Follow the Journey

Written by Cleo Miller, a student on the Carpe Diem gap year Costa Rica chocolate program at Villas Mastatal with Javier’s family New Adventures in Mastatal Landed in Costa Rica! This week we traveled to a small and remote, but extremely beautiful, town called Mastatal in biodiverse Costa Rica! We stayed with Javier and his family in Villas Mastatal, and remained unplugged for the week, which was amazing to connect… Read More

Written by Jess Solit and Danny Evans, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Guatemala Acatenango volcano hike during student directed travel This week was student-directed travel (SDT)! Our group embarked on the intimidating yet exciting task of planning and budgeting all of our housing, activities, transportation, and food for the week, while also leading our expeditions. We started our week on the west coast of Guatemala in El Paredon,… Read More

Written by Arianna Cochrane, a student on the Carpe Diem gap year Guatemala coffee weaving program graduating Spanish school in San Juan What’s new? We were in San Juan staying in homestays for our second and final week! Which also means our final week of Spanish school! We are all glad we got to improve our Spanish so much, but definitely happy we made it through it all. Our group… Read More

Written by Henry Probolus, this Guatemala Semana Santa student update covers cultural art projects, Good Friday celebrations, and a nature preserve visit in San Juan La Laguna. What’s new? We arrived in San Juan and started our week of Spanish classes. We started on cultural art projects like painting and weaving. We enjoyed the cultural events of Semana Santa like the procession and creating alfombras out of flowers and colored… Read More

Written by Jess Solit and Cleo Miller, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Guatemala Tzununa farm program learning permaculture at Granja Tz’ikin What’s new? ⦿ Our group headed over to Tzununa to learn about permaculture from Neil and Jeremy at the Granja Tz’ikin – The Farm. ⦿ Swam and walked around San Marcos, learned about the 12 values of permaculture, harvested veggies, and turned over garden beds. ⦿ We… Read More

Written by Henry Probolus and Arianna Cochrane, this Guatemala Spanish school homestay update wraps up their final week in Xela with PLQ graduation, salsa dancing, and host family life. This was our last week in Xela! At the start of the week, we left our hostel and moved in with our host families! It has been such an amazing time experiencing the culture and tasting the amazing food inside our… Read More

Written by Danny Evans and Cleo Miller, this Guatemala Spanish immersion Xela update covers their first week of one-on-one PLQ classes, hot springs, and local adventures in Quetzaltenango. This week we’re located in Xela! We are starting one-on-one Spanish classes with the beautiful teachers at PLQ. We attended the many events put on by PLQ including a student soccer game and a trip to the hot springs. We stayed in… Read More

Written by Ari Cochrane and Jess Solit, this Guatemala sustainable living Comalapa update covers a week of hands-on building, Mayan ruins, and community connection with Long Way Home. Greetings from our team’s latest adventure! We ventured to Comalapa to collaborate with Long Way Home (LWH), an organization dedicated to sustainable living and community development. Here’s a glimpse of what we’ve been up to: Learned about sustainable living practices Worked on… Read More

Written by Jasmin and Malcolm, Overseas Educators on the Carpe Diem gap year Guatemala scavenger hunt orientation in Antigua before Long Way Home Hola a nuestras familias y amigos! We’ve had a great few days in Antigua, one of the larger cities here in Guatemala. Our groups flew into Guatemala City and we made our way to Hostel Hopa, our home for the next few days. Our group was finally… Read More

Written by Jasmin and Malcolm, Overseas Educators on the Carpe Diem gap year Central America semester sharing packing tips before departure Hola chiques! We hope everyone is getting as excited for the semester as we are! We’re here in Portland, Oregon at Carpe Diem Headquarters reviewing our program itinerary, policies, curriculum, and more to fully prepare for our time together. This being the first time we’ll lead a trip together,… Read More

Written by Malcolm and Jane, Overseas Educators on the Carpe Diem gap year Guatemala Costa Rica journey through Lake Atitlan and Drake Bay Happy end of program to our wonderful students, and to all of their parents and family and friends waiting to greet them at home! This semester simultaneously feels like it flew by, and it feels like we’ve been together and known each other for so much longer… Read More

Written by Sophie N., this Costa Rica scuba diving semester recap covers the group’s final week in Drake Bay, from open water certification to Friendsgiving and Corcovado wildlife. This was our last full week as a group, we spent it in Drake Bay mostly scuba diving. We met great directors that guided us along the way and met our needs while diving. On Thursday, since we wouldn’t be spending Thanksgiving… Read More

Written by Lily and Matilda, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Costa Rica permaculture farm program at Mastatal Ranch This last week we rode, climbed and scrambled up the steep Permacultures farm sides of Maztatal Ranch! From herbal tours to chocolate adventures, night walks, and even cooking with our host family, it really feels like we did it all! But that’s so broad, so what did we get yo… Read More

Written by Lily and Anantya, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Guatemala Dia de los Santos celebration program in San Juan We continued our second week in San Juan, a small town on Lake Atitlán. We continued our Spanish classes at Eco Spanish school, and also enjoyed several new events and cultural activities. We ended the month of October with a very personal archaeology tour. On the tour, we… Read More

Written by Matilda and Leila, this Guatemala Spanish school San Juan update covers one on one classes at the Eco School, art projects, a coffee tour, and community life in San Juan La Laguna. This week we pushed off the shores of San Marcos and landed ourselves on the opposite side of the lake in a small welcoming town with the name of San Juan. Here, we began our Spanish… Read More

Written by Ashlyn and Jonah, this Lake Atitlan permaculture program update covers a week of organic farming, forest hikes, waterfall swimming, and bamboo house living on the shores of Lake Atitlan. We made it out of Xela! This week, we got to spend at Lake Atitlan learning about permaculture, hiking through the forest and farming. OLake Atitlan Permaculture Program: Top 3 Highlights: 🥗 Great fresh food straight from the farm!… Read More

Written by Sophie and Anna, this Guatemala homestay Spanish school update covers their second week at PLQ in Xela, living with local families and graduating with a Spanish speech, poem, or song. This week we got to stay with local families in home stays, while still going to school at PLQ (Proyecto Lingüístico Quetzalteco)! We moved into our new homes on Sunday, and have been living with them for the… Read More

Written by Shloimy G. and Leila B., this Guatemala Spanish immersion Xela update covers five hours of daily PLQ classes, karaoke in Quetzaltenango, and witnessing historic democracy protests up close. Since our last update, we’ve traversed the Guatemalan Highlands, and have made it to Xela/Quetzaltenango (in separate transports of course due to our unfortunate little itty bitty Covid outbreak). We’re staying in a hostel right near Parque Central, both the… Read More

Written by Nate K. and Kora B., this Guatemala volunteer Long Way Home recap covers a week of community service, sustainable building, and cultural immersion in Comalapa. Hey everyone, this is Nate and Kora talking and we can’t wait to share our recap from this past week! Upon our arrival in Comalapa on the 24th, we started our adventures with a welcoming introduction from our amazing host, Omar. Having given… Read More

Written by Jane and Malcolm, Overseas Educators leading Guatemala gap year orientation at Earthlodge near Antigua, this update covers the first few days of team building, cultural lessons, and a scavenger hunt before heading to Long Way Home in Comalapa. Hola desde Guatemala! We have had a fun whirlwind of a few days since arriving in Guatemala City early the morning of the 22nd. We drove from the airport in… Read More