The Spanish
Schools of San Pedro la Laguna, Guatemala
By Ken McCormick, ksmccormick@hotmail.com
Lago
Atitlan is said by many to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the
world. It lies in a fifty-square mile
bowl within the mountains of the Guatemalan highlands. The town of San Pedro la Laguna is located
on a steep hillside just off to the side of the base of Volcn San Pedro, one
of three 10,000-foot-high volcanoes that line the south side of the lake. The center of town, with its churches,
market, bank, small concrete-block or adobe houses roofed with corrugated steel
sheets, cobblestone streets, narrow earthen alleyways and stone stairways, sits
on a more level spot where the hillside pauses in its climb. The language schools and other
gringo-oriented accommodations, however, will be found along the shore of the
lake.
The
first language of most of the people in the area is not Spanish, but
Tzutujil. Spanish is spoken as a second
language, but is learned very early on in school, and all the younger people of
town speak it quite well. Some of the
older people speak Spanish with some difficulty, and with a strong Tzutujil
accent that makes them very hard to understand.
Most
of the women of the area and many of the older men still wear the traditional
hand-woven indigenous clothing of the highland Maya. San Pedro is therefore a different sort of option for Spanish
language study than a larger urban area such as Antigua or Quetzaltenango. San Pedro offers the opportunity to
experience the traditional culture of a highland town in a rich natural
setting. For more general information
on Spanish study see Choosing a Spanish School in GuatemalaEat http://www.oocities.org/guatemalanspanishschools
. More detailed information on Latin
American culture and life in Guatemala is available at http://www.oocities.org/chicken_bus
.
Coming
from Guatemala City, Antigua, or Quetzaltenango, the visitor will usually
arrive in the town of Panajachel on the north side of the lake, although there
is also a direct bus from Quetzaltenango.
Fiberglass lanchas depart from the westernmost docks of
Panajachel for San Pedro about every half-hour throughout the daylight
hours. Fare is about fifteen quetzales,
or two American dollars, although operators may try to gouge newcomers for
twenty-five.
Panajachel
was discovered by hippies from the United States in the late 1960s, and they
settled in a thriving expatriate community there which earned for the town the
nickname of Gringotenango. As
Panajachel has been increasingly over-run with tourists, some of the expatriate
community has retreated across the lake to such locations as San Pedro in
search of the more quiet sort of place Panajachel used to be. In some ways, the flavor of the 1960s lives
on in San Pedro. I wouldnt say it is
completely frozen in time, though. Some
of the murals, jewelry and other artwork is pure early 70s.
The
shoreline of the community, as said before, is oriented towards the gringo
tourist traffic. The lakeshore between
the colegio and the Hotel SakECari is most heavily influenced by the
expatriate resident community, though, and Im going to refer to that area
herein as Nuevo Gringotenango.
There
are no ATMs in San Pedro, so visitors should bring whatever money theyll need
for their stay with them. Travelers
checks may be cashed at the bank near the marketplace as well as at other
institutions in the gringo area near the Pana docks, and are recommended for
San Pedro.
There
are two sets of docks, or puertos, in the town. The westernmost puerto is the one at
which lanchas and ferries from Panajachel will arrive, and so is the one
at which almost every foreign visitor will arrive. It is just alongside a small peninsula which is topped by what
appears to be the ruin of a citadel.
The easternmost puerto serves traffic with Santiago Atitlan. Directions described below will be in
relation to the Panajachel docks.
Anyone arriving from Santiago will have to take this into account.
Language
schools all offer family home stays.
Undoubtedly, immersion in a Spanish-speaking family is the fastest way
to learn Spanish, but students should be warned that most accommodations in the
town are fairly basic. Prices for
family homestays, which normally include six days of meals, are good value, and
are quoted in the section on individual Spanish schools below. Some schools offer alternative living
arrangements which will also be described in the section on Spanish schools.
Hotels
are another alternative selected by many San Pedro language students. At the high end of the price range for
hotels will be found the Mansion del Lago, an impressive three-story structure
overlooking the eastern docks used by the Panajachel launches. Prices at the mansion go all the way to $13
U.S. for a room for three with private bath.
The hotel is by no means as luxurious as it is made to appear on its web
site.
