residents and new found friends.
With Travel Alive you can experience life in a Latin American community, study Spanish with native teachers, and give back to a deserving community as a volunteer. With multiple start-dates throughout the year, we host a diverse mixture of participants including students, professionals, seniors, groups, and families; all looking for adventure while at the same time hoping to make a difference in the lives of others!
We are not "just" a volunteer program!
Rather than thinking of your experience merely as an opportunity to give to those who are less fortunate - think of your experience with Travel Alive as an exchange. Your valuable contributions as a volunteer are balanced by language acquisition, cultural exchange, and an improved understanding of the local culture that you cannot get anywhere else.
Unlike many programs that offer only the opportunity to "volunteer abroad", Travel Alive combines Spanish study abroad, volunteering abroad, and experiencing life with your home-stay family to provide complete language and cultural immersion in Nicaragua or Ecuador.
Volunteer in Nicaragua - Study Spanish in Nicaragua
In our Ocotal, Nicaragua program, located in the north-central coffee growing region of Nicaragua, you can study Spanish and volunteer every week day, and interact with your home-stay family and the community daily.
Volunteer in Ecuador - Study Spanish in Ecuador
In our Ecuador program, with project locations in some of the most interesting regions of the country, you can integrate into your host community as a full-time volunteer, but may choose to study Spanish intensively at the beginning of your program if necessary. In Ecuador we also offer professional practice internships in many areas!
Important elements of the Travel Alive experience
Volunteering - volunteering abroad with Travel Alive means working hand-in-hand with people from some of the most economically underdeveloped but culturally rich regions in Latin America. Everything you do and every life you touch as an international volunteer can make a difference!
Language Study and Cultural Immersion - In Nicaragua language study and cultural immersion are an integral part of the program, in Ecuador you can begin with an intensive Spanish language program to prepare for volunteer service throughout Ecuador. In either program you will learn from daily interaction within the community!
Living with a local family or in a local community - Proud of their community, home-stay families welcome you into their homes, introduce you to your new environment, and help you integrate into the community.
Exchange - Experience everyday life in Latin American communities, learn their history from the locals' point-of view, explore parts of the world rich in natural beauty that are not yet altered by commercial tourism, and share your culture with others.
A wide variety of opportunities - program locations vary from a quiet Spanish-colonial city in the coffee-growing region of Nicaragua, to indigenous farm communities deep in the Andes Mountains or along the Pacific coast of Ecuador, and large Latin American cities. We work with you to create an experience that meets your expectations as an international volunteer and helps to meet some of the basic needs in these culturally rich regions.
Wherever you choose to serve you will embark on an adventure you will never forget, and you may never want to leave!
Why Choose Travel Alive?
Travel Alive is dedicated to helping you plan an international volunteer, language study abroad, and cultural immersion experience that is right for you.
With a wide variety of programs we work individually with each person, group, and family to match your interests to the projects and locations where you can be the most effective.
We will make recommendations that will help achieve your goals, whether they include: improving your Spanish language skills, experiencing life in a new culture, or sharing your skills.
Travel Alive will support you throughout your volunteer abroad, Spanish abroad, and cultural immersion experience in Latin America.
Why are we called Travel Alive?
ALIVE is the way you will feel
- Breathing fresh mountain air walking to meet friends along a hundred-year-old, indigenous community foot path
- Interacting with families and friends to improve your language skills while learning about their culture and world views
- Using your hands, mind, and spirit to support people who are working to improve their lives and community
- Living in a place locked in time, where life is rich and an appreciation of life is considered wealth
Arrive with an open mind and a willingness to learn and work, and you will return home with lifelong memories and the knowledge that you have made as much of a difference in the lives of your hosts as they have made in yours.
We welcome you to join Travel Alive in Nicaragua or Ecuador, for adventurous travelers that make a difference!