Follow the Journey

The QUETZAL group is on the way home! Photos from their last day of SCUBA classes and in the airport this morning:… Read More

A belated post from the yoga farm: !Buenos Dias familia y amigos! It’s been another amazing week here in Guatemala. This last Saturday (11/21), we arrived at the Mystical Yoga Farm for a week of reflection, relaxation, and what we like to call, “hippie training”. At a location only accessible by small boat, or “lancha”, this farm settled on the shore of Lago Atitlan can be described as nothing if… Read More

This week we started out on a treacherous trek through cloud forest about an hour outside of Xela. After about 10 minutes of walking the wind picked up and the mist begin. The trails became very slick as we began to climb the steep hills ahead of us. Even though we were assured that the trail was flat by our guide, we quickly figured out that wasn’t what we should… Read More

!Hola muchachos! This week the Quetzal Queens and Kevin nested in Quetzaltenango; we finally made it home! Well, maybe not, but the time is flying by. Our homestay families here were awesome. Everyone enjoyed some thrilling nights with their fams watching classic movies dubbed into Spanish with fun new names like, “Que Paso Ayer?”, “Los x hombres”, “Alecia en el lugar de los Maravillosas”, etc. Pop those into a translator… Read More

Wow! Week 7 already??!! This week we stayed in a small rural community near Xela, Guatemala. We stayed at the school called Escuela de la Montaña! Though we lived at the school, we ate our meals with families in the community. Most of the meals included lots of tortillas, beans, vegetables, and sometimes pasta. I think everyone avaraged about 15 tortillas per day at least! All the families made them… Read More

Hola familias y amigos! WOW what a week it’s been! We arrived safely in Guatemala City on Tuesday and were greeted at the airport by our two new hosts, Alfredo and Ricard, who picked us up in their incredible yellow VW van. They took us to a three-story building in the heart of the city, the home of their organization G-22. The first floor was the hostel area, where we… Read More

Hola, loved ones! After our brief return to civilization in San Juan Del Sur, we jumped off the grid again on the beautifully untouched coast of Costa Rica, where we spent a week at a sea turtle conservation and research center. When we arrived, we stood in silence as our jaws dropped at a nearly 360 degree view of untouched coastal wilderness. Palm trees sagging with coconuts scattered the beaches… Read More

The ocean.. what a treat she was to us. After making a trip on a ferry midst a thunderstorm from Ometepe to hopping on a bus to San Juan del Sur, Nica, the gentle waves of the Pacific were beaconing us. We arrived at Casa del Oro, a sweet set up of a hostal, Mitch (from Bona Fide) from Bona Fide manages. Settling in, our tummy growls navigated us to… Read More

Una semana luego… (in Spongebob tone) Talk about the great outdoors this week! And when I say “great,” I MEAN it. This island and everything on it is truly MAGICAL. Not only are all of our meals completely fresh and natural, but literally the whole system of the Bona Fide farm and our way of living is all natural. First off (well, there really is no “first” because it’s a… Read More

!Hola familias y amigos! On Sunday, we arrived by bus to the beautiful city of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. It was a change of scene moving from the rural town of Concepcion to a more fast paced larger city. We learned quickly why people say that Matagalpa is the Portland of Nicaragua, with all the trendy shops and cafes on every corner. We immediately fell in love with our new home. This… Read More

*Hola padres, hermanos, primos, abuelos, amigos, y algún otras personas! Oh my gatos… it has already felt like some crazy hot weeks that we’ve spent together, but it has only been a few, fun-lovin days here in Masaya, Nicaragua. Already we have accomplished becoming some airport Shuttlecock Olympians, cabana whip nae-nae-ers, and jouster professionals in la Laguna de Apoyo. *ES LOCO CRAY CRAY! What us new adventurers need some time… Read More

After a smooth, safe flight, the QUETZAL group has made it to Nicaragua. They are settling in to their guest house in Masaya, and Kevin and Bria have informed me that “the students are happy and awesome!”. They will have the opportunity to post to the blog in the coming days to share more about their orientation, and will continue to post updates here over the next three months. Follow… Read More

Dear family and friends, The Central America QUETZAL group has all arrived safely to LAX and they are about to proceed through security and begin their adventure together. We wish them all the best as they traverse new internal and external landscapes over the next 3 months. Buen viaje, QUETZAL! Stay tuned to the blog for an update when they land safely, and then to hear snippets from the journey… Read More

As many of you may have realized, us gappers will be returning to your homes in about one week. While we are all extremely excited to see each and every one of your beautiful faces, we are also a bit unsure of how we are going to deal with the counter-culture shock. After nearly three months of cold showers, outdoor “bathrooms” and gallo pinto, the North American lifestyle will simply… Read More

Carpe Diem Quetzal would like to extend its deepest apologies for being terribly remiss in the posting of blogs recently. Computers have been rare and electricity to power them even more rare. Now with a return to modernity and a hostel with free computer usage we can all catch up like the good friends we are. So lets start where the last blog left off. We left the island of… Read More

We all survived the second and last week at Bona Fide Farm! Some of us were a little worn out in the beginning of the week, but a couple surprises from Mitch, AKA Earth Mother, made an awesome week. To start the week, Kaitlin, Zach, Byron, Graham, and I went to Santa Cruz beach. A storm approached as we arrived, but that did not stop any of us from swimming… Read More

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On the morning of November 9th, we all said farewell to our wonderful host families as we began our full day journey to Bona Fide Farm on the island of Ometepe. Carrying our backpacks with us, and thankfully not misplacing any of them, we prepared ourselves for two back to back two and a half hour bus rides, 2 taxi rides, and eventually the one hour ferry ride (which was… Read More

Hola friends and family! We’re ending our week here in Matagalpa, and what a crazy busy one it’s been. We started the week off with a bang, by pulling up to Colibri Spanish School in a super cool, private chicken bus (thanks to the wonderful Keelyn Szederkenyi). There we met Noelia, our contact from Colibri. She took us to a fantastic lunch, where we were given an orientation of sorts… Read More

To go along with the post about their week in Masaya.                … Read More