Lessons in more than Spanish

With my primary purpose being to learn more Spanish, I visited Antigua, Guatemala, June 14-July 11, 2009. I have been visiting countries in Latin America for many years and have been a student at schools in those countries. I also have a small tourism company in Colombia, The Colombia Experience, LLC (e-mail thecolombiaexperience@earthlink.net), for which it always helps to increase my understanding of the language.

I attended the Centro Lingüístico Internacional Spanish School (Avenida del Espiritu Santo 6, Antigua, Guatemala; phone/fax [+502] 7832 1039, www.spanishcontact.com) for the princely sum of $880. This included four hours of classes each day, five days a week, for four weeks, as well as a homestay with a local family, who fed me three times a day at no additional charge.

I venture to say that no place on Earth offers this type of first-class treatment at bargain-basement prices. When I arrived in the country, there were some great folks in a huge van holding up a large sign with my name on it. The trip to Antigua was a short hour.

The school is unique in all of Latin America in that there are no classrooms. I sat on a terrace or in a beautiful garden with just a desk and my instructor. If there was too much sun or rain, up went the huge beach umbrella to protect us. I don’t think you could ask for a more salutary location for learning a foreign language.

The teachers all have one goal in mind: creating in the students a desire to know more about both their language and their culture. My fellow students ranged from children to people of my advanced state of decrepitude, 71. There was no segregation of generations in this school, just one big happy family.

The staff went out of their way to help me in any way possible. Have you ever been anywhere where the school personnel wash, dry and iron your clothes for $3 per bagful? I don’t think so.

My host family was headed by Lourdes de Palacios, who, with her two children, runs Casa de Huespedes (Calle del Burrito, No. 12-4, Antigua; e-mail karupi812@gmail.com).

Lourdes and her children, Carla and Carlos, could not have been any nicer, and the food was beyond belief. Lourdes was never happy until she had the entire dining room table completely covered with every type of food possible.

Interestingly, as opposed to dishes in other Latin American countries where you can easily taste the salt, Lourdes’ food is salt-free. You can add it yourself, if you like, but her meals are very, very healthy.

If you are like me, you like to visit restaurants even when the food in the house is great and already paid for. Variety makes for an interesting life. I think my favorite in Antigua was Frida’s (5 Avenida Norte). The owner is a very beautiful, young Argentinean, and the food was out of this world. If you just want to spend an afternoon watching sports on TV, drinking beer and eating whatever, this is the place. My favorite dish was sopa de hongos (mushroom soup), at 29 quetzales (near $3.50).

Another great restaurant is Wiener (Calzada Sta. Lucia, Portal del Comercio 8), right on the main street. At night, while eating the best German schnitzel in all of Latin America and drinking a glass of Gallo (local beer) or an excellent vino tinto, I listened to the gentle strumming of guitar music. I think the most I ever spent there was $13. And the owner, Julio, is a first-rate host!

Another favorite restaurant is Café Condesa (5 Avenida Norte), right on Parque Central; the sopa de papas is muy rica. There is also a huge McDonald’s, with a very interesting garden, plus my frequently visited ice cream store, Pop’s, around the corner from Café Condesa. You cannot go hungry in Antigua.

A word about the people — they are the kindest, most friendly and generous you will find anywhere. My great privilege on this trip was meeting Juana, a wonderful little beggar girl of 12 who has no hands. She was at the doorway to Frida’s.

With a little Internet investigation, I learned of Children of the Americas (based in Ciudad Guatemala, Guatemala, but with an office in Lexington, KY; 859/269-4721, www.childrenoftheamericas.org), an organization of doctors in the United States who have committed themselves to helping the disabled and injured children of Guatemala.

It was planned that in September ’09, one of these great doctors would visit Guatemala City, where he would measure my little friend for prostheses and have the equipment fabricated in the US.

The waiters at Frida’s and the owner of Wiener have joined me in this effort. They will ensure that all goes well with Juana until I return in September to transport her to Guatemala City, where she will be fitted with the prostheses and trained how to use them.

This will change her life and the life of her family.

So you see that travel can be much more than names, dates and places. Photographs are important, but entering the lives of special little folk can enrich us beyond all the experiences of mountains climbed, lakes and rivers forded and fiestas attended. There is truly a wonderful world out there. Our only challenge is to find it.

RALPH McCUEN
El Paso, TX