Hola friends and family!
On Tuesday we said goodbye to Leon and headed south to Playa Maderas in San Juan del Sur. We were all really excited to spend our first actual week on the ocean, and this past week has been everything we have wanted and more! We are living with a good friend of Carpe Diem´s (Tyler) in his beautiful home overlooking the ocean. The first couple… Read More
This is a bit late as the group is already about to leave our first city in Nicaragua (Leon), but better late then never. Looking back on San Marcos our time was both amazing but also a bit detrimental. While in that kind of environment, I, aswell as many of the group members found it difficult not to slip into the tourist mentality. I know personally my Spanish was rarely… Read More
Hi there people we love! Hola from Nicaragua!!! We are all SO excited to be continuing our adventure in a brand new country, especially one as intriguing as Nicaragua. On Monday, we arrived at the airport in Managua, Nicaragua and then took a bus to the big city off Leon, where we are doing our very last week of spanish school. We have school weekday mornings from 8-12, and after… Read More
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
Hey there Itza friends and family! Tom here, just wanted to give a little insight on what our time on Lago Atitlan entailed.
After much deliberation and last minute planning, we had to cancel our 3 day trek. However, we were still able to do a 2 hour hike down the Indians Head mountain which had constant photo ops and a beautiful look over lago Atitlan. The view alone… Read More
Hello to the Itza group’s family and friends from Carpe Diem HQ,
We hope you all are well and have been enjoying the blog and following along on Itza’s adventures. We wanted to let you all know about a small change we’ve made to Itza’s itinerary. As some of you may have heard, there has been a stomach bug going around the Itza group, and while everyone has been treated… Read More
Hola from Xela guatemala. This is our last day in the city after over two full weeks. Tomorrow bright and early we will leave for the Lago Atitlan trek, a 3 day long endevor that is sure to be an exiting challenge for grupo ITZA. The general consensus throughout the group is that we are ready to move on, but that doesnt mean we havent had a blast in Xela!… Read More
We spent last week in Xela at a language school. I remember after our first day of class we met up afterwards and everyone was so excited! We all loved our teachers and were already learning a lot. After school we did a variety of activities. Our group did our first hike together, listened to a speaker about the revolution of ´44, enjoyed some live Guatemalan music, and took a… Read More
Day 4- Today was our last full day in Pasac! Ah!! Estoy triste! In the morning we went on another hike to see an absolutely gorgeous waterfall. It was so secluded from the town and felt like our groups little secret place. Once we got back it was time to prepare for our evening. We all got the opportunity to go in one of the tamascals and clean ourselves. The… Read More
We arrived in Pasac last Monday with mixed expectations. We knew it was another mayan village and were worried about the challenges we would face. We also heard that we were staying with families, which presented the challenge of communicating with families who´s second language was spanish. But the other Central America group said they loved it here so we kept an open mind. I guess our adventure begins with… Read More
Hey yall. It´s been a trying journey to Antigua but we finally made it. We were in the car from San Andres for about 16 hours yesterday. First 2 bridges had construction and we couldn´t pass, so we detoured a few hours, which brought us back to Coban for lunch, after which our van´s radiator overheated. After fixing it using our drinking water we traveled onward until the condition of… Read More
Hey everybody! Our first day in San Andres we traveled to the Mayan ruins of Tikal. They were extremely impressive and massive. We saw a lot of unique animals and plants during our hike there. This was also the site of where they filmed Star Wars (the ewok settlement.) The best part was climbing the highest temple in Tikal. From the top we could see the expanse of the jungle… Read More
We arrived in the Isla de Flores, Guatemala yesterday in the afternoon. We found a hostile looking into the lake and happen to see multiple rainbows that evening. Around 6:30pm, the group grabbed dinner and for dessert, went for ice cream afterwards. This morning, a few of us did yoga and got breakfast at 8am. We had a few hours of free time afterwards before heading to San Andresfor… Read More
Hello everyone! Sorry we haven´t been able to blog as we have had an eventful start to our trip. We started orientation in Coban, Guatemala where we got the chance to get to know each other as well as immerse ourselves into the central american culture. We stayed at an excellent hostel that should be famous for their pancakes and coffee. Our stay there was a wonderful way to begin… Read More
It took us 40 minutes to upload this post but we finally did it! (So look at our picture!!) Love and miss you all at home. We´re having an amazing time.
Love,
Kendall, Rachel. and Kaki … Read More
Today we got to venture through the city of Coban. This is our first time out and about! It´s quite exciting! We were given a bunch of challenges like finding food, internet and getting a phone to call the leaders. That was interesting, we attempted to ask a woman standing near the banos (bathroom) for her phone, we still don´t know if she really wanted to let us use it,… Read More
Hello all! We have arrived safely in Coban, Guatemala. We are staying at a beautiful hostel called Misterio Verde. The first days of travel and orientation are going well and it is nice to be getting to know our group members. Today we are exploring Coban while doing a scavenger hunt around the city. Completeing several tasks while not speaking the language too well is challenging but fun at the… Read More
We just wanted to let all Itza’s blog followers know that the group landed safe and sound this morning in Guatemala. They were picked up by a driver from Misterio Verde, arrived in Coban, 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… 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
To our intrepid group of Central America travelers:
Just a quick check in to let you know that we are working hard and having a blast at the Fall 2012 Carpe Diem training, here in the lovely land of Portland, OR. We are learning lots and co-creating a magical journey for the group. As we learn more about each other, about each of you, and about the amazing places we… Read More
