Cusco or Antigua?

Hi everyone! This Jan/Feb, I'm planning on heading South to take some
Spanish classes and travel around a bit. I would like to spend about
5 weeks altogether. I narrowed my choices down to the two above.
I hear raving comments about learning Spanish in Guatemala but is
there enough to do in the spare time?...Could I safely hike around by
myself or would you not recommend doing that at all?
My heart sort of goes with Peru but is the climate in the highlands
going to prevent me from doing much outside?
Any suggestions? Personal experiences?
Greatly appreciated...

Here's a personal experience, when I was in Cusco some five years ago I
suffered from a little altitude sickness and a lot of, ahem, explosive
diarrehea. Cusco is damn cold, but very nice and I think that you'll find
enough to keep you occupied in either place. I get the impression that you
are under the impression there are no other places worth visiting in Peru
except Cusco, to which I say "wrong". Check the map, Cusco isn't in the
"highlands", its in the "Andes Mountains"

In either location, espect the local "spin" on the language by way of the
inclusion of indigenous words in place of the Spanish words. For example in
Peru, the word for "sweater" is "chompa" not "suéter". I'm sure that they
do the same in Guatemala.


"eurocalgrl" wrote in message
om...
Hi everyone! This Jan/Feb, I'm planning on heading South to take some
Spanish classes and travel around a bit. I would like to spend about
5 weeks altogether. I narrowed my choices down to the two above.
I hear raving comments about learning Spanish in Guatemala but is
there enough to do in the spare time?...Could I safely hike around by
myself or would you not recommend doing that at all?
My heart sort of goes with Peru but is the climate in the highlands
going to prevent me from doing much outside?
Any suggestions? Personal experiences?
Greatly appreciated...