Arrival in Otovalo

Archive South America- INTI
Hey folks, Quick update. After an 11 hour bus ride, we have arrived safely in Otovalo. We are about 1 hour north of the capital, Quito. We arrived at about 6:30 and had an hour to kill before breakfast at a friendly hostel called La Valle de Amanecer (Valley of the Dawn). We then took a little walk around a local artisans market, which had plentiful amounts of alpaca goods.… Read More

Back from Trekkin, Hello Darjeeling!

Archive India- SHIVA
Finally back in the city after a long week of trekking in the Himalayas (specifically on Kachanjunga, located in East Sikkim). This morning we said goodbye to Arthur, our contact in Sikkim who has been absolutely wonderful. He will be missed as we continue our journey. It’s great to be back in the city, taking bucket baths and sleeping in a real bed. …Someone is doing our laundry as we… Read More

Suki Power!

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
Bula friends!For the past 2 weeks, we’ve been at a homestay in a small village called Nananu. We took a couple of buses from Nadi and were welcomed into the village (after we put on our sulus) by the community in an opening ceremony. We all really loved our naus and magus (moms and dads) and became really close with our families. Our community service project was building concrete pathways… Read More

¡Puchica Xela!

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
Hola mis compadres!    It’s Liza here, blogging from the gringo friendly cafe, La Cafetera.  Where do I begin?  This week has definitely passed by much faster than the week we spent in Pasac.  This is a good thing.  Pasac was overall, an amazing and wonderful experience that I’ll always remember.  However, upon our arrival in Xela, I had one thing on my mind and one thing only: to take a… Read More

Cuenca

Archive South America- INTI
Hola Los Extranejeros We have been in Cuenca, a colonial city in the south of the Ecuadorian Andes, for 5 days and have learned absurd amounts of glorious Español. Our mornings have consisted of 5 hours of one-on-one Spanish study with afternoons of various group activies including but not limited to: a city tour, Salsa lessons, a guided visit through a museum with a historical and present representation of different… Read More

Updates from South America

Archive South America- INTI
Dear family and friends, Another update from the Carpe home office – we’ve been in touch with the group and wanted to let you all know their plans over the next few days. The situation on the ground in Cuenca has been calm. While the group has been taking precautions, they haven’t felt at all unsafe where they are. They are planning on doing some hiking on Friday in Cajas… Read More
Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
The conditions at the Mokken village were in stark contrast to the well-resourced surroundings of the ashram where we conduted our orientation. The Mokken people traditionally lived at sea on self-made fishing vessels, small boats that look like large canoes tents on top. In fact, the first Mokken sea vessels were carved out of solitary large trees akin to the construction of Native American dugouts. The Mokken traveled up and… Read More

Dear parents

Archive South America- INTI
This blog is coming to you from the Carpe Diem Home Office. We want to assure you that we are monitoring closely the ‘coup’ situation that is taking place currently in the northern capital city of Quito. The group is well where they are in Cuenca, which is far away from any trouble and Cuenca hasn’t, in fact, felt or experienced any of the consequences from Quito. This type of… Read More

Navigating boundaries

Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } @font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } We took an overnight bus to Ranong, departing from the primary Bangkok bus station, a fun multi-tiered maze of tasty eateries and shopping stands… Read More

NEWS AHOY!!!

Archive Central America- MAYA
Hola amigos y familia!It is your co-captains Hannah and Rebecca reporting from San Andres, Guatemala. We bring good news to the homefront.  Last Sunday we wrapped up an amazing week in Ixobel and hit the road for a new chapter in our voyage.  The departure was an emotional time for some because of the friendships that were made with the loving families in Ixobel.  Although we did not the complete… Read More

The Next Chapter

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
Greetings from Jinja! Weve just returned after spending a week volunteering at the Lubani Primary School with NGO, Soft Power Education. Everyone is pretty spent and ready to relax after a week of intense painting. The week started with a visit to a local art festival in Kampala, where Izzy bought a cool pair of sandals for the good Mzungu price of 28K. Afterward we went white water rafting in… Read More

Goodbye Gangtok

Archive India- SHIVA
Hello Carpe Diem parents and friends, Tomorrow the India group begins their six-day trek through the Himalayas. We are sad to be leaving Sikkim so soon but excited for the trip ahead. Amanda Carnahan, one of the group members, is keeping here own blog on the trip. You can find her blogs at //thirdeyeactivist.blogspot.com/… Read More

Rio Muchacho- First week

Archive South America- INTI
Hey family and friends,It´s your bloggers for the week, Claire and Natalie. We are here in Canoa, after a busy week at the organic farm Rio Muchacho. All week we woke up for farm activities at 5:30 am! We fed horses, pigs, chickens, and guinea pigs, watered plants, flowers and vegetables, cleaned up animal manure…and helped make breakfast with the senoras in the kitchen! Some of our other afternoon chores… Read More

Stoked

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
So I know that this is our first blog and everything and that whoever reads this probably wants to hear about how amazing everything is and how nothing bad has happened and how we’re loving every aspect of Central America, but I wanted to start off on a more honest note. Now, obviously I can’t speak for everyone, but I was straight up dreading this week. After arriving in Guatemala last Wednesday… Read More

Mama India

Archive India- SHIVA
After a thirteen hour plane ride to Hong Kong, a six hour layover, and a four hour flight through Thailand, we arrived safely in Delhi. We spent two days jumping around the bustling city via cab and rickshaw, using the opportunity to buy Indian clothing and musical instruments as well as taking time for a peaceful respite in a local ashram. Delhi offered a wild and unreserved introduction to the… Read More

Bula From Fiji

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Watch out Fiji, because here comes Carpe Diem. After what seemed like the endless days of traveling, we arrived in Nadi during the wee hours of the morning. While the lack of sleep was prevalent on the faces of all the group members, the Fiji sun rising over the mountaintops and the excitement of reaching our destination pushed us through our first day. The next morning Ben and Simone took… Read More

Hola La Familia

Archive Central America- MAYA
We have finished our very long journey to Guatemala and are all glad we are finally here. Today is going to be our first day in a homestay. Sarah is staying with her super chill roommate, Will in Rigoberto and Paula´s house. They have two kids that we have met so far, one thirteen and the other a few years older. Greg is hangin with Rebecca in the lovely home… Read More

Our First Real Taste of Guatemala

Archive Central America- MAYA
Hi Everyone! This is Mary, Katrina, and Jasmine writing from an internet cafe in Poptun, the destination of our first homestay. We are staying in Ixobel, a small neighborhood outside of Poptun, but right now, we are listening to the pouring rain while in town completing our scavenger hunt. After completing our difficult, to say the least, 9 hour hike to the cave yesterday, we have settled into our homestays… Read More