Mi Casa Es Su Casa: Inside Our Homestay Project in Sitio Mata

Picture waking up in Sitio Mata to the sound of a rooster, the smell of fresh coffee, and your host mom asking what you want for breakfast. In Spanish, of course.

“¡Buenos días! ¿Cómo amaneció mi amor? ¿Quiere sus huevitos revueltos o fritos?”

For a lot of our students, this is what practicing Spanish outside the classroom actually looks like.

Where it all started

We started our homestay project in Sitio de Mata back in 2009. What began as a small part of our student trips has grown into something that’s now a highlight for many of the groups we bring to Costa Rica.

The idea is simple. Students stay with a local family, eat meals together, engage in the community, and practice their Spanish throughout the day. The families are patient with students who are still learning, and before long, conversations that might feel intimidating in a classroom start to come naturally.

It’s not a hotel or a staged cultural experience. Students get to spend time with local families and see a little more of what everyday life in Costa Rica is like.

Homestays are optional, but most groups choose to participate. After seeing how much students get out of the experience, it’s easy to understand why.

The women who make it work

The homestay moms are a big reason this project has lasted as long as it has. Most have been working with us for more than ten years, welcoming students into their homes and making them feel comfortable, even when the language barrier makes things a little challenging at first.

Our homestay slogan is Mi casa es su casa, and these women put that into practice every time a new group arrives.

Meet the women who make it happen:

• Jackelyn
• Flor
• Yahaira
• Marta
• Nayubel
• Roxana
• Kimberly
• Cindy
• Fernanda
• Mariam
• Yamileth
• Adela

What it means for Sitio Mata

One thing we’ve always believed in is paying our host families fairly. We pay them more than any other organization or student travel company in Costa Rica, because we want the project to benefit the community, not just the students who visit.

Since 2009, the money generated by the project has helped support a number of local improvements, including:

• Building a community center
• Helping homestay kids attend college
• Building and improving neighborhood bus stops
• Improving access to medical care for homestay families
• Remodeling homes

There’s more to the story than that, but these are a few examples of what the project has helped make possible over the years.

We’re proud of what the families and the wider community have been able to do with these opportunities. The student groups who stay here are an important part of that, too. Every group that participates helps keep the project going.

Come stay with us

If you’re planning a student trip to Costa Rica, a homestay in Sitio Mata is a great way to give students the chance to practice Spanish and spend time with local families.

They’ll share meals, learn a little about daily life here, and probably come away with a few new Spanish expressions they weren’t expecting to learn.

And who knows? They might even get used to being called mi amor before breakfast.

Mi casa es su casa.