Amazing Archaeology Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

With the exception of one three hour seminar class a week and enrollment in a Spanish language school for the first month in Antigua, there is no "classroom style" learning. Your credits are earned by doing archaeological fieldwork Mon-Fri from about 7:30 AM to 4 PM.

On-site administration of your program

Really great. Not always organized down to the T which could be a little stressful at times but hardly really a problem.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Spent the first month with a lovely homestay family in Antigua. The following three months were spent living at the camp site. You live in a tent that you share with another person from the program, shower in makeshift showers with river water, the bathrooms are latrines. The accommodations are actually pretty nice for being in the middle of the jungle. If you can keep a sense of humor about how ridiculous it all is, you will be fine. Plus, you'll have so many other students there dealing with the same strange new living arrangements as well. You're really in it together.

In Antigua, homestay provided all weekday meals and they were always great. There are trips most weekends and meals are provided at the hotels. On Sunday night, dinner is in Antigua with the grad students and Bill. At site, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are prepared by the cooks. There will almost always be beans and rice as you meal or with it and there are fresh made corn tortillas EVERY meal (unless they make flour ones, which are also delicious). The food can be tough to adjust to, and many things are fried. There's usually meat on Monday and Tuesday since it comes in fresh over the weekend. They will accommodate for vegetarians though. Also, there is hardly any dairy ever because there's no refrigeration. There aren't many other options though except for the snacks that you bring with you. Sometimes on the weekends, grad students will go back out to civilization and if you give them money they can buy you one or two things. Peanutbutter, Nutella, granola bars, and cookies were pretty common.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Overall, the people of Guatemala were welcoming and friendly towards us. Generally, if you make an attempt to speak Spanish and try your hardest to converse and smile, people will be kind to you. Guatemalans speak pretty clear and slow Spanish, which is helpful. My homestay mom was extremely friendly and welcoming and really took care of us. There were several other students from other programs staying at her house as well and whenever one left, she would throw a little party with lots of great home cooked food and dancing. She even invited over a missionary group in the area. I had the chance to see a lot or really great places in Guatemala (Lake Atitlan, Monterrico), climb Mt. Picaya, visit a local chocolate factory, volunteer at a local shelter, and also see some Maya sites before heading into camp (Copan, Tikal, Quirigua)

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Everyone was really well taken care of on the trip. The director's wife is a nurse and was always there to help people when they don't feel well or field questions. The adjustments to the conditions can be tough at first, especially for girls, but you could really ask her anything. If there are any serious medical issues, they aren't afraid to send someone out in a truck back to Flores, Guatemala to go to a doctor or hospital if need be.

Antigua itself was not super safe. Going anywhere at night isn't all that advisable unless you are in a big group. Tuk Tuk (little rickshaw cabs) can be taken places until 10pm but after that you have to get a cab. There were 3 attempted robberies of students in my group during the trip, myself included. People will scout you out and get to know your routine, so just be cautious and aware. This makes it sound scarier than it was but you should be on your toes. The jungle has your typical jungle stuff: poisonous snakes, spiders, scorpions, pumas, jaguars, lots of bugs. You'll definitely see snakes, scorpions and the bugs and spider, probably not the other ones. If there any snakes in camp, the poisonous ones are killed by the workers. You'll probably learn to kill a scorpion after watching the workers cut off their tails, play with then, then kill them with a rock. You really are quite safe, I never once felt threatened by the animal life.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

In the first month in Antigua, meals and travelling expenses are already covered in your tuition. You only spend money on whatever else you want to buy, personally (including any alcoholic beverages at meals. Other drinks are paid for though). At site, there is nothing to pay for except for any compras you may want on the weekend and if you wanted to visit one of the worker's tienda, which sold soda and lollipops and cookies for real cheap. Also, at the time, one US dollars was about 7.5 Quetzals. Everything was pretty cheap.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

Full immersion in the homestay and there were plenty of Guatemalan workers at site who spoke no English

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• Other
• Host Family
• Hotel

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• Americans
• International Students
• Host Family
• Other

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• Americans

• You get to see parts of history before anyone else, excavate them, interpret them, and think about them. It's the coolest thing you will ever do. I guarantee it. It's hard to describe the feeling. Everything is exciting (Don't get me wrong, there were certainly boring times there, but it was still a once in a lifetime thing)
• Guatemala is dirt cheap. Though the program is pricey, your traveling expenses are not.
• You really do bond with the people in your program. You're roughing together.

• The students should get to do more of the manual labor of excavating. Or be told up front that they won't be doing a lot of the heavy lifting stuff.
• Make the program less expensive? Or have more scholarships / transferable funds for it.
• It would have been nicer to feel more at ease in Antigua. I wanted to volunteer more at a local shelter, but didn't feel safe about going there and going home by myself, which was pretty unfortunate.