We started student-directed travel with a bang! Sarah and Tully (who are writing you now) headed the first leg of this massive operation. We decided to go to Bikaner and explore the massive state of Rajastan which includes the Thar desert. Pray tell, what is the best method of desert exploration? CAMELS! That’s right, we did indeed decided to do a camel safari to kick off our last leg of… Read More
Sorry for the delay 😀Kailash-La again, wrapping up the our last week of planned travel here in the beautiful mountainside town of Mcleod Ganj, the home of the one and only, Mr. Lama himself. It took some serious skills of bus hoping to get here, but we finally arrived early afternoon on Thursday just in time to meet Neema La. Neema La is the fantastic woman who helped organize … Read More
After discusions and discusions we came to a conclusion on where to go during free travel: Lake Titikaka, the biggest lake in South America. To get there we reserved a posh bus from Cuzco to Puno that served Coca-Cola and coca tea, had a buffet lunch and stopped at a church, Incan ruins and a museum. Each stop had local women that sold artisan crafts to the gringo tourists visiting… Read More
There is a song by Guns and Roses that starts off “Welcome to the Jungle, we´ve got fun and games¨ and continues with ¨Welcome to the jungle we take it day by day. If you want it you’re gonna bleed but it’s the price to pay¨ and that is just what we had to do to have an awesome time in the Amazon Jungle.
We traveld from Cusco to a… Read More
Hari om (namaste, rishikesh version)!
It’s been awhile since we’ve last posted, so there is a lot to catch everyone up on.
Going back in time about two weeks ago- we were in the wonderful city of Darjeeling for three days to relax after our trek. Darjeeling is an absolutely magical hill station located in North eastern India, surrounded by rolling hills and the Himalayas. It is well known for… Read More
Hola!
Here I will pick up from where our own lovely Robin Berk left off from her last blog post. As all of our followers know, we had a lovely thanksgiving dinner upon our arrival to the “Bay of the Pirates”, which is a fairly remote beach on the western coast of Costa Rica. The journey there consisted of a few hours via public bus with a few transfers but… Read More
In the spirit of choosing our own adventures, we decided on Monday to split into two groups: Abby and Ole headed off towards the crimson rock spires surrounding the town for a hike while Hannah, Mike and I opted to have our own “urban” hiking adventure. We set off from the Super 8, our home for this leg of our trip, towards a part of Sedona referred to as “Uptown”… Read More
G’day family and friends!We’ve had an eventful week here in Australia that began in the lovely city of Brisbane!After arriving in Brisbane last Monday, we all headed out to explore the city. Some of us shopped, explored, went to museums, or just layed on the public “beach” and tanned. Our 3 days in Brisbane ended with a lovely Thanksgiving brunch with our new Carpe family. While this … Read More
Bienvenidos to all the Parents, Friends, Acquaintances, and whomever else is reading this blog.
As we bade our farewells to Nicaragua, we are again faced with the bittersweet transition of leaving a country we have grown to love, while also anticipating with excitement the adventures ahead. As Thanksgiving rolled around and we traded in the roosters whose cockles woke us up every morning in lieu of the sea turtles… Read More
¡Hola Amigos!
As our time with Project WOO (http://www.projectwoo.org/) came to an end, we reflected back on the amazing week we had. Who could forget all the hard work that we put into the repair and beautification of the elementary school´s fence, the time we put in teaching lessons, and the rewarding experience of working alongside the members of the community, children and adults alike? In addition, our… Read More
Guat is over. The section was fun while it lasted. We had a flawless travel day coming into Nicaragua. We spent are first few days in Granada.Most of Granada’s streets are narrow, as the city evolved centuries before the advent of motorized vehicles. Therefore, today, many streets allow only one-way traffic, offering a challenge to visitors traveling by car. Luckly we were striking on our feet. Granada is located along… 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
Hello family and friends!
It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since I last blogged about Darjeeling, but it’s true. Even harder to swallow is that we only have three weeks left in this beautiful country, so we are trying to savor every moment and learn as much as possible.
Currently, we are staying at Deer Park Institute in Bir. We arrived here on the 16th and have immensely… Read More
Tashi Delek,
Happy Thanksgiving in Tibetan is a little complicated, so we thought we’d settle for hello. Shanti Group has found respite in the hills, a welcomed break from the chaos, pollution, dust, stares, and smells of the plains. After a week at Deer Park Insitute studying Buddhism, we’ve moved on to McLeod Ganj, the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in-exile. Right now as we type… Read More
November 4th –November 11th
Last night we had the privilege of camping in 18 degree weather, nature welcoming us to Chaco Canyon. Even though I slept in the back of our van, I was just as cold in there as I would have been outside. At 11:00 we took a tour of the Una Vida dwelling, the ruins closest to the visitors center. The region contains dwellings that date around… Read More
Our last minute Free Travel was a complete success! We had an amazing four days at the Rhino Sanctuary. We all came together really well to work out the tight budget to be able to volunteer at such an incredible organization. We spent a lot of time going out on foot with the rangers to monitor the different groups of rhinos. We were able to get as close as ten… Read More
This week, the group arrived in Newcastle, Australia, to begin our week of volunteer work with the CVA (Conservation Volunteers Australia)! We were split up into two different groups for the week–Neil, Courtney, Sadie, Tommy, Abbott, and me (Sienna) stayed in Newcastle, and Macy, Ally, Rob, Taylor, and Kitch were driven out about three hours to a farm, where I’m sure they’re having a blast.
My group is staying in… Read More
It’s time now for our free travel! We have managed to land an awesome deal with a rafting company which Michelle had some contacts in. 9 of us will be doing 2.5 days hiking on the St. James Walkway and deviating from it a little bit to reach the destination where we will be picked up and then go rafting down the Clarence River for 3 days. We woke up… Read More
So this is kind of a rap so bare with me, it’ll be a little awkward reading it through typing.
Happiness is the goalll,
and suffering is a prison
There ain’t no guards on patrolll,
and the keys lie with wisdom
Our minds are outta controolll,
and the remedy is Buddhism.
If we stop thinking and listen
we might find nothings missin’
No senseless hate, anger or killin’
Just compassion… Read More
hello everyone !!! its Ellen again, i hope you are all doing good and have wonderful health and fantastic luck and what not but lets get down to the blog this is serious time.
So we went from rishi kesh by bus (this was a new and …interesting experience) all the way to Amritsar where we planed to see the golden temple. when we where staying there we did not… Read More