Probably
the town's neatest, most modern and scrupulously clean hotel is the Nahual
Maya, one block east of the Panajachel docks on the concrete tile street that
parallels the lake's shore. As a matter
of fact, it may be the ONLY modern and scrupulously-clean hotel in town. A room there costs just under $10 per
night. The rooms are small by North
American standards, but a little bigger than many other budget-price Guatemalan
hotel accommodations, which are often just big enough to hold a bed and leave
enough space to walk around one side of the bed. There are tables and hammocks on the porch outside the rooms for
the more outdoorsy Guatemalan lifestyle.
There
are important trade-offs to be considered in selecting a high-priced hotel room
in San Pedro. Another top-dollar
accommodation, for example, will be found quite a bit further along to the east
on the dirt pathways that lead through Nuevo Gringotenango to the docks at the
other end of the town that are used by the launches and ferry to Santiago. It is the two-story Hotel El Amanecer, also
called the SakECari, depending on whether you wish to refer to the dawnEin
Spanish or the native Tzutujil of the town.
Rooms for two with private bath there are about $9 per night. The outstanding feature of the hotel is its
magnificent view of the lake from the rooms for two, something that is totally
lacking at the Nahual Maya and a very much hit-or-miss proposition at the
Mansion. The view makes a stay of at least
one night a necessary part of a visit to San Pedro. The rooms are much larger than those at the other hotels
mentioned, but are not cleaned every day, and when they are cleaned, they are
not cleaned very thoroughly. The
mattresses have got disagreeable-looking stains, but the sheets, at least, are
clean. Finally, should the landlady
begin screaming at her husband, bad vibes may be experienced by the
guests. Good vibes are to be found at
the Nahual Maya, however. The Mansion,
as in other areas, offers various vibes as a hit-or-miss proposition.
Many
will not want to pay these high prices, though, and the town has much to offer
the more budget-minded student. Turning
left, or east, onto the concrete tile road that is the first intersection above
the docks for the Panajachel launches, the Hotel Buena Vista will be found
about a half-block along on the right.
Rooms at the Buena Vista go for twelve quetzales, or about $1.55,
per night for a one-person room. The
room will consist of four walls and a ceiling surrounding a bed and maybe a
nightstand of some sort. There will
also be a door and a window, or at least a closable and lockable hole in the
wall. Baths are unisex colectivos.
Further
along the concrete tile road almost directly across from the Nahual Maya is the
hotel Casa Elena. The Casa Elena
overlooks the lake, and may offer nice views from some rooms, or at least from
the walkways outside the rooms. A room
with a colectivo bath is fifteen quetzales, or about $2, for one
person. There are also rooms with
private baths for sixty quetzales, or about $7.80, per night. Additional savings may be realized by taking
advantage of the free entertainment available in the form of other guests
sitting on the landings playing their bongo drums until late into the night.
In
Nuevo Gringotenango there is another budget hotel that offers larger rooms and
a quieter location. It is the Hotel
Tzutujil, two doors behind Restaurante Pinocchio on the narrow dirt pathway. It offers rooms with private bath for twenty
quetzales, or $2.60 per night.
This is discountable to fifteen quetzales per night for a stay of
a week or more. The rooms are large,
unadorned concrete block rooms with crude but serviceable beds consisting of
wooden platforms with mattresses. The
hotel backs up to a somewhat trash-strewn wooded area and sports a garden area
and hammocks.
There
are of course other hotels. Among those
not reviewed here is the San Francisco on the far side of the Santiago docks,
which I am told is quite popular. It is
in the 20 to 25 quetzales range.
My advice is to stay at the SakECari or the Nahual Maya while you look
around and ask around. If youre new to
Central America, anything else might be an overload of culture shock the first
day. There is a website showing seven
San Pedro hotels at http://www.atitlansanpedro.com
.
Nicks
Place and Restaurant El Fondeadero both overlook the Panajachel docks and are
reasonable sorts of places serving cheap, decent food, although as in much of
San Pedro, the dishwashing efforts put forth by both establishments can be
spotty. If they serve you coffee in a
dirty cup, be fussy and send it back.
Maybe theyll eventually learn.
