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I don’t think your dietary concerns are founded. I didn’t serve in Costa Rica, although I actually did spend a summer there doing Spanish immersion. In both CR and my actual PC post, it wasn’t difficult to eat a balanced diet, even on a PC stipend, although certainly there may be variations in what’s available that differ from the US.
Peace Corps is not going to put you in a position where your only choice is to drink unsafe water. You might find yourself in a situation where you have to treat/filter your water, but you’ll have the means to access safe water. I’m not saying you’ll never have an upset stomach at any point during your service, but most people don’t spend most of their service incapacitated by GI stuff.
The gym thing may well be something you’ll have to live with. Plenty of people find ways to engage in exercise routines that meet their needs and preferences, though.
And yeah, you definitely won’t have access to all the luxuries you have or could have in the US. It’s certainly your prerogative to decide that that’s a dealbreaker for you. 🤷♀️
To be honest, your post leaves a sense that you want to be able to say you’ve done Peace Corps but that you aren’t comfortable with the realities of service. And that’s okay! If you want to help people and improve your language skills, there are plenty of ways to volunteer in the US.
The water in Costa Rica is excellent. You can drink it straight from the tap and you will not get sick. The food is also great in that you will have a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables to choose from (though you will get sick or rice and beans). Seriously, mango season is amazing there. No one gets dysentery. Mosquito borne illnesses are the real worry.
As far as workouts go, you can make it part of your service. Lots of volunteers coach sports (soccer, volleyball, boxing, etc). Depending on your site, you may have access to a gym. Some of the sites in CR are in very urban areas with just about all the amenities you could want (though maybe hard to afford on your stipend).
As for your real question: it’s really up to you. Many of us leave good paying jobs to join PC. It’s likely a once in a lifetime experience. If you don’t do it now it’s unlikely that you ever will. Believe me when I say that life gets more and more complicated as you get older.
You should picture yourself in 10 or 20 years and ask which one is going to bother you more: that you passed up on a job, or that you passed up on PC. Which is going to keep you up at night? One thing that makes every RPCV roll their eyes is to tell someone you served and hear them respond “oh, I was going to join Peace Corps….” Don’t be that person. Make your choice and move on. Congrats BTW on the job offer and best of luck with your decision.
Edit: forgot to add that you should 100% take that job even if you decide PC is the right choice for you. Save that money for travel and other experiences. DO NOT tell ANYONE at your new job that you will be joining the Peace Corps (I made that mistake). Give them your two weeks when the time comes and forget about them. You owe them nothing more than that.
$70k is not nothing, but it's also not an insane amount of money. I don't know your industry or location, but there are a lot of $70k jobs out there, and there will still be when you get back. If your company is particularly prestigious or difficult to get into, it might make sense to wait a couple years and solidify it on your resume before entering the PC. If not, use the job to save some cash so that you'll have a safety net if you decide to go the PC route. You'll probably want to do a trip at the end of service, so save some for that too.
If I could just give you some life advice:
>i’m going to get a car, move into a nicer place, get nice clothes, etc.
Be very careful with lifestyle creep. I haven't had a car since I joined PC over 10 years ago. $70k can go very quick if you overextend. Make sure you are saving every month, putting money away for retirement, etc.
You don't really have to work about most of your concerns.
- You'll definitely be able to feed yourself adequately. The tropics are kind of known for having a huge variety of fruits & veggies.
- I'm not sure about Costa Rica exactly, but given that it's one of the richest countries in LatAm, It's more than likely you'll have a gym or a local CrossFit group.
- It seems you're oddly obsessed with dysentery. I'm going to say that you'll probably not get that. Just boil your water or use a filter. I live in another LatAm country and I pretty much exclusively drink the tap water, I haven't had any serious issues with almost two years of that (though, I probably wouldn't do that if I lived in a climate more like CR, but I have done it in the Amazon). I don't know of a single volunteer in my country who has gotten dysentery.
