This page provides our answers to the most frequently asked questions we receive.
The capabilities and placements of the Contribute buttons have been designed to enable us to make the best overall use of your donation payments. By directing your contributions to specific Programs, we are better able to manage the number of people we help in a more timely way. However, we also appreciate that the personal touches of the grassroots Mayan Families are still valued. On many of the Program web pages, in the Contribute button section at the bottom, just below the button graphic, you will find instructions for how to alert the various Operations teams that you wish to have a completed contribution payment applied towards a specific person, family, or Mayan Families project.
Yes. The form of your receipts will vary by the way you make your donation payments. We are advised that for tax deduction purposes, your most important document is your "proof of payment". For payments to Mayan Families, your proof of payment is in two basic forms. If you are contributing by check, then we have been advised that your canceled check is your proof of payment. If you are contributing through our web site's Contribute buttons, then we have been advised that the online email receipt sent to you by PayPal is your proof of payment. In addition, we send contributors payment acknowledgment email messages and letters. For all personal tax deduction claims, we recommend that you consult with whomever prepares your tax returns. If additional Mayan Families information is required on this subject, then go to Contact Us and select Contribution Inquiry from the drop down menu when creating your message.
Select this link to view the cover letter of our 501.c.3 U.S. IRS Declaration cover letter.
Without question, the most effective way is through simply selecting the Contribute buttons that have been placed throughout this web site. We find PayPal to be a safe and secure online payment service. However, if you prefer to contribute by check, then please see the U.S. postal address at the bottom of all our web pages.
Throughout this web site you will find Contribute buttons. Selecting a Contribute button on a specific page will enable you to donate towards whatever is being displayed on the page you are viewing. However, if you are contributing by check, the please specify the name of the Program to which you would like your contribution applied.
Click here to go to the Contact Us page. Select Volunteer Inquiry from the drop down list when describing what you’d like to do. Someone will get back to you with more information.
Generally speaking and in terms of crime, yes. However, like anywhere else in the world, safe driving practices vary from driver to driver. Occurrences of vehicular accidents are relatively low considering the number of buses and cars on the roads in Guatemala. The rule of the road here is simple. The bigger guy gets the right of way. This also applies for pedestrians walking on streets. They should never assume they have the right of way over vehicles. Especially the local buses. You may also wish to look at advice from reputable travel guide publications.
Absolutely. As our web site evolves we plan to create a more informative volunteer space. Our plans are to provide online calendars of our Operations Schedules. Scheduled activities will include details about what a volunteer should know and be able to do before signing up to participate in a planned activity.
There is no 100% yes or no answer to this question. And there are caveats.
The international calling capabilities and charges of calling cards vary from service to service.
In most cases, and depending on the phone you’re calling from, you will be able to dial a 1+800 number preceded by the
country code where that 800# is recognized. However, calls from Guatemala to 800#’s in other countries are not necessarily
free. You may be charged a local per-minute rate to call your service’s 800# if it is not in Guatemala. Typically, that
charge is $.30 per minute for the duration of your call.
Panajachel has many Internet cafes which offer phone service at very low costs.
Some visitors bring lap top computers and use Skype to make inexpensive phone calls to their home and work phones.
Not always. Not all vendors accept any money other than Guatemalan Quetzales. Especially
the small ones and street vendors.
Panajachel has many money exchange locations who give fair rates and are honest.
Sometimes a restaurant will accept foreign money but cannot make change due to the significant difference in the exchange
rate. It is not uncommon for someone to have to wait 20 or 30 minutes for the change from paying their bill while a runner
is sent to a currency exchanger with the customer’s money.
If you have never been to Panajachel before we recommend a
van service. If you are coming here to visit Mayan Families we can arrange
for an honest and responsible driver to pick you up and take you to where you will be staying. A more expensive way is to
take a taxi. The least expensive way is to go by a series of changing buses.
By going to the Contact Us page and providing your itinerary we will be glad to arrange a van service for you. Please be
sure to select Planning a Trip Inquiry from the drop down list when sending the form to request van arrangements. You can
also make your own arrangements or rent a car at the Guatemala City Airport.
If you would like us to make reservations for you at one of our standard hotels we have used in the past then go to our Contact Us web page. Select Planning a Trip Inquiry from the drop down list when filling out the form and describing your travel plans. Someone will get back to you. You may also wish to look through galleries of Panajachel hotels and make your own reservations online through your favorite search engines. Geographically, Panajachel is a small town, but you will require tuk tuk taxi service from any hotel to our headquarters. Tuk tuks charge 65 cents (5 Quetzales) per person per trip.
A breakfast of juice, coffee, eggs, beans, cheese, and toast averages $2.50 - $3.50usd
A lunch of a smoothie, soup and sandwich averages $4.50 - $5.50usd
A typical full dinner averages $6.50 - $8.00usd
Gratuities may or may not be included in bills. Average expectation is 10%.
A friendly smile, honest eye contact, and best attempts to speak the local language are usually met with cooperation and help in many parts of the world. If you are planning to spend your entire trip close by Mayan Families, and if you don't plan on going into indigenous communities to do your own thing, then you should not need a translator. It should also be appreciated that many of the indigenous only speak their own native languages and not Spanish. Our indigenous staff is bilingual Spanish and Kachiquel. Some also speak a bit of English and T'zutulil as well.
