We started our second week at Bona Fide with the celebration of Halloween! After a morning of hard work, we participated in a scavenger hunt and made scarecrows with materials from the around the farm. Thanks to Brittany, one of the scarecrows was lucky enough to wear a nice shirt signed by Queen B herself. Later on in the evening, the group settled in the meeting room (the Aula) with… Read More
This week was a very eventful and exciting week. We began on Monday by traveling from Matagalpa, Nicaragua to the island of Ometepe. We left nice and early at 8 AM and took private transport to the beach town of San Jorge. During the four hour van ride, we slept, listened to music, talked and eagerly awaited our arrival in San Jorge. When we got to San Jorge, we ate… Read More
Arriving at 9:00 Am, Mategalpa tours took us in a van up to the cloud forest 40 minutes away. Our guide walked us through the lush forest full of insects, and birds we never saw but heard because of the thick canopy shading us from the world above. Every animal camouflaged in their own unique way, every organism coinciding with the habitat surrounding them. We then took some silent time… Read More
Hola amigos.
After an amazing weekend of student directed travel in Antigua the group took a van to Guatemala City and arrived at the G22 complex. G22 is an organization that focuses on urban sustainability and renewable energy. They participate in numerous projects in Guatemala and other countries around the world helping reduce urban waste and promote conservation of natural resources.
This was the first week the group spent living… Read More
Hola! The past week has been incredible, from the Mystical Yoga Farm to the city of Antigua. Lake Atitlan was absolutely beautiful. Every morning at 6 we woke up to the amazing view of three giant volcanoes towering over the bright blue waters of Atitlan. We then made our way to our meditation and yoga class. It was a great way to start the day! We think that the best… Read More
Hello from la Escuela de la Montaña,
We’ve had a terrific week! On Sunday morning we moved out of our Xela home stays and caught a public bus that took us to The Mountain School! Immediately, we could tell this was going to be very different from PLQ. The bus dropped us off in the middle of the woods, right in the middle of the mountains we could see from… Read More
Hola familias,
We started this week by moving out of our cozy hostel, Casa Seibel, and moved into homestays. Sunday morning, our weekly president, Joe lead us to the Spanish school where we were assigned partners. Then each pair left with his or her host family. Although we were all a little nervous, we very quickly realized that our host families were amazing. They provided us with great food, beautiful… Read More
We spent this afternoon exploring the city of Xela. Our group found the highest point in the city and the view of the city and the mountians surrounding it was incredible! We also found a huge local market filled with all sorts of new food and smells. Soma tried a fruit called Rambotan and said that it was interesting but delicious. We all loved having the freedom to see many… Read More
Hello family and amigos,
This is Wade, Brynn and Jordan on their scavenger hunt. We have had a blast these first few days, and the group camaraderie has been great! Walking around Xela, we visited the makeshift market that is only around for Independence week. We bought an orange from a nice man name Ignacio, and he cut it up and put spices and hot sauce on it. It was… Read More
Hello all! Its Joe, Ryan, and Lexi here. We are on a scavenger hunt. We only have 2 minutes left at the internet cafe but we are good. We’re having lots of fun.… Read More
Made it to Guatemala safe and sound! The mountains are absolutely beautiful, as well as parts of the culture we have experienced so far. The food is even better… they put pineapple in everything, which kind of gives us an excuse not to leave haha. There are so many dogs in the street and it makes us want to love all of them, but foreign diseases are not a good… Read More
Good morning! We just received word from Rachel and David that the group arrived safely in Guatemala this morning. They’ve got their bags and are now en route to the city of Quetzaltenango, where they will be doing their orientation for the next 4 days, and then continuing there with Spanish classes and homestays. They are happy to have arrived and looking forward to settling in. Check the blog again… Read More
Hello everyone!
Greetings from Portland—David and Rachel here. It is a sunny autumnal day and we are planning our incredible semester. We have been digging through our itinerary and we are getting pumped to meet you all and fly to Guatemala next week!
Here are some things to keep in mind in your last few days at home:
-Pack light! Follow the list Carpe Diem gave you and you’ll be… Read More
Dear Maya 2016…
It is difficult to describe the mix of emotions we are feeling while we spend our first night and day without you in three months. The absence of belly laughs, “Rocky Top”, and the ever present call of “Guys!” leaves a conspicuous silence. We have been doing a lot of processing  together and some real gems have come out of it. One that sticks out above the… Read More
After a wonderful week in Roatan (and a great semester!), the MAYA group has boarded their flight home! We wish them safe travels and a happy reunion with friends and family.… Read More
Hot, humid, and happy. These are the words that I would use to describe our experience at the turtle project in Costa Rica. We stayed on an intimidating hill off of Playa Honda, Playa Real and near Playa de Nombre de Jesus. This would be where we spent the rest of the week volunteering with Kuemar, a local organization whose mission is to increase the population of the decreasing sea… Read More
Hola a todos desde San Juan del Sur,
Our last blogger, the eloquent Sayaka Kikuchi, left off the blog on the mystical dual-volcano island of Ometepe (which means “two peaks” in the indigenous Nahuatl language). We spent our last afternoon on the island making jam from freshly picked starfruits and cayenne – Yum!
We took the ferry and a bus from Ometepe to the Mariposa Language School in La Concepción,… Read More
