If you’re a logistics person (read: anxious planner) like me, you may appreciate the following details about arrival/check-in and the overall flow of each week:
Arrival (and departure) day is generally Sunday. Some people arrive during the week if they can’t make it on Sunday, or they depart midweek, but that’s more of an exception.
From the Medellín airport, take a taxi or shuttle to the norte bus terminal. There, you will buy a ticket to San Carlos at ticket window #7 with the company TransOriente (buses leave frequently). Tell the driver to leave you at Spanish Adventure, which is between Hostería Alcatraz and La Planta, before getting to the town of San Carlos itself. A local will potentially be able to point it out.
Upon arrival, you will be greeted by a staff member or a volunteer, who will collect a deposit for your towels and key (the door/gate to the campus is locked at night).
You must complete two forms by Monday morning: registration/waiver and conservation agreement. On Monday morning, all the new arrivals will have an introductory meeting before having their language skills assessed for placement in the appropriate level of class.
The water in San Carlos is potable but not treated. As such, it is safe to wash your vegetables with it and eat them raw, to brush your teeth with it, and to get drinks with ice. There are two places at the school to fill up with filtered water for drinking, as well.
As far as meals go, breakfast & lunch are included in the price of your room & classes, which means you are responsible for making or buying your own dinner. You are also responsible for your own meals all day on Sunday, although that is the one night of the week that the school offers dinner for purchase, since people are arriving hungry. You must place your order by 5pm. Coffee is on from 7am-2pm.
You will likely purchase groceries & snacks in town, which you can store in the kitchen cabinets or refrigerator. You claim a shelf simply by placing a piece of tape with your name on it.
You can turn in a load of laundry anytime. You pay by the load and will get it back clean & dry in 24-48 hours.
To get to town, you will walk, take a mototaxi, call a tuktuk, or rent a bike from the school. To get back, you just walk up to the designated mototaxi or tuktuk parking area. Since there aren’t many foreigners around, they’ll likely already know where you’re headed.
A typical week looks like this: (Monday) project introduction / mini adventure (Tuesday) class & tutoring / elective class / cultural experience (Wednesday) class & tutoring / work on project / dance class (Thursday) class & tutoring / bigger adventure (Friday) class & tutoring / final project presentation (Saturday) big adventure / language exchange
You will pay for your package (classes/room/adventures) in the office on Wednesdays. You can pay in cash or with card (4% fee with card). You will pay for extras (certain big Saturday adventures, each load of laundry they washed for you, items you consumed from the “bar”) on Saturday, in cash.
I think that about covers the big stuff. San Carlos & Spanish Adventure have been everything I hoped they would be, and more. We wake up to the sound of birds singing, the pet pig snorting, and the school bell ringing. What a place!
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Morning classes with “Chispas” the minipig
San Carlos is souronded by beautiful nature
One on many places we visit furing the natural adventures