Ding dong! Avon calling! How’s this for a unique travel experience? Have a read about this Guatemalan escapade and you’re bound to pay more attention to your Spanish classes London!

In 2003, I was completing a few months in Mexico with a trip through Guatemala and Belize. It was a flip of a coin really – I had the choice between Oaxacan buses to the Pacific Ocean ports of Puerto Angel and Puerto Escondido or Tapachula, which was somewhere near the Guatemalan border, or so I understood it.

The Tapachula bus arrived first. My fate was determined. I was going to see the Caribbean for the first time in my life.

I spent some time in Central Guatemala before venturing towards the heat and humidity of the tropical lowlands and a fascinating town called Livingston, which is located in the jungle where the mouth of the river Rio Dulce meets the Gulf of Honduras. From the Guatemalan highlands to colonial banana republic vestiges, I bussed, biked and boated across Guatemala, all the while making the most of the scraps of language I had put together in my beginner’s Spanish course London. It was on a tiny motorboat, taxiing us across to Livingston that I got the most practice however…

There was another woman on the boat. We chatted away – or at least attempted to, our voices straining above the roar of the outboard motor. During this time (and entirely due to the noise of the motor) I convinced the woman that I spoke enough Spanish from my attempt to learn Spanish London before I left the UK, that she invited me to spend the day with her and have lunch at her friend’s place. But first, she told me, there was some business that she had to take care of first… Would I like to join her?

Before I launch into the rest of this story, I should give a few words of background about the town we were approaching. Livingston is a small Caribbean town that can only be accessed by boat – either the speedboats or ferry from Puerto Barrios or along the river from the town of Rio Dulce. Livingston is especially interesting due to its diverse demographic mix of Mayan, Garifuna and Mestizo peoples – which are all descendent groups from the Amerindians, Amerindian and Africans, and Amerindian and Spanish respectively.

I got to find this out first hand, because it turns out that I had agreed do the rounds with the Livingston Avon lady! So door to door we went, collecting payments and delivering orders, all throughout Livingston and the surrounding areas. We ate corn with Mayan families on Rio Dulce isolated inlet “villages” (I felt like the Pied Piper with the trail of children I had following my every move), watched daytime soaps with middle class Garifuna families in the “suburbs” facing the Caribbean, and had lunch with the Mestizo friends of my newfound companion. All the time, we babbled on in Spanish (as happens when you don’t have the opportunity to duck off to an English course Liverpool!) but in the heat of the day, and the hours of walking, it soon emerged that my vocabulary was sorely lacking!

Don’t get me wrong, Livingston has its far share of hustlers and thieves. At times it seems like an overwhelming tourist trap, but it’s as far from a resort island as imaginable. I was just so lucky to have this priceless introduction to the place!

Above all, it was language that was the key to the experience. So wherever you plan to travel, do the necessary groundwork first, and then reap the rewards. Take German courses London or French classes London - there are a whole host of quality options in the capital. What about an Italian course London or even a Chinese course London? Even if you are unable to make it to learn French London, why not take a French course Manchester?