The ocean.. what a treat she was to us. After making a trip on a ferry midst a thunderstorm from Ometepe to hopping on a bus to San Juan del Sur, Nica, the gentle waves of the Pacific were beaconing us. We arrived at Casa del Oro, a sweet set up of a hostal, Mitch (from Bona Fide) from Bona Fide manages. Settling in, our tummy growls navigated us to… Read More
Una semana luego… (in Spongebob tone)
Talk about the great outdoors this week! And when I say “great,” I MEAN it. This island and everything on it is truly MAGICAL. Not only are all of our meals completely fresh and natural, but literally the whole system of the Bona Fide farm and our way of living is all natural. First off (well, there really is no “first” because it’s a… Read More
!Hola familias y amigos!
On Sunday, we arrived by bus to the beautiful city of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. It was a change of scene moving from the rural town of Concepcion to a more fast paced larger city. We learned quickly why people say that Matagalpa is the Portland of Nicaragua, with all the trendy shops and cafes on every corner. We immediately fell in love with our new home.
This… Read More
*Hola padres, hermanos, primos, abuelos, amigos, y algún otras personas!
Oh my gatos… it has already felt like some crazy hot weeks that we’ve spent together, but it has only been a few, fun-lovin days here in Masaya, Nicaragua. Already we have accomplished becoming some airport Shuttlecock Olympians, cabana whip nae-nae-ers, and jouster professionals in la Laguna de Apoyo. *ES LOCO CRAY CRAY! What us new adventurers need some time… Read More
After a smooth, safe flight, the QUETZAL group has made it to Nicaragua. They are settling in to their guest house in Masaya, and Kevin and Bria have informed me that “the students are happy and awesome!”. They will have the opportunity to post to the blog in the coming days to share more about their orientation, and will continue to post updates here over the next three months. Follow… Read More
Dear family and friends,
The Central America QUETZAL group has all arrived safely to LAX and they are about to proceed through security and begin their adventure together. We wish them all the best as they traverse new internal and external landscapes over the next 3 months.
Buen viaje, QUETZAL!
Stay tuned to the blog for an update when they land safely, and then to hear snippets from the journey… Read More
As many of you may have realized, us gappers will be returning to your homes in about one week. While we are all extremely excited to see each and every one of your beautiful faces, we are also a bit unsure of how we are going to deal with the counter-culture shock. After nearly three months of cold showers, outdoor “bathrooms” and gallo pinto, the North American lifestyle will simply… Read More
Carpe Diem Quetzal would like to extend its deepest apologies for being terribly remiss in the posting of blogs recently. Computers have been rare and electricity to power them even more rare. Now with a return to modernity and a hostel with free computer usage we can all catch up like the good friends we are.
So lets start where the last blog left off. We left the island of… Read More
We all survived the second and last week at Bona Fide Farm! Some of us were a little worn out in the beginning of the week, but a couple surprises from Mitch, AKA Earth Mother, made an awesome week. To start the week, Kaitlin, Zach, Byron, Graham, and I went to Santa Cruz beach. A storm approached as we arrived, but that did not stop any of us from swimming… Read More
On the morning of November 9th, we all said farewell to our wonderful host families as we began our full day journey to Bona Fide Farm on the island of Ometepe. Carrying our backpacks with us, and thankfully not misplacing any of them, we prepared ourselves for two back to back two and a half hour bus rides, 2 taxi rides, and eventually the one hour ferry ride (which was… Read More
Hola friends and family! We’re ending our week here in Matagalpa, and what a crazy busy one it’s been. We started the week off with a bang, by pulling up to Colibri Spanish School in a super cool, private chicken bus (thanks to the wonderful Keelyn Szederkenyi). There we met Noelia, our contact from Colibri. She took us to a fantastic lunch, where we were given an orientation of sorts… Read More
We´ve had an incredibly laid-back week. We took the weekend to recuperate from Agüizotes and explore the city of Masaya, finding our favorite smoothie shop in town, the Frutería, and going through multiple punch cards during the week. On Monday we started our classes during the afternoons, having the mornings and evenings to do as we please. This was the first time that we´ve had Spanish classes in groups, in… Read More
Hola from Kaitlin, this week’s Bilbo Bloggins. I am currently in Masaya, Nicaragua, where we are all in one piece after a glorious week of STUDENT DIRECTED TRAVEL. For the past 7 days we have been reponsible for figuring out transportation, accomadationss, and activities for ourselves, guided only by an overall budget and our heart’s desires. And, of course, the Sacred Six.
Our fearless student directed travel leaders Byron, Lucie,… Read More
We’ve made it to Costa Rica or in the Spanish translation, the rich coast! Our initial impressions upon our arrival was that this was a tourist-central country. We were witnessing a more western scene than we were used to back in Guatemala. But aside from that we also noticed the plentiful vegetation, the long-extending, coffee coloured beaches and the constant roar of the waves clashing against one another. If I… Read More
This has been our last week here in Guatemala and it has surely been an eventful one! To kick start this week we endured a rugged 25 mile hike through the thick of the the Guatemalan jungle. We would hike a portion of the distance every day while staying at local villages along the way each night. We faced many daring exploits through the entire expedition such as psuedo-vertical climbs,… Read More
After some last minute bakery runs we all jumped into vans and drove to Xela. And well, here we are again, back in Xela. We have all had a fantastic week studying spanish at Casa Xelaju. It was a little nerve racking at first because minutes after we arrived at Casa Xelaju on the first day we were off to meet the families we would be living with for the… Read More
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
