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EspañolSpanish for travel: get ready for Peru and Latin America before you fly
Five or ten hours with a native teacher who lives in the Sacred Valley near Cusco, so you can take a bus, order food, bargain at the market and talk to your host family without a translation app.
What you actually need on the ground
In Lima, in central Cusco and on the way to Machu Picchu, you can get by in English. Step outside that circuit and Spanish stops being optional: the colectivo driver who only speaks Spanish, the woman at the market asking how many kilos you want, the host family asking whether you slept well, the pharmacist who needs to know what hurts.
You do not need the subjunctive for any of that. You need about thirty phrases, the numbers, the time, a handful of questions and, above all, an ear trained to catch the answer. That is exactly what this course works on, and nothing else.
A teacher who lives where you are going
Alberto is Spanish, has taught Spanish for twenty-one years, holds a Máster ELE, the master’s degree in teaching Spanish as a foreign language, and lives in Huarán, in the Sacred Valley between Cusco and Machu Picchu. He takes the same buses you will take, shops at the same markets, and knows the words Peruvians actually use, not the textbook ones.
He speaks English at C1 level. The first lessons can be explained entirely in English, so you are never stuck on an instruction. Then Spanish takes over, one sentence at a time.
The programme: situations, not grammar tables
Every hour is built around a situation you will actually live:
- Transport: buying a ticket, asking where the bus stops, agreeing a taxi fare, reading a timetable.
- Accommodation: checking in, asking for a room, reporting a problem, chatting with the family hosting you.
- Food and markets: ordering, asking what is in a dish, paying, bargaining politely.
- Health and safety: explaining a headache or a stomach problem, finding a pharmacy, understanding instructions.
- Meeting people: introducing yourself, talking about your trip, asking about the region, saying thank you properly.
You speak from the first hour. Alberto plays the driver, the vendor or the host, corrects what gets in the way, and sends you a written recap after each lesson with the phrases you practised and a short exercise for the week.
Latin American Spanish, not textbook Spanish
Apps and most courses teach the Spanish of Spain. In Peru, Bolivia, Colombia or Mexico nobody uses “vosotros”, nobody says “vale”, and many everyday words change: the car, the phone, the bus, even potatoes.
The Andean accent of Cusco and the Sacred Valley, on the other hand, is one of the clearest and slowest in the Spanish-speaking world. That is good news for a beginner: you will understand more in Peru than in Seville. Alberto prepares you for both variants, with the words you will really hear.
How many hours, and when
You learn before the trip, not during it. Once you are there, you want to enjoy it, not revise.
- Five hours, over two to four weeks, cover the essential situations for a two- or three-week trip.
- Ten hours, over one to two months, get you to real conversations with your hosts, understanding the answers, and leaving the tourist trail with confidence.
The free 30-minute trial lesson is where Alberto assesses your level, asks about your route and your dates, and suggests the number of hours that makes sense.
Lessons on your time zone
Peru sits on New York time, within an hour depending on daylight saving. For travellers from the US and Canada that means lessons at breakfast, at lunch or after work, with no night shifts on either side. For the UK, slots fall in the afternoon and evening. The booking calendar below shows availability in your own time zone.
Prices
- 30-minute trial lesson: free.
- 1 hour: $23.
- 5-hour pack: $95, or $19 an hour.
- 10-hour pack: $160, or $16 an hour.
No subscription, no platform commission. You can cancel or move a lesson up to 24 hours in advance. Full details are on the pricing section. If you want to keep going after the trip, conversational Spanish lessons pick up where you left off.
Book a lesson
Pick a slot in the calendar below. You receive the confirmation and the Google Meet link by email within a minute. If you would rather ask a question first, write to Alberto on WhatsApp using the button at the bottom of the page.