About us

Estilo de Vida sprouts from the passion for living, from the impulse to share and learn together a permanently new lifestyle, with our home doors open. We have shared intense learning weeks with almost 200 students in the last 8 years, one to on or one to two. Our students’ diversity (ages, levels, origins, preferences, learning styles, rhythms…) is our highest asset and the richness that we can offer back to you.
Since 2017, Alejo Etchart (Bilbao, 1966) makes his lifestyle operational through this enterprise called Estilo de Vida, focused on Spanish for foreigners. He has a high academic background (*), has traveled a lot for work, speaks languages and has friends all over the world, although he lives ecolocally.
 
Apart from language, he has knowledge and conversation on issues of economy, business, new technologies and commerce; climate change, sustainability and resilience; cooking, food and healthy lifestyle; psychology, philosophy and advaita. Particularly since he left the city in 2014 to live in a small village in the countryside, he has been on a path of research and discovery around the Being, on which he passionately continues.

(*) Degree in Economics and Business, MBA and MSc with distinction in Climate Change & Sustainable Development. For two decades he worked in international trade, especially exporting from China to the rest of the world; and in 2008 he changed his occupation towards sustainable development issues, moving from the MSc to the UN environment, to sustainable communities and now to a deepening of the self. In addition to Spanish, he speaks English and French fluently; and has knowledge of Italian, Mandarin, Basque and Catalan.

Comida de confraternizacion de los colaboradores de Estilo de Vida

He has taught foreign languages for over 20 years. To specialize in Spanish-teaching, he gained a degree from the Hemingway Institute and the Cervantes Institute. He is in continuous larning through conferences and seminars. More about his vital impulse can be learnt from his blog.
 
The Hemingway Institute of Bilbao supports Estilo de Vida with teachers and logistics when we receive large or disparate groups in their level of Spanish.
 

Many friends participate in Estilo de Vida, receiving our visits, showing us their professions or helping us with transportation, cooking, housekeeping and gardening. Special thanks to:

  • Carlos Armiño, sculptor and vital artist, who offers us his museum and his ongoing reality, in Cereceda
  • Shepherds Leandro and brothers, with their 1,200 sheep in Quintana de Valdivielso
  • Isabel, Juan, Mónica and Ben, excellence made neighborhood
  • Julio, senior kind volunteer guide of the church of Valpuesta
  • Norbert Itrich, musician above all, passionate about the organ and fervent manager
  • Jose Ignacio Sarasúa, excellent artist, who opens his painting museum-workshop to us in Quintana de Valdivielso
  • Maripaz and Julio Alberto, who lovingly offer us their ethnographic museum in Montejo de San Miguel
  • Josu Olabarría, who shares with us his rich vision of the fauna and flora of Merindades, in Oña
  • Janfry, a source of anecdotes while we taste his exquisite coffees in Oña
  • Gustavo, and his tasty conversations at the small El Carluque cheese factory in Valdenoceda
  • Ana Condado, creator of multidisciplinary art in Villarcayo
  • Tiquio, the best voice in the Tobalina valley
  • Nacho, or excellence made barman at Bar Vélez
  • Fernando Alea, exquisite treatment and painting, in Medina de Pomar
  • Chelo, Edurne and Paul, whose love in the kitchen and service is transferred to the dishes they offer us
  • Manoli and Iranzu, whose smile is printed on our t-shirts
  • Tirso, collector, conversationalist, pure sympathy
  • Olguita, María, Inma and Jose Luis, Manu, Vicente, Carmen and Juanjo, friends from Valmayor, Africa, Ana and Ricardo, Nacho, neighbors from La Montañuela, Javi, Magdalena, Sarah, Tomás, Tobera gang, Ana and Tipi, Rafa and Merce,… and so many other people who grace us with their love – and to whom we feel so grateful.
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