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Coral, dolphins, and sloths! Cook delicious meals in paradise!

5.0
(2 reviews)2

The experience

Looking for an adventurous and flexible couple to help host and cook for guests at our magical jungle eco-retreat called CocoVivo in Bocas del Toro, Panama.

What you offer

25 hours of help per week

Cooking: Choose the menu, pick ingredients and cook delicious dishes.

Kitchen Hand: Help prepare, finish and serve meals.

Bartending: Make and serve drinks and help maintain the beverages inventory.

What you get

1 day off per week

Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.

Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.

Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.

Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.

Free Tours: We’ll take you on tours and rides around town. For free!

Get free drinks or beverages.: Drink up! Get free and tasty drinks for yourself.

Pick Up: We will pick you up when you arrive, and take you to our property.

Surfboards: You can use our surfboards as much as you want.

Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.

Requirements

Intermediate Spanish or Intermediate English

Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

Now, for the best part! There are TONS of perks of spending your days at CocoVivo... like the chance to live for free in paradise and take full advantage of the magic of the jungle and the coral reef.
-Free accommodations in a private eco-friendly home with 360 views of the jungle and the dolphin-filled bay. Also, a private bathroom.
-Access to 55 acres of trails in a jungle teeming with sloths, monkeys, kinkajous, and fruits you never knew existed.
-Free use of the snorkeling equipment, kayaks, and standup paddleboards, which you can use to explore miles of spectacular coral reef right at our doorstep.
-Good wifi (we have two ISP's) for getting work done or simply posting beautiful photos of while you're @cocovivopanama. (Note that it would be a bit slow for regular YouTube video streaming).
-A chance to meet interesting people from all over the world who share your love of adventure

Activities & Shift

Responsibilities:
-Plan meals (we can suggest some dishes that have worked well in the past, but feel free to create your own!). Breakfast and dinner would ideally be three courses, while lunch is simpler: like a sandwich.
-Buy groceries. Note that CocoVivo is on an island, but our boat goes to town almost daily to pick-up and drop-off guests. There are several groceries stores in town with a large selection of ingredients.
-Accommodate food allergies and preferences, like vegan, gluten-free, vegetarian, etc
-Some kitchen clean up (Although we also have on-site staff who can help with doing dishes when there are larger groups).
-Basic hosting (chatting up guests, answering questions, pointing out where different things are located, just generally being friendly and helpful)

Rules

Professional culinary schooling is not a requirement for this job, but we prefer candidates with experience working in kitchens around the world.
-Flexible able to adapt to a new environment rapidly and enthusiastically
-Interested in innovating with local ingredients
-Curious about other cultures and learning local dishes
-Excited about the challenges of off-grid living
-Has some (practical, not necessarily formal) food safety training or experience
-Loves connecting with travelers from around the world
-Able to 'get the job done' in unpredictable conditions