www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I understand that most of the good Spanish schools are in the San Pedro area (i.e. CRLA).

However, I wish to stay in Escazu for two months and learn Spanish there. I have tried calling a couple of language schools listed on a directory but I have been unsuccessful in actually speaking with a live person about classes.

Does anybody have any firsthand knowledge about good schools. I learn better in a class setting so I would prefer a structured format over private tutoring.

Thank you very much and Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!!

I have no firsthand knowledge of either of these 2 schools and don't know if you already knew about them, but you could check them out.

Academia de Idiomas Escazu http://www.amerisol.com/costarica/edu/escazu/pattern.html (for which I've seen some poor to mediocre reviews) and ILERI Spanish School http://www.ilerispanishschool.com. Frankly neither of these look that promising.

Why do you have to stay in Escazu? If I were spending a couple of grand not to mention 2 months of my time trying to learn Spanish I would put greater emphasis on going whereever they had the best program rather than shopping around based on what city it was in. There are plenty of nice places to stay and places to go in San Pedro and the Gulch is just a 5 minute bus trip away. If San Pedro is too urban for you there are other high quality schools in the central valley in nice environments if you don't limit yourself to Escazu.

Learning Spanish is not my #1 priority. I figure since the most amount of gringoes are in Escazu, the best schools should be there. I found out that most people who study there can afford private tutors. I would just like a private tutor that follows a structured program.

Traffic is so bad in the day that you really need to be close to your school. I want to stay in an area I can walk around safely. Escazu seems the best bet and also has a great nightlife (I want to vary it up from just mongering).

Does anybody have any other suggestions?

Thanks for your guidance.

Your original rationale for choosing Escazu has changed. You thought because it has lots of gringos it should also have the best language schools, but it doesn't. It could be due to the fact that gringos that stay there can afford private tutors. But I would also throw out the possibility that another reason there are so few language schools based there is that there ARE so many gringos and that is not the best environment to learn spanish. There is a reason why schools typically offer homestays with a local tico family as part of their program beyond offering cheap accomodations to their students. Its called immersion. If you hang out in an area with lots of fellow gringos, you're more likely to fall back on them for your social interaction and thus speak English (particularly since you're not going to be doing the homestay either). It is certainly easier than trying to stumble through conversations 24 hours a day in your still broken spanish.

Now that the presence of top quality language schools is no longer a basis for choosing Escazu, why are you still stuck on it? You can walk around San Pedro safely. In fact, you can even walk safely from there to downtown if you want to or hop on a bus and be there in a matter of a couple of minutes (from Escazu you'll probably want to take a cab which will cost considerably more). And at night, frankly, unless where you're going is just around the corner, you're probably going to want to take a cab, no matter where you stay. San Pedro also has plenty of non-monger nightlife, Calle Amargura, Jazz Cafe, El Cuartel, the disco under the San Pedro Mall (whose name I always forget). When I was staying in San Pedro, I walked to all of those at night except El Cuartel (because it was a little too far)(if you drink a lot, I'd suggest always taking a cab back). And you're just a couple of minutes away by cab from the wide variety of monger nightlife. Sure you can take a chica back to Escazu by cab too, but the greater distance detracts a bit from your bargaining position and the longer cab rides back and forth for you and the chica add to your expenses. Just some other things to consider.

BTW, another thing you might consider since you're going to be there for so long is something like I did. A homestay for first part of your trip and the apartment for the rest of it. Bringing a chica back to your family is probably out of the question but there is always the afternoon MP thing for mongering release (or even an evening stripclub, or ST stay hotel) and time to establish your non-monger contacts for later in your trip. Then when you do move out on your own, your spanish is up to a level where you're more likely to fully take advantage of it for your non-mongering pursuits

I have been debating back and forth between staying in the San Pedro region or Escazu.

Last year, I was in Costa Rica for 6 weeks and did a homestay at CRLA for two weeks. I have walked around both San Pedro and Escazu and felt far safer in Escazu (I have done extensive travelling throughout the world so I am an experienced traveler saying this). Also, I have been in correspondence with alot of locals (some who attend San Jose's University in San Pedro) and they all tell me to stay in Escazu. If I were staying several blocks away from Jazz Cafe, I would not feel safe to walk there at night. If I were staying several blocks away from the bar in Escazu near the Baskin Robbins up the hill, I would (maybe I am wrong).

Learning Spanish is not my highest priority. However, besides that I agree that San Pedro's location to both mongering and non-mongering sites is very attractive. If I were to stay in San Pedro, which area (and aparthotel) would you recommend as the safest and best to walk around?