Testimonials
Jameson B.
It was a wonderful time. The school was very well organized and welcoming - very personal. It didn't feel like a business, I didn't feel like i was a client; it felt like a friendship. Because that's what it was - a friendship.
The small village was a wonderful contrast to bustling city of Antigua. The immersion into the language and culture of Guatemala was amazing. The ancient village has its own set of legends and history, with connections to Cortez and the classical Maya, and you can sense it in the veins of the people.
The people of the village are very proud of their heritage, and very connected to each other and the environment around them. In the town there is a tree nursery, where they grow saplings to be used to regrow forests that had been cut down, and a garden of native medicinal plants run by volunteers. it's been three months sinse i left, and i haven't stopped talking about my week in San Jose.
Daniel Bouvier
As a Spanish teacher, who has both studied and traveled throughout most of Latin America, I was very pleased with my experience at the Mundo Maya Ecological Spanish School. The staff at the school was extraordinarily helpful in planning our trip. The host families were genuinely pleased to share their culture with us. When I asked if I could study the language Maya Itza, the school found a teacher for me. Our tour guide helped us to understand the Mayan culture through our visits to popular tourist sites, like Tikal (only one hour away) and lesser known sites in the area.
I led a group of high school students to spend one week with the Mundo Maya school and a second week in Antigua. Every single student preferred the week at San Jose, Peten. They felt like they got to know the community so much better. The people were friendlier. They had a real sense of how Guatemalans live. The town of San Jose has maintained its charm because it has not been overrun by tourists. By living and studying in San Jose, you will appreciate what it is like to live in a small, safe town, where everyone knows everyone else. I will definitely take future school groups back to Mundo Maya. Together, with the staff at Mundo Maya, we were able to plan a customized experience for my high school students. They even hosted a bon voyage “despedida” party for us on our last night, with all of the teachers and host families joining us for a marimba dance. It was pretty incredible.
Every day, I had the chance to eat tortillas that had just been prepared. Some of the host families even taught the students how to make tortillas.
Dan Bouvier
Monument Mt. Regional High School
Great Barrington, MA
Sam L.
I could probably go on forever about how amazing San Jose, Peten and Mundo Maya are; The beautiful lake, the friendly people, the caring host families, the little shops, and the extremely friendly and personable teachers. Just thinking about it sends a rush of emotion through me. Even months after staying in the town, attending the Mundo Maya Language School, I often think about my host family. I can remember waking up to sound of my host mother patting tortillas on the stone fireplace outside. The first thing I would see when I stepped out of my room would be the turquoise lake, glimmering the in the early sunlight. Then I would sit down to a breakfast of beans, eggs, ham, or tamales, almost always accompanied by freshly made tortillas. Then I would head off to school, for a day of learning new words, new tenses, and reading new stories in Spanish. After school there were always great options for adventure: Visiting Mayan ruins in the rain forest, heading to Tikal, or simply swimming in the warm, clear water of the lake. At night I would eat with my family, and then go out in the park and play basketball or soccer with the other kids in the town. It’s impossible to forget a life like this.
The teachers at the school were very helpful in suggesting certain books from the library that would fit my Spanish level and interests. The host family really made you feel as if you were part of their family, so much so that it was heartbreaking to leave them. The people in the town went out of their way to be friendly. One student in my group left his wallet in the park one night, and didn’t realize it until the next day. He was upset about losing so much money, until a boy who had been at the park that night showed up at the student’s house with wallet perfectly intact. Honestly, San Jose and Mundo Maya are about as close to perfect as anything can get.
Yasmin N.
Hi, my name is Yasmin N. and I was a previous Munda Maya student in San José, Guatemala. While at Munda Maya, I learned more of the spanish language than I have ever before learned in a classroom. Being immersed in the language and the culture for just the short amount of time that I was there- 2 weeks- had a noticeable effect on my ability to communicate with others using the spanish language. The wonderful teachers, hands on activities, and beautiful view from the school set for a great and natural learning environment and I would highly recommend it to anybody.?
While there, I got accustomed to the way of life the people that live there lead, which is undeniably different from ours. Just being exposed to this cultural difference broadens one's sense of understanding of how life is outside of the United States.?
Communication is so important, and not being able to speak the language of someone who you want to converse with is a frustrating thing. Munda Maya really helped me and because of them, I am now able to speak to so many more people then I could before. It's a great feeling accomplishment when you are able to realize how far you came from not even knowing all the letters of the alphabet to being able to converse fully with somebody who speaks in a different native tongue than you do.?
When I think back on Munda Maya, I think of a great positive experience. If all of this is what you are looking for in a spanish school, then I would highly recommend studying at Munda Maya to you all.
Gabriel R.
My experience at the Mundo Maya school was unlike any other that I have experienced in my life. Upon arriving at class on the first day of my session (the classroom was a beautiful wooden pavilion that members of the community had built in anticipation of my group's arrival) I was greeted warmly by my teacher for the week, Antonio. Antonio, an enthusiastic twenty year old, was knowledgable beyond his years (and always was kind and patient with my frequent gramatical errors). I really enjoyed my classes with him, because he was not only my teacher, but also my best friend that I met during my week in San Jose. I know that my fellow classmates had similarly great interactions with their teachers.
In addition to my appreciation of my teacher's genuine kindness, I really enjoyed the fact that there was a one to one student to teacher ratio. This made for total immersion into the Spanish language and having the teacher's full attention certainly made it easier for me to be fully present in class every day. The cirriculum was extensive and allowed for me to learn more about the Spanish language and culture in one week than I had ever thought possible. My time at Mundo Maya enhanced my language skills greatly, and when I arrived home I found that I was able to understand and speak Spanish with much more fluidity than I had previously been able to.
Valerie Zantay
I am a Spanish teacher in a rural New England high school. In June of 2007 I tool a group of student to Guatemala and we spent a week in San Jose, Peten at the Mundo Maya Spanish School. It was the best student trip I have ever taken. The students fell in love with the town and the school and the feeling was reciprocated. Our host families were more than gracious and the school gave us wonderful personalized service. Each afternoon we went on an excursion or did community service. In the evening we all swam in the beautiful Lake Peten Itza. I highly recommend this school and town to a group that want to really know what life is like in Guatemala.
