Bob and I headed to Antigua, Guatemala to study Spanish! It’s always been a dream (and now a goal) to learn a second language to the point where we can travel and converse. We spent a glorious two months there and found the city, people, and our school all delightful! It was a huge challenge and we learned so much!
Exploring the Antigua
Our adventures began in downtown Antigua where we walked on the cobblestones, enjoyed the beautiful architecture, and watched volcanos on cool mountain mornings. The Parque Central is delightful with large trees and fountains (with wifi!) for studying, connecting, and shopping. We walked up to the cross on the hill, Cerro de La Cruz, to see the beautiful vista of Volcán de Agua. The arch, Arco de Santa Catalina, is beautiful, and the historic downtown (a UNESCO World Heritage site) was the capital of Guatemala until a devastating earthquake in 1773 when it was moved to Guatemala City.
We enjoyed dining out on weekends, going for coffee, and had many delicious meals. Some memorable favorites were the hot cross buns at Doña Luisa Xicotencatl, the beautiful gardens (and cute signs) at Vivero y Café de La Escalonia, the pitas at Toko Baru, and the roast chicken at Rincóncito Antigüeño. We enjoyed the coffee at both Coffea Cafés Especiales and Fat Cat Coffee House. Drinks and competitive Jenga were fun at the local pub, The Londoner, and we particularly enjoyed desserts and beverages at El Portal Cafe (with a beautiful view of the park’s fountain)!
Ixchel Spanish School
Our two months at the Ixchel Spanish School were amazing, busy, and very intense! Each morning, we had class with a teacher one-on-one for 4 hours. We typically began with conversation and then proceeded to grammar, exercises, and did everything from games to singing to scrabble! The office at Ixchel works with you depending on your preferences for learning, teachers, activities, and coordinates fun things to see! We had a cooking class from Maya-iz, made confetti filled eggs for the Easter season, and had a fruit event to learn what was in season at the market.
We stayed in a beautiful room at the school (home stays through the school or booking your own place are other options). Dina, the amazing cook at Ixchel created meals for those at the school most every day except Sunday. They were delicious! We learned so much during our 164 hours of classes while there (it takes around 250-350 hours for conversation and 600-750 for fluency in Spanish from English). It was challenging and also very rewarding when were were able to go to a restaurant and use Spanish!
We had the best class mates including a Canadian family there for the same two months (shout out to Nadia, Rick, Zoe, Chad, and Kai), Mr. Max (the coolest dog) brought his humans, medical students, lawyers, a number of others interested in Spanish, and musicians! In addition, everyone from Antigua was so supportive… my hair stylist let me speak with her in Spanish and translated as well as corrected me during our chat. It was delightful and so helpful!
Our friend Stacey came to visit us while we were there, and took Spanish classes too! It was such a blast to have her join us for a bit. She introduced us to Por Qué No? Cafe the most delicious (and supremely cool) restaurant. It’s tiny (so make reservations) and the tables are all in the loft up the ladder/stairs. It was a delight!
We had a number of “field trips” beyond Antigua and had such a fun time exploring!
Field Trip #1: Volcan Pacaya
The school coordinated a trip to hike the Volcán Pacaya with a number of classmates one weekend. It was very moody at the start with fog. After a hike (or you can ride a horse!), we came to a clearing and a hot spot. The guide brought marshmallows and we roasted them via volcano. How amazing is that?!? It gets better… as we hiked to the top, we were above the fog, and finally had our glorious view of the volcano! From there, you could walk back down or “ski” down the fines. We skied/ran/hopped! It was truly a blast (pun intended)!! We were also joined by a number of dogs that hike up and down the mountain each day with the guides. Plus, they get some extra marshmallows!
Field Trip #2: Macadamias at Valhalla & Cerveceria 14
We met other wonderful classmates including Kara and Kevin as well as Leslie. One weekend, we headed to the Valhalla Macadamia Nut Farm for lunch and a tour. Following that, we had cervezas at Cerveceria 14 and had a blast with new friends trying out delicious food and beverages!
