The hot and heavy humidity covers me like a blanket, as sweat drips down my for head, and falls towards the floor of the bus. I look to my left and see my friends sticking their heads out the window of our bus, driving from Nadi, Fiji, to Latoka, Fiji. An old Fijian man asks me where I’m from, and I tell him I’m from the states. He speaks fluent… Read More
Our first week in Fiji has been an exciting one! We arrived at the airport and immediately felt the hot, heavy air. After piling all of our belongings, ourselves included, into a van we made our way to the Nadi Downtown Hotel where we would stay for 2 nights. The boys unleashed their inner little girl after finding a large cockroach in the bedroom, which eventually we got used to.… Read More
Dear friends and family,
Our apologies go out for the delay of this post as internet access is limited in Fiji. Included below are highlights from our week of student directed traveling (10/12 to 10/19):
*Stargazing at lake Tekapo on the beach
*$5.50 burgers in town (cheapest we’ve found!)
*Seeing a few wild Kea Parrots
*Eating lunch while a man dressed in camo gear carrying a headless deer on his… Read More
Hello family and friends! Before I begin- this will be a very short, and very brief post. I’ll hit y’all with a bunch of awesome pictures soon, but I lack the technological capabilities to do so at present. We’re finally in Varanasi! After bumping around from place to place for a week, we’ve arrived and begun to settle down for internships, ghat viewings, and other exciting adventures in this holy… Read More
Hello all! Has it been a memorable week! Leaving Deer Park and its peaceful atmosphere was quite a shock as we stumbled onto an eight hour public bus to Amritsar at four in the morning. Needless to say this was a journey in itself. But once we all arrived at the Golden Temple, where we would be staying for two days, it was clear to see that although hectic, it… Read More
Last week we began our tumultuous adventure into the Lahu and Akha villages. Due to some communication breakdowns and language barriers, when we arrived at the Mirror Art Foundation’s base camp, we didn’t know exactly what to expect, but our host Pi Moo quickly filled us in. While we were here, this Thai organization was working with the local hill tribe villages (Akha and Lahu) on a retaining wall project… Read More
We’ve received word that the group has returned from their volunteer project doing flood reparation work with the Akha and Lahu villagers. They have moved on to the Pleek Wiwek Dhamma Centre near Wieng Haeng. We’ll look forward to their next updates as they learn about Theravadan Buddhism and border issues involving the Shan people along the Burmese border.… Read More
Blog and photos by Claire G.
Our time in Rwanda has already come to an end. We had an eventful ten days here! We started by exploring the beautiful city of Kigali. We admired its western characteristics such as paved roads, tall buildings, use of helmets and even Mexican restaurants. The next day we boarded a public bus (squished like sardines) to the Kigali Genocide Museum. We learned the history… 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
After our flight from Guatemala City to Managua, Nicaragua got delayed, we immediately jumped into a bus guided by three new, but friendly faces. We were then introduced to the Nicaraguan currency, cordobas! First thing after arriving at our new home for the next week, El Piscacho, our Carpe group was introduced to a two and a half hour lesson of Nicaragua´s intense and dramatic history. The next day we… Read More
The group is thriving in their village in Fiji! Just wanted to share a quick photo in front of the community center with the whole group. More photos to come soon!… Read More
Finally we have arrived at mini student directed travel! After a week in the small mountainous town of Pucara we are back in the hustle and bustle of Otavalo. After a two hour nauseating bus ride we arrived Wednesday and kicked the week off with a trip to the Condor Park. Afterwards we attempted to hike to a the Peguche waterfall but made about 8 wrong turns and were forced… Read More
Hello friends and family of the Hongi group!
We had a great start into our free travel week as we left the Marae and headed to Tekapo for the night. While in Tekapo, we lounged on the beach and soaked in hot springs. It was a quick stay but surely relaxing. Then it was off to the fun city of Queenstown, just for the night, to prepare for our couple… Read More
While the group is currently heading off to their next project in Rwanda, Colin and Mandy wanted to send off these pictures from the canoe trek at the end of their time in Uganda on the shores of Lake Bunyonyi. Appreciation to our friends with Edirisa Canoe Trekking for helping to make this such a memorable experience!… Read More
For the past week the Kifaru group, including yours truly, Chris Madkins, have stayed at the Ohana Amani retreat. The center is located outside the city of Njombe, perched on a landscape of forests and hills…with lots of wind! Our care takers were Chevy and Curry Anton, two hella rad sisters from California- What! What! Our week of self discovery was powerful, even more so due to a tragic event… Read More
TAKE THREE! I would like to premise this by letting you all know I am typing this all on a phone because I tried to use the Internet cafe twice already and both times the power cut out at the end of writing the blog. Three cheers for India!!!
Namaste Carpe Diem friends and family! Our adventure continued this week in the beautiful lower Dharamsala at the now deeply beloved… Read More
Inti group during a hike near Pucara.
Checking out a waterfall near hot springs!
Enjoying a game of tug-of-war with local children in Pucara.… Read More
On Tuesday, October 7th, Carpe Diem´s INTI students bumped along the stunning cliffs of the Western slope of the Andes towards the small Intag Region village of Pucara, one of our final destinations in Ecuador. This region of Ecuador is home to the cloud forest habitat, one of the top 10 most biodiverse ecosystems in the World. Over the next few days we got to know the land pretty well… Read More