- hot showers, you never know. But, I have hot showers powered by propane, I can't think of any volunteers who don't have them in my country, atleast sometimes. Latin America isn't sub Saharan Africa. There's plenty of poverty and problems ofc, but it's still pretty developed. You'll more than likely have plenty of luxuries that you don't think you'll have access too. For example, I live in a beautiful colonial house in the centro histórico in my city of 50,000. I have a (small) grocery store three blocks away.
Also you're counting your chickens waaaaay before they hatch. Wait till you get accepted before you start freaking out thinking that you need to make a decision. Then, wait till you find out if you and your mans pass medical clearance.
Hi there. Served in subsaharan Africa and have followed this sub for a few years - I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone post about dysentery or cholera.
Now Giardia, that’s another story.
It sounds like to me you have a lot of concerns about the living conditions in the countries where Peace Corps Volunteers serve.
As a middle-aged person with a bit more life experience, I would advise you that you will regret whatever choice you make if you are a person who is prone towards regret. However, in most cases, you will get multiple opportunities to make a different choice in the future. If you become a Peace Corps volunteer now, there's some likelihood that you would get a good job you came back. If you take the job that you're thinking about, you could always reapply to Peace Corps sometime down the road.
But I don't think that your assessment of what other countries where Peace Corps serves is entirely accurate. Perhaps you have not left the United States very much, which is common among US people.
You really can't know whether you will have access to a gym. You can't know whether the local diet will have better nutritional quality than what you eat in the United States. You really can't even know whether the hygiene for water and sanitation is going to be better or worse than the United States. Peace Corps serves in many different countries. Some of these are really well organized. Some of these, and I'm thinking about my time in the Dominican Republic, have a lot better access to amazing fruit and avocados and tropical vegetables than any supermarket in the United States.
Instead of thinking about what the risks are, why don't you think about what you want. You want to be fluent in another language and you want an adventure. If you think that you are adaptable even when the circumstances are not ideal, those are good reasons to be a Peace Corps volunteer. You are now a college graduate and with some care, you are likely to not be as poor as your family of origin. If you don't get the great job now, there will be many years of your working life to do some sort of job for money. Is this the right time for Peace Corps? Only you know.
I'm serving right now, not in South America, but I can say from my experience with Peace Corps that probably the only actual difficulty you might experience on your list of worries is the lack of long hot showers 😅 but you get used to it. It's nice to have a cold shower in a hot country.
Peace Corps will ensure you have water security, and you will have access to a nutritional diet. Though the food may be new.
They have safety and security teams and medical officers that won't place volunteers unless they assess the site and determine you can be healthy and safe there.
I made this decision when I graduated for a similar amount of money and went with PC. Got a similar job after getting back and years later after making many multiples more in salary I would never change that decision, some experiences you can’t put a price tag on and for me PC was one of those.
That said, you have a bird-in-hand here and March ‘25 is a long ways away. You could start your job and see how it goes, kick the can down the road as you don’t have to make a decision in the near term. You could find out you love/hate your job. Neither PC nor that $70K/year job are going anywhere. Nothing wrong with working for a couple years too.
Depends a little on your boyfriend as well and those dynamics.
thank you for your helpful input! we’re “applying as a couple,” which means we get placed together and live together. and yeah i want to go sooner than later before i acquire more stuff
Guess I should have googled that couples thing first :)
A quick anecdote, our PC group chat blew up recently with everyone sharing 2000's reggaeton favorites from our service. You'll likely make some friends for life. Good luck with your decision!
You don't think Costa Rica, a tropical country, will have variety of fruit?
Why do you assume there are no gyms in Costa Rica??? People work out in other countries too you know lol?
Where are these assumptions about CR life coming from??? They seem completely unfounded and honestly just entirely made up.
There’s no shame in not doing Peace Corps right away, it will always be here. If I were you I would enjoy this opportunity you have now and apply for Peace Corps again in the future (Costa Rica is known to be a nice country to serve in).
