Written by Central America Semester Students, Izzy & April For our final week, we got to spend our time on the beautiful peninsula of Osa, in a small area called Drake Bay. We got to experience the once in a lifetime opportunity to get scuba certified. After one day of training in the pool, we went straight to the real thing. We went deep under the sea, getting to swim… Read More

Written by Central America Students, Addie and Dylan  Our first week in Costa Rica!! After leaving our beloved Guatemala behind and heading to the airport, unexpected delays forced us to change flights and pass through El Salvador on our way to Costa Rica! A fun little surprise in more ways than one. We ended up arriving in Costa Rica before our original flight was supposed to take off. The next… Read More

Written by Central America Students, Justin and Léa Student directed travel week, WOO WOO! Justin and Lea reporting to you live! We started off in Antigua, visited the magical Hobbitenango, a Hobbit themed attraction park. We got to practice our archery, axe-throwing, and mini golf skills while embracing the beautiful scenery of Guatemala. After Hobbitenango, we hiked up the Pacaya Volcano with the wonderful company of horses, and got to… Read More

Written by Central America Students, Iris and Menna This week was our second full week in San Juan, with preparations for Semana Santa in full swing! We started our second round of cultural classes, as well. On Thursday, we had a cultural potluck at our school, which meant we spent the entire morning learning to make “chuchitos,” a kind of small tamale. Our host families came in the afternoon to… Read More

Written by Central America Students, April & Ozzy   This week we were presented with more of a mental challenge than a physical one. We traveled across the lake on a boat to San Juan, then went to our separate home stays and started Spanish classes as well as skill-based classes. Our top highlights of the week:   🎨 To start off the week, we all had different classes teaching us cultural… Read More

Written by Central America Students, Izzy & Dylan  Since coming back from the very long and tiring hike, we all stayed at a hostel in Tzununa called Granja Tz’kinin, where we met Neal, who gave us his perspective on how permaculture can shape the way you view the world. With help from Shad, the owner of Atitlan Organics, we continued to learn more about permaculture and put it into practice.… Read More

Written by Central America Students, Justin and Addie  Second week in Xela! Moved in with our host families this week and got to immerse ourselves in the culture of Guatemala even further while practicing the Spanish skills we’ve been working on. Continuing our Spanish classes, we advanced our language skills even further. Throughout the week we spent time with our families, participated in group bonding activities such as karaoke, visits… Read More

Written by Central America Students, Caedin and Menna This week, we arrived in the beautiful city of Quetzaltenango, aka Xela! After a 4 hour car ride, we finally arrived at our hostel Casa Seibel. We started off the week with Spanish classes at PLQ, a school within the city that has been around since the 1980s. We met our teachers and began our individual learning experiences. Some of us chose… Read More

Written by Central America Students, Léa and Iris  We made our way to the town of Comalapa. Taking a walk around with Omar, our host at ‘Long Way Home’, we learned about the artistic presence of the town along with the strong Mayan connections. The next few days were focused on the mission of ‘Long Way Home.’ It’s a local school constructed out of recycled and natural materials using sustainable… Read More

Written by Central America Overseas Educators, Abby & Matt We’ve spent the last 3 nights at a magical avocado farm outside the city of Antigua setting the tone for the rest of the semester through icebreakers, team building activities, deep journal prompts and a thorough orientation. We’ve explored comfort zones, set intentions and goals, talked about self care practices and how that plays out in our community, explored a new… Read More

Written By OEs Mara & Matt And with our journals full of discoveries, our hearts full of memories, and our clothing full of new smells, we’ve found our ways back home. It’s amazing how quickly time has passed! It feels like we were just meeting each other in the Sonesta hotel and carrying a massive pizza box through security. Rides in the back of pick-up trucks and volcanic eruptions set… Read More

Written By Abby Wow. It seems like just yesterday we were all watching the volcano, Fuego, erupt during dinner at the famous EarthLodge above Antigua, Guatemala. Now we are counting the hours we have left here in Costa Rica, making the most of every moment. After our time at Villas Mastatal was up, we braved the stormy ocean by boat to make our way to Drake Bay. We waded off… Read More

Written By Gabriel, Abby & Lindsey First full week in Costa Rica! We spent the week in the town of Mastatal with a local family on their farm with many interesting characters: their hilarious son Andres, several bats flying overhead every night, and a stinky dog we named Kevin, even though she was a girl. The days consisted of farm work, painting murals, and visiting local businesses. Every morning the… Read More

Written By Helen, Ella, & Chance ¡Hola from the jungles of Rio Dulce! Boy, do we need to fill you in. Sit down, grab a snack, and listen to the adventure of a lifetime. Bang! We started off with a bang on Monday morning by competing in a series of group competitions. The group participated in two heated tournaments; ping pong and cannonballs. Mats roared as he devoured his competitors… Read More

Written By Mats & Wendy With this week our two week stay at San Juan and our time at the beautiful Lake Atitlan has ended. After getting to know our new host families, another week of school started on Monday. Some changed their teacher, but everybody sticked to improving their spanish skills in the magical school’s garden. With many games, dogs, and fun the hours of learning flew by, sometimes… Read More

  Written By Helen and Kate Another wonderful week in the books! After saying hasta la vista to the Bambú back in Tzununa, we boated across the lake to San Juan. The group got a glimpse of life in San Juan after the trek but now they get to experience it in its full form. Once arriving in San Juan, we walked to the Eco Language Spanish school to meet… Read More

Written By Gabriel & Michael When our overseas educator Matt told us we’d be working on a farm and that the place we’d be staying would have a compost toilet, many of us expected a typical farm setting and all that entails. However, when we arrived at The Bambu midday Sunday we were all blown away by the stunning views of lake Atitlan, the local homes and village, and a… Read More

Written By Lindsey & Ella On Saturday afternoon, at PLQ (the Spanish school), we split off into groups of two or three and met our host families. We all walked to our new homes carrying our heavy packs. Saturday evening we had the pleasure of cheering on the fútbol team, Xelaju, at their home stadium. Everyone had a blast singing and cheering on the team alongside their very passionate fans.… Read More

Written By Sofia & Sam Off to Xela! The group piled into the cars and started the 5 hour drive to the big city. After lots of twists and turns, we stopped at a beautiful lookout (where we were able to see Lake Atitlan!) and ate some much needed lunch. We arrived in Xela and got an introductory tour of the hostel and the city. The group later explored the… Read More

Written By Abby and Mike H After a beautiful start to the program at the heavenly EarthLodge above Antigua, the group braved the infamous hill out, and we made our way to Comalapa. A supermarket stop, winding roads, and way too much ice cream eaten with measuring spoons later, we arrived at our next destination: Long Way Home. Our main-man, Omar, showed us around the school and property where we… Read More