Blog

Bona Fide Balgue Babes

Una semana luego… (in Spongebob tone) Talk about the great outdoors this week! And when I say “great,” I MEAN it. This island and everything on it is truly MAGICAL. Not only are all of our meals completely fresh and natural, but literally the whole system of the Bona Fide farm and our way of living is all natural. First off (well, there really is no “first” because it’s a… Read More

Final Days in New Zealand

The Bay of Islands were so beautiful and some of us went kayaking or just chilling on the beach. We had an awesome dinner for our last night in New Zealand. We didn’t do too much for the 2 days that we were there so it was nice to have a break after working at the farm for a week, but we all had fun and some good quality time… Read More

Bula Bula!

Bula bula! 2015 walkabout group has wrapped up our month in New Zealand. We made it safely to Fiji! We are all ready for tropical shorts and flip flops weather. We arrived yesterday in Nadi then took a short van ride to our hostel in New Town. The city is very unique and not like anything I have experienced before. I love the island vibe and all the positive energy… Read More

An Unforgettable Time in Raglan

Surely Raglan couldn’t be as cool as Avi said it would be.That’s because no place could be THAT cool. But it was better. From the moment we glimpsed the rooftops of the town and the white foam of the waves to the moment they disappeared behind us as we headed for Aukland, Raglan was amazing. Upon arrival we settled into a hostel called Solscape. To describe how we felt about… Read More

Canoe Trek in Uganda and on to Rwanda

By Eliza J Although our time in Uganda was spent with amazing people, food and unique cultures, we are excited for new adventures and where our journey will take us. Early this week, we finished our time in Uganda with new friends and local communities during our three day hike and canoe on Lake Bunyoni. Over the course of our three day adventure we spent the first day paddling in… Read More

Pun Pun was fun fun

Hello again from the soap making, garden raking, “from scratch” baking Sabai group! We’ve just arrived back in Chiang Mai after an incredibly fun, eye opening, and beautiful week in “Pun Pun”. “Pun Pun” translates to “Thousand Varieties” and is a community centered around self-reliance and improving personal and global health, the economic struggles of current Thai farmers, and the environmental implications of sustaining our planet (with a focus on… Read More

Welcome to the Jungle – Tena/Otavalo

We spent four days of last week in the Ecuadorian Amazon, 30 bumpy minutes outside of the city of Tena, learning how much life can improve when you’re half an hour from the nearest power outlet and surrounded by deet-hungry mosquitoes. Special thanks to my anti-malarial tablets for making this awesome stay possible. We bunked down in a ridiculously cool two-story shack that our backpacker-friendly host family had constructed in… Read More

And then there were 10

Copied from my personal blog doslenguasdosalmas.wordpress.com Alright boys and girls, its been a while, but I’m back. Since my last update we’ve been through three cities, Baños, Tena and Otavalo. Our time in Baños was highlighted by the volcanic hot springs. The city of Baños sits at the base of Tungurahua, a 16,000 foot active volcano which heats the pools of water down below to a comfortable but attention grabbing… Read More

Fishing!

Kalie, Ryan, and I (Syd) got a chance to go fishing with our farm contacts. We went out on this tiny little boat and the water was really choppy. Once we finally got out far enough, we cast our lines and started catching fish almost instantly. We caught a bunch of KaWe and some Red Snapper as well. Ryan and I were doing great but Kalie wasn’t having much luck… Read More

Saq’iriq!

Saq’iriq (Buenos dias, or for the rest of you English speakers, good morning) from Pasac! This week started off with a much needed sleep-in day after a tough night hike up the volcano Santa Maria. Originally the plan was to hike from midnight straight through morning for a sunrise cup of hot chocolate on the summit. Unfortunately, not everything goes as planned and we put our group skills to the… Read More

Organic Farm Living

This past week living and working at Sheila’a organic farm has been unbelievable. When we arrived on Monday, we were welcomed to a beautiful property by the wonderful Sheila. Her and Anne have been so generous with their land and time and I know our whole group appreciates what they’re doing for us. Our first two days of work were spent on Anne’s farm, completing projects like chopping up wood… Read More

Chasing Waterfalls – Baños

( Adapted from personal blog, http://jackdubreuil.blogspot.com/ ) It´s almost a challenge to describe the Ecuadorian town of Baños without sounding like a travel brochure. The place has everything a tourist (or a roving band of student-volunteers) could wish for: a friendly atmosphere, fantastic food, plenty of nightlife, and a picturesque mountain range, which rises up majestically on every side and boasts something like 65 waterfalls. The outdoor scene, as you… Read More

The Homestay Daze

Sorry for the late blog post, we’ve been having too much fun living in the moment – we are all alive and well (parents please don’t worry, all is top notch on our end). After orientation in Chiang Mai and our trek with third eye travel, our group headed about 6 miles north of Chiang Mai to a town/village called Mae Rim. We met our Thai teacher, Petchara, at the… Read More

An Indian Sunrise to Begin & End the Week

Our week began and culminated with 2 incredible sunrises. On Sunday morning, we sleepily stumbled into rickshaws at 5:45 AM to head to the Taj Mahal. We were able to beat the crowds and the scorching mid-day heat. In true Indian fashion, we had to experience some sort of chaos before actually getting in! The security line was hectic and extremely unorganized, but it was well worth the wait. The… Read More

WOOFERS

Being a wwoofer(willing worker on an organic farm) has been an amazing experience so far. I have a new respect for all farmers because the work is surprisingly challenging, gross, and energy consuming. The mornings have been lots of hard work and the afternoons have consisted of lots of pool and ping pong. My first task this week was a two-day job at Anne’s farm. Jessie and I partnered up… Read More

Ruaha Safari and Reflections

There has been no experience in my life that even remotely compares to our safari in Ruaha National Park. From each moment to the next, I only wished for my eyes to see more of the mind blowing beauty that surrounded us. Tall grass stretched to meet the bumpy purple hills in the distance. The savannah was dotted with tangles of thorny brush, clustered around the thick trunks of baobab… Read More

The Science of the Present

As an aspiring engineer, I find the Dev Bala farm and all of its inner workings to be fascinating. At first glance, the rural and laid-back atmosphere of the land would encompass the same industrial and clockwork stereotypes that come with engineering. Yet in more ways than one, it is a self-sustaining machine that surpasses my previous conception of what farming is all about. Every task is carried out with… Read More