Homestay Program

Homestay Program

All Centro Maya Xela families are carefully selected to ensure they meet our and therefore your requirements. Before being invited to join our program all families are visited by the staff to ensure these standards will be met.

We work with middle class families who live in the city of Quetzaltenango. These families offer the comforts of their own home, create a pleasant family atmosphere, and provide the student with the opportunity to practice his or her Spanish through friendly family interactions. The walking distance from the family’s home to school is usually from 5 to 15 minutes.

Homestay with families include:

• Individual room with your own key as well as a key to the main door. All participating home stay families have been carefully selected to meet our requirements.
• Bedclothes are provided but not towels or soap. These items are available for purchase cheaply at the nearby markets and stores.
• Hot water for bathing is available with all of our participating home stay families. We realize this is a priority for our foreign students.
• Three meals a day six days a week. On Sundays only breakfast is provided to allow the families a day off from cooking. We encourage our visiting students to try some of our local restaurants and eateries.
• Purified water for drinking for all of our students in the school and at home with their families. Purified drinking water is a valuable resource for us in Guatemala.
• You will have the opportunity to live with a local Guatemalan family with kids and/or pets or without them.
• Vegetarian food is available for those who request it. If you have any other special diet needs please let us know when you register.

Mayan home stay program

For those students who are learning a Mayan language, we can offer them the opportunity to live with a family that speaks the language they are studying, but the standard of living may be different than those of the families that live in the city.

Most Mayan families live in rural areas 45 minutes away from the city by bus.

Usually a student will not have an individual room, but instead will share his or her living space with the family, and outside latrines and water.

If you are traveling as a couple or as a family you can be placed with the same family if you wish or we can arrange for each individual to be placed in separate families who live near each other, please specify which you would prefer on your reservation form.

We will not know who your family is until a few days before you arrive, because students often stay longer than initially planned. If you wish to bring gifts for your family considers small inexpensive gifts that can be enjoyed by everyone. Traditionally Guatemalan families are large with many extended members grandparents etc.