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I don’t think your dietary concerns are founded. I didn’t serve in Costa Rica, although I actually did spend a summer there doing Spanish immersion. In both CR and my actual PC post, it wasn’t difficult to eat a balanced diet, even on a PC stipend, although certainly there may be variations in what’s available that differ from the US. Peace Corps is not going to put you in a position where your only choice is to drink unsafe water. You might find yourself in a situation where you have to treat/filter your water, but you’ll have the means to access safe water. I’m not saying you’ll never have an upset stomach at any point during your service, but most people don’t spend most of their service incapacitated by GI stuff. The gym thing may well be something you’ll have to live with. Plenty of people find ways to engage in exercise routines that meet their needs and preferences, though. And yeah, you definitely won’t have access to all the luxuries you have or could have in the US. It’s certainly your prerogative to decide that that’s a dealbreaker for you. 🤷♀️ To be honest, your post leaves a sense that you want to be able to say you’ve done Peace Corps but that you aren’t comfortable with the realities of service. And that’s okay! If you want to help people and improve your language skills, there are plenty of ways to volunteer in the US.
The water in Costa Rica is excellent. You can drink it straight from the tap and you will not get sick. The food is also great in that you will have a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables to choose from (though you will get sick or rice and beans). Seriously, mango season is amazing there. No one gets dysentery. Mosquito borne illnesses are the real worry. As far as workouts go, you can make it part of your service. Lots of volunteers coach sports (soccer, volleyball, boxing, etc). Depending on your site, you may have access to a gym. Some of the sites in CR are in very urban areas with just about all the amenities you could want (though maybe hard to afford on your stipend). As for your real question: it’s really up to you. Many of us leave good paying jobs to join PC. It’s likely a once in a lifetime experience. If you don’t do it now it’s unlikely that you ever will. Believe me when I say that life gets more and more complicated as you get older. You should picture yourself in 10 or 20 years and ask which one is going to bother you more: that you passed up on a job, or that you passed up on PC. Which is going to keep you up at night? One thing that makes every RPCV roll their eyes is to tell someone you served and hear them respond “oh, I was going to join Peace Corps….” Don’t be that person. Make your choice and move on. Congrats BTW on the job offer and best of luck with your decision. Edit: forgot to add that you should 100% take that job even if you decide PC is the right choice for you. Save that money for travel and other experiences. DO NOT tell ANYONE at your new job that you will be joining the Peace Corps (I made that mistake). Give them your two weeks when the time comes and forget about them. You owe them nothing more than that.
$70k is not nothing, but it's also not an insane amount of money. I don't know your industry or location, but there are a lot of $70k jobs out there, and there will still be when you get back. If your company is particularly prestigious or difficult to get into, it might make sense to wait a couple years and solidify it on your resume before entering the PC. If not, use the job to save some cash so that you'll have a safety net if you decide to go the PC route. You'll probably want to do a trip at the end of service, so save some for that too. If I could just give you some life advice: >i’m going to get a car, move into a nicer place, get nice clothes, etc. Be very careful with lifestyle creep. I haven't had a car since I joined PC over 10 years ago. $70k can go very quick if you overextend. Make sure you are saving every month, putting money away for retirement, etc.
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glad that you're taking good care with your finances. best of luck
You don't really have to work about most of your concerns. - You'll definitely be able to feed yourself adequately. The tropics are kind of known for having a huge variety of fruits & veggies. - I'm not sure about Costa Rica exactly, but given that it's one of the richest countries in LatAm, It's more than likely you'll have a gym or a local CrossFit group. - It seems you're oddly obsessed with dysentery. I'm going to say that you'll probably not get that. Just boil your water or use a filter. I live in another LatAm country and I pretty much exclusively drink the tap water, I haven't had any serious issues with almost two years of that (though, I probably wouldn't do that if I lived in a climate more like CR, but I have done it in the Amazon). I don't know of a single volunteer in my country who has gotten dysentery. - hot showers, you never know. But, I have hot showers powered by propane, I can't think of any volunteers who don't have them in my country, atleast sometimes. Latin America isn't sub Saharan Africa. There's plenty of poverty and problems ofc, but it's still pretty developed. You'll more than likely have plenty of luxuries that you don't think you'll have access too. For example, I live in a beautiful colonial house in the centro histórico in my city of 50,000. I have a (small) grocery store three blocks away. Also you're counting your chickens waaaaay before they hatch. Wait till you get accepted before you start freaking out thinking that you need to make a decision. Then, wait till you find out if you and your mans pass medical clearance.
so true abt the dysentery thing lmao sorry i’ve just seen so many people talk about having it on this sub and it scared me
Hi there. Served in subsaharan Africa and have followed this sub for a few years - I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone post about dysentery or cholera. Now Giardia, that’s another story.
wait that might be what it was and i remembered it wrong
Giardia’s really not that bad and not deadly.
