Guatemala Trip 2027

Experience Guatemala!

March 11 – 22

GPRW has hosted a trip to Guatemala nearly every year since its founding in 2003. Our 2027 trip is organized by our Trip
Coordinator, Perry Nigh, a retired Spanish professor who has visited Mexico and Guatemala over 50 times. There’s no tour
company and no service component. The trip is about reflection, supporting local, Indigenous businesses, and learning
about the way of life in the communities where we’ve built water projects, all during Holy Week.

The trip includes not only some of the most beautiful touristic spots found anywhere in the world, but also a look at some
out-of-the-way places seldom seen by outsiders. We start in Guatemala City, the national capital, where we’ll explore the
central plaza, the market, and the Cathedral. On the shores of Lake Atitlán, we’ll visit Café Juan Ana in San Lucas Tolimán.
Founded in 1992 by Fr. Greg Schaffer, it was created because local farmers were earning very little for their crop.

We also visit Iximché, a lesser-known Maya site in the Guatemalan highlands. Unlike the famous jungle ruins, Iximché sits
high in the pine-oak forests. It was the capital of the Kaqchikel Maya, and in 1524 it became the first Spanish capital of
Guatemala. Today it is calm and quiet, but it is still an active spiritual site, and at the back of the ruins you may see local
Maya priests performing fire ceremonies. The greenery around the ruins is gorgeous. It’s as if “nature is gently holding
history in its hands.”