Change by Doing Explore the world of volunteering and service

Summer is over but the beach party doesn’t have to end. Keep your active travel fires burning in rural Northern Nicaragua where you can learn to surf, hike volcanoes, kayak among the mangroves, and help change the world. Monty’s Beach Lodge is a hip surf camp with a purpose. At this rustic lodge, guest rooms are mere steps from the beach, and they have terrific community service programs available for visiting volunteers. Try an “Adventure Volunteer” package including wonderfully fresh meals, and your fees will also help feed the children of this community in one of many programs centered around a poor population living in and around the local garbage dump (not where the resort is located). They have used semi truck-sized shipping containers and converted them into a community center, they’ve built a health clinic (and are building another), and with the help of dedicated volunteers, they erect classrooms for the kids in the area, they serve with the local volunteer fire department, they support neighboring vegetable garden projects and water purification systems, all of it in service to local community projects (and no top-down charity)… It’s recycling, it’s feeding the hungry, it’s learning and education-focused for the locals, and educational for you as well (not just learning to hang ten….but that, too). You choose what you want to work on–projects are all walking distance from the swaying hammocks and trade winds of the blissful downtime you’ll also enjoy on your beach vacation at the lodge.