Antigua / Panajachel
We chose the city of Antigua for two reasons : its language schools and the beauty of this colonial city.
Indeed, we decided to improve our Spanish to allow us a better practice of this language, trying to make fewer mistakes.
Prior to the pandemic, there were 20 schools in the city and only 6 of them remain today. They all offer the same program: private lessons from 2 to 5 hours per day, 5 days a week. The student himself chooses the number of weeks he wants.
We chose a very well-rated school (5 stars out of 600 reviews ) located in the north of the city.
The classes are given in a large and pleasant garden planted with a lot of trees. It has a terrace from which it is possible to see the volcano "Fuego" still in activity.
This is not a vacation ....
* 6:00 am: waking up time
* 7:30 am: Uber transport to school
* 8:00 am: begining of the classes
*10:00 am: break
* 10:30 am: back to courses
* 12:00 pm: end of our school day
* 1:00 pm: back to the campsite (more than 45m walking )
* 2:00 pm: lunch
* 3:00 pm: homework
* 5:00 pm: relax / walk / reading ...
* 8:00 pm: dinner
* 11:00 pm: bedtime
We always walk back to the camper at noon, making a detour to the super market, to the market, to the bank, to the bakery or to the laundromat ...
The courses are very intensive and we are often exhausted .... in general the first part of the courses is devoted to the study of grammar and conjugation and the second is dedicated to oral exchange .... (listening and speaking).
It’s a good experience. We had two lovely teachers, Claudia for Christophe and Myriam for Jean-Pierre. They were patient, especially Myriam!!! During the break we eat typical Guatemalan dishes while watching the volcano spitting at regular intervals.
The assessment for Christophe (advanced level): Intensive, good progress and conviviality.
The assessment for Jean Pierre (advanced beginner level): Consolidation of the bases, very intensive and excellent relationship.
It is sure that our approach to this language was confused...We thought that, having Latin roots like French, Spanish would be easy ... It is not ... it is a language full of irregular verbs, with many exceptions and a very different logic from ours!!
The last point often gave rise to vigorous debates with our respective teachers.
If we want to speak spanish correctly, its study becomes complicated.
Antigua has no secrets from us after five weeks. This allowed us to have lunch or dinner in superb top-end establishments, run by foreigners!!
Here the wearing of the mask is mandatory in the streets, public or not .... Fairly well respected except by the few tourists present (mainly Americians!!!). Everywhere temperature and use of gel required.
The campsite has changed a lot in the last two years. Most of it is reserved for outdoor dining and concerts...It’is quite noisy since we are rocked from morning to night by a techno music whose only basses resonate in the camper..
It has happened four or five times that customers stay beyond 9 o'clock PM (bars official closing time) by extending their alcoholic evening .... But we had no other choice.
The city being paved, it is very difficult to walk in the streets, in addition to very narrow and elevated sidewalks ...
We leave this city with a little tear on our cheek, in memory of our two teachers who taught us so much about this corrupt and so poor country.
We are heading towards Panajachel on the shores of Lake Atitlan.
Three days of well deserved rest during which we meet Irene and Jurg, very nice Swiss.
As usual, we exchange our good addresses, tips and various informations.
ROAD BOOK 098
MAVROS ODYSSEE