Rios Tropicales

Placement organization

Name of organization: Rios Tropicales
Town/city: San Jose
Country: Costa Rica
Website: http://www.riostropicales.com/

Student

Name of student: Luuk Joosten

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Touroperator, Accomodation and Agency
Organization’s activities: Rafting one day trips and an ecolodge on the Pacuare Rives where guests can stay up to 4 days. We also have some associates with other one day tours including kayaking, safari’s, rafting at other rivers.
Target group of the organization: Large target group, adventure tourism
Company culture: Very informal, its like a big family from main office to guides and the drivers.
Number of employees: 58
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Internal control, reservations, finances, marketing,

Brief description of your daily activities: Depends every day but mostly internal control going through emails and bills. In reservation taking calls and working on reservation system during downtime. Marketing respond to clients and find new opportunities.
Brief description of your company assignment: Help Rios Tropicales reach Europeans better and adapt the experience to better fit different European visitors.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: In the beginning working with staff but now a lot of own responsibility and tasks.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Able to adapt to any situation, stress proof, sociable, quick thinker and liking rafting is a pre.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Office,
English: Advanced
Spanish: Advanced
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Plane to CR here by bus

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? AirBnB
How did you go to work every day? Bus and foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? If you’re staying for more than 3 months you need a visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy in The Hague
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 4 weeks
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 2 weeks before i left

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? yes

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 400
Accommodation (monthly): € 300
Local transport (monthly): € 30
General costs of living (monthly): € 300
Costs of visa: € 40
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? Meals and stay when visiting Ecolodge and free trips with associates

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Nothing really,
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: Luukyoh@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Leave San Jose whenever you can because the rest of the country is beautiful but there are some great nightlife options in San Jose.
Take public transportation everywhere and eat lots at sodas.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Its a big city so you can do whatever you want, i like a lot of live music and there’s plenty of venues around. Plenty of gym’s and some of the best beaches in the world are busrides away.

The lodge is also amazing.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link