There are quite a number of salsa schools in Antigua but I would recommend La Salsa Dance Co. above all the others. The director of the school is Carlos Miranda, who is also an exceptional teacher, and if he is not available there are also other equally good teachers such as Andrés and Martin. There are usually two others: Julio and Selvin, but they are reportedly abroad in Europe at the moment. If you’d prefer a female teacher, there is just one at this school: Marisol, who is Carlos’ dance partner at salsa shows, competitions and the like.

The school has plenty of students, so if you’re more comfortable in group classes, there are those. However, if you only have limited time in Antigua and would like a crash course you can sign up for private lessons with any of the teachers for Q75 per class, with a discounted rate if you sign up more than a certain number. A lot of the time other students will be having their private classes at the same time as you, so most times it’s a nice unintimidating atmosphere with several pairs dancing simultaneously.

If you want to try a class before committing to anything, there are free group classes from 5 to 6 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays. Sometimes they are packed however, due to Spanish school students who come to shake their booty for the first time. But drop in anyway for a trial class.

There are also weekly group classes (if at least three people show up) for other Latin rhythms such as Bachata and Merengue. Otherwise, if no one shows up and you want to do it anyway you’ll have to pay the equivalent of a private class, i.e. Q75. For two people you’d probably have to split that amount by half.

Visit the school’s website (www.lasalsadancegt.com) for more details on class schedules and rates. Or if you’re already in Antigua, drop in and ask. There’s almost always somebody there.

After you’ve learnt some new moves and want to test them out in clubs, Antigua has a healthy salsa nightscene, the best night being Tuesdays at Sin Ventura (the pounding disco right next to Monoloco) where most the salsa teachers of Antigua show up.

Also, if you’re taking lessons at La Salsa Dance (the studio is housed in the lounge of a hotel), make sure you try lunch or dinner at the Korean restaurant called Veronica House named after its pleasant owner (tell them Emily sent you!) opposite the school’s studio. Both the school and the restaurant are contained in a small commercial centre called Centro Commercial Canoa (turn right out from Bagel Barn and it’s a few shoplots down the same street), which also houses a Spanish School.

What? EntreMundos volunteer fair
When? May 25th, 2 - 4 pm
Where? EntreMundos Office (El Espacio) on 6a Calle 7-31, Zona 1, Xela
Tel? (502) 5606 9070, (502) 7761 2179

© mricha15 - Xela’s Central Park

Quetzaltenango (more familiarly dubbed ‘Xela’) is probably the place to volunteer in Guatemala. It’s the country’s second city after Guatemala City, but smaller, somewhat safer (with exceptions: two of my friends were robbed at gunpoint, so you still have to be careful when it’s dark out), and with just the right balance of foreigners and locals to offer a sufficiently authentic local experience. Whatever you get in Antigua in terms of Spanish schools and bars and cafes to make your comfort zone, you’ll also get in Xela, but the latter is nothing like the seemingly self-absorbed bubble that is Antigua.

© Emily Ding - The famous arch in Antigua

But of course, as with everything, you have to give and take. And Antigua, being an old Spanish colonial town is, hands down, a lot prettier than Xela is. For the passing tourist who can only afford a few days, Xela might only stay in their minds as ugly and nondescript, kind of like Guatemala City. But for the dedicated volunteer or long-term traveller looking to stay in one place and live some semblance of a life, Xela is a good choice. From the people I’ve heard who have lived there, they’ve loved it.

The only reason I’m not in Xela, despite the fact that there is so much more there with which to keep myself occupied… is this nagging question I ask myself: “Why would I come to a country like Guatemala and live in a city?” I’m going back to London town in exactly three months, and I’ve lived all my life in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia also home to the world-renowned Petronas twin towers. Why then would I choose to live in the city here in this still-developing country? Better to live a small-town existence on the tranquil shores of Lake Atitlán which, have I mentioned, is the most beautiful lake in the world. At least, until I see something else to rival it.

All the guidebooks seem to give you the idea that you won’t miss much if you skip out on the capital of Nicaragua entirely, but I disagree. At least, it warrants about two days of your time.

Sure, there is nothing singularly exciting about it, and it’s not exactly a ‘city’ by your first-world standards. It’s an everyday sort of place devoid of anything to romanticize… in fact, it is exceeding hot and impossible to navigate solely on foot or public bus, but it’s a place where you can spend your day roaming around shopping malls, perusing the shelves of La Colonia supermarket to decide what to cook for dinner, watch plays and listen to live music, visit art galleries and poetry readings… you can even go and have a very decent haircut for $8 at Galería Santo Domingo, have your left-too-long-unshaved legs waxed, see the doctor if you have to, extend your visa at the foreign office (direct your taxi driver to Direccion de Migración y Extranjera), buy a ‘Joy Sport’ (a bastardization of ‘Jan Sport’) backpack for 50 Cordobas (about $3!) at Mercado Ivan Montenegro which looks perfectly good and seemingly hardy (we will see about the latter), chase down your long-overdue package from overseas from post office customs (Los Correos, near El Malecon)… you get the idea. It’s a place you can comfortably run your errands, so long as you know where to look. People fly in from the Corn Islands to see the dentist, that kind of thing.

