WAT did you say? UNRIEL.

Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
SEE-SA-DAI! That means hello/hi in Khmer (one of the few words we know). After our lavish stay at the hotel in Battambang, we drove less than 10 minutes outside of the city to the Street Families Center. The scenery changed drastically within those few minutes from nice hotels and paved roads, to wooden houses on stilts to dirt roads. We recieved loads of  loud “HELLO’s” from little children that were… Read More
Archive India- SHANTI
Hi everybody, Here is how our travel went from Rishikesh to Amritsar. We left Rishikesh at 10:30 from our relaxing  hotel with great yack cheese sandwiches and took a bus to a train stop. We got on a train then transferred to another train. I remember saying this is going to be an easy travel day but, there is no such thing as an easy travel day in India. When… Read More

Ravishing Rajasthan

Archive India- SHIVA
We’ve made it to Rajasthan! After finishing our volunteer work at the Mother Teresa House in Calcutta, we boarded a flight to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, aka The Pink City…more like the the Terracotta City. We did a short homestay, visited the Amber Fort, and celebrated the most important of births…Coby’s! It was a very auspicious day to celebrate one’s birth, considering the fact that it was 11/11/11.  Next,… Read More

NICARAGUA!!

Archive Central America- MAYA
Hola Friends and Family- Last week we all arrived safetly in Nicaragua after a long and tiring day of traveling.  We were quickly greeted at the airport by Rolando, the director of our new spanish school. After a 2 hr bus ride into Leon we were dropped off in pairs for our new and final homestays! The next day we jumped right into school, half the group in the mornings… Read More

Welcome to the Jungle: Chao Cusco!

Archive South America- INTI
Chao Cusco! We leave for the AMAZON tomorrow morning for ten days, yay! We will be working on a volunteer reforestation project and living in the jungle. Cusco the past two weeks has been amazing and many of us have felt so at home here but we are stoked for a change of scenery. Our two weeks of spanish practice and grammer flew by, and we were sad to leave… Read More

G’Day from South Australia

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Franny and Sadie here reporting from Adelaide, having just returned from an amazing week of working with CVA (Conservation Volunteers Australia). For the first time in the trip we were separated into smaller groups in order to conquer more tasks in the duration of the week. Group 1: was Justin, Ozzy, Dylan, Frances, Hayden, Liz, and Rita. And group 2: Allison, Mike, Connie, Blair, Sadie, and Annie. We said our… Read More

AUSTRALIA, MATES!

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Hey guys, it’s Blair and Rita again from AUSTRALIA! We never got a chance to recap on our few days in Sydney so here you go! We left Queenstown, New Zealand and arrived in Sydney last Thursday. We loved the opportunity to explore the city and see all of the exciting events going on. On Friday, we all took a ferry over to Cockatoo Island to check out the awesome… Read More

Kampala!

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
Crazy, wild, hectic, busy, AHHHH! We have just landed in Kampala after an eight hour bus ride. As the bus was rolling into the city we all knew this huge town was going to be a wild adventure. Outside of town is where we have been resting at the one and only backpackers hostel. At the hostel we have been munching on grilled cheese sandwiches and more importantly, enjoying the… Read More

Lake Bunyonyi

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
After approximately ten days volunteering in Kabale we took some time for R&R around Lake Bunyonyi. The drive there was an adventure consisting of steep bumpy roads on the side of a cliff. 🙂 It was totally worth it. We stayed at The Heart which is where Edirisa was founded. It was easy to see how someone could stay on this lake and be inspired to start such an organization.… Read More

Thoughts on the Power of Positive Thinking

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
This is really just something I’ve been thinking about as we continue our journey around East Africa. Everywhere we’ve been we’ve met people from all different places with totally different stories. They all have something in common, though. 1. They ended up in East Africa. 2. They all think positively. I first came across this fact while talking with the Pete and Mama C. On separate occasions they each told… Read More

Kabale

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
After a short ride to cross the border, we got to Kabale, Uganda. We made our way to the Edirisa hostel to get our bearings of the town. “The Nest” aka the lounge was our hot spot. Finding the best carrot cake in town at the Royal Cafe, we chowed down and then split into two groups for the remainder of the week. We bought all our food at the… Read More

BLOGA

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
Hehe, I love puns. Hey America! Well, after a bustling three days in Sydney, the Mangrove Satyananda Yoga Ashram has been a welcome change of pace for many of us. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Jay and Chatan, who graciously walked us through the beautiful campus and divided the group into our respective living arrangements (thankfully, these rooms did not harbor any disagreeable odors; I cannot say the… Read More

G’day from Sydney!

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
We have finally safely arrived in Australia, all excited and all healthy. 🙂 As a group we never stop going, once off the plane we made our way to Kings Cross with some interesting shuttle rides to say the least. As many of us noticed Sydney was not quite what we expected. We all felt a bit at home in our cities with the 7/11’s on every street corner and… Read More

A Spiritual Party!

Archive India- SHANTI
Namaste friends and family! Erin here, blogging to catch you up on our many adventures since the trek! After bidding farewell to our trekking guide, Dendu, and the cooks and porters who helped us along the way, we spent a night in Yuksom, the starting point of our trek. The next morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel before boarding a jeep to Darjeeling, a city known for its tea… Read More

Cambodia!!

Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
Hello Carpe families, Due to recent flooding in Thailand we have cut Bangkok out of the itinerary and decided to come to Cambodia a day early. After a brief stop in Khorat and a eight hour bus ride we arrived at the border in the city of Poi Pet. With our tactful leaders, we were able to elude the sketchy scams that were happening all around us. We then took… Read More

In Case You Were Wondering…

Archive India- SHIVA
Tonight over brownies, we were discussing what Hogwarts Houses we would be in if we lived in the time and world of Harry Potter! Here are the results: Gryffindor Nate Jessica Hufflepuff John Alexa Hayley Ravenclaw Stephanie Theresa (“Chai”) Slytherin Coby Kira Ellen As weird as it is, it’s strangely accurate. Don’t ask how we came up with the results. Hope you enjoy!… Read More

In Calcutta. Did I stutta?

Archive India- SHIVA
So we’ve been in Calcutta for 6 days maybe and I would say it’s been a bit of a treat.  The roads are wide and smoothly paved, and a ride in a royal British motorcar taxi is hardly entertaining enough to keep your eyes on the road in front for lack of roaming cows, goats and dogs.  We stuff ourselves regularly with dosas, chicken egg rolls (different from eggrolls), and … Read More

Weekend in Cusco

Archive South America- INTI
Hey everyone! It’s Chloe writing about an amazing weekend in and around Cusco, Peru. This past Saturday, our “fun and inspiration” of the week (good ol’ Kelsey King) organized an awesome repelling day trip about an hour outside of Cusco. We set off at about 8:30 with our guides (honestly, the only name I can remember is Kung Fu Panda – one of the guide’s nick names) and drove to… Read More