Follow the Journey

We are having a great time in Nicaragua, besides trying to keep away the stray dogs. We are staying at a Hostel called Casa Nica, run by a red haired man from Texas.… Read More

It is hard to believe that it has only been two and a half days here in Masaya. While the long plane rides were taxing, we all made it through just fine. Arriving at the beautiful Casa Nica was a relief for a couple of reasons. We were all ready for some sleep, and the beds felt pretty comfortable. Also, our host Josh has been very generous in sharing the… Read More

We are in here in Cyber King in Nicaragua finding our map of Masaya for our scavanger hunt. Mariah has no idea what shes doing and will solely rely on Celinas talent. Celina is unsure if this is a good idea. However, we will press on and embrace our weaknesses! Con Amor, Mariah y Celina… Read More

Hola Mis Amigos, Today is our third day in Masaya, Nicaragua. The 14 of us, 12 students and our two leaders, Noah and Julia, are staying at a beautiful home called Casa Nica. Right now Mira, from MD, and I, from CT, are on a scavenger hunt around town. Our first stop was the Internet Cafe called Cyber King, it is our first time having access to internet since we… Read More

Hello Friends and Family of the Central America ITZA group, I just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve heard from group leaders Julia and Noah that the group has arrived safely in Nicaragua and are settling in to the hostel in Masaya where they will be for the next few days.  The group themselves will be posting updates from this point forward, so stay tuned for posts about their… Read More

The Carpe Diem Itza group has fully assembled in SFO, and checked in for their flight to Central America.  We wish them traveling mercies on their journey.  Stay tuned to hear of their adventures.   … Read More

Greetings soon to be ITZA family!! Noah and Julia here, your fearless leaders who spent a beautiful crystal clear hot Portland day traversing across the city on an epic scavenger hunt to gear up for our trip and discover many little treasures that the city of roses has to offer! Today, we sampled the scrumptious savors of food carts (Julia climbed inside one), Noah serenaded his lovely co-leader with a… Read More

Strange to be thinking about Scuba diving in Roatan, while sitting in Tucson sipping on coffee as my husband continues to purge our stuff (already four bags to Goodwill).  I flip through my pictures on the computer and am warmed by the swimsuits, sun and smiles we were sharing that last week of our semester.  Scuba is such a magical sensation that opens up a whole new world underwater.  We… Read More

This week has been full of amazing experiences. Let’s look at a normal day in the life of a Turtle conservation volunteer: 7pm: shift #1 starts 11pm: shift #1 ends – shift #2 begins 4am: shift #2 ends 7-8am: breakfast (optional, lots of people slept through it.) 12-1pm: Lunch (the more popular first meal of the day, depending on your shift the previous night) 1-6pm: hang out, read, sleep, rest,… Read More

Our adventure from Ometepe began with the very rocky boat ride back to main land Nicaragua. Cheridyn, Elise and I had a pretty normal boat ride, excluding the very bad dog horror movie that was playing for the duration of the boat ride. And then it hit us, a huge wave came through the window onto us and our bags just as we were turning into the dock! We weren’t… Read More

After leaving Tyler’s home in Playa Maderas, we began our free travel by spending Thanksgiving Day in nearby San Juan del Sur, where people could call their families at an Internet Cafe while others were able to secure transport and reserve a few nights at a hostel to our first destination. After a number of discussions, our group decided to all go to Isla de Ometepe, an island formed by… Read More

Playa Maderas was an overall amazing and fun experience. Our first half of the week was spent lounging on the beach and taking surf lessons, but our second half of the week was spent volunteering. One of the mornings we spent about three hours digging trenches and laying pipes so that we could deliver running water to the school. We worked with Communidad Connect and also parents of the school… Read More

Hola friends and family!   On Tuesday we said goodbye to Leon and headed south to Playa Maderas in San Juan del Sur. We were all really excited to spend our first actual week on the ocean, and this past week has been everything we have wanted and more! We are living with a good friend of Carpe Diem´s (Tyler) in his beautiful home overlooking the ocean. The first couple… Read More

This is a bit late as the group is already about to leave our first city in Nicaragua (Leon), but better late then never. Looking back on San Marcos our time was both amazing but also a bit detrimental. While in that kind of environment, I, aswell as many of the group members found it difficult not to slip into the tourist mentality. I know personally my Spanish was rarely… Read More

Hi there people we love! Hola from Nicaragua!!! We are all SO excited to be continuing our adventure  in a brand new country, especially one as intriguing as Nicaragua.  On Monday, we arrived at the airport in Managua, Nicaragua and then took a bus to the big city off Leon, where we are doing our very last week of spanish school. We have school weekday mornings from 8-12, and after… Read More

  Hey there Itza friends and family! Tom here, just wanted to give a little insight on what our time on Lago Atitlan entailed. After much deliberation and last minute planning, we had to cancel our 3 day trek. However, we were still able to do a 2 hour hike down the Indians Head mountain which had constant photo ops and a beautiful look over lago Atitlan. The view alone… Read More

Hello to the Itza group’s family and friends from Carpe Diem HQ, We hope you all are well and have been enjoying the blog and following along on Itza’s adventures.  We wanted to let you all know about a small change we’ve made to Itza’s itinerary.  As some of you may have heard, there has been a stomach bug going around the Itza group, and while everyone has been treated… Read More

Hola from Xela guatemala. This is our last day in the city after over two full weeks. Tomorrow bright and early we will leave for the Lago Atitlan trek, a 3 day long endevor that is sure to be an exiting challenge for grupo ITZA. The general consensus throughout the group is that we are ready to move on, but that doesnt mean we havent had a blast in Xela!… Read More