My experience learning Spanish in a Guatemalan home stay

I had been warned that travelling through central and South America for seven months was going to be challenging without Spanish and I would get so much more from my experience if I spoke Spanish. Booking flights to go on is trip with a month before departure didn’t leave me much time to start learning a new language.
I studied french in school, what a stupid idea! Unless you want to live in France or Quebec, it’s not exactly a language you can travel with.
I downloaded FluentU and started on my quest to learn conservational Spanish. I didn’t get too far with it, landing in Mexico I was able to say ‘mi nombre es Sari’ and ‘yo soy una mujer’ (I am a women. Which I hope was pretty obvious).

After two weeks in Guatemala I realised my duo Spanglish would need some extra assistance and that people really don’t speak any English. I read about Xela, Guatemala’s second largest city behind Guatemala city, also known as Quetzaltenango. It’s known for its cheap Spanish classes and home stay and also its surrounding volcanos. It’s a city that’s not too small and not too big, there isn’t too many tourists around for it to lose its true Guetemalan feel yet enough tourists to sustain a feel good restaurants, bars and coffee shops.
It’s a perfect place to get away for the gringo trail to learn Spanish or explore some of Central Americas highest volcanos.

I left Antigua on a shuttled on Sunday afternoon headed for Xela with no hostel booked for that night and no language school or home stay organised for the following morning. If you had said I would have been on a bus not knowing what I was staying that evening on my own or what language school I would be going to the next day a month ago I would have had cold sweats and palpitations. I’ve become fairly horizontal over the past few weeks and reckoned I would be able to find something.
On the shuttle I hear a group of America medical students taking about their Spanish school and asked about it. Within 15 minutes I had the number of the owner of the school and was booked into classes the following morning and had a host family set up in Xela for the next night.

I only had a week this time around and although it’s a pathetic amount of time to try learn a new language, my short week was enough to learn a few basic phrases to help me get a bus, ask for directions and make sure I understand numbers to ask price and time so I don’t get ripped off and turn up at the wrong time for a bus.
Class started at 8am-1pm daily and are 1:1. I was exhausted after my first day of classes, just information overload and also Xela is at 2250m altitude which I didn’t t account for. The altitude made me more fatigued and thirsty but I quickly got used to it.
The school organises activities daily apart from Wednesday after school so you’re kept surprisingly busy. I had great plans to write and go to the gym daily after school but that only happened once. On Monday I missed the memo no one was actually going to the movie that was being put on in the school and I turned up to find one lonely chair placed in front of the TV. I was tempted to turn on my heels and make some excuse to leave but my Spanish wasn’t at the point after one morning to make any excuses so I sat through the film about Guatemalan history.

I met my host family before the film who lived right beside the school. None in the family spoke English. It took four attempts but we eventually managed to get where I was from and how long I was in Central America for.
Firstly I was asked where I was from, the end of that question in Spanish sounds vaguely similar to Eire. So I thought the lady said ‘are you from Ireland?’
I continued to just fire answers at her to questions it could be after Si si wasn’t what she was looking for.
Guetemalan family’s tend to live together, either a few generations or siblings living in the same house or houses connected to each other sharing a kitchen or bathroom. I had my own room for the week, a tiny box room that you couldn’t swing a cat in but was perfect and did the job.

My house had wifi which was a plus and I think it had hot water but I never managed to figure that out. It could have been a case of where it’s gone it’s gone but I’m used to cold showers now so didn’t bother me.
The family were so welcoming, I was their 102 student to take so they were well seasoned having strange white girls sitting at their table with a dictionary out, nodding and smiling Si Si knowing full well she hasn’t understood a word.

With the school they organised the home stay and classes included in the price which was $180 for the five days. The family provides three meals a day and can cater for vegetarians. I saw a lot of tortillas this week. Tortillas with everything! The family obviously thought I could do with being on a bit of a diet, evening I got two fried eggs for dinner. Food was so good and cheap in the market right beside the school and the house it wasn’t a problem. She probably did me a favour being a bit shy with the portions at dinner.

Staying with a family rather then staying in a hostel and going to classes really forced me to speak Spanish and also to really learn an appreciation for life in Guatemala. I wish I had come with a better base of Spanish to get more out of my experience. I would recommend anyone who has time to do a home stay with a local family to get a glimpse into what life is like in Guetemala.

Things to do in Xela:

1. Visit the hot springs. The school organised a bus to take us to the hot springs just outside Xela. The springs are called Funetes Georgina’s. They have “secret pools” which are a bit of a walk down some steps from the main pools. They don’t tell you about them unless you ask and they cost 25 Q ($2.50) to go to. It’s well worth paying the extra bit to get really hot water. The free pools are busier and luke warm at best.

• Go to the cemetery. Might seem like a strange one but you can see vibrant coloured tombstones with an amazing volcanic back drop. It’s a very photogenic place but remember it’s still an active cemetery so you have to be mindful and respectable.

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• Climb a volcano. There are plenty of day hikes or multi day hikes from Xela. We only had an afternoon after school so I spoke to a tour guide who was just below the school and organised for him to take us to a near by volcano for an afternoon hike (wouldn’t be like me to drag people on walks/hikes). The views were incredible from the volcano. The volcano is known as a sacred place where people practice Mayan rituals sacrificing things to the gods praying for things they desired. These offerings and families worshiping are seen all over the volcano.

• To a language school.
• Hike from Xela to Lake Atitlan with Quetzaltrekkers. This is a 3 day 2 night hike from Xela to the lake. It covers a distance of 46km in total. Read about my experience of that multi day hike in an upcoming post.

Where to stay:

I stayed one night in Casa Kiwi which was fine. It has a roof top bar, a kitchen and the beds aren’t bunk beds which I liked. It was very quiet though when I was there and not very sociable. The toilets were downstairs and outside and only one of the toilets had a sink in it so getting to wash your hands or brush your teeth meant you had to time it right. It was cheap and did the job but I have heard Casa Seibel is a better hostel but also quiet.

Where to eat:

I mainly ate at the market opposite my school and with the host family but I did eat out a few times.

• Sabor de la India– probably the best Indian I’ve ever had. Amazing food and great service.
• Xela green– nice family run vegan and vegetarian restaurant. They do a lunch special that changes each day for 25 Q ($2.50). Get the chips as a side just so you can try the garlic vegan mayonnaise. I would eat it on its own.
• Sabe Delis– huge wood fire pizzas, sweet and savoury crepes. Great value and really tasty pizzas and quick service.