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
I heard from the group right before they left for their village homestays and volunteer project yesterday! Their first few days in Fiji were a great start as they delved into the culture, had some time to get to know the city of Nadi during a scavenger hunt, and enjoyed time on the beach. Here are a few photos from their time in NZ.… Read More
This last week we have been staying on an organic farm, and I have been reaffirming my hippie lifestyle. The farms name was Pun Pun, and was started by a smiley thai man by the name of Pi Jo. People quickly fell in love with the laid back atmosphere, smiles were flowin and arm pit hair was showin. We gardened , cooked, and had dance parties in mud pits. They… Read More
Agandi!
I am writing to you from an internet cafe in Kigali, Rwanda! Although we were sad to say goodbye to Uganda, we are looking forward to experiencing the culture and learning about Rwanda’s history!
We ended our adventure in Uganda by doing a three day, two night canoe and trek on Lake Bunyonyi. Our trek was led by a superb tour guide named Owen who captured all our hearts.… Read More
Dear Friends and Family back home,
The Carpe Diem Walkabout group has successfully landed in Fiji. We spent the last night in Auckland going out to a nice dinner as a celebration for our final hours in New Zealand. New Zealand will be forever in are humble hearts along with the UNFORGETTABLE memories that we made there. It seems like just yesterday we were all in LAX just meeting each… Read More
Our month in NZ has finally come to an end. We had more incredible moments than this blog could handle, but here are some of our favorites;
1. The breathtaking views of NZ as we made our final decent into Wellington after a long day of travel.
2. Arriving at our hostel in Plimmerton on a nice quiet beach after a long 20 hour day of flying and chaotically running… Read More
A key part of our gap year in New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia is dedicating time to reflect on how we got to where we are today. For this exercise, we all thought back to the hey-day of our childhood. From quirky to serious, read on for bits of wisdom from the Hongi group!
– Invest all of your Christmas money into Apple before iPhones.
– Play more basketball and… 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
Greetings from the young and adventurous Hongi!! We successfully lived at the Marae for five nights. We stayed in Rapaki and were introduced to the Maori and their humble living area. The opening ceremony was fun, interesting, and made all of us a bit anxious. The important thing was, we were accepted.
Throughout the rest of the week, we got down and dirty (with the wildlife that is). We… Read More
We are now in the city of Varanasi, or as the locals called it Banaras. Just a short walk from the Ganges, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed all this river symbolizes to the Hindustani people. I’ve watched as they pray to her, bathe in her, drift upon her surface, perform rituals in the ghats that line her shores, and sadly, also defecate on and litter the beaches, contaminating the waters to a… Read More
Hello all! Today is our last full day in Guatemala– we’re heading out early tomorrow (like 3am early) to get on a plane for Nicaragua! I know that I speak for the whole group when I say that these weeks in Guatemala have been absolutely amazing. We’ve seen amazing sights, learned things we could never learn anywhere else, and met incredible people. We’ve had our ups and downs like any… Read More
These fantastic photos were just sent in of the NKULA crew working at SNEC (the Special Needs Education Center where we volunteer with Edirisa, UK).
The first is a mural they designed and painted based on Dr. Seuss’s “Oh The Places You’ll Go.” The second is the Nkula crew with many of the students at SNEC. The final photo is of the hill behind the school where our group went… Read More
Hello friends and family!
We hope you’re doing well. We are writing to you from an internet cafe in Kabale, Uganda. We just returned here after five days at SNEC (Special Needs Education Center), which is partnered with Edirisa UK. SNEC is a home for special needs children ranging from primary 2 classes through primary 7. They have students as young as seven, and up to twenty two years old.… Read More
Our third week began by travelling from Anne’s farm to a nearby Maori community center, called the Kotare Trust where we have been living for the week. We were greeted warmly and openly by the generous hearts of the Maori family who help run the Trust. After enjoying a few songs and a traditional dance we were welcomed into a room with an expansive and delicious lunch spread. As we… Read More
We apologize for our delay of this blog post, due to lack of internet access.
We arrived to a farm just outside of the small town of Warkworth, where we were greeted by Anne and members of the Verdonk family. We were also kindly welcomed by a small Maori family living on the farm. As we settled in to our new home for the next week we were all… Read More
Hello readers of the Hongi FANZ blog! Our week at Blue Mountain Adventure Center was exciting but tough for all. We started our week of adventures by spelunking on Monday. We were all surprised by how intense this first activity was. Only a handful of us had ever gone caving before, so I think I can speak for the group when I say that the intensity was a surprise! If… Read More