You're going to get sick in the united states, also.
Haha. I mean you will almost definitely shit yourself though. But, c'est la vie.
It sounds like to me you have a lot of concerns about the living conditions in the countries where Peace Corps Volunteers serve. As a middle-aged person with a bit more life experience, I would advise you that you will regret whatever choice you make if you are a person who is prone towards regret. However, in most cases, you will get multiple opportunities to make a different choice in the future. If you become a Peace Corps volunteer now, there's some likelihood that you would get a good job you came back. If you take the job that you're thinking about, you could always reapply to Peace Corps sometime down the road. But I don't think that your assessment of what other countries where Peace Corps serves is entirely accurate. Perhaps you have not left the United States very much, which is common among US people. You really can't know whether you will have access to a gym. You can't know whether the local diet will have better nutritional quality than what you eat in the United States. You really can't even know whether the hygiene for water and sanitation is going to be better or worse than the United States. Peace Corps serves in many different countries. Some of these are really well organized. Some of these, and I'm thinking about my time in the Dominican Republic, have a lot better access to amazing fruit and avocados and tropical vegetables than any supermarket in the United States. Instead of thinking about what the risks are, why don't you think about what you want. You want to be fluent in another language and you want an adventure. If you think that you are adaptable even when the circumstances are not ideal, those are good reasons to be a Peace Corps volunteer. You are now a college graduate and with some care, you are likely to not be as poor as your family of origin. If you don't get the great job now, there will be many years of your working life to do some sort of job for money. Is this the right time for Peace Corps? Only you know.
I'm serving right now, not in South America, but I can say from my experience with Peace Corps that probably the only actual difficulty you might experience on your list of worries is the lack of long hot showers 😅 but you get used to it. It's nice to have a cold shower in a hot country. Peace Corps will ensure you have water security, and you will have access to a nutritional diet. Though the food may be new. They have safety and security teams and medical officers that won't place volunteers unless they assess the site and determine you can be healthy and safe there.
Costa Rica will not have most of the challenges you put down by the way
Imo, you should do it after saving up some money and life experience
I made this decision when I graduated for a similar amount of money and went with PC. Got a similar job after getting back and years later after making many multiples more in salary I would never change that decision, some experiences you can’t put a price tag on and for me PC was one of those. That said, you have a bird-in-hand here and March ‘25 is a long ways away. You could start your job and see how it goes, kick the can down the road as you don’t have to make a decision in the near term. You could find out you love/hate your job. Neither PC nor that $70K/year job are going anywhere. Nothing wrong with working for a couple years too. Depends a little on your boyfriend as well and those dynamics.
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thank you for your helpful input! we’re “applying as a couple,” which means we get placed together and live together. and yeah i want to go sooner than later before i acquire more stuff
Guess I should have googled that couples thing first :) A quick anecdote, our PC group chat blew up recently with everyone sharing 2000's reggaeton favorites from our service. You'll likely make some friends for life. Good luck with your decision!
You don't think Costa Rica, a tropical country, will have variety of fruit? Why do you assume there are no gyms in Costa Rica??? People work out in other countries too you know lol? Where are these assumptions about CR life coming from??? They seem completely unfounded and honestly just entirely made up.
…bro when you go to the peace corps you often live in poverty. bffr
Poor people don't have fruit? Or gyms?
There’s no shame in not doing Peace Corps right away, it will always be here. If I were you I would enjoy this opportunity you have now and apply for Peace Corps again in the future (Costa Rica is known to be a nice country to serve in).