Follow the Journey

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because that´s just how it is. Hi mommy and daddy!! love, cc holler from banos! -austin… Read More

Yesterday we arrived in Baños for our week-long stay! The city is beautiful and small with the feel of a small town! This morning we all began our language lessons at the school here in the city. Each class has only one or two people which is excellent for beginners and more advanced students alike. Last night for dinner we all experienced pizza cones… yes, pizza cones.We also tried sweet… Read More

Hello, Josh and Emily are writing this blog post in an internet cafe in the town of Baños. Today, Josh got up at 6:00 AM and ran to the local hotsprings. A waterfall cascades about 50 feet away, and brings in cold water for a shock when you want to go in and out of the hot water. Today we started Spanish classes for the first time. Emily is staying… Read More

Hello from Rhiannon here in Baños! I am in love with this beautiful little town, it may be touristy, but for a good reason! It feels like a little piece of heaven here and I don’t want to think about leaving. Yesterday, Cecelia (my roomie!) and I walked the streets with our friendly host down immediately after meeting him. We got confused about what time it was, and missed meeting… Read More

Hey Everybody, We Are in Banos Ecuador!! We are currently doing a scavenger hunt that includes posting to the Carpe blog. With love from beautiful Banos!!… Read More

Hello friends and family of the fabulous South America group! We just wanted to let you know that the group arrived safe and sound in Ecuador this afternoon.  We recently heard that they’ve made it to the Hosteria where they will spend the next few days orienting to the program, Ecuador,  and one another.  They had a delicious dinner, and have spent the evening relaxing a bit, playing some games… Read More

  Hey Everyone! After a long day for some of the crew in LA, everyone met up at 9:30 PM amidst lots of hugs, handshakes, smiles, and laughter.  The crew seemed comfortable real quick and together they proceeded through security to begin their journey to Quito. We are sending lots of love to our South America crew and can not wait to see all the updates, photos, and good tidings… Read More

Queridos estudiantes, padres, amigos, y publico en general, Cheridyn and Ryan here – just 6 days remain until we embark on our South American adventure. We’re up in Portland, Oregon at the Carpe HQ “clarifying our vision” for the semester. We are “looking” forward to “seeing” all you wonderful students so very soon! We’ll be “watching” for you all at 9:30pm at the LACSA check-in counter on Tuesday Feb. 12th… Read More

Buenas noches de Cuzco! We all knew this was coming…December 11th…the end of our South American adventure. It`s after midnight, and in less than 3 hours we will roll out of our beds, stumble into taxis with packs now doubled in weight and size, and depart for the US of A. Well…most of us. Robbie, Michelle, Julia, and Daniel are staying behind to pursue further travels and adventures and/or take… Read More

After discusions and discusions we came to a conclusion on where to go during free travel: Lake Titikaka, the biggest lake in South America. To get there we reserved a posh bus from Cuzco to Puno that served Coca-Cola and coca tea, had a buffet lunch and stopped at a church, Incan ruins and a museum. Each stop had local women that sold artisan crafts to the gringo tourists visiting… Read More

There is a song by Guns and Roses that starts off “Welcome to the Jungle, we´ve got fun and games¨ and continues with ¨Welcome to the jungle we take it day by day. If you want it you’re gonna bleed but it’s the price to pay¨ and that is just what we had to do to have an awesome time in the Amazon Jungle. We traveld from Cusco to a… Read More

  Breath in, breath out. Feel the oxygen fill your lungs completely. Take a moment to clear your head of all thoughts. On that note, let me say a few things about our time in the Sacred Valley at the Sradhavan yoga retreat. After the exhausting days of Cusco, a retreat was exactly what all of us needed. I really wasn’t sure what to expect going into it. I imagined… Read More

Hello from Carpe HQ!  While the group wasn’t able to post these photos while they were in Ecuador, they recently were able to email them to me and I thought all the South America blog followers would appreciate them.  (You can keep clicking on individual photos to see the larger versions.)  Enjoy!  … Read More

To kick off our second week in Cusco, Sunday morning´s breakfast featured crepes, made by our favorite French Canadian Claudelle, and topped with various fruits and some improvised chocolate sauce. The rest of the weekend consisted of  intensive chilling out (any grand ideas for activities around the city were put to rest by the low energy levels resultant of so much Spanish and loveable, if rather hyperactive children) and cleaning… Read More

Last Sunday we got up nice and early (3:30am) to catch our plane to Lima, Peru and then on to Cuzco, where we were greeted with a nice, welcoming Spanish exam. Having been placed in pairs according to our level of fluency, we started classes the next morning at FairServices Spanish school. Our classes consist of 2 hours of grammar in the class room and 2 hours of practice. Practice… Read More

Hello world! I am writing from the city of Quito right now and it is a beautiful, sunny day. The group decided to splurge a little bit on the hostal for our last 2 days in Ecuador.. . and the extra few dollars per person has definitely been well worth it. Last night, most of the group gathered on the rooftop (which has an amazing view of all of Quito)… Read More

It’s that time of the trip… leaving one city and moving on to the next! Today was our last day in Baños (yes, we are aware that this translates to the word “bathrooms” in English, but it is named Baños because of the hot springs there which are like one big bath tub!). This morning (Friday) we took a bus at 4am and headed back to Otavalo where we will… Read More

Elena:  Hello from this gem of a city…BAÑOS!  Today marks about a week into our time here in Baños, as well as our 27th day into our amazing South American adventure. ¡Que chevere!   The culture of Baños is of a religious and touristy nature. People come to visit this little city from all around the world, and can be spotted incoming every day by the giant packs on their backs… Read More