Hello from Playa Gigante! Sorry for the long hiatus between posts. We haven´t had many opportunities for internet in the last couple of weeks.
Last week the group worked hard on Finca Bona Fide on Ometepe Island. The farm´s main goal is to promote permaculture, or permenant agricultural, a practice of sustainable farming where the available resources are constantly reused as opposed to being used up as is in most… Read More
Tom here, writing you from my home here in the beautiful city of Cali, Colombia. The climate is around 80 degrees and perfect,while the wildlife and plantlife erupts from nearly every possible surface. I live with a yoga instructor from Argentina named Pablo, the owner of the house and center named Samantha, and her one and a half year old son Ilan. As if that wasn’t a perfect environment I… Read More
This week was spent running through the rambling streets and alleys of the longest consistently inhabited city in all of South America. Highlights included many amazing meals, a visit to the black market, salsa lessons, and a thundering sunset.
Cobblestoned streets lead from plaza to plaza, while fountains and an interesting array of graffiti decorate the walls.
Mornings have frequently begun with a quick stop at a nearby bakery for… Read More
Joseph and Byran Learning to Salsa
Today marks our last day in Cuzco. We have spent the past week in Spanish classes, which included various museum visits, cooking night, salsa lessons, and a visit to the black market.
Cuzco has to be my favorite city thus far. It has an air of beautiful decay. Many of the buildings are of old european stone and ceramic tile roofs, obviously incredibly beautiful… Read More
Its Hot Tuna here with ya’lls catch of the week from Featherston,NZ! We had a hoot of a time at dat racehorse lodge we stayed at. I just dont even know were to begin. Firstly it appeared to a few people dat the place we was stayin at was haunted of sorts, So da sage master decided to have a saging of sorts and done did send all da bad… Read More
After arriving in Kabale, we dove into Edirisa without knowing what to expect. We bought our groceries for the week and then split into two. Group 1 (Oren, Sophie, Rachel, Victoria) went to volunteer at the Special Needs Education Center while group A (Marisa, Ellen, Rachael, Giselle) volunteered with nursery school children in Buchinda. Both groups spent their time painting murals, making masks, cooking their own food, and especially playing… Read More
There is a moment when you have time, build up enough confidence and decide to embark on a personal journey. I have kept writing tour scripts about Firenze (Florence) and heard many great things about the city from my host family, the descriptions I work with for bicycling tours and my co-workers. I have been extremely encouraged to travel on the weekends out to nearby places. I have found it… Read More
I have to say, I have had quite the time over the last two and a half months down here. Here’s a quick little recap of the first month.
I arrived tired but optimistic to the CondorTrekkers office in Sucre after 29 hours of travel. I had a couple bumps in the road getting there (a confused taxi driver, a lost wallet scare) but arrived in one piece. I was… Read More
Our last day staying at the Marae we where taken on a sailing adventure and hike!
The ferry ride from Wellington to the south island.Some silliness along the way to the hostel… Read More
Arriving late in Kathmandu I finally met the man called Govinda. Since that day he has taken care of me and acted as an older brother, as we have taken on the task of getting his dream eco farm up and running. The farm itself is perched towards the top of a hill overlooking the valley below and the spectacular Himalayas, with Begnas Lake almost close enough to touch. Now… Read More
After our time in Gangtok, we prepared to go on our long awaited (or dreaded) trek in Western Sikkim. This area is dominated by high mountains covered in dense forests. While the beginning of our trek was only a few dozen kilometers away in Yuksom, it still took hours to reach our hotel having to navigate the winding dirt roads of Sikkim. Arriving at Ejam Residency, we found ourselves in… Read More
Our second week in Arequipa, Peru comes to its close in just seven hours. The week was filled with activities for Semana Santa, Holy week leading up to Easter (Today!). We sampled different fruit juices and various cow parts being sold in the streets as we joined the masses (pun) in a city wide crawl from church to church.
A few days ago, we enjoyed a goodbye party at the… Read More
Happy Easter from Areaquipa! It´s our last day here and many of us spent Easter morning feasting on traditional Peruvian Easter breakfasts with our home stay families. Being in Areaquipa for Semaña Santa has been quite the experience. On Holy Thrusday, we wandered around the streets of the city center doing the ¨Chruch Crawl.¨ We went from chruch to chruch attending Mass and sampling cow heart and fruit juices along… Read More
Carpe students enjoy a pizza party with the girls from the orphanage
Volcano “El Misti” towers over Arequipa
The plaza de armas at Sunset
Jackie and Lady with icing on their faces 🙂… Read More
I’ve spent the last month and a half volunteering at the Children’s Organization of Southeast Asia (COSA), located in the province of Mae Rim, just outside the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. COSA is an amazing organization dedicated to the prevention of human trafficking in the northern regions of the country. I’m living at the Baan Yuu Suk Shelter, which houses twenty sexually exploited, abused, or at-risk girls. As a… Read More
After spending the week repelling, climbing and paddling our way through the mountains, forests and waters of the North Island, I am confident that I am speaking on behalf of the group when I say that we have all felt the minor physical repercussions of our unsure footing, busy arms, and in my case, apparent aversion to staying on the bike path. In our valiant (and successful) attempts to keep… Read More
