Today we split from Jorge and Moody Blues who are traveling back to San Salvador, El Salvador. We decided to stay here in Antigua for a few extra days to attend a Spanish language class which will have us speaking and reading Spanish 5 hours per day for 4 days. It's something we have wanted to do and certainly need to do now that we are in Central America where English is spoken very infrequently. Ideally we should be taking classes for 2-3 weeks but we also want to try to see some more sites while in Guatemala. We should get some basic conversation and grammar down while here in Antigua and then can always take additional classes in another country.

Antigua (population 34,000) is 'the New Worlds single repository of Spanish colonial architecture' according to our Lonely Planet book. Cobblestone roads, terra cotta rooftops, whitewashed walls and crumbling ruins make this town charming and understandably Guatemala's most popular tourist destination. It's only 30 minutes from the sprawl of Guatemala City but feels worlds away. It's a tourist destination (ie tourist prices) but it mixes well with the local indigenous lifestyles. For example, on market days dozens of women in traditional Guatemalan wear spread out their brightly woven textiles or handicrafts for sale. It is a walking friendly city and offers lots of exploration.