Hola from Portland, OR, and welcome to the South America spring ’09 blog! We are very excited about the upcoming journey and have spent the past week here at Carpe Diem HQ going over all the final details. We are looking forward to meeting you all on Wed. Feb 11th at 10pm at the TACA airlines counter in LAX. Enjoy your last few days in the states and we will… Read More
Saludos amigos,
The countdown is on, and we (Nick & Amanda) are brimming over with excitement for the upcoming adventure. The itinerary has been fine-tuned and is chalk full of opportunities to learn, serve and explore… with the eight of us experiencing all of this together, we will deepen into Central America in a way unique to any other method of travel. Over the next three months, a weekly update… Read More
Hey all,
Was it really just a two weeks ago we were sweating buckets in the intense Port Douglas heat, and exploring a totally foreign underwater world? Seems so distant as all of a sudden it gets dark at 4:00 and we are surrounded by all this snow…
How can one sum up such an incredible three months, the journeys we went on, the people we have encountered, the changes… Read More
What an amazing trip it’s been! Our last week in Honduras was spent on white sandy beaches Scuba diving, and eating delicious Caribbean coastal food, while our friends and family at home were probably wishing for a little more sun. We have been to four countries, and had the chance to discover Central America, learn Spanish, and make friends that will last a lifetime. Thank each and every one of… Read More
Namaste lovely people…Hopefully everyone is slowly recovering from the jetlag and even more ready to begin a new exciting phase. As we all know…the last part of the trip just flew by, and it seemed as though we were saying goodbye much sooner than we were ready for. I know that Shangu and I feel so very blessed to have met you all and to have had the opportunity to… Read More
Its Stacy here again to give a real quick summary of the Galapagos before we all come back to the states and tell you all about it ourselves!
This week in galapagos has been pretty much the best time of my life. The moment we climbed off the airplane and dumped our stuff off on the boat we spent our nights on we were ushered off to see the giant… Read More
Hey all,As our trip comes to a close, it’s time for the final blog. We find ourselves possibly stranded on Koh Tao, and as being stuck somewhere goes, it definitely could be worse. (More beautiful beaches and scuba?! No! Anything but that!) As most of you probably know, the situation in Bangkok prevents any possibility of leaving on our scheduled Bangkok- Hong Kong flight. As of now we don’t really… Read More
So we originally were going to “Paradise” this run-down little two-bit joint complete with brownish water, tents and millipedes. We did that for a night and decided that free-travel or no, lazy time on the beach or no, sometimes it’s better to be proactive. Thus, Camille, Jessie, Aura, David and some other investigatory types walked a total of 50 yards to the left and found what we were looking for.… Read More
Before we move on to less important matters, let us touch on a subject that is as deeply ingrained in our hearts as your love: Chocolate Salami.
Now, moving on. These last few days have been quite hectic with the Mumbai attacks, but thankfully we are all safe and sound in Calcutta. We are lucky enough to still be staying at Nalin’s aunt’s apartment and the hospitality has been superb… Read More
Namaste Family and Friends.We finished up the ashram program with a nice Puja ceremony, in which we chanted a mantra 108 times before burning our worries away. Then we left the rushing Ganga and drove down to Haridwar. We stayed here last night and watched the news of the Mumbai attacks – a crazy way to come back to the world indeed. Scary, but luckily it’s far from where we… Read More
Hello one and all-Completed our student ran free travel which we spent exploring the vast complexities of Bangkok. It was a little hard getting used to the city life, which was far more hectic than Chiang Mia. Regardless the city was great. Spent one of the days doing a cooking course which varied with 10 courses and a trip to the market to know what we were using. And with… Read More
Hey everyone! This is Stacy here to catch you all up on our adventures.
So after our language schools / chaotic countryside indigenous children elementary school adventure, we headed to the coast to visit a spiritual retreat called Sumai. There, the plan was to spend a week recuperating after our final language schools and learn some things about yoga as well as native shamanism. When we arrived, however, we found… Read More
It’s been a very busy two weeks! It began with the group being split into two different groups for our work with the CVA (Conservation Volunteers Australia): Group one consisted of Alana, Chris, Annie, and Lindsay. Group two was Tracy, Ryan, Sarah, and Zach. It was a surprise to us all, and it was really weird splitting up the group after having been together for so long!
Alana, Chris, Annie… Read More
This is Ethan here, just wanting to reassure any worried parents in the light of the Mumbai tragedy that the group is doing well and are meditating their way through Thanksgiving at an ashram about 280 miles from Mumbai. They don’t have access to the internet at the ashram at the moment so I’m making this quick post: the group is OK and they are quite safe.
Please stay tuned… Read More
Namaste!!!
This will be a quick blog to first wish everyone a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! We all just spent the day together, with the feelings of gratefulness emanating from us all about being together…and also for having the love and support from our family and friends at home. So grateful of all of the eye-opening and soul enhancing experiences we have had here.
Also just to let everyone know, we… Read More
Our first few days in Rishikesh were very relaxing. We were able to explore the yoga capital of the world and reflect on our experiences in India thus far. Some of us took the opportunity of the clean Ganges water to wash our sins away. We dunked in the water 3 times, as is customary in the hindu culture. The water was cold and clear, but very refreshing.We also had… Read More
Welcome back faithful readers, hope all who read this are doing as well as Team Seasia. After our adventures in Chiang Mia, the troop set off for IWP, a women’s justice center located in Mae Rim. There we learned much about Buddhism, eachother, and our inner being; deep stuff. There was a tight schedule of meditation of various sorts throughout the day; from sitting mediation, to walking meditation, to yoga.… Read More
So now that the majority of us are certified Thai Massage therapists and Basic Healing practitioners, not to mention professional musicians, we have the time and energy to greet the Dali Lama as he pulls into his Temple after long travels. He has returned to his home in India! We are very fortunate to be here during the time of his presence although speeches will only begin after our departure.… Read More
So we arrived in Moshi last Friday, which was pretty exciting. We took a bus and it was only like an hour from Arusha, which was pretty nice. We got a spectacular view of Mt. Kilimanjaro on the way. We settled into Kilimanjaro Backpackers Hotel, which has ceiling fans that the man room thoroughly enjoyed (Don’t ask why). David also celebrated our arrival by shaving his “facial hair.” Everyone was… Read More
