ABOUT ARENAS DE SAN PEDRO

It is a city of Spain located in the south of the province of Ávila, autonomous community of Castilla y León. Arenas de San Pedro is the capital of the region, better known as the Tiétar Valley. The altitude of the municipality reaches 2343 m at the peak of La Mira, in the Sierra de Gredos. The municipality has a population of 6556 inhabitants (INE 2017), which makes it the third population in number of inhabitants of the province, after Ávila and Arévalo. The population centers of Ramacastañas, La Parra and Hontanares belong to the municipality in the form of districts. A good part of the municipality is in the protected area of ​​the Sierra de Gredos regional park, being the most populated municipality in the park environment. The local festivities are celebrated in honor of the Virgen del Pilar (September 8) and San Pedro de Alcántara (October 19).

The origins of the municipality date back to the Middle Ages, when a group of settlers from an earlier nucleus founded the population at the current site. He received the title of villa in 1393, under the reign of Henry III of Castile. During the rest of the Middle Ages and the Modern Age he was the head of a manor that grouped Arenas de San Pedro and the villages of El Arenal, Guisando, Hontanares, El Hornillo, La Parra, Poyales del Hoyo and Ramacastañas. In the eighteenth century the town witnessed the presence of the family of the infant Luis Antonio de Borbón y Farnesio and his small court of artists (Francisco de Goya, Luigi Boccherini and Ventura Rodríguez among others) who accompanied him for a while in the palace Neoclassical that the infant had built in the town.

What about accommodation, board and lodging?

Students will be accommodated with local families in single or double rooms. Board includes three meals per activity day. Dinner on the first day and breakfast on the last one are also included in the price. If requested, special dietary requirements (vegetarian, halal, vegan) can be accommodated upon request.

Optionally for the whole group, it is possible to choose accommodation in the nearby hotel.

ABOUT HOSTING FAMILIES

AJS association has been hosting foreign Young people with local families for almost 10 years already.

All this experience has taught us that hosting young people in this way, is not only of a great value for the youngsters, but also for the local families.

The young foreigners will gain the experience of spending time with local Spanish families, in their houses and sharing their routines, whilst the families will benefit from this cultural exchange, improving the awareness of multiculturality in our community.

In each of the families two youngsters will be hosted together in a personal room for them. The family will provide them with breakfast and dinner. Since most of the day the youngsters will be participating in the Educamp workshops, they will join their hosting families in the late afternoon-evening when they will have the opportunity to share time and enrich themselves from the cultural exchange.

All of the families are open minded and have had been specifically chosen by us to host young people. Also, the families receive a pre-arrive formation about hosting young foreign people and AJS association is methodically checking how the experience both for youngsters and families is developing, in case any help is needed.

“Maiky” Martín y Miguel Aguilar have been a hosting family for five years now and together with his son Arturo are great collaborators of AJS. On their own words:

“Hosting young people from different countries is always an experience we are willing to have. We always try to make them feel comfortable with us and show them our surroundings and our friends. I think we are successful in it because they usually keep contact with us and even sometimes they visit. What could be better than a homemade Tortilla de Patatas with your Spanish host family?”

CONTACT US

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