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 than just 10 weeks. We have just enjoyed our last couple days in Costa Rica reflecting on the semester, celebrating each other, and expressing gratitude towards each member of our group as well as all of our partners and hosts along the way. We spent most of our final day expressing all of those end-of-semester feelings and preparing for the transition home, and especially reflecting on our growth and the lessons we learned that we can carry with us as we move forward in life. We ended the day with a celebratory sushi dinner and chocolate cake, and then we each gave a bracelet to the person next to us and expressed how important they are to us, so now we all have matching bracelets with memories and warm feelings attached! After the bracelet ceremony we had a long gratitude session, which we eventually had to cut off because we needed to get at least a few hours of sleep before the early morning drive to the airport, but the students could have kept thanking each other and sharing fun memories all through the night!
We have come so far and learned so much, but the stories we’ve shared over the last couple days reminded us of some of the highlight moments and places from our journey together. We began with our orientation at Earth Lodge just outside of Antigua, Guatemala, where we learned about each other and began forming as a group, as well as had our first experiences in a city and prepared ourselves for the semester to come. We made our way to Long Way Home in Comalapa, and pushed through the cold showers and rustic accommodations to have a blast learning about sustainable building while throwing ourselves into manual labor building a retaining wall out of tires and trash! Our next stop was the city of Xela, where students had their first two weeks of Spanish school and their first homestays, and we all became adept at navigating the city and dodging the dog poop that littered the sidewalks. While there we also were lucky enough to witness and be immersed in a massive political protest and uprising of the people fighting for their rights and democracy, and against the rampant corruption of the current government. We were also unlucky enough to almost get stuck in the city because of the blockades set up all around the city and country by the protesters, but we made it out only a day late!
We finally made it to the gorgeous Lake Atitlan, and the first morning waking up in the Bambu Guesthouse and seeing the spectacular view of the lake and volcanoes in the background, after arriving in the pouring rain late at night, was one of the most magical moments of the trip. We learned about permaculture, planted tul underwater in the lake, and hiked to the first of many waterfalls, and then we had an incredible day exploring the Atitlan Nature Reserve and spotting monkeys and coatis while hiking across suspension bridges and swimming in another waterfall. We then lived with gracious and generous homestay families for two weeks in San Juan while taking Spanish classes, and continued to enjoy the lake life. We left the lake for Student Directed Travel and headed straight for the Pacific coast and the black sand beaches of El Paredon. It was hot and humid but also gorgeous, and we had a blast splashing in the waves and relaxing in the pool at our hostel before heading to Antigua for our final days in Guatemala. We hiked a volcano and explored museums, and ate as much of the delicious cuisine as possible.
Our first stop in Costa Rica was Villas Mastatal, a beautiful farm in the jungle, where we were hosted by a wonderful family. They showed us their farm and taught us more about permaculture and how to harvest bananas, plantains, yuca, limes, and coconuts, and then how to cook all that up to make delicious meals! It was hot and humid again, but almost every day ended with a hike to waterfall for a refreshing swim. We also learned about and sampled medicinal herbs, teas, and locally made chocolate, and spent a day at Rancho Mastatal learning about green building and fermenting. Finally, it was time for the week that many of us had been eagerly anticipating and extremely nervous about: scuba week. We made our way down the coast to Drake Bay and spent two days training and then two days diving in the open ocean! We saw sting rays, eels, sharks, sea turtles, and more, and then spent a day at Corcovado National Park spotting monkeys, tapirs, toucans, coatis, and so much more. After all of that wildlife it was time to pack into the van again and drive to Grecia, where we spent our last days together and from where we’re writing this blog! Clearly we had incredible adventures and learned so much along the way, and we cannot thank our students, partners, Carpe Diem hq, host families, and families back home enough for making all of this possible and supporting us through the entire journey. We are incredibly grateful, thank you!
Pura vida,
Malcolm and Jane