Now that I’ve been back from my trip for a few days, I’m starting to put my thoughts together about the experience. The first thing that strikes me is what an amazing opportunity language study in Guatemala represents. I would have done well to go down & study any number of times earlier in my life, particularly between jobs.

Some of the reasons my trip was worthwhile:

• I think that spending some time in the Global South is important for residents of industrialized countries. Having the experience of struggling with another language and culture is also important for those of us living where immigration is such an important issue.
• Immersion, as a method of learning a language, feels much more effective than going to classes, studying with tapes, etc. I don’t think I’m a great student of foreign language; German certainly didn’t come easily to me when I studied it in school, and I didn’t find myself soaking up the languages when travelling in Japan or Greece. But living with a family, going to a school where none of the teachers spoke fluent English, and living in a city that doesn’t depend on the tourist trade does a couple of things: it gives you constant exposure to the language as it’s really spoken, and it forces you to continually practice since there’s no other way to communicate. In five weeks of study, I’d guess that I learned at least as much formal grammer as one would in a year of college studies, and certainly more practical conversational material.
• The Spanish spoken in Guatemalan is supposed to be a good one to learn, as it’s both widely understandable by other speakers, and more or less devoid of the more extreme divergences you can hear in speakers from Spain, Mexico, the southern part of South America, or the Carribean.
• Within Guatemala, Xela (formally known as Quetzaltenango - that’s what you see on maps) is a great place to do language study. San Pedro is wicked cheap and Antigua is more civilized, but each also is chock full of tourists. Not only do many of them speak english, but in turn the locals are more likely to speak some english as well.
• Centro Maya de Idiomas (CMI) was a good school for me. It’s on the small side, to be sure. I was there in the off season, and there was one week where there was only one other student. In the summer things pick up quite a bit and there can be 25+. Being small has its pluses and minuses - got to know the people who work there and other students quite well, and a very relaxed atmosphere. On the other hand, there often weren’t enough people for the various extra-curricular activities to make sense, so in the five weeks I never managed to go on any trips with the school, only went to one lecture, and only saw one demonstration. Other pluses include supporting Mayan activists and young women who would otherwise have a very hard time affording university study, and being sure that you’d be the only student living with your family.
• Amazingly affordable for North Americans. CMI in the off season is $140/week. This includes 4 1/2 hours daily of one-on-one instruction, room with the host family, and three meals a day, seven days a week. Travelling around Guatemala is also extremely reasonable. My weekend trips probably averaged around $20/day including bus travel, decent hotels, good eating, and admission to museums, ruins, etc.

In the interest of fairness and accuracy, not everything was great. I got sick a fair amount. Living with six people in a house smaller than my apartment in Boston got old fast. The water and/or power could shut off without warning, for hours or (once with the water) days. Xela’s main streets are choked with dust and diesel fumes. Travel about the country, though wildly entertaining, was also pretty damn uncomfortable much of the time. The country still suffers from a racism that makes it very difficult for the Maya and Garifuna populations to get a crack at their slice of the economic pie.

But all that aside, an amazing experience. My Spanish needs lots more work, so I would certainly consider returning in the future.