Hello family and friends of Carpe Diem’s Central America groups!
I hope you are all well and have been enjoying following along with all the groups adventures so far. I just wanted to touch base in the wake of the earthquake in Guatemala and reassure you that both groups were safely in Nicaragua at the time and have not been affected.
I also want to clarify that the affected area… Read More
I apologize for the tardiness of this blog post. We arrived last night in Granada, Nicaragua and are staying for two days and three nights before we head to our next set of homestays in Playa Gigante. The city is beautiful and very historic – every street is lined with gorgeous Spanish architecture and vibrant colors. More to the point, I shall now reflect on the past week and our… Read More
Leaving San Marcos was a bittersweet experience for the group. We greatly enjoyed our time in this beautiful town, but at the same time we were ready for our next adventure, which was sure to be exciting, just as every new place proves to be. On Sunday morning we left San Marcos and embarked on our 8 hour drive to Coban, where we stayed for a night. The Car ride… Read More
Is going to be difficult for this fresh faced 20 year old. How could something like counting blessings during a trip like this be hard for someone experiencing it you might ask? Let me explain….
Put yourself in my shoes. I get to explain to all of the parents, family, and friends of my new found friends about how lucky, beautiful, and trying the last week has been for the… Read More
Hello. It was with weak Spanish skills that I embarked on this trip, and it is with similarly ill-equipped blogging skills that I attempt to succinctly describe MAYA´s experiences over the past few days here in the wonderfully mystifying city of Xela. Forgive me if my entry lacks the common conventions of a travel blog and contains the occasional Canadian spelling irregularity.
Our Tuesday began with Spanish language classes… Read More
Hola friends and family,
Apologies all around for the long silence. Don´t worry I´m about to send lots of info and pictures your way to make up for it!
The remainder of our time in Pasac was a whirl of fun times. Most days included group meals, playing with the village children and a lot of rain. We learned about how far Pasac has come through the help of Roots… Read More
Hello everyone,
Just wanted to take a moment, and a quick breather, to say hello to all of our followers out there. It´s been a busy first week that started off with a few bumps and potholes. We had a misplaced passport before getting on our first flight from PDX to SFO, a student whose flight was so horribly delayed they couldn´t meet the group to fly down to Central… Read More
Hola Amigos y Familia!
This is Hannah and Robin checking in in Antigua, Guatemala. We have had a long journey from SFO, but it was totally worth it. He are having the most incredible time, we both still can´t even believe we are actually here. We are currently on a scavenger hunt through the streets of Antigua, and although we have done a pretty terrible job of it, we are… Read More
Hola everybody!!! This is Alissa and Ruby and we’re sitting in an internet cafe right now because we are on a scavenger hunt all over Antigua as a way to orient ourselves to this new culture. It is beautiful here and our group is having a great time already. It is going to be an amazing semester! Earth Lodge overlooks the whole of Antigua as well as many mountains and… Read More
Hola amigos!!
We made it to Guatemala!!!!! Currently the group is staying at the Earth Lodge in Antigua, Guatemala. Today Scott finally joined our group after a long extra day of delayed flights and transit, but he is happy to be here and everyone is so excited to get to know him better and have him join our family.
At this moment, Sarah and I are sitting in an internet… Read More
¡Hola!
Today our activity was to complete a scavenger hunt in the city of Antigua. One of the tasks presented to us was to find an internet cafe and make a blog post. Here is our brief blog post. So far everything is great and the city is beautiful, the people are friendly and our Spanish is average but improving.
¡Hasta Luego¡
Miranda y Joel… Read More
We just wanted to let all Maya’s blog followers know that the group landed safe and sound yesterday in Guatemala. They were picked up by Earthlodge and have been enjoying settling in and orienting to the program, Guatemala, and one another. They will be updating the blog themselves shortly and sharing their journey as they move forward.
All the best,
Heather Diamond
Program Director
Carpe Diem Education… Read More
Hello Families and Friends,
We wanted to let you all know that the Maya Group is currently 1000’s of miles high en route to Guatemala City! Though they are short one person who was unfortunately delayed at JFK (Scott D), plans are already in the works for him to rendezvous with the group tomorrow. Before they know it they will all be united at the Earth Lodge outside of Antigua… Read More
Hello Central America students and families,
Thank you to everyone who has called or emailed us with concerns about the eruption of Vocan de Fuego in Guatemala. We have also been following the situation in Guatemala and have been in touch with our contacts there. We just wanted to reassure you that, in talking with contacts at TACA, we’ve been told that everything is fine at the airport, flights are… Read More
Hi Maya students! Greetings from Portland, Oregon! Nic and I are having a good time with all the staff during our training. We were running all over the city today on a scavenger hunt doing some bonding and learning of the city. We even ran into a music store to try to hone in on some skills before heading south in a couple of weeks. Nic has amazing skills so… Read More
Hey everyone,
I’m Regina Huston and I’m going on the fall MAYA CAM trip.
A lot of people have been giving me opinions on what ‘heavy duty’ shoes to bring with me on the trip and I would love to hear it from the people who know best.
YOU GUYS.
SO….
I have a pair of ankle high BROKEN IN heavy duty hiking shoes, I don’t know if they’re water… Read More
We are all enjoying our last few hours on the beach together so of course no one wants to drag themselves to the computer to write a lot! But rest assured that we have been enjoying Roatan and all it has to offer. We are all now officially scuba certified, so a few of us took advantage by going on a night dive last night and/or a shipwreck dive this… Read More
It’s crazy that we are on our last adventure here in Roatan Honduras. The trip has been awesome and we have all learned so much. Now here we are in our final days getting scuba certified. We all love it so much thus far. We’ve already been on three dives and seen so much including three sea turtles! We also saw a green moray eel and many more fish and… Read More
Our week at the turtle project is officially over after one turtle sighting and lots of sightings of other critters, including a scorpion in our dorm room last night. Our day in Samara was ideal, allowing all of us to enjoy swimming in some calm ocean water until the high tide chased us off of the sand. After visiting what is now our favorite chain smoothie joint, we headed back… Read More
Sorry we´ve been off the map for a few days…we have been on a turtle conservation reserve on a relatively remote beach for the past week. Although our conditions have been a bit rustic, we´ve really been enjoying helping out the project. During the day, we do various work around the project- painting fences, tending to the volunteer center and garbage pickup. Then the fun starts at night! Each of… Read More