By Asia and Ethan Asia and Ethan checking in after this very busy week! It started out with a bumpy ride to Cerro De Oro where we experienced a yoga and meditation retreat led by our zen OEs. We tried out acro yoga, yin yoga, and mastered our sun salutations. This was a great time to relax and have time for self-reflection. During the day we had a lot of… Read More

Work at G22. Group shot inside the new family home. Mangrove Tour in El Paredon. Acatenango hikers at the trailhead. Turtle releasing on the beach in El Paredon.… Read More

By Camille and Kaylee Camille and Kaylee here to refresh you on the adventures of the Carpe Diem Maya group. This week we were happy to return to Xela to continue our language classes at the sister school of Escuela de la Montana, PLQ. The group was paired off and put into homestays with some of the lovely locals that lie around town. On a typical day, we wake up… Read More

By Sailor and Daniel Hola! This Sunday we arrived at the mountain school in Fatima and Nuevo San Jose. Fatima is a community of ex-finca (plantation) workers, who were displaced by the unfair treatment of the finca owners. The people of Fatima lie on 20×20 meter plots of land, in houses composed mainly of cinderblock, wood, and sheet metal. We have been eating three meals a day with our homestay… Read More

Sophie and Sarah practicing their communication skills calling Brian & Ellen from a pay phone. Camile, Asia, Dan, and Nico in the central square in Xela. Rachel, Kaylee, and Asia enjoying a local treat. A group in front of the libreria in Xela during the scavenger hunt. A view of Xela from from the central square with all the food booths set up for Idependence Day.… Read More

By Rachel, Madeleine, and Harrison Hola! Aqui en Xela! We are happily cruising around in the Independence Day celebrations. Last night we walked around in the city square and watched fireworks! The city of Xela is very busy and people are happy to greet us as we walk by. We have had many good meals, mostly Asian food and we are eating at an Asian cafe. Lucky for us this… Read More

By Daniel, Kaylee, and Asia Hola Amigos! We started our day with a traditional Guatemalan breakfast, which included scrambled eggs, avocado, fried plantains, and black beans. Muy delicioso! From there, we split into four groups and began our city-wide scavenger hunt. We have done such things as asking locals questions about Guatemala, purchased strange new fruit, taken pictures with many locals, and visited several local shops. We ate traditional Xelan… Read More

By Sailor, Nico, and Camille Hola, This is Sailor, Nico, and Camille writing from an internet cafe in Xela, Guatemala. After a rough ride getting here, we finally made it and are able to explore this amazing city. Right now it is Independence day and we are currently on a scavenger hunt. The town is in full party mode. We are excited for more learning and fun! Adios.… Read More

By Sarah, Ethan, and Sophie Ethan, Sophie, and I (Sarah) are in POPs getting ice cream. Ethan and Sophie practiced their Spanish while ordering. We did a scavenger hunt throughout the city but didn’t get to complete everything because we couldn’t find an internet café that was open. A lot of the stores are closed for Independence Day today. Part of our scavenger hunt was doing a random act of… Read More

By Program Director Heather Vaught Embodying the Carpe spirit together! Ready to embark on a whirlwind adventure through Central America.… Read More

By Overseas Educators Brian & Ellen Bienvenidos a la familia de Maya! We are super excited to embark upon our semester in Central America with you all! It is hard to believe that we will be leaving on our adventure together in a few short days! We have had the chance to communicate with all of you over the phone and are looking forward to our meet up in person… Read More

By Overseas Educators Julian and Hannah 24 MINIBUSES 10 PICKUPS 8 BUSES PÚBLICOS 6 AVIONES 4 LANCHAS That’s right y’all. We moved around a lot this semester. As a group, we tackled four countries and worked with 11 unique partner organizations. From the early days of scavenger hunting around Xela to taking giant strides off the back of the dive boat in Roatán, it’s been quite a journey. We could… Read More

By Talia After some wild travel days, we finally made it to Roatan, Honduras for a week full of diving in the beautiful Caribbean Sea. We spent the week diving with West End Divers, coincidentally located on the West End of Roatan. The West End, also known as gringo paradise, is flooded with restaurants, souvenir shops, dive spots and a perfect beach. The end goal of this week was to… Read More

On Friday, we were given the opportunity to harvest, process, cook and eat farm fresh fruits — the most memorable of which was the jackfruit. After our field team harvested the fruit (which really consisted of catching a 20-pound spike ball that one of the farm workers, Levis, climbed a tree to drop on us), Siobhan spearheaded the processing, which consisted of tearing open the jackfruit and collecting the seeds… Read More

By Chloe Steffes Hola todos! In the final weeks of our Nicaraguan journey, the Carpe group has really been both absorbing and adapting to nature all around us. We have even taken it so far as to live a more “rustic” lifestyle as we approach the end of our trip. Our week began with a well thought out hike planned by Annie on Mombacho. After bussing up the majority of… Read More

By Kaitlin Emmett Recharged from early bedtimes and delicious food cooked by our homestay mothers, we finished the week out strong installing a composting septic tank at Chloe’s homestay. We also played more soccer with local players who significantly surpassed our skill level. While Talia, Hannah, and a few others were able to hold their own, the rest of us supported them from the sidelines and Paige snapped some killer… Read More

By Annie Our week and a half at Colibri Spanish School came to a close with some final juegos and all of us attempting to absorb our last formal Spanish lessons of the trip. We said goodbyes and thank yous to the amazing teachers, excited for one last weekend in Matagalpa. As it is Good Friday, the main cathedral off of Morazan Park was hosting a special annual service and… Read More

Classrooms for the week! Cooking class! Elliot stirring homemade honey. Cooking class. Annie getting ready to fry up our pastries. The finished product. Grace roasts fresh coffee beans. Talia enjoying the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Ready for the next coffee tasting. How we make “bio” gas! Composting toilet. Vista from the Spanish School.… Read More

By Maddie Cloran Hola! Greetings once again from Escuela de Español Colibrí! It’s been a Spanish-practicing, organic, activity-filled week at school and we have been having so much fun continuing to explore the city of Matagalpa. Here at the school, we’ve been practicing our Spanish skills while immersing ourselves in the Nicaraguan culture. Every day this week after class and a lovely home-cooked lunch, we participated in an activity to… Read More