by Kate Cone
After a bittersweet goodbye to the all you can eat pancakes at Hostel Oasis and all of Granada’s luxuries like real flush toilets, smoothies at The Garden Cafe, reliable electricity and free internet, we strapped all 14 packs to the van, ready to face a week getting in touch with nature and all it had to offer on the island of Ometepe.
With all of our Spanish… Read More
By Hadley Hobbs
We never thought we’d actually get this far in the trip but here we are…finished with our trek! After finishing up at SNEC we transferred to Lake Bunyonyi to spend one night at Edirisa’s Lodge before heading out. It was pouring down rain and the road was too muddy to drive so we ended up taking a very wet boat ride across the lake. LD’s yellow umbrella… Read More
By Siena and EmilySquatty
When we first saw it we held our poop for days,
But then we became accustomed to its natural ways.
There’s no toilet paper so we drip dry when we piss,
It’s really upsetting if we poop and we miss.
We’re no longer scared when we see just a hole,
But we are always excited when we see a bowl.
Fran’s Traveling Hair Salon,… Read More
By Nico and Oliver
For those of you who emailed headquarters, yes we are still alive!
After a challenging two weeks in Fiji, we arrived in the beautiful city of Newcastle. The change in pace was dramatic but offered the opportunity to recover from illness. Much needed. Our evenings were spent eating familiar foods, watching movies, and relaxing. Many of us admired Australia’s strikingly beautiful landscapes and were excited to… Read More
By Sea
Arriving at the Golden Temple in Amritsar immediately felt different from the rest of India.
A few of the main focuses of the Sikh religion are equality among all humans, generosity, selfless service, cleanliness, facial hair, devotion, and connection to God. This was immediately apparent with the marble tiles that made up the streets surrounding the temple and the lack of garbage littering them. The people were all… Read More
By Matt Harmon
Hola a mi Carpe Diem Familia!
We started this week with WAVES (Water, Adventure, Voluntourism, Education & Sustainability) in Lobitos, and ended in Cusco with Eco Yoga Inbound. Our final two days with WAVES was full of magic and lifelong memories.
On Monday, we woke up at 6:00 am to go out fishing with locals. This wasn’t just any ordinary fishing, we were one with the line,… Read More
By Naomi Garcia
Monday morning in Junín. High energy breakfast. Why? Biscuits, jam, AND cream cheese! A simple sounding breakfast for us back in the States but such a delicacy for us here (some even snagged jam-filled bread rolls in their pockets for later… Shhhh). After fueling up our bodies, we went on a five-ish hour hike through the cloud forest. Surprisingly, the clouds were so dense, we got to… Read More
By Eliza Patterson
For about the past week, we have been exploring the cities of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. These two cities have offered us two very different, but interesting, experiences.
Siem Reap is a city built for tourists. There were three different night markets within walking distance from our hostel and at least two fried ice cream roll stands on every corner. Chocolate croissants and even… Read More
By Jon
Hey, Jon here covering part two of our “Escuela de la Montaña” adventure. Big thanks to Dylan for part one. Give the man a Pulitzer, 10/10 writing. Anyways, let’s hop right into Thursday, November 9th, 2017. As it’s been explained, we had been split up into afternoon and morning classes. Now, there were two planned times for groups to go the local Mayan SHAMAN at a town called… Read More
By Dylan Crovo
Sunday morning was spent in Xela (pronounced shay-la); like any other morning spent at 8,000 feet in Guatemala, the day broke shockingly cold. Shivering despite my poncho, an impulse purchase made at one point or another by every member of the group, I arrived at Xela’s central park. In the mere 10 minutes it took for the rest of the group to arrive at the park, looking… Read More
By Overseas Educator Matt Shamey
Exploring bee fences as a means to mitigate elephant crop pillaging and doing some slashing of the grasses around the fences at the farm.… Read More
By Tate Scarpaci
After our last week of homestays, we began our week of Student Directed Travel (SDT). Everyone was stoked for some more adventure.
An eventful ride in a microbus led us to the city of Leon, our first stop of the week. It is a large, slightly touristy city, but a quick bus ride will get you out of the hustle and bustle to a nice little beach… Read More
By Brad and LD AKA: The Gentlemen of Kifaru
On Sunday, November 5th, 2017, the world was changed forever.
While at the Special Needs Education Center in Kabale, Uganda, we went to church. We thought it would be normal, but when they started to auction off goods to the community at the end of the service, our lives took a turn for the legendary.
As teenage boys, we really wanted… Read More
By Lily Hue
This week started at Mufindi Children’s Village where we continued working on the projects we started the week before. Our days were long but full of rewarding and purposeful work that left us tired but content at the end of the day. We all got a chance to work in the garden, hoeing and weeding the vegetable garden that makes up a large portion of the children’s… Read More
By Grace Frances Nelson
Do you find yourself questioning the monotony of the culture around you?
Have you never experienced what it feels like to be a minority?
Do you purposely choose to isolate yourself from the world beyond your precious city, state or country?
If you answered yes to any or all of these questions you may be suffering from a mild to severe case of what I call… Read More
By Ashton Saltz
Bula! Elliot and Ashton here to tell all of you about our Fijian adventures and homestay experiences. It has been a hot, humid, and hectic past couple weeks full of both good and bad. Some of the people in the group hadn’t experienced a third world country before this, and it became overwhelming at times for most.
On October 25, we all woke up at 3am to… Read More
By Jenny Olea
Hey everyone! It’s Jenny here, writing all the way from Australia. I would like to share my experience during the last couple of days in the village of Nakuku. On November 3rd, we went to visit the school Vuni Salusalu, where we got to meet a bunch of wonderful kids! Personally, I loved doing this because I really enjoy interacting with kids, getting to know them, and… Read More
By Harrison Wohlfarth
So this week was pretty dope. We started off with a bus ride from the O.G. city of Delhi to the humble mountains of Darhamsal after being delayed several hours (shout out to Indian transportation services). Despite having to wait several hours for the bus and meanwhile chilling on the streets of India, we eventually got to where we needed to go, though, which is all that… Read More
By Daisy O.
Our time in Fiji from start to finish had to be two of the most amazing weeks of my life. From the moment that I stepped into Nakuku, my village now, I was in love. Everyone was tired and sick after being on the ferry for twelve hours, then bumping through back roads. No one felt good but as soon as we stepped into the hall we… Read More
