Follow the Journey

Hi everyone! This is Molly and Rachel signing in. We spent this past week at La Escuela de la Montana, a spanish immersion school in a rural village in the mountains of Guatemala. The group was split into two groups, one with classes from 8am to 12pm and the other with classes from 1pm to 5pm. The classes were one on one and we ate our meals with host families,… Read More

We have all arrived in Guatemala, staying at the beautiful Earth Lodge near Antigua. We have been spending a lot of time getting to know each other, playing games, and learning more about the program. yesterday we went on a short hike and got to see an amazing view of the mountains and volcanos. Some of us got up early to see lava coming out of Fuego, one of the… Read More

After their overnight flight, we’re happy to report that the MAYA group has arrived in Guatemala. They are en route to their hostel where they are looking forward to having breakfast and diving into their orientation. They are enjoying getting to know one another and looking forward to these next three months of exploration, learning, and adventure! Stay tuned, as they will start to post their own updates here in… Read More

Dear Maya family and friends, We wanted to update you and let you know that the Fall 2019 Central America group has arrived and united at LAX. The group will go through security and then dive into a few introduction and orientation activities led by their Overseas Educators, Rachael and Matt. The group will then embark on their flight to Guatemala and we will update you once they have arrived… Read More

Hola Team Maya! This is the first post on the blog we will take turns writing for throughout the semester. The blog is a way to let friends and family know about our adventures, share experiences, opinions, and some photos. This is Rachael and Matt writing from Portland. We are in the midst of training and prepping for our trip. We spent last week camping, doing team building activities with… Read More

That’s it! It’s a wrap. Al final. By now, students have traveled on to their respective places that they call home. Saying goodbye to them was bittersweet, sad to see them go but grateful that we were able to see them grow in many ways over our journey together. In the last three months we have been able to see three different countries and experience three different cultures. We have… Read More

Sarah Spirek here! As our semester comes to a close, I just wanted to write a few closing comments for our trip. We have all learned so much, some of it we won’t even realize until we get home. We have built a little family within our group and have suffered the loss of three of our members. We have spent the last three months learning, growing and experiencing the… Read More

We spent our last week in Costa Rica at KUEMAR, a turtle rescue project. It was hard work, but it paid off with our once in a lifetime experiences! Every night, we took shifts at neighboring beaches where we patrolled. We saw our first adult sea turtles and got closer than we could ever imagine with them. We watched them as they scooted their way out of the water and… Read More

Sailor and Sarah here! Our group spent the last week volunteering at a permaculture farm called CIRENAS. Due to a recent donation, they were able to build a hatchery and start up a turtle conservation project which we had the opportunity to work on. Our roles included exhuming nests that had already hatched, recording data and patrolling the beach. Most of the group took the opportunity to take a shift… Read More

The group had a wonderful week at CIRENAS, learning about sustainability, permaculture, and turtles! A few photos from their adventures, with more updates to come: Kaylee wrote an article about their time there that was published in the CIRENAS newsletter: Working with baby turtles!… Read More

By Rachel and Sarah First week in Costa Rica! We had a pleasant early morning flight last Sunday and a short bus ride to the city of Turrialba. Meeting our host families created some anxiety as always but has greatly paid off this week. We feel we have made great connections with this group of people! We began our last week of Spanish school on Monday and we feel our… Read More

By Sarah and Madeleine Howdy from your southern belles, Sarah and Madeleine! We arrived in Flores Wednesday and met our contact Deiter who gave us some introductory information about Flores and the week ahead, then had free time. Some of us swam across the lake while others enjoyed immersing themselves in local culture by eating at Pollo Campero. On Thursday we toured the Yaxha ruins and camped overnight in tents.… Read More

Walking up through the jungle to the site. Climbing one of the steep pyramids. We made it to the top! Learning from our guide Dieter about the history of the site. Taking a closer look at how the temples were built. The Mayans would add one staircase on top of the other to add height to their structures. Watching the sunset from the top of one of the pyramids. The … Read More

By Nico & Sophie Hey everyone! We just finished up a beautiful week on the beach in the small village of El Paredon. We spent our time with an organization called La Choza Chula, a social enterprise focused on providing educational resources to the people of El Paredon. Throughout our time there, we participated in a variety of workshops based on the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. This included… Read More

By Asia and Ethan Asia and Ethan checking in after this very busy week! It started out with a bumpy ride to Cerro De Oro where we experienced a yoga and meditation retreat led by our zen OEs. We tried out acro yoga, yin yoga, and mastered our sun salutations. This was a great time to relax and have time for self-reflection. During the day we had a lot of… Read More

Work at G22. Group shot inside the new family home. Mangrove Tour in El Paredon. Acatenango hikers at the trailhead. Turtle releasing on the beach in El Paredon.… Read More

By Camille and Kaylee Camille and Kaylee here to refresh you on the adventures of the Carpe Diem Maya group. This week we were happy to return to Xela to continue our language classes at the sister school of Escuela de la Montana, PLQ. The group was paired off and put into homestays with some of the lovely locals that lie around town. On a typical day, we wake up… Read More

By Sailor and Daniel Hola! This Sunday we arrived at the mountain school in Fatima and Nuevo San Jose. Fatima is a community of ex-finca (plantation) workers, who were displaced by the unfair treatment of the finca owners. The people of Fatima lie on 20×20 meter plots of land, in houses composed mainly of cinderblock, wood, and sheet metal. We have been eating three meals a day with our homestay… Read More

Sophie and Sarah practicing their communication skills calling Brian & Ellen from a pay phone. Camile, Asia, Dan, and Nico in the central square in Xela. Rachel, Kaylee, and Asia enjoying a local treat. A group in front of the libreria in Xela during the scavenger hunt. A view of Xela from from the central square with all the food booths set up for Idependence Day.… Read More

By Rachel, Madeleine, and Harrison Hola! Aqui en Xela! We are happily cruising around in the Independence Day celebrations. Last night we walked around in the city square and watched fireworks! The city of Xela is very busy and people are happy to greet us as we walk by. We have had many good meals, mostly Asian food and we are eating at an Asian cafe. Lucky for us this… Read More