Free (or Cheap) Volunteer Work in Panama
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We have a grassroots community organisation to investigate further but for the moment hostel work exchanges seem to be the way to go in Panama.
Hostel Work Exchanges
Many hostels use help exchange networks (see below) to find volunteer staff but the following either advertise on their websites or are particularly noted for taking on volunteers:
The Lost and Found Hostel
www.thelostandfoundhostel.com
Look, there isn’t any volunteer information on their website and we’d normally put The Lost and Found in the More Hostel Work Exchanges section below, but we’re getting desperate. Every hostel we’ve put here has closed and inclusion on this page is becoming the kiss of death for a business. Sorry to the two longtime Canadian friends who came to Panama with a shared vision to create a world in which travellers can experience themselves and their environment more purely, with minimal outside interference.
We hope you survive this and continue to host backpackers, hikers, adventure travellers and peace seekers, digital nomads, scientists, nature enthusiasts and, yes, volunteers. We’ve heard via your TripAdvisor reviews that you take them on and, aside from one strange review that says they love smoking and sitting around like 15 year olds trying to look cool by smoking, are regarded as amazing and great. More details on volunteering here can be found on their listing at Hopperjobs.com.
More Hostel Work Exchanges
We had plenty of options for wannabe hostel volunteers on our original list put together in 2014 but almost each and every single one of them seems to have since gone by the wayside. Our original listing here, Purple House, opened by New Yorker Andrea, has almost certainly gone and we are only prevaricating that they may still be around because otherwise this page will be too short and probably have to be deleted. Andrea volunteered with the Peace Corps and travelled as a backpacker, including some time spent working in backpacker hostels before she started her business in David. She offered a free bed in exchange for helping out around the place. The hostel has now changed hands and we’re not sure if the volunteer tradition has continued, if the place is even open, closed due to current events, or closed for good. Drop us a line if anyone knows what’s happening here?
Help Exchange Networks in Panama
Volunteer Latin America – https://www.volunteerlatinamerica.com/volunteer-abroad/panama
Workaway – https://www.workaway.info/hostlist-PA.html
More Volunteering in Panama Resources
How to Cruise the Panama Canal for Free – Panamanian law dictates that every boat, no matter how small, must have four line handlers when it makes a crossing of the Panama Canal. Since professional line handlers can cost up to US$100 per transit, many captains are prepared to give fellow travellers a free passage in exchange for working aboard.
Other Ways to Travel or Stay for Free in Panama
Stay free in return for caring for local residents’ homes or pets. Join Trusted Housesitters to live rent free as a house sitter.
Volunteer Experiences*
Sailing the Panama Canal – Kyle Mateo worked his passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean by taking a volunteer job on the sailboat of an 80 year old Frenchman. Previously he had subsidised his journey from Honduras by scrubbing the hull, sanding and staining wood and being the night watch while his boat sailed to Colon.
Working Aboard A Caribbean Sailing Yacht – The Runaway Guide writes from the sun deck of an 80 foot yacht plying its trade between Panama and Colombia.
Panamania – It’s a Surf Christmas! – Chelsea and Andrew volunteer in a small hotel in Santa Catalina.
* not all these volunteer experiences are with grassroots NGOs or low cost organisations
Image courtesy FutureExpat
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