Cactus Language Blog

Cactus Opinion: Spanish & Surfing course in Jaco Beach

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Cactus Staff Opinion, Learning a language, Spanish

Language Holiday Advisor Alex Wolfson reports on his Spanish & Surfing course in Jaco, Costa Rica (Feb 08)

Ever since I heard that Cactus worked with a school which offered a Spanish and Surfing course with the Spanish lessons on flexitime, to guarantee the surf classes took place at the optimum level of time, I wanted to take a course at this school. In February 2008 my chance came on the back end of a travel familiarisation trip to visit Cactus partner schools in Central America; I was already in the right area so I booked a week’s Spanish and Surfing in Jaco.

I arrived on a crowded bus from Manuel Antonio National Park on the same Saturday that the Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee was playing a big gig in Jaco. This was quite a contrast from walking through a peaceful green forest next to white sanded beaches and blue seas with only monkeys for company – Jaco was full of day-trippers from San Jose, cool Tico teenagers in baseball caps and crop tops, and tourists from North America and Europe. If you’re looking for a peaceful beach stop this isn’t the place, but is was clear from the start this it’s the place to be in Costa Rica if you’re looking for a party!

The school in Jaco is a lovely contrast to the crazy party vibe in there. Set a couple of blocks back from the main drag in a residential area, it is a chilled out, open plan building, designed using the principals of Feng Shui with a zen garden at its centre. You can cool off it the pool, read a book in the hammock, cook some food in the kitchen, sit in a rocking chair on the balcony, use the meditation room, and get to know the two dogs Fiji and Bimini!

The school started out offering just Spanish and Surfing, but now you can do any combination of these two disciplines, yoga or digital photography. Nearly all the students live on in the same building (as does Brian, the owner of the school) which gives the place the feel of an education holiday camp! Everyone takes what they are learning seriously, but ultimately, no-one makes a secret of the fact that they are on holiday! And that is what is so perfect about a stay in Jaco – it is the quintessential language learning holiday.

All tuition is done in small groups (my Spanish class was 3 people and my surf tuition was 2 or 3 students with one instructor) and the teachers focus on Spanish that you will need to use in Jaco – how to haggle over souvenirs, discuss the surf, buy a bus ticket, talk to the senoritas at Ripper’s bar, and book a boat trip to Montezuma. The focus is not on how to read academic tomes or how to pass an exam, but is on practical written and spoken Spanish.

Inevitably, considering where Jaco is located, surfing is always going to be an activity at the centre of things here and the school’s surfing program is hugely popular. Surf classes quickly divide people up into twos and threes and you stay with the same instructor for the whole week. York was passionate about surfing, looked incredibly cool when he caught a wave and had patience in abundance. He was in the water with Gene and I all the time helping us to catch the waves better, showing us the minutiae of what we were doing wrong and telling us when to “paddle paddle paddle”. Wednesday was just an awesome day when I rode every wave I caught. We moved to a different, more difficult beach called Playa Hermosa for the Thursday and Friday where it was just a magic moment lined up out to sea as the red sun set into the Pacific behind us.

However, this school isn’t just about surfing. They also do yoga classes – which are great for loosening the muscles you need to surf – and digital photography classes – on which students are taken into the forest and onto the beach to practise in different light settings and environments.

My week in Jaco really was one of the best holidays I’ve been on. I improved my Spanish, got a lot better at surfing, got on really well with my fellow students and will definitely meet some of them again, had some great nights out at the bars of Playa Hermosa and Jaco itself, was taken sea kayaking and snorkelling (one of the free weekly trips the school organises), and hardly even wore shoes all week.

Jaco maybe isn’t the best place to be if you like seclusion, peace and quiet, art or fine architecture, but for a language holiday in the sun on the beach with fun activities around like-minded people you can’t go wrong! I spent about 2 weeks pining for the place when I got back home and can’t wait to go back.

Spanish & Surfing in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica

Tags:Costa Rica, language course, language holiday, Spanish, surfing