Volunteer in Guatemala with Maximo Nivel - Best Rated Projects

My trip to Guatemala was an awesome experience which allowed me to immerse myself in a completely different culture and get out of my comfort zone. Atitlan was probably my favorite part of the trip where we stayed in san Pedro and traveled around to different cities at the lake. Other than that, Antigua was really cool with many different shops to visit as well as familiar restaurants. The hike up Pikaya was also at the top of my list and is a checkmark on my bucket list. Will definitely use Maximo Nivel for my next travel experience since they were there every step of the way for guidance as well as suggestions for fun activities!!

Working with Maximo Nivel to volunteer at the medical clinic in Sumpango, Guatemala was an amazing experience and opened my eyes to so many new experiences and things! Maximo Nivel was a really great company to work with and was so helpful for the whole entire process of traveling, staying, and volunteering in Guate. My favorite thing was that Maximo offered their partnership with Guineans Travel which gave us the opportunity to travel around and do cool things such as hike the Pacaya Volcano. Also, Wally was awesome and so helpful and gave us really good recommendations for food and things to do! Besides the amazing travel and vacation aspect of the trip, the volunteering was so worthwhile and opened my eyes to the major differences in healthcare practices. I enjoyed that we got to travel to a new city to work and got to meet so many local people. Overall, Maximo Nivel made my Guatmela experience super smooth and highly unforgetable!

Volunteering in Guatemala was an amazing experience! I volunteered at a health clinic where I was able to take height, weight and blood pressure of patients while also helping to diagnose them with their symptoms. Being able to interact with both the nurses and doctors as well as the patients was a really awesome experience and I felt as though I was really helpful to my placement and the clinic. The volunteer house we stayed in was with 25 other volunteers and I am so happy I got to stay there and meet the people that I did, we all became really close during our trip. We hiked a volcano, went zip lining, to a coffee plantation and got to know Antigua really well. Also the Maximo Nivel staff is so friendly and helpful and Wallie is the best :)

I had a great time with my experience volunteering with Maximo nivel! They were extremely friendly and always willing to help out in any way possible! All the staff knew my name and had great suggestions for activities to do in my free time and they know all the best places to eat around Antigua. The family I worked with during my construction project had such and always tried to communicate with me despite the language barrier. They gave me hot coco and bread on a very cold day and they also gave me a traditional lunch before I left. The two little boys in the house loved to help me with my work and will put a smile on anyone's face. I felt like i got child care and construction work out of one project! I loved my time here and plan to book more adventures with Maximo!

I had an amazing experience participating in the Niños con Bendición project in December !

Maximo Nivel organized a fantastic Christmas party for the project "Ninos con Bendicion" (an after school kids project)

We had a piñata for the kids, served them local Guatemala food (chuchitos) (oh my God they're so good) also some delicious cake AND we gave the kids presents ! It was a very blessing experience because many of those kids do not get a Christmas and it was nice to see the smile on their faces.

It was a ton of fun and I would highly recommend volunteering through Maximo Nivel. The staff are super friendly and very nice :)

My volunteering experience with Maximo Nivel was amazing! My friend and I went for the medical trip for 2 weeks, not really knowing what to expect. We stayed at a hostel with over 20 other students from all over the world. We were provided breakfast and dinner at the house, for lunch we tried several local restaurants, which were great! We took the bus for 30 minutes every morning to go to the clinic we were assigned. We got to practice a lot of our nursing skills and helped there in whatever way we could. We would get back to Antigua around 1pm everyday so we had the evenings and weekends free to explore the city and culture. We went hiking, to local museums, ruins of old cathedreal, a macadamia nut farm, and the markets/local stores. We took a weekend trip to Tikal and Lake Atitlan which was incredible! The staff at Maximo Nivel was so welcoming and caring. They were always available to offer help! They planned weekly activities for us to do as well, like guac and salsa night, Christmas gift wrapping for kids, etc. They were a lot of fun and allowed us to meet people in the other programs. We made sure to not go out alone after 8pm and felt pretty safe. Overall it was a great experience and I would highly recommend it!

I had no idea what to expect for my first trip abroad, especially over the holiday season, where all my friends, family, and usual customs and traditions were miles away. To my own surprise, when I first arrived in Guatemala, I was not overwhelmed with anxiety of being boldly confronted by completely foreign culture and landscape. Instead, I fell head over heels in love.

There is so much color and life in Antigua, Guatemala. You can hear it from the music blaring in the streets, and see it in the color draped over every building. Also, with the lush green hills of the surrounding mountains, and sight of the volcano looming over the town, I was easily captivated by this magical place.

I came to Guatemala as a volunteer through the local organization called Maximo Nivel. I didn't have any volunteering experience beforehand, knew very little about the city of Antigua (other than the fact that I would be living there), and had a very limited Spanish vocabulary.

Maximo Nivel did an excellent job preparing the volunteers about the city and the culture. On the first day, they gave a thorough tour of the city, showed us good places to eat, where to find an atm for money exchange, and gave several important tips for getting around and staying safe. They were very caring and accommodating for each of the volunteer's needs.

Finally, the actual volunteering experience, is what really made my time truly invaluable. For the holiday experience, I spent my time working in a few different spots, with a local coffee farmer, playing with children in an after school program, and help building a wall in a local clinic. Even if my volunteering roles sometimes felt small or really simple at times, I still felt a great sense of appreciation from each individual whose life was directly effected. I really felt that I really got to catch, the real glimpse into the heart of the Guatemalan culture and community. Also, it was really amazing realizing you don't need to share the same roots, culture, or even fluently speak the same language to connect with another human being. Sometimes all it takes is a smile, and a little bit of time and energy.

I know this is long, and I could easily keep going. My point is, if your contemplating going, just do it. Don't worry about your job, bills, or your messy room. Those things will always be there for you waiting. Its ok to let them wait a little longer. Go out and experience life the way we were meant to live it.

Volunteering in Antigua, Guatemala with Maximo Nivel was an amazing experience that I would wish for everyone who has the opportunity to experience. The entire Maximo staff was always super friendly, ready to help with anything and everything, super supportive, always responded quickly and was just overall AWESOME. I couldn't have wished for a better team to help me through my volunteering journey.

I chose to volunteer in the coffee farms because it was completely out of my comfort zone, and I wanted to learn and experience something new. Each farmer I had the pleasure of meeting and working with was super sweet, and it was a great time practicing Spanish. It was definitely the most hard labor type work I've ever done, but each day was rewarding and I learned so much about each step in coffee from doing compost in the fields, hauling firewood, to picking coffee, sorting, roasting, packaging, labeling and promoting. The hikes up into the fields were challenging for me, but beautiful and worth it every time. I truly enjoyed all 4 weeks of my placement.

Beyond placement, I also loved that I had the opportunity to meet and connect with people from all over the world. Made lifetime friends, went on weekend trips to visit all the beauty in Guatemala, and there was always something fun to do each night. The people, culture, food, landscapes and everything about Guatemala is absolutely beautiful and I would encourage anyone and everyone to take a chance and experience it through volunteering with Maximo Nivel.

This experience has opened my eyes to a new world, I learned so much more about life and myself, and because the Maximo team was so supportive and caring, I never felt alone and always knew I could go to them for anything. Volunteer in Antigua! You'll be super stoked you did :)