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We’re looking for friendly, energetic people who enjoy teamwork and want to settle somewhere for six weeks. In this role, you'll help at reception with guest check-ins/outs, with our restaurant (including our nightly family dinner), behind the bar, and with evening social activities for guests. You will become part of the social life of the hostel — family dinners, card games, conversations around the bar, and helping new arrivals feel at home.
25 hours of help per week
Bartending: Make and serve drinks and help maintain the beverages inventory.
Kitchen Hand: Help prepare, finish and serve meals.
Reception: Help with check-ins, check-outs and guest assistance.
2 days off per week
Team Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other people.
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.
Discounts on Restaurants: Get discounts at nearby restaurants.
Discounts on Drinks: Get discounts for drinks and beverages from our bar.
Discounts on Tours: Get discounts for tours and excursions around town.
Free Hiking Tours: We’ll take you on excursions and hikes around town. For free!
Yoga classes: Take free yoga classes at our place.
Language lessons: Take free language classes at our place.
Holistic Therapies: You can take part in any of our therapeutic activities for free.
Fast Internet Access: High-speed internet for you to work remotely
Fluent English or Intermediate Spanish
Over 21 years old
Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers
Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa
You will have five shifts/week (between 25 and 30 total hours/week) to help us keep everything running smoothly in our reception, restaurant, and bar, including the following main tasks:
- Welcoming guests and conducting check-ins/check-outs
- Helping out in our bar and restaurant
- Supporting evening social activities
- Guest interaction: keeping the place lively and sparkling with positive energy
In exchange for 5 shifts/week, you'll get:
- Shared accommodation in one of our volunteer dorms
- 3 meals daily (veg/vegan friendly)
- 50% off anything extra at our bar & restaurant
- Free yoga classes and sunrise hikes, discounts on lake activities, discounts on shuttles, and free stays with our partner hostels
We are looking for people who would genuinely like to settle somewhere and be part of the place for six weeks, rather than to simply find somewhere inexpensive to stay while travelling through Central America. You need to be responsible, punctual, and comfortable interacting with guests from all over the world.
Our best volunteers tend to be people who:
-Have travelled independently before
-Are confident meeting new people
-Enjoy living with people from different cultures
-Are responsible and proactive
-Genuinely want to spend six weeks in one place
-Are interested in staying in Guatemala rather than just passing through it
-Understand that volunteering in a hostel means guests sometimes need you even when you'd rather be swimming!
-Are sociable without needing every night to be a party
-Are happy working alongside our local Guatemalan team
-Speak very good English
-Speak at least conversational Spanish, or are seriously interested in improving it
-Ideally have previous hospitality, restaurant, bar, reception, or customer-service experience
You will work a combination of morning, afternoon, and evening shifts each week, for a total of five shifts/week:
- Morning shifts (7:30 AM - 1 PM) involve helping to take and serve breakfast orders, maintaining the restaurant clean and orderly, processing checkouts, and beginning prep tasks for dinner/the bar.
- Afternoon shifts (1 PM - 6 PM) look like finishing prep tasks for dinner/the bar, conducting check-ins, and bartending.
- Evening shifts (6 PM - close) include running our nightly family dinner service, bartending, and running the evening social activity.
It is a fast-paced environment that involves multitasking, being on your feet, and is generally quite busy! That being said, volunteers tend to find that the work is FUN, especially if you are an extraverted, high-energy person.
We have a minimum commitment of 6 weeks (including a trial week) to volunteer with us
First, please be sure that you can commit to six weeks of volunteering and that you meet the age (21+) and language requirements (advanced/fluent English, ideally intermediate Spanish). Please don't apply if you only have three or four weeks available, as it takes time to learn the job and become part of the team, and constantly training new people isn't good for our staff or our guests. If six weeks sounds like a long time, the Iguana probably isn't the right volunteer experience for you. If six weeks sounds rather wonderful, we would really like to hear from you!
