Activities in Guatemala
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A
Academia de Español Antigueña
A highly recommended school, only hiring experienced teachers. They can arrange volunteer work in hospitals for social workers, lab assistants and child care workers on request. Also supports an educational project in San Antonio Aguas Calientes.
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Volunteering in Quetzaltenango
The Quetzaltenango area has many nonprofit organizations working on social projects with the local K'iche' Maya people and others that need volunteers. Volunteer jobs can range from teaching math to village children, to designing websites for indigenous organizations, to developing sustainable agriculture, to medical work in clinics, to working in orphanages for disabled children. For anyone in a giving frame of mind, the possibilities are endless.
You can volunteer part time for a week or two while also studying Spanish, or you can live and work in a close-knit indigenous village for a year. Obviously, the more Spanish you speak the better, but in a few weeks at one of…
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B
Utatlán Spanish School
One of the town's many language schools. Described as young and energetic with plenty of parties and activities.
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Cooperativa Spanish School
Run as a cooperative (therefore guaranteeing fair wages for teachers), Cooperativa Spanish School comes highly recommended. A percentage of profits goes to needy families around the lake. After-school activities include videos, conferences, salsa classes, volunteer work, kayaking and hiking. The office is halfway along the path between the two docks.
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C
Kaqchikel Tours
Kaqchikel Tours is a well-run, locally owned outfit specializing in volcano ascents and other great-value hikes, with camping along the way on some trips. Two-day Tajumulco trips cost around US$40. Kaqchikel also offers full-moon ascents of Santa María (around US$15) and challenging two-day Santiaguito trips (around US$66 with a minimum group size of four), camping on a small hill as close as is safely possible to the active crater.
A three-day Quetzaltenango-Lago de Atitlán trek is around US$70, and a five-day Nebaj-Todos Santos jaunt across the Cuchumatanes mountains is around US$130. Prices include transportation, food, equipment and a guide.
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El Nahual
A bit out of town, but runs some excellent, grass roots community projects in which students are invited to participate, such as teaching classes for underprivileged kids and maintaining an organic community garden.
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D
La Democracia
In a residential part of town, this highly recommended school arranges volunteer work teaching English to underpriveleged kids and building classrooms.
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Language Courses
Xela's many language schools attract students from around the world. Unlike Antigua, which has had a similar reputation for quite a bit longer, Xela is not overrun with foreigners, though there is a growing social scene revolving around language students and volunteer workers.
Xela seems to attract altruistic types, and most of the Spanish schools listed individually provide opportunities to get involved in social action programs working with the local K'iche' Maya. Prices for the schools vary a little but not by much; the standard price is around US$110/around US$130 per week for four/five hours of instruction per day, Monday to Friday, including room and board with a…
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E
Old Town Outfitters
Professional and friendly outfit offering volcano ascents, guided walks and mountain bike tours. You can either do a volcano day trip or an overnight trip, camping up in the mountains. Try a guided half-day walk in the hills around Antigua, go to any summit in the country, or try a three-day trek through eastern Guatemala's Sierra de las Minas, with its cloud forests.
This outfit also rents out quality bikes with gloves, helmets and maps; offers a range of mountain-bike tours at all levels of difficulty, including the two-day Pedal & Paddle Tour, which includes kayaking and hiking at Lago de Atitlán; and it rents out and sells camping gear.
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F
Volcán Santa María & Santiaguito
With early starts, Volcán Santa María (3772m), towering to the south of the city, and the active volcano Santiaguito (2488m), on Santa María's southwest flank, can both be done in long morning hikes from Xela.
You start walking at the village of Llanos del Pinal, 5km south of Xela, from which it's about four hours up to the summit of Santa María (then three hours down). Getting too close to Santiaguito is dangerous, so people usually just look at it from a mirador about 1½ hours' walk from Llanos del Pinal.
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Ravenscroft Riding Stables
Ravenscroft Riding Stables, 3km south of Antigua on the road to Santa María de Jesús, offers English-style riding, with scenic rides of three, four or five hours in the valleys and hills around Antigua. You need to be fairly fit. Reservations and information are available through the Hotel San Jorge. You can reach the stables on a bus bound for Santa María de Jesús.
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Casa Rosario
Run by respected brothers and teachers Samuel and Vicente Cumes, Casa Rosario holds classes in gardens near the lake. The office is along first street to the left as you walk up from Santiago dock. Volunteer projects include reforestation, teachers' assistants and environmental awareness campaigns.