Field Trip #3: Hotel Santo Domingo & El Tenedor
Casa Santo Domingo is a gorgeous 5-star hotel in Antigua and it’s built around a Dominican monastery that you can visit. There’s a gorgeous garden, a stunning fountain, chocolatier, museums, and an outdoor (but covered) church that holds services on Sundays. We then took the shuttle up the hill to the cultural park Santo Domingo del Cerro (an extension of the hotel) featuring art installations, museums, gardens, a tropical bird house, and the restaurant, El Tenedor. The view is stunning, and the art is fantastic!
Field Trip #4: San Juan del Obispo
The school planned an outing to visit nearby San Juan del Obispo. We had a delightful tour of the Museum as well as the Plazuela and church. The best part, however, was our chocolate tour at Chocolate Antigua. Guatemala has a rich history of Maya-style hot chocolate using hand crafted chocolate discs. Today they come in a variety of flavors including coffee, vanilla, cinnamon, and many others. You can take your discs of chocolate, and melt it in hot water or milk for a delicious drink!
Field Trip #5: Coffee
Our classmate Lisa coordinated the best coffee tour with La Familia Del Café! Alfonso Gonzalez led us through their coffee trees and detailed their multigenerational coffee farm, the La Familia Collective, from a plant to delicious fresh coffee. Did you know that coffee is a beautiful red fruit with the bean being the seed inside!?! To get coffee, the fruit is removed the beans are washed, sorted, and slowly dried. We helped roast dried beans over a fire (a roasting method that smells amazing), hand ground them, and then enjoyed the best (and freshest) cup of coffee! It was delicious and so satisfying!
Field Trip #6: Maya-iz Cooking
The school coordinated Maya-iz Cooking classes to make Guatemalan molé (a yummy dessert). With Stacey, we visited their cooking school to make Pepian with tortillas, salsa, and guacamole. We handmade our corn tortillas (with expert guidance) and then cooked them over a fire. It was delicious and fun! Once we prepared and cooked everything we feasted! We also enjoyed cool beverages including horchata (sweet nutty rice) and jamaica (sweet hibiscus). Try them both if you visit!
Field Trip #7: Corozon de Agua
Bob, Stacey, and I hiked up to Corazon de Agua Ecological Park one beautiful afternoon. It’s an ecological park that is beautiful and was recommended by Rick and Nadia and their family. It was delightful and the view was amazing with wonderful places for selfies (including a heart…). 🙂
Field Trip #8: Panajachel
We took our final field trip to Lago de Atitlán. We took a shared shuttle to Panajachel where we stayed at a local hostel, Hospedaje El Viajero. We enjoyed the town, a delicious breakfast at Guajimbo’s, and headed up to the Reserva Natural Atitlán. The Reserva was the best place to learn about the history and geology of the lake, hike over bridges to a waterfall, wade, and see the most beautiful tree of life and a butterfly pavilion. Back in Panajachel we had an early dinner supervised by a sleeping puppy, on our way back to the gorgeous garden at our hostel (complete with a macaw and goldfish). It was a relaxing and fun weekend!
Antigua Processions
There are processions throughout the year in Antigua and during our stay, it was Cuaresma (lent) through Semana Santa (Easter) with seven weekends of processions over alfombras (beautiful carpets made of pigmented sawdust with patterns, fruit, vegetables, bread, and flowers! The processions are from nearby churches (Santa Catarina, Santa Ines, Jocotenango, Santa Ana, San Bartolome, La Merced, and others) to the cathedral by Parque Central and back. There is a live band that walks with the procession and many people to help carry each one. Each church has a beautiful alfombra inside and a market outside with many vendors of food, drinks, jewelry, housewares, toys, and many other items! It is a very important religious tradition and the many Catholic churches in and near Antigua help carry out the tradition. It is a beautiful experience and amazing to see the alfombras being constructed as well as the processions that pass over them.
The End.
Thanks for making it to the end! A few video treats for you… sorting macadamia nuts on the farm, a bike that separates the coffee fruit from the interior bean, and a night procession in Antigua for Semana Santa. Enjoy!!