Our daughter wanted to improve her Spanish language before college started. She had her eye on an immersion program in the US. For the price they wanted, I thought–gosh, our whole family could have a vacation. And so we did.
Itinerary:
Into Guatemala City and transit to Antigua by pre-arranged taxi/van.
Stay in Antigua 2 days: see old town. Volcano hike was canceled because it erupted the year we went. (We had the first flight into Guatemala post eruption!)
Private van hire and English speaking guide takes us to boat transport. The boat will take us to the other side of the lake where our school is. We plan a stop at Iximché Mayan site.
One week in San Pedro la Laguna: Cooperativa School with a homestay. We organized our own activities in the town.
Chichicastenango for 2 nights: market
Private car/van to Guatemala City with an overnight before our flight home.
Accommodations:
Guatemala City has some terrible hotels. Next time, we will stay at the airport if we have to spend the night. Most flights to the West Coast of the US come and go at hours that make it impractical to travel to the airport from Lake Atitlan and also fly out the same day.
The homestay in San Pedro la Laguna provided through the language school was a good experience, but not one I would want for more than a week. We stayed with the Cox family; their house was very conveniently located to the school and had some new construction (which is good). On the entry to their home are several rather dark rooms. Two of our kids stayed in two of these rooms; there were other rooms on this level used by Cox family members. There was a toilet and wash station on this level. Up one floor was the kitchen, shower and toilet and some family bedrooms. Up one more floor were (brand new in 2018) two bedrooms. Our daughter was in one and we took the other. The view from these rooms was incredible–360 of the town and lake.
The food at the homestay was basic and on a rotating schedule: pasta one night, rice/beans another, maybe there was one night with chicken but it was a very small amount of meat. It was a good experience for us to see what locals eat here–what they can afford too–and the amount of food was usually enough for the teens in our group. Sometimes I’d eat very light and then go into town for a bit more dinner. No surprise, the tortillas were fabulous and Mama Cox showed us how to make them. If you plan to stay for longer than a week and you are particular about your accommodations, I’d look for something beyond week one once you get to town. Most expats (and therefore rentals) are at the water, which is a good hike up to the language school.
Activities:
we booked a backstrap weaving class in town. They only speak Spanish so this was excellent practice. We also booked a horseback riding excursion which was fun because we got to see more housing styles a bit out of the city center. The school can also help you book these if your prefer.
The school:
We all learned Spanish! Each of our teens had a 1:1 class in a little hut situated in the lovely garden of the school. My husband and I did a class together. We chose only morning classes but they do offer afternoons.
Chichicastenango
We left the Lake Atitlan area for this market town. It was a great overnight with a large market. All restaurants listed on TripAdvisor for this town were terrible, and when I tried to add a good family-run restaurant, TripAdvisor rejected it because they could not verify the address. This is the reason I no longer trust Trip Advisor (that and the 5 star reviews for truly terrible American tourist restaurants). If you want a great local meal, head to Sabores de Casa, just near the market.