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G
Proyecto Lingüístico Quetzalteco de Español
This very professional and politically minded school also runs the Escuela de la Montaña, a language school with a maximum enrollment of eight on an organic coffee finca in the mountains near Xela, where participation in local culture and volunteering are strongly encouraged.
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H
Mundo en Español
Seventeen years' experience in conducting language classes, family atmosphere; gym, garden and accommodation on premises.
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El Quetzal
One of the few indigenous-run businesses in town, plenty of activities and a reading room with more than 300 books.
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Escuela de Español San José el Viejo
Professional, 30-teacher school with pool, superb gardens, tennis court and its own tasteful accommodations.
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Casa Xelajú
One of the biggest, also offering classes in K'iche', and college credits.
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Celas Maya
Set around a pleasant garden-courtyard; also offers classes in K'iche'.
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Centro de Estudios de Español Pop Wuj
Pop Wuj's profits go to development projects in nearby villages, in which students can participate. The school also offers medical and social work specialist language programs.
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Trips up the Río Dulce
Tour agencies in town offer day trips up the Río Dulce to Río Dulce town, as do most local boatmen at the Lívingston dock. Many travelers use these tours as one-way transportation to Río Dulce, although you can do a return trip. It's a beautiful ride through tropical jungle scenery, with several places to stop on the way.
Shortly after you leave Lívingston, you pass the tributary Río Tatin on the right, then will probably stop at an indigenous arts museum set up by Asociación Ak' Tenamit, an NGO working to improve conditions for the Q'eqchi' Maya population of the area. The river enters a gorge called La Cueva de la Vaca, its walls hung with great tangles of jungle…
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Volcano Ascents
All three volcanoes overlooking Antigua are tempting challenges but how close you can get to Fuego depends on recent levels of activity. In many ways the twin-peaked Acatenango, the highest of the three and overlooking Fuego, is the most exhilarating summit. For an active-volcano experience many people take tours to Pacaya (2552m), 25km southeast of Antigua (a 1½-hour drive).
In general the weather and the views on all the volcanoes are better in the morning. In the rainy season (May to October) thunderstorms are possible in the afternoon. Get reliable advice about safety before you climb, for example from the Inguat tourist office, or from your embassy in Guatemala City…
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Exotic Travel
A few outfits in Lívingston offer tours that let you get out and experience the natural wonders of the area. Exotic Travel is a well-organized operation with several good trips. Its popular Ecological Tour/Jungle Trip takes you for a walk through town, out west up to a lookout spot and on to the Río Quehueche, where you take a half-hour canoe trip down the river to Playa Quehueche where you walk through the jungle to Los Siete Altares.
Hang out in Los Siete Altares for a while, then walk down to the beach and back along it to Lívingston. The trip leaves the Restaurant Bahía Azul on Calle Principal every day at 09:00 and arrives back around 16:30; it costs around US$10…
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Proyecto EcoQuetzal
Proyecto EcoQuetzal is an innovative project offering 'ethnotourism' trips in which participants hike to nearby villages nestled in the cloud forest and stay with a Q'eqchi' Maya family. To maximize the experience, travelers are encouraged to learn some Q'eqchi' words and stay with their host family for at least two days. For around US$42 you'll get a guide for three days, lodging for two nights, and six meals. Your guide will take you on hikes to interesting spots.
The men of the family are the guides, providing them an alternative, sustainable way to make a living. Reservations are required at least one day in advance. The Proyecto also rents boots, sleeping bags and…
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Excursion Big Foot
Fifty metres to the left of Volcán San Pedro at the first crossroads up from San Pedro's Panajachel dock, Excursion Big Foot has a track record of responsibility in this respect and goes at 06:00 when there are at least four people (around US$10 each). The ascent is through fields of maize, beans and squash, followed by primary cloud forest. You'll be back in San Pedro about 13:00. Take water, snacks, a hat and sunblock.
Excursion Big Foot will also guide a minimum of four people up the hill to the west of the village that is generally referred to as Indian Nose (its skyline resembles the profile of an ancient Maya dignitary) for around US$10 each; it also offers horse…
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Antigua Tours
Elizabeth Bell, author of books on Antigua, leads three-hour cultural walking tours of the town (in English and/or Spanish) on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday. On Monday & Thursday, the tours are led by her colleague Roberto Spillari. Reservations are suggested and can be made through Antigua Tours which is inside the Casa Santo Domingo Hotel.
Bell's book, Antigua Guatemala: The City and Its Heritage, is well worth picking up at a bookstore: it describes all the city's important buildings and museums, and neatly encapsulates Antigua's history and fiestas. Writer Elizabeth Bell also gives a fascinating one-hour English-language slide show about Antigua called Behind…
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