Written By OEs, Soumya & Ryan To our lovely readers who have followed along all this way, gracias! It’s your favorite OE team, Soumya and Ryan, despidiendonos from the sweet concrete jungle that is San José. Yesterday, we said our final adios to our Carpe crew who have been our family and friends for the last three months (complete with obligatory and very fashionable white bucket hats). As we close… Read More

Written By OES, Ryan & Soumya The final week of the semester was one for the books on the Osa Peninsula. It started with an epic boat trip there along the Sierpe River We arrived to the beautiful Drake Bay which offered daily opportunities for beautiful sunset swims But the real reason we came was for diving!!! The peninsula is one of the last protected wild rainforests in all of… Read More

Written By Erin & Jane Buenos dias todos! With less than a week less of this epic adventure, let’s look back at what the previous week brought! We begin at the lovely permaculture farm, Villas Mastatal, and learned about the importance of working with the earth’s ecosystem, how to make compost, and how to plant almond trees, while getting to experience the power of Costa Rican rain storms! Next it’s… Read More

Written by Hunter & Maddie Hello friends! Hunter and Maddie here for the weekly blog We started the week off in Turrialba finishing up our Spanish classes. Mastatal represents one of our final weeks here in Central America. For most of us, the past 3 months have represented a time of hardship and new experiences, and from that, a time of growth. Everyone here has learned and grown whether it… Read More

Written By Jane and Elliot Hello and welcome back to your favorite blog. This weeks installment features the thrilling adventures of the most lovable student group living out their self proclaimed travel dreams. That’s right, we planned everything from volcano climbing to relaxing on the Caribbean. Using boats, cars, airplanes, and our own feet, we have truly traveled far and wide this week. While our student directed travel started in… Read More

Written By Saul & Caroline Student Leaders Saul and Caroline coming at you one last time. This week after our relaxing retreat weekend we took a boat to San Juan where we took Spanish classes in the morning and activities like bee tours, horseback riding, kayaking, and enjoying the beautiful view of the lake on a beach. More student directed travel fun coming soon Until next week, Saul y Caroline… Read More

Written By Maddie & Matt Maddie and Matt here! We’ve had a jam-packed week with lots of fun and lots of aches. We started off in Pachaj working on reforestation with the Chico Mendes foundation. After 3 days of physical pain and exertion, we got to rest and relax in beautiful San Marcos! The town is known for its aura of spiritual healing and hippie culture. We learned about metaphysics,… Read More

Written By Erin Buenos Dias Todos! This is Erin writing to you from the lovely city of Xela where the gang has completed a second week studying with some amazing Spanish teachers and partaking in adventurous activities. Let’s look back at some of the highlights! It’s been a great week of Spanish learning and group fun….now onto Pachaj….until next week folks!… Read More

Written By Caroline & Jane Buenos Dias Todos! It’s Caroline and Jane this weeks student leaderz. The city of Xela has offered its new guests a whole world of fun. Spanish classes, hot springs, waterparks, mountain climbing, and a nauseating amount of bussin’ baked goods. Spending five hours a day at a school might sound like a bore, but our time at PLQ has truly been special. We’ve improved our… Read More

Photo Blog By Emily & Hunter Hola! This is Emily and Hunter with a lil help from Emma. We are writing to you from Xela! Here are some highlights from the past week. It was sad to say goodbye to Long Way Home and the beautiful people we met there, but we are all super excited to have (minimal) access to hot showers and to begin exploring Xela and taking… Read More

Written By Saul & Emma ¡Hola chicos! Somos Saul y Emma! We’re the student leaders for the week, and also trying to practicar nuesto Español, entonces este mensaje will be in Spanglish. Us writing this blog with some company… We arrived in Comalapa from Antigua on Sunday afternoon to this beautiful volunteer house at Long Way Home: The buildings are all made out of recycled materials such as old tires,… Read More

Written By OEs, Soumya & Ryan Hola from Antigua! Soumya and Ryan here, sharing about our first few days as a group. We landed in Guatemala in the wee hours of the morning and made our way to the outskirts of the beautiful city of Antigua. At the peaceful Earthlodge retreat, we dove into getting to know each other through games, lessons about safety and cultural norms, nighttime gatherings in… Read More

Dear family and friends of the Spring ’22 MAYA group, The MAYA group has arrived safely in Guatemala! They are on their way to Earthlodge, where they’ll be spending the next few days for their orientation. They are ready to have a rest, some breakfast, and then dive into getting to know each other, the program and Guatemala. We look forward t their updates – they will post an update… Read More

Dear family and friends of the Spring’22 MAYA group, We’re happy to report that all the MAYA students have arrived safely to LAX and are ready to head to Guatemala! They’re happy to finally be together as a group and are looking forward to all the adventures the next few months will bring. And we’re looking forward to following along on their journey! We’ll post another blog here tomorrow morning… Read More

Written By OEs Soumya & Ryan Hola Grupo Maya! Soumya and Ryan here, your Overseas Educators for the next three months of adventure in Central America! Here in Portland, we are getting into the Carpe Diem headspace, preparing for our semester together with training days full of logistics, games and movement, and lots of good food. As we get ready for our trip, we have been enjoying getting to know… Read More

Written By Soumya & Matt Your OE Soumya here [Matt providing the emotional support], surrounded by lush green plants and a distinct lack of eight Carpe students, writing this from breezy San Jose, Costa Rica. As we celebrate the end of the end, we look back to the beginning of the beginning… We hopped off the plane at LAX with our dreams and – 60 liter monster backpacks. We learned… Read More

Written By Ana & Flannery Hello Everyone! Ana and Flannery here to share some stories. This week started off with an early rise and dark car ride to Guatemala City. With our last street lit hours in Guatemala we celebrated Halloween by switching clothing with a partner. This consisted of colorful pants, iconic sweaters, many laughs and countless double takes. Eventually arriving in Turrialba Costa Rica we started to explore… Read More

Written By Ava & Alesh Hola chicas! It’s your student leaders, Ava and Alesh updating you about our epic student directed travel week! Leaving the beautiful town of Tzununa at Lago Atitlan, our adventure began with a 4 hour bus ride to the riverside docks of the Acome river. As we stepped out the bus onto the banks of the mangrove forest lined river, we were instantly hit by a… Read More

Written By Maya & Ian Hola from Lake Atitlan! Students leaders of the week here: Maya and Ian here for your weekly update of our exciting adventures. This week’s adventure began early at 4am with a trek up to a lookout spot over the beautiful Lake Atitlan to watch the sunrise. Students fell in love with the sight of the lake and were eager to trek down making our descent… Read More