Panajachel has a very low crime rate. Most of our visitors stay at hotels on Calle Santander, which is the main boulevard for restaurants and vendors. Santander is heavily traveled by walking tourists both day and night. Incidents of crime on Santander are very rare, especially involving tourists. However, Panajachel is also very international and has many visitors. For any part of the world, it is always a wise practice to ensure your valuables are protected and take care against pick pockets in crowds. You may also wish to visit State Department web sites posted by your government for advisory reports on Guatemala.
Panajachel has many tourists from all over the world. Restaurants marketing themselves to that tourism know they must serve safe food or go out of business. Non-peelable fruits and vegatables, such as grapes and tomatoes, purchased in markets should always be sanitized before eating.
We suggest that you do not bring large amounts of cash with you. We suggest the use of Visa
bank cards and ATM cash machines. The local machines will convert your home currency and dispense Guatemalan Quetzales at
the prevailing exchange rate, plus $1-$2.50 service charges per withdrawal. Stolen bank cards and credit cards are not
valued on the black market here. There are several ATM machines in Panajachel that accept Visa cards if they work on the
larger networks, such as Star, Co-Op, and Plus. Check with your card supplier to understand more, as well as advise them
that you might be making withdrawals in another country. If you prefer to bring enough cash for your planned expenses,
Panajachel has several reputable money exchangers who give fair exchange rates. We suggest that you also bring a few
blank checks with you for unforeseen expenses and emergencies. We can also assist you in the exchange of U.S. dollars
for Quetzales.
If you do not want to withdraw Guatemalan money from a bank machine, or if you do not want to use a money exchanger,
then we recommend that you only bring small denomination money, such as $10 bills and smaller.
We suggest you consult with your personal physician.
If you would like us to make suggestions for one of our standard hotels, then go to the Contact Us page. Select Planning a Trip Inquiry from the drop down list. Be sure to include your itinerary, budget, and other expectations you have for a best hotel experience. Someone will get back to you.
There is a wide variety of hotels and amenities in Panajachel. It is difficult to appreciate the values of individuals and full expectations they may wish to experience from their time in this beautiful place. We suggest using your favorite search engines to view the amenities and rates of the many hotels here. Some of them have easy to use online reservation systems. For any hotel you stay at in Panajachel, you will require a short tuk tuk taxi ride to get back and forth from our headquarters.
Most hotels do provide some form of email access. Some provide connectivity for laptops
in the rooms. Quality of equipment and speed of service vary from hotel to hotel.
Panajachel has many Internet cafes which are very inexpensive. Several have excellent equipment and high speed service.
The Gallery of Students link on the Student Sponsorship Program web page provides information about many of the families supported through our Programs. If you require more information about a particular family, or information about families who may not be included in the student gallery, then go to the Contact Us page and select Specific Family Inquiry from the drop down list when composing your message. However, we do ask for an appreciation of local circumstances. Many people do not have telephones and can be difficult to contact. We ask that you please be patient if your inquiries about specific families are not be answered as quickly as you might prefer.
Yes. By clicking here you will be able to set up a monthly contribution plan for variable numbers of student sponsorships.
Yes. You can also sponsor students from different families.
If you would like to send letters written in Spanish and photographs to specific people we can deliver them as we see the families. However, we do not provide a regular international mail service out of Guatemala at this time. In the future, we do plan on new features to our web site which will enable a contributor to see scans of personal letters and report cards.
The most effective way to send goods to Panajachel is through the MFC community. Go to the Contact Us page and select MFC Inquiry from the drop down list when describing what you would like to do. Someone will get back to you with more information.
Please go to our Student Sponsorship Program page. After selecting the Contribute button and completing a payment to the Program, you would then select the link to create a message to studentassignment@mayanfamilies.org. Someone from the Student Sponsorship Program will contact you to find the best match for your personal interests.
There is no straightforward answer to this question. Our delivery schedules are driven by 3
things:
1. We try to service the oldest received donations first.
2. We always try to efficiently manage the Operations Program. This includes our staff's daily work schedules. Their time
is divided between needs at headquarters and in the villages. We do not have a team dedicated to only deliver and install
goods in the remote villages.
3. We always try to efficiently manage all of our road trips and field work for any of the many projects we work on. But
we also know that our schedules for the villages can be easily interrupted as unexpected new emergency cases arise, and
unplanned conditions are encountered.
Some items are purchased by the truck load and we have very limited space for inventory. We sometimes have to wait for
vendors to make purchased items available for us. Village to village travel around the mountainous Atitlan region is slow
and time consuming. There is an annual 6 month rainy season that often restricts our ability to go to some of the villages
due to mudslides and other hazardous conditions. Difficult delivery conditions to many homes are not uncommon. A delivery
trip to a single home can require an entire day's round trip.
Our resources are limited by our budget to more effectively service many areas with varying circumstances for deliveries
and installations. We do our best to make sure the needy have items purchased by donors as quickly as we can. We have not
been able to determine honest standards for delivery times because of the obstacles and unplanned emergencies we are faced
with every day. We ask for patience, understanding, and faith that we are committed to delivering your donated items as
quickly as we can.
If your questions have not been answered by this FAQ or other pages on our web site, then go to our Contact Us page. There you will find a drop down list where you can select a category for the question you send us. Based on the category you select from the list, the appropriate person will get back to you. Please be patient as our messaging resources are very limited.
We ask for understanding and patience that our email volumes are very high and our messaging resources are minimal. We do our best to answer all questions but we do put the work of our Mission as our highest priority. That work often requires extended time away from computers. You may also find answers to many questions through Sharon's newsletter posts. Sharon's MFC Newsletter is the first headline story on our home page. Sharon updates her newsletter posts on a regular basis and previous posts are available in the archives.