The most I can say in regard to this is that Ive eaten at both places
many times, and have not yet come down with anything. They are especially recommended for breakfast. Nicks chicken chow mein is a good, cheap
dinner, too. DNoz, above Nicks Place,
is a bar popular with gringo tourists.
Other
reviewed restaurants are in Nuevo Gringotenangos restaurant district. To reach the heart of Nuevo Gringotenango,
follow the concrete tile road that parallels the shore from the Panajachel
docks past the Nahual Maya hotel. A
dirt path goes off on the right along the back wall of the hotel. This dirt path is marked with signs pointing
to the Spanish schools MayabE San Pedro, and Casa America, except when these
schools start feeling competitive and go around at night tearing each others
signs down. Follow the path to the far
end of the Nahual Maya, and keep on the main path as it makes a right-angle
turn to the left. When I say path,EI
am referring to rutted dirt walkways that resemble dry streambeds in
places. Straight ahead on the path, you
will soon see the gigantic, four story Colegio Evangelico Bethel, the building
with Jesus es el SeorEwritten on the side.
This building is visible from much of the town, and makes a good landmark.
Continue
on the path past the colegio, and follow the main path left when the path comes
to a TEat Juans Spanish School. The
main path in less than a half-block goes off to the right. If you miss the turn, youll soon realize it,
because youll find yourself in a landscape of vegetable gardens. Anyway, following the main path to the
right, youll soon see Restaurante Pinocchio straight ahead. You are now entering the Nuevo Gringotenango
restaurant district.
Restaurante
Pinocchio is okay, especially for Italian food. The sanitary facilities are a little primitive. Just past it as the path makes another jig
is CafEMunchies, which serves vegetarian fare. Its an alternative to Nicks and El Fondeadero for
breakfast. The prices are a little
higher, but the tableware is more likely to be clean. Munchies also offers yoga lessons.
Expect
the unexpected at Munchies. I dont
know whether theres a bigger than usual language barrier, with the waitresses
speaking mainly Tzutujil, or what it is, but heres an example from the last
time I ate at Munchies. For dinner,
not wanting to eat any form of tofu, I ordered spaghetti, which was listed as
an entree to be served with salad and bread.
Before seeing it written upon the menu that entrees include salad and
bread, I had asked the waitress what came with it. She had replied that nothing came with it. The price of the spaghetti was 25 quetzales,
as compared to other prices in San Pedro a pretty high price for just spaghetti
and nothing else. I saw that the
cheapest salad was 18 quetzales, and that there was no order of bread
that I could find on the menu, but then I read that entrees included salad and
bread, and I pointed this out to the waitress.
She replied that even though it was listed as one, spaghetti wasnt an
entree. The other entrees come with
salad and bread, she said, but not spaghetti.
I figured that rather than argue the matter, I could always go next door
to El Otro Lado for a drink and something else to eat if I was still hungry
rather than trying to find something else on the menu at Munchies that was not
loaded with either tofu or onions. (You
cant say hold the tofuEor hold the onionsEin Guatemala; they will agree to
do so, but will then serve the food with as much tofu or as many onions as
usual. This is the usual way of
handling requests in Guatemala, be it food, haircut, or whatever. They will take all instructions, and then do
it their own way.)
After
a while, I got a plate of spaghetti with some grated cheese and nothing
else. The waitress disappeared, as is
her wont, but after several minutes the owner, a blond guy who speaks good
English with an accent I cant identify, came out of the kitchen with a couple
of slices of home-made bread on a dish and plunked it on the table and
disappeared back into the kitchen area.
Having finished the spaghetti and gotten tired of waiting for the
waitress to reappear, I figured the price of the meal and left the cash with a
smaller than usual tip on the table and started to leave. I saw the owner in the dim candlelight and
suggested to him in what I believe was a non-irritated and non-aggressive
manner that he ought to change the menu if he wasnt going to include salad. He said that he had recently realized that
the cook had not been serving salads with any entrees, and had instructed her
to start doing so, but that in my case she had forgotten. He promised me a free salad the next time I
came back. I have never gone back to
collect. Its probably not fair to hold
up CafEMunchies as an example of mild goofiness, since many or most
Guatemalan food establishments have got a bit of an Alice-in-Wonderland air
about them.
