Pete O’niel’s Crib

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
Jambo! Miriam here.Well first of all, it was nicer than I can express to escape into what felt like the lap of luxury for a few days. We had hot showers (usually) Home-style cooking, and real beds! It might as well have been on a completely different planet from the maasai village. Pete O’niel is an exiled black panther from Kansas City. He is quite a character. He was very… Read More
Archive India- SHIVA
hello out there in bloggerworld, This is one of the old farts here in India, Andrew, checking in. “Hello?! Can you hear me? Is this thing on?” Crazy, crazy, cyber-bloggerworld… anyways, I just wanted to pass on a few informational websites for any and all who may be interested. I am always subjecting the group to random articles and websites about myriad hot topics, so I figured I would spread… Read More

Trekkin’

Archive India- SHIVA
Hey everyone, Chrys here, reporting for blog duty. Since we last corresponded, our group went on a five-day Himalayan Trek. The night before we left, we got a photo preview of last semester’s trek, from our main man Arthur who coordinated all of our activities while in the state of Sikkim. But before we left, there was a little misfortune as a result of the soccer game, described in the… Read More

maasai tribe

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
The last week has been a trip. The Maasai live very differnet from us. Their weilth is determined by their herds. They have cows, sheep and goats, and everyday they walk their herd miles and miles to find water. Their diet doesnt require water, but because their animals need it, that is how they spend their day, walking. All they eat traditionally is meat, blood and milk. They live in… Read More

All is gravy baby in this here land they call Ecuador

Archive South America- INTI
So as of now, the crew is kickin it in Quito yet again before heading down to Peru-a-go-go where all should go equally swell. This past week Adam and Heather entrusted their sanity, safety and well being in the hands of us, spanglish speaking loonies, in hopes that we wouldn´t seriously hurt, or offend anyone. All i can say is bless their souls…bless their souls.Our week of fun in the… Read More

ROCKIN IN SIKKIM

Archive India- SHIVA
greetings earthlings. we are still IN-dia. we are staying with a very precious family. they have a little baby boy named chew-dock. and a smiley cute grandma, the main character is sharab. he is full of life, dancing all the time, and singing “its chill time its chill time. ” choden is his wife and is so sweet and some what shy. sharab is allways there to break the silence… Read More

SAFARI!

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
hey sally here! we just finished our african safari. it was definetly a dream of all of ours and it was so awesome. our safari was guided by Maasai Wanderings, a safari group that also works with the maasai tribe (but that comes later.) we had 2 awesome guides and safari trucks that had pop-off roofs so we could stand up and check out the animals. we saw everything! elephants,… Read More

Composting Toilets

Archive South America- INTI
What up yall this week has been a blast. the organic farm called rio muchacho was an amazingly wonderful place. everybody loved it. We had a full five days there at rio muchacho. we did something new every day. A reguler day consisted of waking at six and doing the morning chores, varrying from cleaning the pig pens, helping with breakfast, cutting grass with machetties and fedding the horses, or… Read More

Xelawho? Xelawhat? Xelaprettyawesome.

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
Hola from Quetzaltenango (or Xela)!We were lucky enough to take private transport from Coban, as it is an 8 hour drive through mountainous terrain to Xela. Arriving Sunday evening, we were welcomed warmly at the language school Casa Xelaju, and driven (!?) to our individual homestays. The farthest homestay is a 15 minute walk. (I am the lucky one who gets to walk through le Parque Central many times a… Read More

Feelings: India

Archive India- SHIVA
Hey loved ones, we’re all safe and sound in Sikkim, which is a groovy, magical mountain state that only became a part of this wild country in 1975. but to backtrack a bit-our last blog post said only “holi hell” and some mysterious thing happened to the rest of the blog. Its gone. Maybe forever. Our very own Hillary Brown assures us it was a great one, too. A moment… Read More

“Im a G in the jungle”

Archive South America- INTI
We left Otavalo a week ago for the Alto Choco Forest Reserve in northern Ecuador. Ramiro and Carolina, Ecuadorian mountain man, and a Swedish woman, our two contacts there, met us in town to get us started. We ended up in our own small van following a rocky road through the mountains driving through thick clouds to get to the town of Santa Rosa. We got out at the start… Read More

rwanda adventure!!!

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
hey hey hey Kim here.so after an amazing week at carols, we procceeded to go on our 2 day adventure to Rwanda. After about 10 hours ish of driving we finally made it to kibale the capital of rwanda.. accomodations were very luxurious to our standards..a hotel, with a queen sized bed, a nice balcony and even a TV!! The first night, all of us ladies took a taxi to… Read More
Archive East Africa- KIFARU
Greetings from Mwanza(rock city), Tanzania: Where it is socially exceptable to spit your food on the ground We got quite the fill of kids during our week in Fort Portal. Our afternoons were spent at the rescue home with the kids: Playing basketball & soccer, Swinging on swings, and many many arts&crafts.; The kids were precious, all clinging on to their new found friends.Our evenings were spent back at the… Read More

Holi Heck!

Archive India- SHIVA
hey there people out there in cyberspacethere seemed to be some technical difficulties for this last postingand now it is lost in the vast and confusing land that is the internetbut Kolkuta was an amazing experience for all of usthere was a general consensus that volunteering was quite the worthwhile experienceI know personally I had the great fortune to work with four young kidsall who were orphans and hiv positivethey… Read More

Three Week Anniversary up in the Clouds

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
This past week was spent in Chicacnab, an indigenous community high up in the cloud forests of Guatemala. We went there through an organization called Proyecto Ecologico Quetzal, a program that helps to provide sustainable work and incomes for families in the community. Our day of departure from Coban dawned with lots of fog and rain, and to get to Chicacnab we had to take two chicken buses and then… Read More
Archive Central America- QUETZAL
Back in Coban with electricity, internet, and all other trappings of civilization. To catch up a bit, we´re recapping San Andres.Day one, we all started our homestays, and some hit off well, while the unlucky ones still got warm smiles and a greeting. Not much more happened after that, to my knowledge, and the day ended quietly.Day two was our first day in language school, which we all enjoyed. In… Read More

Otavalo Take Two

Archive South America- INTI
Hey all! We are back in Otavalo for another weekend in the city. We have just returned from a week in the Cloud Forest, teaching English and computer skills to little kids. They were all absolutely precious and it was incredibly rewarding. As far as English goes, we taught the kids numbers, the alphabet, colors, days of the week, months of the year and basic greetings like hello, how are… Read More

This is India

Archive India- SHIVA
Those who have seen the movie Blood Diamond (if you haven’t, do it) might remember the acronym “T.I.A.,” which means this is Africa. In the movie, it served as a simple way to describe the utterly complex, intricate and random workings – from the land to the people – of the entire country of Africa. Similarly, our group has adopted T.I.I. (this is India) to describe the disappointment, the… Read More

Fort Portal!

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
We had a wonderful, and enlightening experience through JJ and his family. After hearing his influential words about three very mixed religions coming together and working together, we are ready for our next leg of the journey! We have learned that the African men can be very persistent, and traveling in an almost entire female group we get quite the laughs! With Muhammad hitting on Rose, and JB proposing to… Read More