(edit: late, but I should add why in case you visit again. I find Python to be quite a good cross between the C/C++ based dialects and, say, the newer, and ref a pg article, languages "closer to lisp." Also the syntax reads pretty close to English, and is beautifully formatted. The documentation is plenty too. I'm pretty much all PHP, but I'd recommend Python :) )
My point against Ruby is that it has a lot of magic. Python explicitly tries to remove magic and make everything clear. Magic is nice once you grok it, but for learning I'd want things to be straight forward.