El
Otro Lado is just beyond Pinocchio and Munchies, and serves a good breakfast,
although the service is slow. Theyll
also serve snack-type stuff like hot nachos to go with your beer, aguardiente,
or other drinks. I recommend it highly
as a night spot. It has a wide-screen
TV in the bar, a good sound system, and a theater upstairs that shows free
videos and DVDs every night. I
especially enjoy the Cheech and Chong adventures. El Otro Lado is also frequented by some of the most colorful of
the resident expatriates.
Further
along the main path is Chez Tin Tin, the only eatery in San Pedro for which I
can offer an unqualified recommendation.
Ever wonder whatever became of good old Tin Tin? Well, he's retired from the detective
business and now runs a pleasant little restaurant in Guatemala. When he's not cooking, he likes to play
cards with the waiter. He's put on
weight and he wears glasses now, but if you'll stop and look a minute, you'll
see it's really him. If youre not
familiar with Tin Tin, observe the mural just inside the entrance. It is a copy of the cover of Tin Tin and
the Picaros, but with the shoreline of Lago Atitlan substituted for the
pyramid. Snowy, I'm sorry to say, has
long since passed on. In his place
there is now a very gentle and clever little floppy-eared black dog who begs
for scraps most politely at the outdoor tables.
Dogs
begging at the outdoor or even indoor tables are a common feature of the scene
in San Pedro, and will usually be driven off with a yelp or two by the
waiter. At Tin Tin, though, the staff
not only do not seem to molest the dogs, but they actually feed them scraps on
the pathway out front. To avoid the
dogs, you may elect to eat at an indoor table at Restaurant Tin Tin. Tin Tin offers the cleanest kitchen and the
best food in San Pedro. Above the
restaurant is a nice Internet cafE
Nuevo
Gringotenango also offers solar-heated hot tubs and other cafs and
eateries. Back a couple doors from the
Nahual Maya, Tienda Karina offers laundry service. Alternatively, for a few quetzales a number of women from
town will wade out into the lake with your laundry in a plastic tub full of
detergent, and will scrub your clothes on a rock. This is the usual method of doing laundry in San Pedro. Ask at your hotel or school for this kind of
service.
A
couple of outfits rent horses, and kayaks are for rent at the Santiago
docks. The cost of kayaks varies. Asking price is usually twenty-five quetzales
per hour. During low season, the
boats can be had for five quetzales.
Casa Rosario rents them for five quetzales, and they are free to
students. The fiberglass kayaks have a
hull design that will hold to a straight line through the water, and are thus
easy to use on a lake. Better kayaks
are available from both Juan and Clemente at the docks. Highly recommended if you want to travel
very far is Clementes Chinook kayak with the rudder. Haggle over the price.
All
but the Corazon de Maya school are reviewed here. The Corazon de Maya, should you wish to seek it, is somewhere
east of the Santiago docks. Just follow
the signs and keep on walking. Its out
there somewhere. I will say that
farther out on that side of town, after the road reaches the trash dump and
turns into a trail, the trail to the sandy beach on the point between San Pedro
and Santiago is as pretty a trail as will be found anywhere in the world.
During
the rainy season from May to October, there will often be rain in the
afternoon, and mornings will usually be clear.
Since most of the schools are basically outdoor schools, afternoon
classes are therefore not recommended for San Pedro during the rainy
season. Most schools offer tables under
little thatch roof casetas, but I think that with any wind at all, you
will wind up wet in a caseta. Juans does have a large dry room with
acoustics like an echo chamber. MayabE
also has an indoor classroom, but it is not large enough for many
students. San Pedro has a large dry
cafeteria area under roof. Casa America
also has some dry area, and Casa Rosario has some indoor classrooms. Look at the school before paying, and decide
if youd want to be there in the rain.
Rain is rarely a problem outside of the rainy season.
Schools
surveyed are listed below. All
instruction is one teacher Eone student.
Prices are listed for four hours per day of instruction, either during
morning hours, when most students elect to study, or during afternoon
hours. Actually, this will amount to
three and one-half hours per day of instruction, as all schools take a
half-hour break in every four-hour stretch.
Four hours per day seems to be the most popular, but from two hours per
day to eight may be arranged at most schools.
Some schools may negotiate a slightly lower rate if the student commits
to a longer period of study. Contact
information and details on the individual schools are given in the section on
individual schools below the chart.
