Follow the Journey

Hello again friends and family! We completed our first service project yesterday, making a mosaic for Carpe Mundi, and even had time to make individual tiles to bring for host families in the field or leave behind to decorate the Carpe Diem office- thanks artists! It was great to take time to meet with Carpe Diem founder, Ethan Knight, and solidify as a community. Today rocked our socks as we… Read More

We have all arrived safe and sound to the beautiful pacific northwest! Today was full of travel and excitement as students arrived to the Jennings Retreat Center where we all got to know each other a bit. After a delicious curry dinner we familiarized ourselves with the expectations, policies and logistics of the Latitudes program and Carpe Diem. Lights out was scheduled for 10 and we were able to end… Read More

When trying to decide which placement would suit my intentions best, I was primarily looking at organizations that would give me the opportunity to work with children who were at risk of dropping out of school, getting into drug use, having behavioral and disciplinary issues, things of that nature. I hope to one day go into the field of wilderness therapy and make a career out of helping young people… Read More

I’ve been in Nepal for just a little over two months now, and I’ve realized that I have become an old soul. Sometimes I sit on the porch of my guest house for hours and just look out over the valley, or watch a herd of goats grazing down the hill. I haven’t seen a car for an entire month. I read and journal and never watch tv. I don’t… Read More

Work at the Farm has been interesting lately, with an interesting variety of cleaning bikes, typing of hotel itinerary, creating tour scripts and gathering information for European cycling tours. In the office, various maps of roads, city layouts, national parks and highways have been at my fingertips. The information for a a single country is numerous with general travel information books that include history, art, food, language, hotel, attractions and… Read More

  Spring is slowly awakening as well as the song birds early in the morning, with days getting longer, warmer and fresher. Work has even moved outside with the two bicycle mechanics I work with, Merlyn and Dave. Temperatures are finally hitting the twenties (celsius) and that means BICYCLE CLEANING! Messy and fun and even enjoyable, cleaning bicycles is underway as the season itself is approaching. The first our is… Read More

  I have now been here for just over two months, and I can honestly say it has been the best two months of my life. I am teaching at a school for special needs children in a tiny village that you can’t even find on a map called Kitanga. There are about 60 students at the school and there are numerous disabilities,some including deaf, dyslexia,down syndrome and cerebral palsy .… Read More

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The last few days have been extremely busy as I have been spending time in and around the tour lead training simulation we are doing over the week. I have been kept busy with paperwork, organizing, cooking, meeting, greeting, cleaning and everything in between amongst the great weather (and even having chances to cycle and take some mechanical training which will come in handy in life or even the future… 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

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

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

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

Kaila here, writing from Millennium Elephant Foundation on the beautiful, tropical island of Sri Lanka! It took a few days but I did adapt to the thick humid heat, and have since enjoyed every second of my time here! I have been here for just over a month now, with another Carpe Diem student, Brooklynn. As Brooklynn’s blog covered most of the basics, with us there are usually 15 other… Read More

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  As my trip is tipping toward the half way mark, Im amazed by how quickly time has passed. In the last month and a half I have met people and have had experiences that will have a lasting effect on my life. Im continually attempting to make sense of the passed events I have witnessed while volunteering with Maison de la Gare. Ive come to the realization that it… Read More

As I write this, I am sitting on my terrace enjoying the humming of birds and the thick jungle that surrounds the property. Can life get much better?! I have now been living here for a little bit more than a month, and can honestly say it’s been one of the most (if not THE) most profound, beautiful and transformative experiences of my life. It seems with every day that… Read More

As the week later became sunny, the snow ceased to fall and the weekend approached for much needed to rest from taking in the rapid immersion of the Italian culture, language, new duties at my placement, finishing a number of bicycle tour projects, the jet lag and making myself at home. I looked forward to getting some extra sleep. Or so I thought. (Little did I know I was going… Read More

Update from Brooklynn Conner   Bend, Oregon!   Hello all from hot, humid, green, and gorgeous Sri Lanka. I am one month in to my three month stay at Millennium Elephant Foundation, in Kegalle Sri Lanka. After a few days of adjusting to a 13 1/2 hour time difference my time here has really flown by. I am one of about 15 other volunteers, one being a fellow Carpe student Kaila… Read More