Hi everyone,

I'll be spending January in Antigua, studying spanish, living in a homestay situation and planning on visiting nearby areas on the weekends.
Has anyone here done this before? Any tips?

Tips re: packing, restaurants, schools, tour companies, self-guided tours, culture/lifestyle, volunteer opportunities would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

Dani

1: When you study spanish, study it. Use it whenever you can.

2: There is a tourist bus to Lago atitlan. Go there on the weekend and practice more spanish, if they'll let you. Or you can take the Chicken bus for amusement. Go for it. Just don't bring too much stuff.

3: There may be field trips. Take full advantage of them.

4. There are places to volunteer in Antiqua, but you won't have time for it while studying. Look around, you'll see signs.

5. The markets are interesting, visit them. Walk around during the day and check the town out. It's beautiful.

6: If you're with your family, speak to them in Spanish. You're with them for a reason.
Safety:

Find out what the safe times to be out are. They change by the year and the political climate.

Some stable elements:
Find out if the Cerro de la Cruz is safe. If not, only go there in large groups.
People have been robbed by the Earthquake ruins, especially if they have expensive cameras and look very touristy. Find out the conditions there.
The same goes for the volcanoes.

More later.

Thanks for the response!

Any info on the racial climate there? I'm an African American female traveling solo.

I'm definitely going to speak as much spanish as i can. I'm conversational now and want to be fluent as soon as possible so I want to really take advantage of my time there.

Would you suggest I do the tours through school (field trips?) or with local travel agencies?

As far as I know, there are no obvious problems with race there. You should have no problems.

The schools will have at least one trip, and it'll be free. Theres no need for other tours, unless you're set on climbing a volcano. Then you need to go on a tour for safety.

To go to Lago Atitlan for the weekend, you wake up early and take the tourist bus to the lake. It leaves once a day early in the morning. Ask any hostel for the location, or your school. You can take two 'chicken' buses there as well if you want. Its more local color, to be sure. It would be a weekend visit, because it takes about 3 hours to get there.

If you will be spending all of January in Guatemala, I would suggest looking into studying some weeks in San Pedro La Laguna on lake Atitlan. Spanish immersion is easier if you stick to the old town and the lake front tourist section is good for R&R once in a while. I really enjoyed my home stay and study ]with the Cooperativa Spanish School [Cooperativaschoolsanpedro.com],one of many schools in San Pedro.

Antigua is about as easy as it comes. It's gorgeous, charming, and has everything a visitor could want. Your biggest challenge will be in sticking to Spanish outside of lessons. English is the dominant language in Antigua. Most Guatemalans that haven't been priced out of the housing market there work in tourism or something tourism-related, and many of them will default to English in their transactions with you. If you can find volunteer work with children, that would be an excellent way to continue speaking Spanish outside of lessons.

Lake Atitlan is beautiful, but you won't be alone there. I'd recommend at least one weekend in Xela, which is a much more Guatemalan experience than Antigua. It's nowhere near as pretty either, but very much a working Guatemalan city, unlike the museum that is Antigua. You can fix a beach craving in Monterrico, about three hours from Antigua. The beach isn't great here (no one goes to Guatemala for the beaches), but the town is laid back and friendly. Don't miss a trip to the ruins at Tikal, which are spectacular.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm an Antigua-hater; I am not at all. The town is almost impossibly pretty, and hasn't been a secret for decades. You'll need discipline to stay immersed in Spanish there, that's all.

First, let me say that I think Antigua is one of the most wonderful places in the world. I have lived in the area for almost 10 years. This said, let me make some suggestions.

If you are going to be in this area for an entire month to study Spanish, I think you would be missing a great opportunity if you stay in Antigua the entire time. My suggestion would be a week of study in Antigua first, in order to become acclimatised to Central America. Then take the advise of other posters with a week of study in Xela , then a week of Spanish at Lago Atitlan, and finally, a week in Copan, Honduras. All of these areas have good Spanish schools, and you will see and learn a lot more from traveling more and staying in 4 different homes. You will also be forced to speak more Spanish in these other areas, and that is how you learn the most.

There are absolutely no race problems in any of these areas. There are problems with crime, however. Listen to any local information you can get. Especially stay away from the drug scene, as dealers often set people up for extortion to avoid arrest with the police cooperating in the shakedown.

