Costa Rica Spanish School - About Us

Welcome to the Costa Rica Spanish School that you will not want to leave. Our Spanish School has been developed over the years and is now what many consider the best place to live in all of Costa Rica. Don't let the secret out though we like our life-style of living in the beautiful cool calm mountains with views of the smoking Turrialba Voclano in place you will never forget called Sitio de Mata.

It started 10 years ago when Tom Ranieri started rafting the Pacuare River. His closest friend Marlon was from a nearby village called Sitio de Mata where Tom stayed during his rafting years.  It was here that Tom's future company Costa Rican Resource began bringing student groups to do homestays and show the kids some of the most amazing people on Earth. Tom describes one of the best moments in this village: "Every group we walk up to a ridge just 10 minutes from the houses and sit there with the groups students as a number of sloths look down on us and we all watch the sun set over the Turrialba Volcano lighting up the sky and seeing an endless row of mountains turn to darkness". Tom's partner Marlon has been running things in Sitio de Mata with no intention of making things bigger.  The idea of our project is to keep it simple with first class service from learning linguistics to being surrounded by the "real Costa Rica".

The "Dream Team" of Homestay Moms

The name of the village is Sitio de Mata and it is called the eternal Spring. Here you will notice there are no bars on the windows as in many parts of Costa Rica But you aren't out in the middle of nowhere either. You are just a 15 minute bus ride to the larger town of Turrialba and in the small village of Sitio de Mata you see the valley below and across the valley is a nice little or big treat of the smoking Turrialba Volcano. This is such a scenic area that even one of Costa Rica's smallest but finest hotels is in the area. The Hacienda Tayutic is just in front of your classroom. It is such the perfect setting that even George Clooney made the suprise visit to relax in this rural village of complete paradise just to get away from it all. But what makes for the perfect environment for a Costa Rica Spanish school is so much more as you can see in the video below:

Our idea is to show the value of living in a community and the importance to the young kids in the area and visiting students to experience the beautiful area of Sitio de Mata. This Costa Rica Spanish school is very limited on space and does not open itself up to large groups. You will often find just around 15 students in the total school and many times less.

What has made this Spanish school the huge success it has been is without a doubt the people of the village. Yes, it is located in one of the most beautiful parts of Costa Rica away from all the hussle and bussle but the real beauty of this village comes from it's people.

If you want to learn Spanish and be forced to talk it in all moments of the day then this is the school for you. If you want to experience a Spanish School in Costa Rica not only on a different culture level but experience it in making friendships that will last a lifetime then this is the school for you. Join us as we take you into the  village of Sitio de Mata and you can be a part of our Sitio de Mata Project which has been a positive influence on the village and more importantly everyone who visits can take some of the easy way of life back to their societies abroad.