Written by Central America Students, Jess Solit and Danny Evans
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, splashed around in the ocean, played some frisbee, surfed some waves, and ate lots of yummy food. Then the group headed back to Antigua and had a relaxing time walking around the city, scaling Acatenango, and celebrating a very important birthday with scrumptious sushi.
Our Top Highlights of the Week
🏞️🥾🌲Hiking up Acatenango to watch volcano Fuego erupting with smoke and lava.
🥏💦🌊 Splashing and playing frisbee in the ocean on our last day in El Paredon.
🏛️🎨🔍 A fun trip to the Antigua Museum!
Challenges Faced
SDT definitely posed challenges in terms of budgeting and balancing multiple plans at once. While it was important to try to organize and budget each section simultaneously, it was also difficult not to be exactly sure how much we could spend each day while still allowing for some leeway in between.
Gratitude
Since this was our last week in Guatemala, we just want to share how much we appreciate all the people we’ve encountered on our journeys here. Everyone at Long Way Home, our teachers at PLQ and Eco School, our host families from both San Juan and Xela, and the lovely people at Granja Tzikin, thank you so much for such a gratifying and incredible experience. We will all take our newfound wisdom and experiences you’ve imparted upon us into the world.
Off to Costa Rica!
