I would highly recommend Guatemala, especially Quezaltenango, as a fantastic country to live and learn Spanish. I found the people of Guatemala and especially the Highlands region to be as friendly and helpful as they are colorful. Guatemaltecos really celebrate Holy Week. The vast majority of people have from noon on Good Friday until the Monday morning following Easter off from work. During this week there are many colorful religious processions.
Families gather daily for meals consisting of a special bread, honey and fish.
The contents of the meals are dictated by the church and family tradition. In certain cities, people create very elaborate carpets made of colored sawdust. These beautiful carpets are created from scratch daily in the roads simply to be destroyed when the church processions walk through them. Although traveling from one place to another can be somewhat difficult during this week I would highly recommend trying to plan a trip during this time. The weather is neither too hot or too cold and you can see Guatemala's culture at its peak.