Info on learning spanish in Costa Rica?

[4th yr Fellow]

I am planning a trip to Costa Rica to take one of those intensive spanish courses. Being a doc in CA is almost impossible if you don't know spanish. But there are so many programs to choose from. Does anyone know anything about the programs? Do you know anyone who has gone, and what did they think?
I would appreciate any info on this topic.

Thanks

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[adventure]

4th yr fellow,
i've been to costa rica. i met lots of people who were taking classes there. however, it didn't help much. they said that there were so many americans and english speaking foreigners that they hardly used any spanish. i went to costa rica and volunteered at a orphanage and at a rehab center. i learned spanish so much that way because i worked only with spanish speaking individuals. however, i think the best way to learn spanish is to go to a country like honduras. i volunteered at a hospital in a small town. believe me, you are forced to learn spanish and you get to help the understaffed hospital at the same time. don't get me wrong, costa rica was great, but honduras was more educational because i really didn't have a choice but to speak spanish and assist the doctors.

 

[praying mantis]

Quito, Ecuador is one of the best places to learn Spanish and there are tons of programs. You can even mix it in with medical experience. There is an organization, Child Family Health International, that takes US med students to Quito and provides medical Spanish classes and rotation in the city. Visit them at <a href="http://www.cfhi.org" target="_blank">www.cfhi.org</a>

I went and loved the program!!

 

[lilycat]

I heard excellent things about this program when I was researching the same topic 2 years ago:

<a href="http://www.icadscr.com" target="_blank">www.icadscr.com</a>

 

[merlin]

4th Yr Fellow, I am leaving for Costa Rica with my wife on Feb.4th and will be away for two months. During the first month of that time, I am taking spanish classes at the Wayra Institute (<a href="http://www.spanish-wayra.co.cr" target="_blank">Wayra Institute</a>), a school located in Tamarindo. Now half of the reason for this is the excellent surfing around Tamarindo, and then the other half is because I know a couple of people who did this school and really got a lot out of it. I believe that they can set you up as a volunteer in the local medical clinic (which I am looking into), but that is not uncommon with these schools. As in all things, the more time and effort you put into learning the more you will get out of it. Costa Rica is filled with many English speaking tourists though, so it is much harder to learn spanish in Costa than in Panama or Equador. If you have any specific questions, I would be more than willing to answer them. Please feel free to email or message me. Cheers.