About Your Hosts
The owners of Posada de Rosas Apartments are North Americans
Ellen Hoffman and Riccardo Accurso. Both have lived for extended
periods in Spain and are fluent in Spanish.
In addition to operating the Posada apartments in Mendoza, Ellen is a free-lance writer. Riccardo builds websites, writes, and oversees the language program at the apartments (see Spanish for Grown-Ups.) The Spanish program is an activity of their non-profit Mendoza Intercultural Association, whose purpose is to promote intercultural exchange between Mendoza residents and residents and visitors from other cultures. They also operate Amazing Mendoza Tours, and can assist guests with visits to wineries, Andes mountain excursions, cooking classes, attendance at artistic and cultural events, and opportunities to meet the locals.
Ellen has served as a cultural guide for tours sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As a free-lance travel writer, she has written two travel books and two books on retirement. A former Washington Post reporter, she has published travel articles in the Post and numerous other national newspapers and magazines, and has contributed to many travel guidebooks.
Riccardo lived in Spain for three years while teaching English to excecutives of a book publishing company. He spent many years traveling in a number of countries: England, India, Greece, Turkey, and many others. Numerous long-term visits to Mexico inspired him to write a book, "Practical Spanish: A Simplified Approach," which he self-published in 1984. A new work, "Think Spanish, Speak Spanish," is forthcoming.
We have a physical presence in the United States in a small town near Washington, D.C. You can write to us there at:
Amazing Mendoza Tours, LLC
PO Box 45
Shepherdstown
WV 25443