Generally speaking it is best to do your volunteer work close to your home, where you know what the actual needs are, and can follow up on how effective your efforts have been. One must remember that there is no shortage of warm bodies, with strong backs, and willing hands, in Central America.
Unless you have a specialized skill in medicine, engineering, etc. the only thing the local organizations really want is your money.

Really study the area or areas where you will be going, then when you get there, talk with fellow travelers to plan your touring. Definitely no need to pay for an organized tour. Just be sure to go with a group whenever you will be out of the populated area of each town.

Also while in Antigua for a month it would ba a shame to miss a 3 or 4 day stay at El Roble hostel in El Salvador which is a 10 min walk from an 8km deserted Playa Diego near La Libertad see the link on my blogroll. Sean will pick you up in Antigua & drop you off for a very reasonable price. Just add that to the list given by others & you will become an Antigua adict like the rest of us.

I second the idea that Xela is an ideal place to learn Spanish. I learned more Spanish there than in Xela.

Copan Ruinas is a marvelous town, and you get ruins to see as well.

San Pedro is a great place to be, but not an ideal place to study Spanish. The temptations of hanging out with relaxed people, druggers, and stoners in a cool restaurant may prove overwhelming.

Oh my goodness you guys are awesome!
Thanks so much for the advice/input/ideas!
But now I'm torn... Initially I'd wanted to stay put in one place, get a great advanced teacher and learn a lot of spanish and have a "home base" but now I'm thinking of roaming...
I booked my flights and it's 3 weeks so I'm considering a week in antigua studying spanish hardcore (5-6 hours a day versus the 4 i was intending), and 2 weeks traipsing around the area. I have a LOT to research. I'll likely be back with more questions...

Danyelle wrote:I'm considering a week in antigua studying spanish hardcore (5-6 hours a day versus the 4 i was intending), and 2 weeks traipsing around the area. I have a LOT to research. I'll likely be back with more questions...

Have you ever spent that many hours every day studying a language? Don't overestimate how much of it you can handle. I studied Thai for 4 hours a day a while back, and found that to be a bit beyond my limit.

If you are 100% serious about mastering Spanish, Xela would be a much better place for it than Antigua.

Maybe I'll try Xela after Antigua. It's my first trip alone out of the country so I feel like Antigua is a safe and cozy starting point for my newbie butt. I haven't studied a language that intensely, but I intend to get as close to fluency in spanish as I can. I'm currently high level intermediate to advanced. I'm hoping 5 days studying at that level wont burn me out or overwhelm me too much.

In Antigua, choose a large school with a lot of different teachers. Since you are fairly advanced it won't take you long to determine how sharp and helpful your teacher is, and how well the two of you get along. If you don't think that you have found the right teacher after the first day, simply tell your school you want to try another teacher, and tell them the qualities you are searching for.

If you are studying with a teacher for 5 hours a day, try to spend as much time as possible out of the classroom. Spend hours in our wonderful market (open Mon., Thurs, & Sat.), parks where the locals go (not the central park that has too many tourists), and try to engage the locals in serious discussions about conditions in Guatemala (education, politics, religion, poverty, etc.) Listen and learn from them. Don't try to teach them your ideas. Let them teach you their ideas, and a lot of Spanish at the same time.

Try to associate with the well educated as much as possible. Remember that Spanish is not the first language for probably half the Guatemalan population. People on this forum don't like my using the local term "gutter Spanish", so I will use the other local term "street Spanish". This is not the Spanish you wish to learn, but if you are advanced, you should immediately be able to tell what type Spanish is being spoken.

In street Spanish one word is used for many different things. The middle and upper classes use many different words to express one thing. While in Guatemala read Prensa Libre every day. I swear their writers consult a thesaurus before writing each sentence. If you want to get a head start you can read Prensa Libre on line. The electronic version has up to the minute news, as well as a PDF version of the entire newspaper. Try it. I guarantee you will be challenged.

Any specific questions you may have, just ask. There are a lot of people on this forum with a wealth of knowledge that they enjoy sharing.

Presna Libre is great, have it on my favorites list.

Thanks Juan, I'm all set up to begin at Tecun Uman, after emailing back and forth with some students I've chosen a teacher with tons of experience and hopefully we'll get on well. If not, I'm definitely swithcing up. Do you folks know anything about Tecun Uman school? good / bad?

I'll check into Prensa Libre, thanks again.