Different
students will react differently to different schools and different
teachers. The information below is not
intended to be the sole basis for a choice of school. Visit the web site if there is one and e-mail for more specific
information. If at all possible, visit
the school before making a final choice.
You can always ask to change teachers, and you can switch schools after
a week if not satisfied. Because
students are urged to visit schools and to choose for themselves, and because
finding things in San Pedro can be a real puzzle, especially if ones Spanish
isnt good enough to ask directions, much of the information given here
involves how to locate individual schools.
SCHOOL Price per 20-hr. week 20-hour week + homestay
|
Spanish School Toliman |
$40 |
|
|
San Pedro Spanish School |
$54 |
$96 |
|
Casa Rosario |
$55 |
$95 |
|
Casa America |
$52 |
$100 |
|
MayabE#060;/p> |
$50 |
$90 |
|
Orbita |
$50 |
$90 |
|
Juans |
$50 |
$90 |
|
Sol del Lago |
$50 |
$90 |
Most professional operations: San Pedro, Casa Rosario, and MayabE#060;o:p>
Best garden
and grounds: San Pedro
Smallest:
Toliman and Juans
Wildest,
funkiest, and craziest: Casa Rosario
######################################################################
General
information: Most schools offer free coffee and from one
to four hours of free Internet access per week. The value of Internet access in San Pedro is about one U. S.
dollar per hour. Most schools also
offer some free activities such as dance classes or elementary weaving
instruction, although only at the larger schools such as San Pedro and MayabE
will group activities be offered with any kind of regularity. Inquire at individual schools for details.
The
schools of San Pedro are more spread out than the schools of urban areas, so
distracting chatter of other students and teachers will not be a factor in San
Pedro, except on those few occasions in which rain drives students and teachers
into indoor areas.
I
judge the quality of instruction to be competent at all schools reviewed. I had no opportunity to interview Juans
Spanish School or Sol del Lago as to their teaching methods, so I can offer no
opinion in that regard; this should not be taken as any sort of aspersion on
either school EI just didnt have time for more extensive interviews. Prospective students are urged to visit the
schools and form their own opinions.
Different people will react differently to teachers and different
schools. I found all school
administrators to be personally likeable, and wish all schools of San Pedro a
world of success.
The
general level of education is not as high in San Pedro as in Antigua or other
urban areas, and Spanish teaching has not been an industry in San Pedro for as
long as it has been in Antigua, so in general, Antigua and perhaps other urban
areas will have an edge on San Pedro in the experience of teachers and quality
of instruction.
On
the other side of the equation, San Pedro offers lower prices. Instruction and homestay cost about half
again as much in Antigua as they do in San Pedro. The atmosphere of San Pedro is also quite different. The individual student must balance these
factors to arrive at a decision.
Toliman
is reached by turning left onto the concrete tile road just above the
Panajachel docks. It is on the left
about a half-block from the intersection.
The grounds are usually well-tended, and go to the waters edge. From the lower tables, you can just about
dangle your feet in the water. Thanks
to its proximity, this is the best view of the lake found at any school. Bathroom facilities are located in the house
across the street.
A
possible drawback is the five-man coffee-processing operation next door. When it is the coffee bean processing
season, the sound of the machinery may be an annoyance. It is not terribly loud, however, and is less
noticeable at the lower tables. Some
people may find the smell of the beans offensive, too. Go check the site and judge for yourself.
This
is a new school trying to get started, and is for that reason the least
expensive. Information on the price of
homestay was not available at the time of writing. Inquire.
Toliman
never had more than one or two students at a time during three or four months
of observation, so this is not the place to go if you want to hang out with
other students.
This
is one of the most professionally-run schools in San Pedro, and certainly has
the most well-tended and beautiful grounds.
To reach it from the Panajachel docks, follow the directions to
Restaurant Tin Tin in the previous section marked how to find the heart of
Nuevo Gringotenango.E#060;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> The entrance to
the school is right next to the restaurant.
San Pedro Spanish School is also easy to find from the lakeside path, as
theyve recently erected a big sign right over the path. To follow the lakeside paths, follow the
concrete tile road which goes to the left from above the Panajachel docks to
the end. From the end of the road, a
dirt path goes off to the right and cuts across the peninsula. The path comes to a TEat a little tienda
and a few budget hotels or guest houses.
