Follow the Journey

Adios Nicaragua. Next stop Costa Rica. After a four hour luxury bus ride we found ourselves in Liberia, Costa Rica. Although we were only staying in a hostel for a night, we still had a decent amount of exposure to Liberia. Some of us were more than happy to leave the rustic Bone Fide farm. Privileges such as Air Conditioning, TV, a washer/dryer and quality shower rooms were highly anticipated.… Read More

¨Watching Willy Wonka as a little girl and giggling at the umpalampas never prepared me for the real cacao, the ashy skins and haunted history of this scared plant. In an open-air jungle kitchen, we gripped sticky blocks of cane sugar and rushed them back and forth over a cheese grater, creating mini mountains of molten, oozy sugar. We ground coconuts upon a hand grater on the counter, a simple … Read More

Hey everyone, my name is Mira and I am the Bilbo Blogging’s for this past week. I’d like to apologize in advance for only doing one post; sadly the wifi ability on the farm was limited. Otherwise I would have done a post every day. Wow, I can’t believe that we have only been abroad for 4 weeks! It feels like we’ve been gone for soo much longer. But enough… Read More

Hey guys, Ben here with a quick update on our last week and a half! As the sun beat down, we hopped aboard the old, rustic ferry that would shuttle us to the island of Omotepe. Although the boat leaned significantly to one side and was packed with both people and random junk, the ride was rather relaxing and uneventful.  The boat ride provided a nice break from driving in… Read More

  I never thought I’d be back in school so soon, but who would’ve expected a school where you could swing in a hamock while sipping coffee in an outdoor classroom? The last two weeks have been nothing but amazing. Throughout the remainder of our time in Matagalpa the group continued to participate in activities organized by the language school. We visited an organization called Agentes de Cambio (Agents of… Read More

Hola, Anna Rodis here, your Bilbo Bloggins for this week. SFO –>Nicaragua We knew we were in Nicaragua when our plane landed and water vapor spewed out of the ceiling vents. Stepping off the plane, we felt the hot stickiness in the air outside. Josh, the redhead, Spanish-speaking Texan, greeted us at the airport and took us to our temporary home—Casa Nica in Masaya. We all piled into a van… Read More

Hi all, We have made it to Nicaragua–safe and sound! We will be posting our first full blog by the end of this weekend; so, keep an eye out for that! Love, The Itza Group… Read More

We are having a great time in Nicaragua, besides trying to keep away the stray dogs. We are staying at a Hostel called Casa Nica, run by a red haired man from Texas.… Read More

It is hard to believe that it has only been two and a half days here in Masaya. While the long plane rides were taxing, we all made it through just fine. Arriving at the beautiful Casa Nica was a relief for a couple of reasons. We were all ready for some sleep, and the beds felt pretty comfortable. Also, our host Josh has been very generous in sharing the… Read More

We are in here in Cyber King in Nicaragua finding our map of Masaya for our scavanger hunt. Mariah has no idea what shes doing and will solely rely on Celinas talent. Celina is unsure if this is a good idea. However, we will press on and embrace our weaknesses! Con Amor, Mariah y Celina… Read More

Hola Mis Amigos, Today is our third day in Masaya, Nicaragua. The 14 of us, 12 students and our two leaders, Noah and Julia, are staying at a beautiful home called Casa Nica. Right now Mira, from MD, and I, from CT, are on a scavenger hunt around town. Our first stop was the Internet Cafe called Cyber King, it is our first time having access to internet since we… Read More

Hello Friends and Family of the Central America ITZA group, I just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve heard from group leaders Julia and Noah that the group has arrived safely in Nicaragua and are settling in to the hostel in Masaya where they will be for the next few days.  The group themselves will be posting updates from this point forward, so stay tuned for posts about their… Read More

The Carpe Diem Itza group has fully assembled in SFO, and checked in for their flight to Central America.  We wish them traveling mercies on their journey.  Stay tuned to hear of their adventures.   … Read More

Greetings soon to be ITZA family!! Noah and Julia here, your fearless leaders who spent a beautiful crystal clear hot Portland day traversing across the city on an epic scavenger hunt to gear up for our trip and discover many little treasures that the city of roses has to offer! Today, we sampled the scrumptious savors of food carts (Julia climbed inside one), Noah serenaded his lovely co-leader with a… Read More

Strange to be thinking about Scuba diving in Roatan, while sitting in Tucson sipping on coffee as my husband continues to purge our stuff (already four bags to Goodwill).  I flip through my pictures on the computer and am warmed by the swimsuits, sun and smiles we were sharing that last week of our semester.  Scuba is such a magical sensation that opens up a whole new world underwater.  We… Read More

This week has been full of amazing experiences. Let’s look at a normal day in the life of a Turtle conservation volunteer: 7pm: shift #1 starts 11pm: shift #1 ends – shift #2 begins 4am: shift #2 ends 7-8am: breakfast (optional, lots of people slept through it.) 12-1pm: Lunch (the more popular first meal of the day, depending on your shift the previous night) 1-6pm: hang out, read, sleep, rest,… Read More

Our adventure from Ometepe began with the very rocky boat ride back to main land Nicaragua. Cheridyn, Elise and I had a pretty normal boat ride, excluding the very bad dog horror movie that was playing for the duration of the boat ride. And then it hit us, a huge wave came through the window onto us and our bags just as we were turning into the dock! We weren’t… Read More

After leaving Tyler’s home in Playa Maderas, we began our free travel by spending Thanksgiving Day in nearby San Juan del Sur, where people could call their families at an Internet Cafe while others were able to secure transport and reserve a few nights at a hostel to our first destination. After a number of discussions, our group decided to all go to Isla de Ometepe, an island formed by… Read More

Playa Maderas was an overall amazing and fun experience. Our first half of the week was spent lounging on the beach and taking surf lessons, but our second half of the week was spent volunteering. One of the mornings we spent about three hours digging trenches and laying pipes so that we could deliver running water to the school. We worked with Communidad Connect and also parents of the school… Read More