Rancho de Espanol provides language instruction for people of all ages. It is a wonderful retreat center equipped with hotel rooms, pool, restaurant and other common spaces. It has enclosed cabanas that serve as classrooms. However, the “secret sauce” for speedy language acquisition is the host-home program.
Claudia was a wonderful host for Nicole, Ryan, Joy and Hope. She works for Rancho de Espanol hosting families for them, and she also works part time as a groomer of dogs and cats.
One of the best parts of a homestay is getting a chance to see how normal families live in their normal homes. Claudia’s house had three bedrooms and one bathroom. We were in one room with enough beds for 3 or 4 people to sleep. You only needed a sheet as a cover since it was extremely hot at night. The shower head was an electric inline heater, so it would warm the water instantly. The electric wires were wrapped in electrical tape but they were too high for anyone to touch. In the States an inspector would require a GFI outlet, but in Costa Rica it worked just fine. Claudia does not like clutter and keeps everything very clean. We were thankful to be able to help out by washing dishes after a few of our meals. Their home was simple, colorful, clean, comfortable, and filled with love.
Claudia prepared breakfast for us each morning. Sometimes it was a cooked breakfast and other times it was cereal, bread with fruit spread and an abundance of freshly sliced fruit: mangos, papaya, watermelon, and banana.
We ate our lunches at Rancho de Espanol, but each evening Claudia would cook a hot meal for us. Members of the family would sit with us and we could practice some of our Spanish phrases. One of the nice surprises was that laundry was part of the home stay. At the end of the week, Claudia washed our clothes. She dried them on a outdoor clothes line in one morning/afternoon. By the time we returned home at the end of our school day , she had folded all our laundry on our bed and even sorted it per person! We were very surprised and so very thankful for this exceptional and unexpected service!
Claudia is separated from her husband Francisco. Although he doesn’t live with them in their home, he comes over for meals and sees the children every other day. The respect and kindness Claudia and Francisco live out as they continue to parent their children together was inspiring! Their children are Mathias and Natalia. We really enjoyed our time with the whole family as each person is wonderful and unique.
Mathias is 8 years old and goes to school Mon-Fri, but every other day he goes to school in the morning. The other days he goes to school in the afternoon. His school has so many students that they have to make this accommodation so everyone has a chance to learn. Unfortunately, Mathias has both allergies and asthma, so he has to do twice daily breathing treatments and monthly allergy shots at the local hospital. After three years of these shots he hopes to be able to play “football” (Americans call it soccer) like every Costa Rican boy. The television was always on in the home, and Hope and Joy enjoyed watching the show “the Flash.” Mathius would “chain-watch” episodes of “the Flash” every evening. It is his favorite!
Natalia is 15 years old and knows a lot of English, which she has been studying since she was seven years old. She loves the sound of the English language. In fact, she is so committed to learning English that goes to a High School in which half of her courses are in English. In order to go to a special school like this, she has to leave the house at 5:45am every day and take the bus to school. She does not return until 5:30 each evening, so it makes for a long day! In addition, she is going through confirmation instruction at her local Catholic Church. In the Catholic Church in Costa Rica people are not confirmed until they are 15 years old. Natalia enjoys the TV show “Pretty Little Liars.” We kept cracking up that would cover her eyes or call out, “Ay, Dios!” during suspenseful parts. She was such a help with our Spanish acquisition since she could understand when we got stuck and would teach us words for the English words we didn’t know. We hope that someday she is able to come visit us in Southern California!
Our girls were excited that the family had a dog named “Princessa,” and a Cockateel named “Kai.” We learned the Spanish word, “mascota” for pet.
(Princessa isn’t allowed in the house because Mathius is allergic to her.) One day we heard the bird sing the ending of the Adams Family theme song. It turns out that Francisco had taught bird to sing the theme song!
One evening he took the bird out of the cage and let us hold him.
Kai put up with us for a period of time, but he clearly wanted to be right up close with Francisco.
Paula and Harmony stayed in another host home. Here was their experience:
“We loved being able to fully experience Costa Rican culture by having stayed at the local families’ homes. Harmony and my host, Liliana, was very friendly and kind to us, and went out of her way to teach us more about the Costa Rican culture.
We tried all sorts of interesting fruits we’d never had before, including guaba (not guava!) and marañon, which is the cashew tree’s fruit! In addition to incredible fruits, we got to try local dishes, like salchipapas (sausage and potato casserole), arroz con pollo y frijoles (rice, beans, and chicken), y picadillo de fiesta (a mix of rice, potatoes, and white beans similar to the one we made in the cooking class). Harmony and I got the chance to meet our host mom’s mother, children and grandchildren, as it is culturally common for multi-generational families to share a home, or be neighbors.
We also really enjoyed visiting a local artisanal food market with our host family in the nearby city. Living with our host family was a great way to be immersed in Costa Rican culture, and we look forward to seeing our wonderful new friends again!”
The weather in Costa Rica had a definite pattern to it. The mornings were cool, the days were hot and the evenings quite warm — especially as most homes do not have air conditioning. By 2 pm each day the thunder, lightening and rain started up like clockwork. It gave us a greater understanding of this rain forest country.
On Sunday, we attended the local Presbyterian Church in Guacima. The Pastor is a woman who was very animated and welcoming. She loves her job and her community, calling her congregation, “hermanos y hermanas,” brothers and sisters, during her sermon. The people were both welcoming and curious about us attending. They were very familiar with Rancho de Espanol, and were glad that we were able to join them for worship. Lay people helped with the music, readings and leading the service. They are a small congregation so they were able to share prayer requests and testimonies with each other during the service. We were reminded that in larger congregations there is not time or space for this kind of personal sharing about “God moments” in their week. We need to be doing this in our Life Groups and other smaller gatherings so there is opportunity to hear what God is doing in the lives of people in our community. Even though it was a very warm morning, there was something special about walking to and from church with your family.
Our Spanish Language classes will be the topic of another post. We had other adventures during our week at Rancho de Espanol that we may include in other posts: visiting a butterfly sanctuary, a animal rescue zoo, attending a dance class and a cooking class. Exploring the rest of Costa Rica will have to wait until we are back in July. This week was spent trying to learn as much Spanish as possible before our travels through South America.
We are so thankful for the opportunity to stay in host family homes with Rancho de Espanol! It was such a great way to continue our language learning, experience real Costa Rican culture, and make friends. We pray God’s richest blessings on “our Tico families!”
Pura Vida!
Hope you won’t be bored when you finally get home.
Meg Easling
Harmony can’t wait to get home and just have “normal” school days again! For this year we all head out on our crazy days of exploring and touring then she has to open up the computer when we return exhausted at the end of the day. Poor girl! She longs for the normal routine!