Written by Central America Students, Justin and Léa
Student directed travel week, WOO WOO! Justin and Lea reporting to you live!
We started off in Antigua, visited the magical Hobbitenango, a Hobbit themed attraction park. We got to practice our archery, axe-throwing, and mini golf skills while embracing the beautiful scenery of Guatemala. After Hobbitenango, we hiked up the Pacaya Volcano with the wonderful company of horses, and got to roast marshmallows conducted by the heat of the volcanic rocks. The next day, we took a chocolate making class and learnt about the process ‘bean to bar’, and made our own chocolate bars with our favorite toppings at Chocomuseo.
After Antigua, we headed to the scorching hot city of Monterrico, surrounded by the beautiful black sand beaches created from the volcanic eruptions in Guatemala. In Monterrico we enjoyed boogie-boarding in the strong waves of the beach, soaked up the sun, and explored the artistic city.
Later in the week, we woke up at 4:00 am to go on a mangrove boat tour and watched the sunrise embracing the surrounding nature and authentic birds. Our last and final day, we all came together on the beach to take pictures and embraced our last few moments in Guatemala. We celebrated with a fancy dinner to toast our final night. Here’s to a new adventure in Costa Rica.
Our Top Three Highlights of the Week:
🎤 Singing the best tunes out loud in the truck at 4:00am on the way to a sunrise boat tour in the mangroves
🎥 A fun movie night with popcorn on our first night in the Airbnb in Monterico
🌊 Spending time on the beach and riding the waves
But transformation always comes with opportunities for growth: What were our main challenges this week?
A good question. Filled with so many activities, beautiful places to stay, and delicious food, this week has been enjoyed by us all. However, one irritable aspect of the trip had been on the back of everyones’s mind. The heat. The incredibly humid, and sweat inducing heat of Monterrico. Reaching temperatures of over 100, everyone was quick to take refuge in the few air conditioned rooms that our lodging had. But just like all the other challenges we have faced, we got through it, and eventually we were able to endure and adapt to the climate. Faced with this undeniable challenge, we were still able to enjoy one of the most fun and memorable weeks we have ever had on the trip.
🌎 What are you most grateful for this week?
This week we were grateful to have the opportunity to get to choose our activities and what we wanted to visit the most. Getting to spend quality time with each other at the beach was something that we all enjoyed and appreciated since we were separated for the last couple weeks in our homestay families. We were also grateful of each other for cooking delicious meals all week and supporting each other no matter what. Thank you to the Quetzal 23’ group for making Guatemala so great!!!
Signing off 😊 Spring 2023 Central America Semester