Turn left towards the lake.
Youll soon see two trails that parallel the lake shore. The easier one is inland just a bit, and the
other is right at the waters edge. The
easier one is the fastest way to find Casa Rosario, San Pedro Spanish School,
and Hotel SakECari, although once youve located San Pedro Spanish school,
unless youre really into rock climbing, youll find it easier to go around
through SakECaris grounds than to climb the pile of volcanic boulders on top
of which the lakeside tables of the school are located.
The
tables for students and teachers are located in little open casetas with
either tile or thatch roofs which are scattered about the grounds of the
school. There is a nice roofed
cafeteria area, and separate well-tended mens and womens toilets.
Casa
Rosario is at least a little unorthodox as Spanish schools go, and may not be right
for everyone, but a lot of people like it.
The student is invited to go and tour the school to decide for himself
or herself. To find it, do not follow
the signs. It has signs all around San
Pedro, but they seem to be designed to try to lead a newcomer to Casa Rosario
by circuitous routes that will not go past other language schools, and so will
lead a person a good half-mile out of their way if the person is able to follow
them, but since it is virtually impossible to follow them, will most likely
only get a person lost. There is only
one Casa Rosario sign that should be followed, and that is the one in Nuevo
Gringotenango at the turn just before Restaurante Pinocchio. All other Casa Rosario signs are to be
ignored. There is a map on Casa Rosarios
website which you can print out.
To
find Casa Rosario, follow the instructions in the section above marked how to
find the heart of Nuevo Gringotenango.E#060;span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
After turning left at the TEin front of Juans Spanish School, you
will see a Casa Rosario sign straight ahead.
This is the one Casa Rosario sign to follow. Alternatively, you may follow the above instructions for the
lakeshore paths. The more inland path
goes right by the entrance to Casa Rosario.
The path right at the waters edge goes by the lower end of Casa
Rosario, which you will recognize by its fiberglass kayaks laying along the
shore, and by its funky casetas with roofs (?) or at least sunshades of straw,
dried corn stalks, corrugated steel, or who knows what all.
The
grounds of the garden classroom are a wild sort of overgrown garden with casetas
on boulder piles overlooking the shore.
There is a single toilet in a sort of a back-to-nature, or, if you will,
a call-of-nature setting in an unroofed structure pretty well screened from view
by dried corn stalks and slabs of tree trunks.
There is an open structure with two tables under it and a sleeping loft
that students who like camping out can rent along with cooking facilities as
alternative housing for $70 per week with four hours per day of
instruction. There is also an
underground room that was originally intended as a traditional Mayan steam
bath. There are also indoor dormitory
rooms available for $70 per week, including 20 hours of instruction, with
access to cooking facilities. There is
indoor study area for rainy weather.
The
school offers free unlimited use of its fiberglass kayaks to students. On its website, it calls these cayucos. These are not true dugout cayucos, but
crudely-built kayaks. Do not paddle
these boats farther from shore than can be comfortably-swum, as there is no
evidence of flotation devices. The
value of kayak rental in San Pedro runs from five quetzales per hour to
twenty-five quetzales per hour.
The schools kayaks are available to non-students at five quetzales
per hour. This school does not offer
free coffee, but considering the bathroom facilities, you might want to lay off
the coffee, anyway.
Casa
America is along the Nuevo Gringotenango trail after MayabEand just before the
Colegio Evangelico Bethel. From the
lakeshore trails, one will see that MayabEand Casa America are on opposite
sides of a high wall. They will be
recognizable as language schools from their thatch-roof casetas.
Noise
could be a minor annoyance during studies at Casa America. The playground of the colegio is nearby, and
a low roar of playing kids can be heard from both Casa America and MayabE but
probably will not be objectionable to the great majority of people. I studied a couple of weeks at MayabE and
was never distracted, and barely even noticed, the noise. Casa America is closer to the colegio, but
its next-door neighbor MayabEis closer to the carpenters shop which
occasionally runs a power saw.
Casa
America offers alternative housing in addition to homestays. There are a couple of basic bedrooms on the
school grounds that rent to students for fifteen quetzales, or about $2,
per night. There are kitchen facilities
which consist of a gas stove and a sink, but no fridge. There are separate mens and womens
toilets, but a unisex sink outside.
