A few photos from the QUETZAL group
Photos taken during the first week at Escuela de la Montaña… Read More
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More photos from the MAYA group!
A few photos from the trek so far… Read More
Updates from MAYA
Hello everyone! Maddie here from an internet cafe in Xela, Guatemala. Why am I here do you ask? Well, I had a minor setback while on the trek. Heres how the story goes…
After waking up in the wee hours of early morning( 4 am), we got all our stuff and got ready to set out on our trekk. We all took a van out to the area where we… Read More
The Land of High Contrast
Hello from the Himalayas! We just finished our trek and are staying in McLeod Ganj for the week.
On the plane ride from San Francisco to Hong Kong, I had an OE for Southeast Asia tell me “while India is easily the biggest pain-in-the-butt country to be a traveler, it is without a doubt the most beautiful and rewarding place to experience.” How these words have reigned true. Just from… Read More
Que paso friends and family!
It was a very eventful week for Carpe Diem Quetzal. After a beautiful drive through the Guatemalan countryside, the group arrived at scenic Escuela de la Montaña, excited and eager to improve our broken español. Candice, the owner and operator of the school was extremely kind, hospitable, and made us feel right at home. Shortly after a quick orientation of the school, we dove right into our cultural immersion and… Read More
Student Reflections of the Hart Family Farm
Creamy – by Karinne Dadigan
The farm was creamy, absolutely creamy. The walks outside, the view from the deck, the everyday early rituals and connection with the land and animals was all a creamy sensation. You look at the moments, and the views, and you want to eat them up. The oars in the water as you kayak, the soil that runs through your hands, the cup of tea that… Read More
Photos from the banana farm
The Inti group heading out for a day of harvesting plantains Members of the Inti group learn about the steps involved in exporting plantains to the USA. Posing for a group picture in front of the “marriage” tree in the tropical reserve near the banana farm.… Read More
¡SAM Goes Bananas!
This past week on the banana farm has been an incredible experience filled with music, delicious food, Spanish, dirt, jokes, discussions, bugs, and of course, tons of bananas. With an average consumption of 3 to 5 bananas a day (not including the bananas in our meals), we knew from the beginning that the farm was going to be a great place. In fact, the family on the finca (farm) created… Read More
Muchas Bananas!
Hola from Baños!
We are all exhausted from our travels today. We left the banana farm at 1:30 am and arrived in Baños around 8:30.
The farm was amazing, as well a our wonderful host family. We had a day to help out with the process of gathering and preparing the bananas and plantains for shipping. Everything on the farm goes out to Dole, so think of us the next… Read More
Pictures Worth a Thousand Words…
Here are a few fantastic photos of the group taken over the past few weeks sent in by the leaders, Colin and Mandy. We hope you enjoy these smiling faces as the group transitions from their time at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary towards Southwestern Uganda, where they will begin working with Edirisa, UK at the Special Needs Education Center.… Read More
Makin’ Moves
Walkabout crew is back and ready to attack! This past week was spent at the Blue Mountain Adventure Center where our days were jam packed with epic-ness. We started off by meeting Reggie the friendly pet goat. Then we jumped head first into a week of mountain biking, repelling, hiking, caving and river rafting. Some of us even formed a fellowship and attempted to summit Mount Doom! All in… Read More
homestays outside Mae Rim
Sa-wat-dee-kha! Indy here. It’s kinda hard to speak for the group this week, since we’re all at separate homestays in a village outside Mae Rim, but I’ll do the best I can!
Each morning, we meet up at the Ajun Petchara’s eco lodge, where we take Thai language lessons! I personally am doing alright with the language, but it’s pretty difficult. Still, the lessons are fun. Our homework one… Read More
The Nkula Adventure Begins!
Hello family and friends of Carpe Diem students. I’m Kylie and I’m our group’s first “blogger”! I’m writing from an awesome Internet cafe in Jinja, Uganda to update you all on our adventures.
We began our trip with a laid back orientation in Entebbe. We split into groups for a scavenger hunt, ate authentic Ugandan cuisine, and even made friends with some locals. Most importantly, we got to know each… Read More
Namaste Day Jaipur!
Hi friends! Sophia again, we are currently in Jaipur, getting ready to leave for Udaipur tonight. We’ve kept ourselves busy this past week: eating glorious meals with our host families (and losing many games of chess), we’ve visited numerous organizations that have opened our minds and hearts. We went to a paper production factory on the first day. It gave me a new appreciation for gift bags, after watching the… Read More
Our Experiences in Xela, Guatemala
Hello everyone! Our group has spent the last week here in Xela, Guatemala. We were all placed in homestays and have attended Spanish school Monday through Friday. It has really been an amazing trip so far. I love our group and our leaders more and more as we get to know eachother better. This week we have walked all around the markets of Xela and also visted the “fiesta” in… Read More
Photos from the Family Farm
This just in from our Greg at the Family Farm in New Zealand. The group has been doing awesome pruning trees, digging thistles, milking cows, feeding calves and pigs and hens, cooking meals, and more. Tomorrow the plan is to dock some lambs….should be a new experience for all!
More updates to come soon.… Read More
Hola from Xela!
The group arrived Wednesday at our beautiful hostel in the center of the city for orientation. After a few days we are feeling very prepared and excited for the rest of our journey!
Today we took a much needed trip outside to hike to a local park overlooking the city. We took some photos of the scenery and played some capture the flag between the trees. Some local children noticed… Read More
Exploring Iringa!
I tried to post this yesterday, but I think my pictures were too big for the internet to handle. I’m trying again today with fewer pictures. Hello from Iringa, Tanzania! Yesterday we woke up early in Morogoro and packed ourselves up to go to Iringa. We said goodbye to our lovely hostess in Morogoro, Dimitra, who was very nice and always an interesting source for conversation. We got in taxis… Read More
INTI in Quito!
A few group photos from the South America group’s orientation. They are at language school on the coast currently and have limited access to internet this week. But look for more posts from them next week!… Read More
Hot ‘n’ Frazzled in India
Just now, I Googled the definition of “frazzled” and this is what I got.
1. completely exhausted.
2. cause to shrivel up with burning.
These both perfectly apply to my experience of India so far.
But besides the exhaustion at the end of each day, the oppressive heat, the wonderful food (which for once is finally too spicy for me sometimes), I have found some sort of indescribable beauty to… Read More