📝 Blog Post #2: Meet the Ritmo del Río Team
January 12, 2025
Behind the fruit trees, Spanish lessons, and music nights at Ritmo del Río, there’s a dedicated and diverse team of people working hard to make it all possible. Let us introduce you to just a few of the amazing souls who give this place its rhythm.
🎓 Carlos Nieto – Director
Carlos is a Colombian from Bucaramanga who finished his schooling in Bogotá. He’s lived, worked and studied languages in Australia and France, and he now lives in San Rafael with his two children. After living abroad for years, Carlos moved back to the countryside of Colombia to start a new life with his family. Carlos has been in San Rafael for 9 years and co-founded our Spanish school. As the director of the Ritmo del Río Spanish School, he brings a unique mix of language expertise, vision, and warmth to the project.
🌱 Jesse Clark – Founder
Originally from California, Jesse studied linguistics at UC Berkeley. He first came to Colombia at age 20 and never looked back. After founding Ritmo del Río in 2013, Jesse has combined his passion for languages, ecology, and community-building into this constantly-evolving project.
🗣️ Mattias Wagner – Language Teacher
Mattias is a German linguist who speaks German, English, Spanish, and Swahili. He has lived in Colombia for nearly 20 years and has a wealth of experience teaching Spanish to students from all over the world.
📚 Andrea – Language Teacher
Andrea is a Spanish and English teacher from Bogotá. She recently moved to San Rafael and is now a beloved teacher at Ritmo del Río and an English teacher for local students in the area.
🌍 Melina – Language Teacher
Melina teaches both French and Spanish, and is also the founder of an alternative school for children in a rural area near Ritmo del Río. She splits her time between teaching at our school and running her own nonprofit educational project for local kids.
🎸 Gokula – Musician & Conversation Leader
Gokula is a local musician and one of our Spanish teachers in training. He brings music and joy to the project and often helps lead conversation classes and activities at the school. He also teaches guitar and singing if you’d like you study music while at Ritmo Del Río’s Spanish School!
🧘♀️ Sara – Yoga Teacher & Language Helper
Sara is from Medellín and teaches yoga at Ritmo del Río. She’s also involved in language exchanges and conversation classes, bringing calm energy and connection to the group. Sara also runs an organic essential oils business in the neighborhood el Arenal, about 15 minutes away from Ritmo Del Río.
✍️ Camila – Reception & School Organizer
Camila is an Argentine journalist turned hotel admin, who now lives in Colombia. She works at the hotel reception and helps coordinate the Spanish school, volunteer program, and language workshops here at Ritmo del Río.
💃 Johana – Salsa Instructor
Johana is from Colombia and leads our Salsa classes, language exchanges, and conversation workshops. Her energy is infectious and her classes are always a highlight of the week.
Together, we’re are the Ritmo del Río Spanish team — a community working toward a shared vision: learning, connection, and sustainability through education and cultural exchange.
