Gratitude-Easten

Thank you mom! Your constant support of me is without fail.  You push me to push myself, but you’re still always there for me.  You make me feel like the luckiest son in the world. If it wasn’t for you I would of never had the strength or courage to embark on this journey.  You motivate me and I can’t help but brag to everyone about how freakin sweet of… Read More

The Sendoff

Before I came on this trip, the world seemed like a pretty huge place.  There was so much to see, so much to do, and so much to wrap my head around.  My worldview was a patchwork of blank unknowns.  Coming on this trip, with its incredibly diverse schedule, seemed like it would help to fill in the white spaces on my map.  And seeing and doing the things we… Read More

These are the days

Look out world, the kids are in charge! After weeks of researching, discussing and planning, we finally got to see our efforts pay off this past week during free travel. These days of student-directed travel have been several weeks in the making, and well worth the time we put into it. We made ourselves a busy itinerary. After waving goodbye to our contacts at G22, we caught a bus from… Read More

Two Different Worlds

Hello everyone! Easten (aka Esteban) here blogging from Guatemala City. A complete 180 from where we all were just a week ago, sitting in Pasac, home to just 1500 people , we are now residing in a capital city home to 3 million people. We spent the rest of our time in Pasac playing in a local futbol match, which we won thanks to great passing by Jordan and clinical… Read More

One Big Family

Buenos tardes amigos y familia, I sit underneath the Aola on Mystical Yoga Farm in, Lake Atitlan, bundled up in a hammock looking out across the sun slowly setting. Thanks to Easten, I am joined by the company of the book, Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man, for the past hour, and although I have only finished the preface, )Which I was later told you are not actually supposed to read)… Read More

Feelin Mystical

Hey everyone! A week ago as our time at Casa Xelaju was drawing to a close, we began to prepare ourselves for a 42 kilometer trek. But before we could embark on our epic journey across mountains and rivers, we expressed our gratitude and bid farewell to our amazing Spanish teachers and local contacts. We each gave our thanks in Spanish, and the group sang our go to tune Ayuahiya… Read More

Photos from the trek to Lake Atitlan!

Stopping by a quiche home for a rest and some water.   Campsite at the end of the first day – after 21 km of hiking!   We walked through fields, no…forests of coffee plants on the trek   Handmade tortillas   Seeking shelter from the rain, last 5 km of our 42km   Looking over San Pedro and Lago de Atitlan   Group photo:-) Read More

And the Adventure Continues!

Hola Amigos, I’ll begin where we last left off; at our weekly meeting at Brooke and Jeremy’s cozy apartment, conveniently located directly under Casa Xelaju. We don’t normally blog about our weekly meetings because they are often long and rather uneventful. Though this particular weekly meeting was no exception to that, it was made special by delicious homemade cinnamon tea and hot chocolate prepared by our wonderful hosts. Friday after… Read More

The Unspoken Words

Hello everyone, Damian here, it’s my turn to write this weeks blog. I’ve noticed that there’s an absence of photos, so this week I thought that I would change it up a bit and post visuals for the great descriptions previous bloggers have mentioned. Before I get to that, here’s an update of what’s been going on since our last post. Our last few days at the turtle conservation felt… Read More

Pura Vida

Few words have but one definition. To wrap up our week in Matagalpa, talent reared its many heads in our desolibri Spanish School. To start us off, Easten and Ryan demonstrated the power of teamwork by being the respective arms of Amelia and Damian. Essentially making a really terrific, talented mess. Next up was Nattie, who resourcefully glued cordabas to the bottom of some toms to perform some tap dancing… Read More

Musica de Viajero

The steps of a traveler creates a beat that matches one´s heart. The nomadic noises of a traveler´s footsteps amoung a whole new world outside of the original comfort zone brings a sense of belonging in a new place. a traveler is like music, and continually encounters the music and dance with each new city. After spending the last 4 weeks in Nicaragua, the students and I have found a… Read More

Let the Earth Hum it’s Harmony

Hola Amigos! It’s Caroline here once again. I’m writing from the beautiful Island of Ometepe, just outside the town of Belgue. For the past week we have living off the land at Finca Bona Fide, a permaculture teaching farm nestled on the side of Volcano Maderas. In the native Nahuatl language Ometepe means Island of two mountains. From the vantage point of our kitchen table here, we can look out… Read More

Los Gigantes to Bona Fide and Beyond!

Hey everybody! It’s Drew. We’ve had some pretty amazing days since the last update. From our last day in Masaya to soaking up coastal beauty and community at Playa Gigante to, most recently, our immersive experience and adventure on a permaculture farm and community project called Bona Fide. Our adventure from Masaya to Playa Gigante departed on a flamboyant chicken bus. As like many buses in Nacaragua, the bus was… Read More

More updates coming soon

Hello family and friends of the Central America group, I just wanted to let you all know I’ve heard from the group and they are doing well.  They left Playa Gigante, where they’ve been for the past week, and have made their way to a farm on Ometepe (an island in Lake Nicaragua) where they will be volunteering and learning about sustainable agriculture for the next 10 days.  They have… Read More

In the Beginning There were Discotheques..

Hola mundo maravilloso! The past few days since our arrival have been devoted to setting our intentions, building a framework for a fantastic semester, and beginning to deepen our relationships. Already the group feels like a family away from home. As the challanges of being in a new place arise, we have supported eachother. Everyday we walk down streets we have never seen before, use a currency who’s value we… Read More

Scavenger Hunt!

Drew and Amelia here! We’re on the scavenger hunt.  So far we’ve exchanged our american money into cordobas, and got watermelon and strawberry smoothies at a stand in the central ‘park.’  (Shoutout to the sandias back home!)  The cool thing about the smoothie place was the chairs were super tall.  (Take a look at our photos!)  Now we’re at an internet cafe with tons more to do on our list.… Read More