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San Joaquin de Flores, Costa Rica vacation, travel and tourist information by reviewer Janette Higgins.
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Costa Rica
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CPI Spanish Language School
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The Morales Family
P.O. Box 151-3007
San Joaquin de Flores, Heredia
Costa Rica,
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| Phone: 011-506-265-6306 |
| An excellent curriculum backed up by well-trained teachers not to mention a beautiful campus at each of the three locations. This one is in San Joaquin de Flores. |
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Review by Janette Higgins
author of The Best Places to B&B in Ontario: A Selective Guide
Six editions of the book were published to critical and popular acclaim. Janette now publishes her B&B
reviews and holiday reports online.
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CPI Spanish Language School rocks! Before I left Canada I’d done extensive internet research on spanish language schools in Costa Rica. CPI’s website was intelligently designed, the buildings appeared attractive and there were three campuses in different parts of Costa Rica. What I couldn’t know beforehand, though there were hints, was the quality of the curriculum and the teaching. Turns out CPI scores on all levels. Here’s the lowdown.
The original campus is in the flower-bedecked middle-class town of San Joaquin de Flores near San Jose. The school is the brainchild of the Najarro Morales family who’d left troubled El Salvador in 1980. Alfredo Morales was a lawyer and Romy Morales a high school teacher, but finding employment proved difficult and they ended up owning a pizza parlour with Senora Morales teaching Spanish to Peace Corps Volunteers. The seed for CPI (Centro Panamericano de Idiomas) was sown in 1991 when the Senora set up her own tutoring program.
The elder Najarro Morales remain intimately involved in the growth and direction of the school but now their adult children Lorena, Carlos and Carolina each head up a campus. The personable Lorena was a lawyer turned circuit judge before she decided to take over the San Joaquin campus. With his economics degree Carlos heads up the campus in the Monteverde Cloud Forest and tourism-major Carolina picked up the most recent in Flamingo Beach. It’s a formidible package of talent.
The curriculum and supporting student materials are top-notch. Senora Morales was clearly a very good profesora. The patient, well-trained teachers always make you feel good about learning. The pleasant support staff clearly desire to make your experience the best possible. In fact the curriculum is accredited by several American schools and approved by Spain’s prestigious Instituto Cervantes. Then there are the physical surroundings. It is such a kick to learn in beautiful buildings surrounded by well-tended gardens with a spacious rancho where students get together for breaks and free snacks prepared by the resident cook.
I find the study of Spanish in Spanish-speaking countries to be a vacation in itself. Sure you have to apply yourself and do your ‘tarea’ (always homework!) but most of us were in class for only half a day leaving the other half free for various pursuits including school-sponsored events such as festivals, cultural excursions and cooking classes. And since most students opt to live with a family (a no-brainer if you really want to learn) you’re forced to practise the language as you soak up the culture. By the way your week’s room and board (breakfast and dinner) is around USD $120 so your living expenses are vastly lower than if you’re doing the usual tourist thing.
Each weekend the school offers an overnight travel package (at extra cost) to someplace like La Fortuna and the Arenal volcano. You can usually arrange to transfer to another campus at the same time thus saving the $25 transfer fee. Otherwise transfers take place on Sundays. If you use CPI’s transfer service you’re picked up at one homestay and delivered to the next. It’s important to remember when you’re planning that you can’t return to a campus. I hadn’t realized this so when I registered I asked for a week in San Joaquin, a week in Monteverde and then a week back at San Joaquin. No can do. I decided to switch to a week at Monteverde and a week at San Joaquin leaving the third week open. I then opted to stick around San Joaquin for my third week. You get 3 free switches; any more and there’s an administrative fee.
During my week at CPI’s Monteverde Cloud Forest campus, it was windy and rainy with more rainbows than I could count; so windy that I had to wear earplugs at night and so rainy that I didn’t get to take advantage of all the hiking and other diversions on offer. There were good restaurants, interesting galleries and during February (the time I was there) a festival of free or modestly priced musical concerts. It’s amazing how the ‘bad weather’ didn’t affect my enjoyment of Monteverde – I loved it and wished in retrospect that I’d used one of my free switches to stay a second week. (By the way the $1.98 I spent on a flimsy emergency poncho more than paid off. I had occasion to use it not just in Monteverde but everywhere I went in Costa Rica which was having a little more February rain than usual. It took up hardly any room but it broke the wind in Monteverde, kept me warm at the top of Cerro de Muerte (Death Mountain) and saved me from torrential downpours in the Central Valley.)
No rain at CPI’s Flamingo Beach campus though. It’s in the dry northern Guanacaste province on the Pacific side. I didn’t go to Flamingo Beach but I met people who’d been who loved it. (In fact I rarely heard student beefs in the whole 3 weeks; that’s because you’re encouraged to air any issues right away so staff have the opportunity to rectify things.) If you choose a Flamingo Beach homestay be aware that the families don’t have air conditioning. I personally found at the beaches I did visit that ocean breezes cooled things off at night. For this reason you do have the option of staying in the school’s bed and breakfast with access to a kitchen, if you’re prepared to share a room. Otherwise you can opt to rent a private villa or studio apartment
After three weeks of studying Spanish I embarked on my touring and had many more wonderful adventures (see my other Costa Rica reviews) with occasion to use my broken Spanish. On my last day in Costa Rica I travelled by bus an hour north of San Jose to visit the fascinating Else Kientzler Botanical Gardens in Sarchi Norte. The enthusiastic young guide spoke perfect English but asked which language I’d prefer for my orientation. Boldly, I opted for Spanish... He spoke for 10 minutes and I understood nearly everything – a testament to how far I’d come with the help of the fine folks at CPI Spanish Language School, surely one of the best in Latin America.
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Reviews of Janette Higgins'
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Janette Higgins' reviews
of Ontario's best bed and breakfasts
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CPI Spanish Language School, San Jose area
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| Tell your hosts Janette Higgins sent you! |
| E-mail: |
Click Here |
| Website: |
http://www.cpi-edu.com |
| Best to call: |
Business Hours |
| Languages: |
English/Spanish/French plus others |
| Season: |
All year |
| Rates: |
Check CPI's website for all the possibilities. As an example 5 days with 4 hours instruction/day and 7 nights homestay (includes breakfast/dinner) costs USD$395 in February |
Currency converter
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| Cards: |
cheques/bank drafts/money orders |
| Facilities: |
3 campuses: San Joaquin de Flores near San Jose; Monteverde Cloud Forest; Flamingo Beach in Guanacaste. Transfers arranged between campuses. Homestays or separate lodging can be arranged. |
| Breakfast: |
homestay provides breakfast and dinner |
| In Residence: |
Pets and children may or may not be in homestays. Enquire |
| Location: |
This Spanish Language School has carefully selected its locations to offer the best of Costa Rica with one near San Jose, one in the cloud forest and one on the beach. |
| Directions: |
Obtain when booking |
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