Alicante is better than Antigua. And other bold statements.
I know. This is controversial. The very idea is ridiculous. And it very clearly demonstrates why I'm not a travel journalist. Nevertheless, I can honestly say that I preferred my time in Alicante - on the Costa Brava no less - to my two (somewhat long) weeks in Antigua, in Guatemala.
I know. What nonsense is this? Guatemala is the destination of dreams. It's a stunning, beautiful country, bursting with colour. There's the bright green fields of coffee, chocolate and corn; the thundering, smoking black volcanoes, which you really hope will spout a spectacular (but safe) amount of blisteringly hot lava for the holiday snap to end all holiday snaps; and the embroidered purples, blues and reds adorning its (very short) inhabitants.
And Antigua? Well, it's rightly known as Guatemala's cultural heartbeat, as it's got art, history, architecture and other cultural wonders coming at you from every which way. They love a festival. And they particularly love a procession. With brass bands, I believe. It's such a great city that it always makes it on to those Lonely Planet 'places to see before you die lists'...those lists beloved of once-upon-a-time-travellers-now-turned-parents-and-prisoners-of-small-children.
And it deserves all the praise that it gets. Even in the rainy season Antigua is spectacular. There's cobbled streets, intricately decorated churches that look a bit like wedding cakes, an iconic clock archway underneath Semana Santa superstars and a food market that's so busy it almost makes itself claustrophobic.
In essence, it's a colonial town, but with volcanoes as a backdrop. This is also the case with Nicaragua's Leon and Granada, but here they're in high definition and ready for their close up. Get a clear blue sky (I think I had about three of these) and you will stop and stare. It's stupid beautiful.
I spent two weeks here in total (well, apart from two days in lovely Lake Atitlan (I will write about this again)), so I could learn Spanish. Antigua is not only a gorgeous place to visit, but THE place to learn Spanish. All of my friends said so. All who learnt Spanish in Antigua raved about the place. This needs to be remembered, as you read on.
Ruth, my friend and Spanish mentor in Alicante, gave me the name of her old school. Given that she's a genius and speaks perfect Spanish, I booked myself in and paid $360 upfront for nine days. Most schools offer one-to-one tuition. I really wanted to get some good Spanish under my belt, so I opted for the full seven hour day. So, Maria* and I got to know each other pretty well. Certainly as well as any couple of toddlers (my current dwindling level of communication in Spanish).
However, my eagerness turned out to be my undoing - and the reason I prefer Alicante. The fact of the matter is that I did not enjoy my Spanish classes with Maria. They were a chore. There...I said it.
Perhaps I should have been more assertive. I'm 39-years-old and a paying customer. I should have said "I want to be able to do a, b and c by next Friday". Instead, I kept on telling myself that she was teaching me Spanish in a very organic, natural way. Practice, practice, practice.
But six days in, I realised there really wasn't any structure at all. There was no focus. And by that stage I didn't know how to raise the issue! Maria, who was really a lovely woman, just chatted with me between 8am-12pm, frequently asking the time and whether I'd like to go get coffee. In fairness, we'd do a little grammar. About 30 minutes. But I did quadruple that in Alicante.
The 2pm-5pm session would usually involve a walk to the church or word recognition games with other teachers and students. But that would mean I would learn the sum total of perhaps 10 words in three hours. It just seemed a waste. And particularly so when Maria, who was also evangelical, got me reading out of religious magazines. Very odd, but doubly so when she'd look into the distance, trance-like.
It was just bad luck. Choose your teacher well. Don't pay upfront. And don't be timid - speak up! Don't go on the mitch for a day, like I did!
So, for me, I definitely preferred a more focused five hours in Alicante, with class mates who'd help you out when you got stuck. I laughed more. And had more energy to do stuff.
In Antigua, it all got a bit much. Doing nothing for hours is energy-sapping. And when you've no energy, even one of the most beautiful places in the world can start to look tired.
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