Learning the lingo

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We have just spent nearly two weeks in Antigua, where amongst other things we have been learning Spanish at the Spanish Academy Sevilla (SAS) School. Teaching Spanish in Antigua is big business, there are so many schools it is hard to know which one to pick. Of the eighty or so schools we narrowed our list down to 4 that were recommended in our rough guide; most of them offered pretty much the same things, one-to-one lessons, a personal syllabus, daily activities and accommodation. After an afternoon wandering the cobbled streets of Antigua visiting the schools we decided on SAS. It had good reviews and just felt right, classes were held in a purpose built courtyard and the staff all seemed very friendly. It turned out to be the right decision, our lessons were effective and our teachers very good and the family we stayed with were really nice and fed us well every day. Probably too well!

Neither of us is pretending we are fluent in Spanish after a week but we certainly have a lot to work with and now feel more confident making conversation. We also have exercise books which the school gave us to keep everything we learnt fresh. For a total of 25 hours of one-to-one lessons, a week’s accommodation (including 3 meals every day) we spent $250 (US$). Definitely money well spent. Although you can get by with very basic Spanish in Central America you miss out on the culture and lose something from the experience.

Our time in Antigua was not only spent at school and we managed to fit quite a few other bits in, we actually ended up staying a little longer than we originally planned because Helen got a stomach bug. Some dodgy chicken from Guatemala’s version of KFC was the most likely culprit. Still, a few days stuck in our hostel gave us an opportunity to catch up some episodes of The Sopranos.

Aside from dodgy chicken venues and language schools Antigua has plenty to keep visitors busy including a chocolate museum, various art galleries, cafes and restaurants and loads of churches. However some of the churches are in ruins; Antigua was originally the capital until it suffered a major earthquake in 1773, much of the city was destroyed and curiously the ruined churches remain dotted around the city, perhaps as a reminder of Gods wraith. There are also dozens of Churches (mostly catholic) in good condition which are frequented regularly by the pious population. During our lessons at 11.30 every day the church bells would ring to call the congregation to mass, the bells rang again at 11:45, 11:50, 11:55 and finally at midday. On Sunday’s mass was held in some Churches no less than 8 times. It’s no wonder Antigua is famed for holding one of the world’s largest Easter festivals.

The city is set in a valley and shadowed on two sides by three volcanos which add even more atmosphere to this Latin Pompeii. Two of the volcanos are inactive but the appropriately named volcano of fire erupts almost daily and often three or four times a day. Admittedly the eruptions are not particularly violent but dramatic nonetheless. Occasionally on quiet nights we could hear these mini eruptions but were not fortunate enough to see the glow of red lava which we were told was common.

Antigua’s volcanos can be climbed but require camping gear as the shortest climb is 7 hours and most people spend the night. However a short bus ride away between Antigua and Guatemala city is the Pacaya Volcano which you can climb in about an hour. Our School arranged a trip which we went on and although interesting it was not quite the spectacle we were led to believe it would be. We had been told to expect flowing lava but there was none. We did get to toast marshmallows in between the hot rocks at the summit though which was modest compensation.

Next stop is Monterico on the Pacific coast where we intend to divide our days between practising our Spanish and relaxing on the beach.



*just in case any of our regular readers (of which I’m sure there are thousands!) are concerned about the lateness of this blog update please note that due to poor internet connections there was a delay in bringing this thrilling instalment of Stelen’s adventures to you. We’ll try not to let it happen again. Steve & Helen x

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Comments

[Darren]

Espagnol
I wish I'd started my trip with a couple of weeks if Spanish as would have come in handy! I've been muddling along picking up words as much as I can but is a slow way to learn. Maybe I'll look up some lessons to help me. Sounds like you're having a great time, stomach bugs are no fun, I had to skip going around the Ballestas today as can't trust my belly and can hardly hang my but off the side of the boat! At this pace you'll be gone for years :)