Amid howler monkeys and jaguars in the Guatemalan jungle, some Boston University students are using wireless Internet and are being fed by cooks.

Students in the newly created Guatemala study-abroad program have the chance to do first-hand fieldwork in archaeology in the jungle, with a fully equipped camp to provide the cozy comforts of home.

Archaeology assistant professor Bill Saturno brought the new program with him from the University of New Hampshire, which has existed since 2003, to allow students to excavate ancient Mayan murals as part of Proyecto San Bartolo, a project site in northern Guatemala.

Saturno said about one-third of the students he brings to Guatemala are archaeology students interested in completing field experience before graduate school or careers, while the other two-thirds of students just want to have fun.

“They want to do something a little bit different, still live in a foreign country and get experience in academic life outside the U.S., and they just want to add a little adventure to it,” he said. “They want to be in the jungle for 12 weeks and hear howler monkeys and see jaguars.”

Saturno’s work focuses on excavating the earliest Mayan murals discovered and using them to understand Mayan mythology and cosmology. Discovered in 2001, the murals date back almost 2000 years.

Students will stay with a host family during the first four weeks in Antigua, Guatemala, to learn about Guatemalan culture. The students take day trips with Saturno to learn about Mayan culture and its influence on modern indigenous Guatemalans.

Saturno said the first few weeks are very important because students are “sheltered” but still immersed in the Spanish language and Guatemalan culture. After the initial introduction, social and physical survival depends much more on the individual.

Saturno said students would feel isolated at the field site if they do not speak Spanish. The campsite includes on-site cooks, air mattresses and wireless Internet.

“You get three meals a day, your laundry done for you and you can open your computer and talk to your friends back home and get on Skype,” Saturno said.

Students strike a balance between isolated fieldwork and attachments to home, he said.

Undergraduate students need to fulfill the university’s standard study abroad 3.0 GPA requirement to go to Guatemala.

“[Students] do need a willingness to work in rough conditions and be able to work outside for long periods of time,” said International Programs Senior Enrollment Coordinator Rochelle Keesler. “They’ll be learning so much at the site that they don’t have to have extensive previous knowledge [of archeology].”

Kessler said the IP office expects more applications to come in during the next few weeks for the Guatemala program before the application deadline for the spring semester Oct. 15.

The archaeology department is still organizing the previously offered spring fieldwork program in Belize, run by professors Norman Hammond and Patricia McAnany, but the program has not been replaced by the Guatemala program.