In the Cuchumatanes Mountains, a young woman rises to grind corn on a stone petate. Along Avenida Reforma, children juggle oranges for change as businessmen tuck into air-conditioned office buildings. Students explore this complicated country of contrasts where steamy jungles rise to meet towering volcanic peaks and traditional traje walk alongside Armani suits.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

• Deepen your Spanish language skills through personalized instruction and an extended homestay on Lake Atitlán.
• Explore the vibrant colors, flavors, and ancestral landscapes of the Maya people.
• Support community projects and social justice movements from the western highlands to the Caribbean coast.
• Hike to the top of ancient temples in the Caribbean rainforest as dawn breaks over the horizon.

Our course begins in Antigua, where we explore colorful markets, hike through coffee plantations and begin our first Spanish lessons. We ride the infamous Chicken Bus—a colorful and chromed-out version of a 1990s Blue Byrd school bus—past the sacred Lake Atitlan, and eventually arrive in Pachaj for a week of one-on-one intensive language study. In the mornings we volunteer with the Chico Mendes Reforestation Project, and in the afternoons we immerse ourselves in local Quiche’ culture, where we engage in such activities as assisting our home-stay siblings with a local recycling program.

From Pachaj, we wind our way into the protective folds of the Cuchumatanes Mountains where local communities share their accounts of Guatemala’s thirty-six year civil war. Their stories help us understand the root causes of Guatemala’s colored human rights record, sharp economic inequalities and underrepresented indigenous populations.

Our final leg takes us into the Peten rainforest, where we encounter howler monkeys and scarlet macaws in the ancient city of Tikal. We rest in hammocks, converse with our new Spanish vocabulary, and reflect on all we’ve learned about indigenous rights and Guatemala’s grassroots revolutionaries.