The Banana Farm!

Archive South America- INTI
After Otavalo we took a 6 hour bus ride to Santo Domingo. From the bus terminal we were taken to a Banana farm! When we arrived we were greeted by Juan Carlos Verduga and his family. We were astonished to find out that some of us would be staying in what we called ¨the club house¨ while others stayed with the family inside their house.  The family was very generous,… Read More

Birds Eye View

Archive East Africa- NKULA
Today the Africa nkula cohort took a trip to a local mosque.  To our surprise the mosque was funded by the well-known dictator Gaddafi.  In a city so small and broken down to see a mosque as eloquent as this I’m sure it forced everyone to think.  Personally, I thought that the money could have gone to better use but the sites were breathtaking. The guide showed us around the… Read More

Trekking!

Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
Hello all! This is Komodo otherwise known as Patrick on the other side of the world. I was writing to you today to tell you all how these past three days of trekking have gone. On the first day we woke up at 7:30 and left by 8. We took a 3 hour Song-Tao ride out of Chiang Mai. The road was steep and very curvy. We were driving up… Read More

Work Hard, Play Hard

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
Yesterday we said our tearful goodbyes the people of Nananu. After an all night Kava ceremony with endless dancing and inevitable yawning, the Nau’s and Mangu’s sang us off as we loaded onto a bus to Tavua. We were sad to leave the village that gave us so much and welcomed us as family the moment we stepped into their homes. In such a short time, we were able to… Read More

Let the Earth Hum it’s Harmony

Archive Central America- MAYA
Hola Amigos! It’s Caroline here once again. I’m writing from the beautiful Island of Ometepe, just outside the town of Belgue. For the past week we have living off the land at Finca Bona Fide, a permaculture teaching farm nestled on the side of Volcano Maderas. In the native Nahuatl language Ometepe means Island of two mountains. From the vantage point of our kitchen table here, we can look out… Read More

A Week in Vatuse and a Fijian Farewell

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
What a long week this has been and I’m a little overwhelmed to be blogging but here I go! So much has been happening. This past week we spent at our beloved village, Vatusekiyasawa with our lovely host families and the entire village. We’ve been learning, living and working with the community in a way that most people don’t get to experience in Fiji. Vatuse (for short) had become our… Read More

Blog from Cusco

Archive Latitudes Year
Hello to everyone back home, and to all the other Latitudes students traveling across the world. It’s been a month since I arrived in Cusco, Peru. Upon leaving for Peru I was actually really nervous and scared. I didn’t know what to expect from a country I had never been to before, and one where my 12 years of French prove to be useless. I was already missing the comforts… Read More

Sustainable Building in Guatemala

Archive Latitudes Year
About one month ago I arrived in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala. Comalapa is a Mayan community with a population of 41,000, which includes 19 surrounding villages. Here in Comalapa I am working with an organization called Long Way Home, a non profit that is building a school using sustainable resources while employing local Guatemalans. Because there is such a huge problem with the disposal of garbage in Comalapa, the walls… Read More

Los Gigantes to Bona Fide and Beyond!

Archive Central America- MAYA
Hey everybody! It’s Drew. We’ve had some pretty amazing days since the last update. From our last day in Masaya to soaking up coastal beauty and community at Playa Gigante to, most recently, our immersive experience and adventure on a permaculture farm and community project called Bona Fide. Our adventure from Masaya to Playa Gigante departed on a flamboyant chicken bus. As like many buses in Nacaragua, the bus was… Read More

End of the Homestay

Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
Sawatdee kha! Hey all, this is Paige writing to you, the SEAsia group’s resident blogger of the week. We touched down in Chiang Mai two weeks ago now and SO MUCH has happened since. After we finished up our brief time of orientation, we pretty much leapt right into the thick of things with a two week homestay in a little village called Mae Rim just a little bit outside… Read More

More updates coming soon

Archive Central America- MAYA
Hello family and friends of the Central America group, I just wanted to let you all know I’ve heard from the group and they are doing well.  They left Playa Gigante, where they’ve been for the past week, and have made their way to a farm on Ometepe (an island in Lake Nicaragua) where they will be volunteering and learning about sustainable agriculture for the next 10 days.  They have… Read More

Bula, friends and family

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
Six days ago we left the resort at Mango Bay and traveled half way across Fiji to the village of Nananu. There we started working on the pathway throughout the village. We all love our home stay families and everyone has been so incredibly welcoming, nice, and accepting of all of us. On the first night, they told us that we will forever be part of their family. Today we… Read More

Pucara

Archive South America- INTI
You all may have been wondering where all of us SAM Semester students have been! I assure you we are all well and safe. We just got back today from a little rurual mountain town named Pucara. Here many of us had the opporunity of a lifetime. Where else would you be able to go to a rural town in a forigen country and be welcomed into the homes of… Read More

Crafting and Rafting

Archive East Africa- NKULA
Home is often difficult to find when traveling through two or three cities a week. For our Nkula group, I could safely say we all felt at home the past few days with our House Mama, Mama Flo. To some, our schedule may have seemed routine: Swahili classes in the morning (my personal favorite), painting a mural for Buwenda Preschool in the afternoon, and relaxation with our extraordinary Mama and… Read More

Sawatdee or hello in thai!

Archive Latitudes Year
It’s Evin here reporting from the charming little island of Koh Tao in the gulf of Thailand. It’s been almost a month since I hopped on a plane and headed for Southeast Asia with my backpack in tow excited for my next adventure. After a wopping 30 hours of traveling via Car, Plane and ferry, I finally arrived on Koh Tao. After arriving I received my SSI Advanced scuba license… Read More

Sa wat de kha!

Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
What would you picture if I told you that these last few days have seen us fall into bed, a pile of sweat, exhaustion, and throbbing muscles. What would you picture if I told you that these last few days have seen us step out into a brave new world, try strange delicious foods, and chew on new languages. What would you picture if I told you that these last… Read More

Vatusekiyasawa Village

Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT
Fiji has been really; really fun and I think I speak for the rest of us when I say this trip will be an unforgettable experience. Recently the group and I have been staying in a Fijian village to build concrete pathways. Constructing these pathways is really hard work especially when all of the labor has to be done by hand. The process begins with mixing together gravel and dry… Read More