Learning LaTeX without a ‘local guide’ can be a challenge: it’s one of the reasons I’m involved in running training courses for UK-TUG. The people behind ShareLaTeX have decided to make a series of videos aimed at newer LaTeX users, covering the basics of LaTeX use, writing a thesis and also some more advanced topics (TikZ and beamer, for example).
There are currently about 25 videos, and I’ve watched all of the ‘basic’ ones (the LaTeX beginners series and thesis series). The quality and presentation is pretty good: as well as well produced videos there are also transcripts for all of them, and of course the demos are available on ShareLaTeX. Of course, there are a few things I’d tackle differently, but the overall picture is pretty impressive. They’ve put a lot of work into the videos, and if you work through carefully (and take time to try the demos yourself) them I think you’ll get a good grounding in using LaTeX.