There is also a shower.
Non-students
are also welcomed at Casa Americas living quarters, but will be charged twenty
quetzales per night, and should they wish to use the kitchen facilities,
will be charged an additional forty quetzales per week. Kitchen facilities are free to resident
students.
The
apostrophe at the end of the name indicates a glottal stop in the Tzutujil
language. The school also offers
lessons in Tzutujil, but there seems to be little demand for such
instruction. To reach MayabE follow
the Nuevo Gringotenango path as described above to about a hundred yards before
the Colegio Evangelico Bethel and follow the signs on the little paths that
skirt peoples back yards to the school.
Alternatively, the grounds of both MayabEand Casa America extend to the
inner lakeshore trail just past the peninsula.
The
grounds sport grass-roofed casetas in what is probably best described as
a grassy area with a few shrubs, rather than a garden. There is also a small building with an
office, a small library, and a classroom.
There are separate relatively spacious mens and ladiesErooms that have
actually got sinks right in the restrooms.
The sounds of children playing at the nearby Colegio Evangelico
Bethel are audible, but not distracting.
On the other side of the school there is a woodworking shop in which a
power saw is run from time to time. The
sound of the power saw is less noticeable from the casetas on the side
of the school on which the office is located.
This is a husband-and-wife operation
which has a couple of tables set up on a deck of their house with a nice view
overlooking the nearby lake. I judge
them to be experienced and capable teachers with a methodical program of
instruction. They never seem to have
more than a couple of students at a time, so its probably not the best place
to practice salsa and merengue dance moves with other students.
To reach Orbita, turn right at the
intersection above the Panajachel docks onto the one-lane dirt road. Orbita is about two blocks, or would be if
they had blocks in San Pedro, on the left.
The school offers free coffee, tea,
licuado, or water. There is one bath
with a sink.
www.sanpedrolalaguna.com/bigfoot http://sanpedrolalaguna.com/juansschool/
Juan runs a travel agency, horse
rental, and kayak rental in addition to the language school. This is a small operation, and if you
enroll, it will probably consist of just you and Juan. I took a quick tour of Juans and Sol del
Lago on my last visit to San Pedro, but had to catch a plane, and did not have
time to interview either school as to their teaching methods, so I cant offer
any opinion on this. This is not a
negative comment on either school; its a shortcoming of the reporter.
To find Juans, take the Nuevo
Gringotenango trail described above which runs behind the Nahual Maya hotel and
in front of the colegio. Just past the
colegio, the trail comes to a T,Eand this is where Juans is located.
Juans school consists of a rather bare
fenced yard with two casetas and a large first-story room that was empty as of
the time of writing, but in which a classroom could be arranged in short order.
As part of its offering, the school
provides a free guided Saturday excursion to the top of Volcan San Pedro, a
five thousand foot climb from the lakeside.
To hire a private guide, and guides are recommended for the climb, costs
$13, or may cost as little as $3 per person for a group.
Sol del Lago is high up on the side of
the peninsula overlooking MayabE Casa America, and the Colegio Evangelico
Bethel. To find it, walk all the way to
the end of the concrete tile road which goes left from the intersection above
the Panajachel docks. Follow the dirt
path which goes off at a right angle across the base of the peninsula. At the TEon the other side of the
peninsula, turn left. The entrance to
Sol del Lago is about a hundred yards on the left.
Sol del Lago is right! This place is right out in the afternoon
sun, and surrounded by big hot rocks.
It looks too hot for afternoon classes, but go there in the afternoon sometime
and check it out. There is a nice
breeze up there, and at the time of writing, it looked as though they were
building a big thatched roof open structure on top. There are also cheap rooms available in a little one-story
structure off to the side of the school.
The
reader is advised to read Choosing a Spanish School in GuatemalaEfor more
general information on Spanish study.
It may be accessed at http://www.oocities.org/guatemalanspanishschools
. More detailed information on Latin
American culture and life in Guatemala is available at http://www.oocities.org/chicken_bus
.
Cool Links:
Cheap travel adventures: http://geocities.com/rough_living
Backpacker discussion group: http://groups.msn.com/BackpackersOnFoot