Interns and volunteers play an enormously important role at Rancho Mastatal.

The following is some general information relevant to both interns and volunteers. Following are links to pages specifically for our volunteer program and internship programs and on-line registration forms for volunteer applicants and intern applicants.  We also have an annual opportunity for people interested in caretaking the Ranch while the owners are visiting family and friends in the States. 

Rancho Mastatal interns and volunteers work and live with the amazing people of Mastatal, make lifelong friends, and participate in a style of living that often times changes them forever. We encourage you to come to Mastatal with an open mind, a willingness to work hard and learn, and a lot of patience and a tolerant attitude. Please always remember that you are being welcomed into a small community and that your actions can have a great impact, either positive or negative, on the people that you interact with. This experience offers you the unique opportunity to feel and become a part of the magic and beauty of this infrequently visited area of Costa Rica. We'll be looking forward to hear from you soon.

General Information
We are a small operation, with an assortment of projects taking place at the same time. Even though volunteers and interns work hard and sometimes long days, the general atmosphere at the Ranch is relaxed and family like. As a volunteer or intern you receive three meals a day—typically amazing vegetarian fare. In between meals, you are welcome to snack on bananas, homemade goodies and whatever other fruits happen to be in season. Breakfast usually consists of homemade bread, yogurt, kefir and granola, local eggs and coffee, tea and fruit. Lunches and dinners are large, healthy, wholesome, scrumptious and satisfying. We love to bake bread, bagels and pizzas in our self-made earthen oven. All meals are communal.

Raising the composting toilet and shower during a Y workshop

Accomodations and Communication
We provide you with a bed in the intern house (Hankey House), the main house or in a quiet, shared house (Jeanne's House) set amongst fruit trees and the forest. When we are at full capacity, we ask volunteers and interns to be flexible with regards to accommodations. During our busiest times volunteers may be asked to either stay with a local family or camp (tent will be provided by the volunteer) though this is increasingly less common as we improve our infrastructure. Volunteers staying in homestays or tents have full access to the houses and their associated amenities.

The main house, Jeanne's and the Hankey have nearby showers, electricity, and running water and all of the houses have great access to the forest and nearby swimming holes and waterfalls. There is 1 bathroom/flush toilet, 1 composting toilet, and 1 methane biodigestor toilet (that produces cooking gas for our kitchen) at the main house and 1 bathroom/flush toilet and 1 composting toilet at Jeanne's. There is also a beautiful composting toilet that services the Hankey. Jeanne's house is quiet and is surrounded by rainforest and orchards full of mangoes, bananas, pejibaye, cashews, starfruit and other tropical delights. There is also a composting toilet and shower at the Choza site. The main house is generally the most active place at the Ranch, and where all meals are served. Volunteers and interns have full use of our extensive library and free reign of the property. A local woman and our close friend, Annia, is available to do laundry or folks can do their own in the outdoor sinks/basins or in our handcranked washing machine.

There is a public telephone in the town of Mastatal, though at times it goes done for various reasons and/or cannot receive international calls. There is also a small Internet cafe in town with 4 computers and a phone that customers can use to make reasonably priced international calls. When the electricity in town goes out, which is fairly common, phones in town do not work. If you want to let friends and family know that you have arrived safe and sound to Mastatal, it is safest to call them before arriving to Mastatal though local options have gotten more reliable every year. It would also be prudent to pick up a phone card or two prior to arriving as they are often times not available locally.

Our Surroundings
The area in and around Rancho Mastatal contains the most pristine terrain left in Puriscal County. The rivers that flow through this region provide all of the surrounding communities with their potable water. For this reason, volunteers, interns and others are expected to adhere to the following simple rules.

• Pack out what you bring in. Our ultimate aim is to produce zero garbage from our activities, an extremely difficult if not impossible goal to attain in today's world. Please minimize the amount of plastics, glass and other non-compostable material that you bring to the Ranch.
• If possible please bring only natural, biodegradable soaps, toothpaste, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants, lotions and bug sprays.
• Please bring your own water bottles. The water at Rancho Mastatal is potable. There is no need to buy bottled water while here. By bringing your own bottles, you minimize the negative impact on the growing problem of plastic water bottle disposal in this country.