Volunteering with the CVA!

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
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

Free Travel! And Sydney of Course.

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
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

Blog from Brisbane on our week stay at the Chenrezig Institute, a Buddhist center and monastery.

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
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

throwing plates and golden temples !

Archive India- SHANTI
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

Living in Paradise

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
Hola friends and family!   On Tuesday we said goodbye to Leon and headed south to Playa Maderas in San Juan del Sur. We were all really excited to spend our first actual week on the ocean, and this past week has been everything we have wanted and more! We are living with a good friend of Carpe Diem´s (Tyler) in his beautiful home overlooking the ocean. The first couple… Read More

Yeah we made it- We’re the worlds greatest!!!

Archive India- SHIVA
Leaves crunching, birds chirping, everyone laughing, bells ringing, snow falling. We heard, felt, touched, saw, and most importantly smelt a lot this past week on our epic Himalayan trek. We spent four nights camping on the mountain and five days trekking up and back. It was a trip full of extremes. At points we were in shorts and t shirts sweating and slightly dreading the crazy mountain death star and… Read More

Back into the Himalayas

Archive India- SHIVA
After an overnight train from Kolkata that was surprisingly on time, we got a jeep to Gangtok (about a 5-6 hour drive). We arrived that evening to Gangtok which was absolutely beautiful. We were staying at a Guest house/ Home stay  but we were in separate rooms but we ate with the family. The family we stayed with was a very extended family consisting of a mom with her two… Read More

A Breath of Fresh Air

Archive South America- INTI
  Breath in, breath out. Feel the oxygen fill your lungs completely. Take a moment to clear your head of all thoughts. On that note, let me say a few things about our time in the Sacred Valley at the Sradhavan yoga retreat. After the exhausting days of Cusco, a retreat was exactly what all of us needed. I really wasn’t sure what to expect going into it. I imagined… Read More

Angkor Wat

Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
Since leaving the Dharma Center we went far South and a little east and ended up in a little town called Ayutthaya. It was really hot. We rented bikes for the day and rode around to all the old temples. After an exhausting day we went to the hostel expecting to sleep but unfortunately for us they played live music downstairs until 12. The next morning we had to catch… Read More

Taj Mahal Adventures!

Archive India- SHANTI
Namaste everybody! Sarahji here telling you guys all about our AMAZING time at the Taj Mahal! We all wanted to see the Taj at sunrise so we started off our day waking up at the crack of dawn to go get in line. Tully and I thought what a better opportunity to wear our saree’s than at the Taj Mahal! Thakfully Kaila knew how to wrap a saree (she learned… Read More

Hello from Jinja, Uganda!

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
Hello to all of our friends and family! We have just arrived in Jinja, Uganda, back from our 5 day volunteering project at the Mawoito school. We successfully completed our project of painting a block of three classrooms. Today we were thanked by the teachers and students with a performance of local songs and dances and many speeches by school board members and the head master of the primary school.… Read More

Photos from Ecuador!

Archive South America- INTI
Hello from Carpe HQ!  While the group wasn’t able to post these photos while they were in Ecuador, they recently were able to email them to me and I thought all the South America blog followers would appreciate them.  (You can keep clicking on individual photos to see the larger versions.)  Enjoy!  … Read More

Greetings From Sydney!

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Greetings all from Sydney Australia! Its hard to believe that we are now in our 3rd and final Country. We had an incredible free travel week, a week completely planned by the students, to close up our time in New Zealand. We kicked off our week with a beautiful ferry ride from Wellington to the scenic south island! Our ferry arrived taking us through a maze of small islands in… Read More

Looking back on San Marcos

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
This is a bit late as the group is already about to leave our first city in Nicaragua (Leon), but better late then never. Looking back on San Marcos our time was both amazing but also a bit detrimental. While in that kind of environment, I, aswell as many of the group members found it difficult not to slip into the tourist mentality. I know personally my Spanish was rarely… Read More

White Water Rafting and Soft Power Education

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
Everyone who was able to participate would agree that our White Water Rafting Trip was an experience that we will never forget. From the moment we arrived at the rafting company’s office, we knew we would enjoy ourselves, as we were greeted by the friendly rafting guides and a hearty breakfast. Then, we traveled about an hour through the village to our start point on the Nile River–a place most… Read More

Hola Nicaragua!

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
Hi there people we love! Hola from Nicaragua!!! We are all SO excited to be continuing our adventure  in a brand new country, especially one as intriguing as Nicaragua.  On Monday, we arrived at the airport in Managua, Nicaragua and then took a bus to the big city off Leon, where we are doing our very last week of spanish school. We have school weekday mornings from 8-12, and after… Read More

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti…Namaste!

Archive India- SHANTI
Imagine yourself in a comfy bed, warm, relaxed, and at peace after having been lulled to sleep by the musings of the nearby Ganga coupled with the silence of an ashram. Now, you hear the sound of a gong being rung and the vibrations reverberating within you. It’s dark, cold, and a little windy outside as you slip out of your bed and walk to the yoga hall in silence.… Read More

Hello From Beautiful Kaikoura

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
Hello friends and family! What an awesome trip it’s been so far. About a week ago we took a 3 hour ferry ride from the northern island to the southern island and stayed in Wellington for a couple nights. I didn’t think New Zealand could get any more beautiful but the southern island is proving me wrong. Right outside the hostel I’m typing this from I can see vibrant bright… Read More