The Continuing Saga of Sam I Am: Week Nine

Archive South America- INTI
After a couple weeks of living in a very full homestay and passing our days with Spanish classes, salsa lessons, and some slightly chaotic construction work we were all ready for some serious rest and relaxation. Lucky for us, Sunday brought the beginning of our highly-anticipated yoga retreat just thirty minutes outside of Cusco in the stunning Sacred Valley. It certainly turned out to be restful and relaxing, but more… Read More
Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Hello Everybody, David Horwitz here.  We are all back in Adelaide after our group split in two to go and do separate CVA projects.  I am here reporting on behalf of my group which was, me, Gordon, Lucy, Dylan, Christine, Kelsey, and Cliff.  We traveled 8 hours in a little van/bus to Streaky Bay, where we set-up camp in a trailer park.  Our leader on the trip was Geoff a… Read More

Fun in the Sun

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
After packing up and leaving Leon, we headed out to Playa Madera. Playa Madera is a little beach about fifteen minutes outside of San Juan del Sur were surfers come from all over to catch some waves. Once we were over the initial awe of the amazing accommodations called Parque Maderas, we headed over to a small school in a nearby village to start our volunteer project. The school has… Read More

The Ashram Experience- A Spiritual Bootcamp

Archive India- SHIVA
The last 7 days of our epic adventure have been spent at Phool Chatti Ashram. Because most of the members of our group have never been to boot camp, let alone base training, I took some time to describe the similarities and eventually we all agreed:The Ashram Life= Spiritual Bootcamp. A typical day in bootcamp looks something like this- (the Ashram equivalent will be explained in parentheses) 5:30: Wake up… Read More

Rocking Chairs and Gray Hair

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
We made it to Nicaragua and have been in the city of Leon for about a week. Even though we’ve been in Nicaragua for just a short time, we’ve quickly noticed how different it is from Guatemala. First of all, it’s hot. Day and night. It is even 89 degrees at 9 PM. The people here are also very friendly, and busy. Whether selling plantain chips and Hollister shirts, biking… Read More
Archive South America- INTI
After a rigorous week in Cusco spent Salsa-ing, getting massages,putting on puppet shows, and other draining tasks (such as playing onslides), we are reading to head to the Sacred Valley and finally beable to relax. This past week has been filled with a wide variety of super sweetactivities. We started out the week, Sunday, by attending the localsoccer team´s home game, but only have of the group really CarpeDiem´ed things… Read More

Power to the Africa Crew

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
We went to Beads for Life and received a warm welcome. We then had a meeting and learned about the organization and how it was run. After we were shown how the beads were made and the process that they undergo. The organizations purpose is to give an opportunity to the poorest women in Uganda and help them start a bead business in order to support their children. Dinner was… Read More

Notes of Australia.

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Disclaimer Blogs are almost inherently dishonest as it is impossible for anyone to write the truth about himself without alteration  or a situation without bias. So it is with a humble undertaking in which I attempt to write a objective , and unbiased recording of Carpe Diems Fanz trip. I’m sorry as I’ve I already lied to all of you I’m not humbled to write this, and of Course I… Read More

The Indian Limelight

Archive India- SHIVA
In a country where the word ‘cricket’ means little more than a noise-making bug, you may find it hard to grasp the greater meaning of the word cricket, the cricket that may forever change the face of India. With wickets and overs and bowlers and sixes, you muggles may ask yourselves: what in the name of Ganesh is all this rubbish-talk all about? Ladies and gentlemen, its cricket. Its a… Read More

Rishikesh

Archive India- SHIVA
Today we will be leaving our free days at our guest house in Rishikesh and on to the ashram.While in Rishikesh we stayed at a wonderful cottage, and although the boys seemed to be favored by the restaurant workers, we always finished our meals happily. We have enjoyed our free days very much here in the yoga capital of the world. We have had chances to go shopping, eat falafel,… Read More

Cusco: Week 1

Archive South America- INTI
This was our first week in Cusco. We arrived here last Sunday on a plane from Lima. We are all staying as one big family in one house, which we share with the old couple who lives there. We're studying at a Spanish school called FairPlay. FairPlay helps reduce poverty by providing jobs and training to single mothers who may have been involved in abusive relationships. Every afternoon we have… Read More

Semuc and Beyond

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
Hi all! Well I´m sorry to be posting so late and so little but there´s just so much going on and so little time to write about it! A lot has happened in the past few weeks since we left Rocj Pomtila.Our first stop was the beautiful mirador at Semuc Champey where we climbed the breathtaking waterfalls and explored a network caves. We began our cave tour by wading into… Read More

YES and Lake Nkuruba

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
After free travel came to an end, we arrived at Youth Encouragement Services (YES). It was a quiet and beautiful hostel with purple morning glories growing abundantly along the fence. We were all more than happy to find that showers, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen were in good condition and easily available. We were even spoiled with access to a volley ball net and a ping pong table, where some very… Read More

Week 7 Already (part 2)

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Hey all,   Boy what a last few days we have had! Arriving in Queenstown on Wednesday afternoon was really nice. The flight in was quite fun as well. Aside from the scenery change going from the North to South Island, during our descent the plane went down at a much steeper angle than usual, and each time we would get close to the ground, it turned out to be more… Read More