If you are planning to do some WWOOFing with us at The Organic Learning Center,
These are things you should bring with you when WWOOFing at The Organic Learning Center,
Things you may want to know before coming:
TOLC vs CAO
FYI, don’t be surprised that in Honduras you will never hear anyone speak about The Organic Learning Center (TOLC). Instead you will hear them talking about CAO. CAO is the Spanish version of TOLC. Centro Aprendizaje Orgánico. CAO in Spanish is pronounced as “cow” in English. Bottom line, when you hear people talking about “cow” they’re not talking about an animal.
Important to know before coming
Everyone one in Honduras uses WhatsApp. Not email. Not texts. Not calls. Only WhatsApp So, if you want to communicate in Honduras, download and activate WhatsApp.
We have no insurance. If you want insurance coverage, you need to obtain it for yourself. Medical, accident, travel, evacuation, etc. insurances are all YOUR personal responsibility. WWOOF organization offers some but we are not familiar with it.
All volunteers are asked to download our liability waiver and return it to us prior to arriving.
The San Pedro Sula airport, (SAP) is the closest to us. It is important to select a flight arriving during daylight hours because there are no buses at night.
When you first arrive, you will want to be able to communicate. Therefore, you will probably want to have an international calling plan with your provider for the first day. After that, you can get a local SIM card.
You need this info if you are flying or bussing into Honduras.
The easiest best option when filling out forms for Honduran Immigration, etc. is to list Tourism as your reason for visiting Honduras.
Address: Organic Center, Quimistan, Santa Barbara, Honduras.
Once you arrive at the airport in Honduras, the time to clear through immigration and customs varies but typically between 20 minutes and 45 minutes. Don’t be surprised that they are going to scan your luggage just like they did when you checked in to your airport back home. They want to be sure you’re not bringing weapons etc. into the country. Occasionally they will want to open your bag and look and see what you have but it’s rarely if ever an issue. For example, occasionally a camera can look like a pistol and they will want to check it out.
If you are busing in, we will provide you individual information of which bus to get depending where you’re coming from.
Most wwoofers stay with the students all day. That is especially true of those coming to learn organic farming. But, some come for other reasons and take off an occasional afternoon or weekend to go exploring other areas.
The normal schedule is:
Saturday we finish at noon. After lunch, some will go to town, swimming, etc. Sunday is off and most Sundays students go somewhere like you see here.
While most volunteers enjoy socializing with the students, there are some volunteers who come to kind of get into the Zen of organic farming and they want quiet time alone with the plants, soil and maybe the animals. In other words, while some volunteers ask to be paired with a student who is conversational, other volunteers asked to be paired with a student who is an introvert.
Bottom line: this is not a cookie-cutter kind of program but instead tailored to the interest of volunteers.
If you are wondering about what’s happening at the time of the year when you are here….
Our work is not very seasonal. It doesn’t change much from season to season. The biggest part of our work is caring for the animals and plants. Caring for the plants and animals is multifaceted, but it’s not very seasonal. For example, we normally harvest plantains and lemons every week 12 months a year. The other things are harvested periodically. There are at least 100 different tasks that volunteers can work on. Evelyn, the farm manager, always tries to accommodate volunteers so they can do what they enjoy doing or what they want to learn more about. Some volunteers prefer working with the animals while others prefer working with the plants. There are a lot of miscellaneous tasks but caring for the plants and animals is the bulk of what we do.