Spanish schools in Quito Ecuador - Spanish lessons,courses and classes in Latin America, with Yanapuma Foundation. This website outlines all our Spanish courses in Ecuador as well as our 'Study and Travel' options around Ecuador. Our non-profit NGO Spanish school donates its income to the work of Yanapuma Foundation for sustainable development in indigenous and marginalized communities.
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Kamak_Maki Yanapuma Spanish School study in an indigenous community

Kamak Maki study Spanish in an indigenous community with Yanapuma Spanish School

Study Spanish in an indigenous community Spanish classes with Yanapuma Spanish School

Studying Spanish in an indigenous community with Yanapuma Spanish school

Yanapuma Spanish school study spanish in an indigenous community traveling classroom program

Study Spanish in an indigenous community in Ecuador with Yanapuma Spanish School

Study Spanish and Experience Indigenous Culture

On this program you can study for a week in one of the indigenous communities that Yanapuma Foundation works with. If you wish to find out about life in Ecuador's different ecological regions - Pacific coast, Andean sierra, and Amazon rainforest, you can stay with your teacher with an indigenous family for a week in each region. This is a fascinating cultural experience as well as being a great way to practice your Spanish.

Activities are planned to complement the classes to fill the week with interest and excitement. The basic program includes opportunities to take part in local activities and explore your surroundings. Each community offers extra optional activities with varying costs.These might include hiring a guide, or horses, or a motorized canoe. If you are interested in these offerings you can arrange them directly with the community.

Please note that living conditions can be quite rudimentary when staying with an indigenous family, and this is part of the overall experience of immersing oneself in another culture. Some adaptation is required but we have found that the experience is mostly overwhelmingly rewarding for students.

Click here for a list of things to bring, and here to read our Norms of Conduct for visiting an indigenous community.

 

The communities:

Estero de Plátano
The small community of Estero de Plátano is located on the Pacific coast in the southern part of the province of Esmeraldas. Originally inhabited by the Chachi culture, the population is now mixed with mestizos and black descendents of a slave ship that ran aground, resulting in a unique cultural blend. This area is one of the last remaining places where the rainforest still reaches down to the sea; a unique environment in which part of the population lives by farming small plots of yucca, plantains, and cacao in the jungle, and others fish in the ocean. The area offshore has recently been declared a marine reserve in recognition of its unique  ecology and relatively undamaged status.
Activities include spending time on the beach, hiking to waterfalls and other places of interest, and other options such as going out with the fishermen. It is also possible to watch whales here between July and November as they migrate along the coast.
Yanapuma Foundation is working with this community on the development of crafts production, health, education, and appropriate tourism. A week in Estero de Plátano offers a fascinating insight into another culture and way of life that is under threat.

Caimito
The village of Caimito lies on the Pacific coast close to the village of Estero de Plátano. It is surrounded by the rainforest of the Cabo San Francisco. Yanapuma works with a local biologist on projects to promote sustainable agriculture and organic cacao production, as well as working on construction projects in the local school with groups of volunteers.
A week spent studying Spanish here will offer opportunities to students interested in ecology and environmental protection to learn about the coastal rainforest.

Bua de los Tsa’chila and Los Naranjos
The communies of Bua and Los Naranjos are two of only 7 remaining villages of the Tsa’chila culture, located in the low tropical foothills of the Andes on the Pacific side. Originally a forest-dwelling people, their unique and distinctive culture is undergoing a renaissance through a group of families that run cultural centers “Shinopi Bolon” and "Masara Mudu" which is where students stay when they take classes. Here students can learn about the Tsa’chila culture and explore a small reserve that contains some of the original primary forest that once covered the entire region. The center in Bua also attracts animals of the region that are brought there by locals such as boas, sloths, and iguanas that used to be hunted. These are looked after prior to being released into the wild again.
Yanapuma works with these communities in agriculture, reforestation, education, health, sanitation, and leadership and organizational training. A week spent learning Spanish in a Tsa'chila community offers a great chance to learn about this unique culture and to see how Yanapuma works with the Tsa’chila towards sustainable development.

Chilcapamba
The village of Chilcapamba is situated near Otavalo, in the Andean sierra north of Quito. The population live by farming, with pasture for cattle, as well as fields of onions, cereals, maize and potatoes.
A week spent studying Spanish here is a great opportunity to appreciate the culture and way of life in the Andes. In addition there will be opportunities to visit the famous market town of Otavalo, the beautiful Cuicocha Lake, and nearby towns such as Cotocachi, famous for its leather goods and other handicrafts, and one of the more ecological and progressive small towns of Ecuador. The program ends on Friday after classes in the morning, and you can either return to Quito with your teacher, or stay around the area for another night to visit the famous Otavalo Market on Saturday, its busiest day and the day of the livestock market where alpacas, llamas and cuy (guinea-pigs) are on sale.

Study in an indigenous community with Yanapuma Spanish School

Peribuela study Spanish in an indigenous community with Yanapuma Foundation and Spanish school

Spanish classes in an indigenous community with Yanapuma Spanish School

Spanish classes in an indigenous community with Yanapuma Spanish School traveling classroom program

Study and travel with Yanapuma Spanish School in Ecuador

Study in the Amazon rainforest with Yanapuma Spanish School in Ecuador

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