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1. Purified water - I don’t do it anymore now but when I first entered Guatemala, I’d started following Lonely Planet’s overzealous advice and brushed my teeth with drinking water when one of my fellow homestay mates told me he was doing that. Lonely Planet also tells you to wash all your food with drinking water and that you shouldn’t eat uncooked vegetables but I’ve been doing all that in blatant defiance of their advice. It is impossible to escape the salads in Central America: one, because it’s so ubiquitous; and two, because it’s so good. I’ve been eating plenty of market/street food (actually it’s my favourite) and I’ve been okay. Maybe Bel is right, maybe Malaysians have got stronger constitutions. Our tummies have been trained well by the not-so-distinctive-as-we’d-like-to-think Malaysian feature: the pasar malam (night market).
2. Hot water - This commodity much taken for granted at home in Malaysia and in London is scarce and only available in some houses (you have to install a waterheater which obviously requires extra money) and even if it is available it is usually inadequately provided. Either the water only remains hot at low volume, or it is too hot you run the danger of scalding yourself, or too cold - there seems to be no way to have anything in between. Water pressure is also generally dismal. I always feel like I have soap suds stuck in my hair after I shower. In Guatemala when I couldn’t access hot water I didn’t shower at night because it was too cold. In Nicaragua, where I’ve been traveling for a month now, I’ve only had hot showers for a few days when I was in the highlands of Estelí and Jinotega. But in Nicaragua, the lowest country in Central America, it’s almost welcome because it’s so hot.
3. Toilets that flush - Not all toilets flush, and even if they do, they might not if you clog it with tissue paper. In Guatemala and Nicaragua you don’t flush anything down the toilet, not even toilet paper that you’d think is supposed to go down the toilet bowl. Instead, you throw everything into a wastepaper basket that is provided, whether or not your tissues are filled with urine or faeces or that monthly inconvenience women go through. Very nice.

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So I went volcano boarding today.
It’s like toboganning, except it’s on very fine black volcanic sand.

The place to do it in Nicaragua is at the Cerro Negro (Black Mountain), about an hour-or-so drive away from the city of León. All you have to do really is book a place at Big Foot Hostel and they will transport you there and back in an open-back truck. Jailbird jumpsuits to ensure minimal injuries and masks to keep the stones out of your face and boards are also provided. It costs $19 USD per person and an additional entry fee of $3.50 USD into Cerro Negro.

The only catch is you have to carry your board up the cone of Cerro Negro, but it isn’t a difficult climb. An hour and a half perhaps, with rest stops along the way. Heck, if as unfit as I was I survived it, then anyone can.

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The most conspicuous is DHL, located on 6a Avenida Sur 16 but there is another one before that on the same street called International Bounded Couriers (IBC) which is cheaper and allows you the option of not purchasing insurance (which costs about $USD 20) on your package. For a package of 5 kg to Malaysia, DHL charges $USD 280 but I asked for a discount and without much effort, got it down to $USD 210, insurance included (there is no option to exclude insurance). IBC charges $USD 170 for a package of the same weight without insurance.

I’m an enthusiastic amateur photographer and you would think that Guatemala offers a plethora of opportunities for documentary photography. But just yesterday I sent my gigantic Canon 10D SLR camera and similarly big lenses back home to Malaysia because it got too stressful worrying about being a potential target for armed robbers while I carried them conspicuously around town. I haven’t felt free to use them on the streets for the same reason so it’s actually been restricting me from taking as many photos as I would otherwise.

But the main reason isn’t my fear of being robbed. The other thing is that it affects my conscience when I take photos of the local people here. The children tend to ask you for a buck when you take a photo (anything for a buck here, seems to be the mentality) and I don’t like the idea of having to pay to take a photo, or the idea that I’m intruding. I don’t want to be taking pictures of people if people don’t welcome it. So I’ve bought myself a disposable camera instead to document my travels - it will do for now. I still have my writing.

So, unless you’re a very serious photographer, think long and hard about whether you want to bring all your photography equipment along. It’s a pain to carry and to worry about, and sure as hell it burns a hole in your pocket when you have to pay $200 to send it home!

© Emily Ding - Central Park, Antigua, where the volcanoes are omnipresent

The small colonial town of Antigua, Guatemala, is the mecca of the package Spanish school, combining both study and travel and so-called immersion social activities and accommodation with a Guatemalan host family. However, having studied at Ixchel School for a week I can tell you that you won’t get much of a genuine immersion experience in Antigua - at least, not for the short term.

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