Final Blog

By Overseas Educators Kelsi & Amanda As seems to happen with these beautiful journeys, while we were in the middle of our days together, time seemed to move slowly and fully, and now that we’re at the end, it’s seemed to have whizzed by. Parting each other has been difficult. The last few days post-trek we spent in historic Bhaktapur, with the exception of a pilgrimage to Namobuddha on the… Read More

LOL (Lots of Leeches)

By Emma & Ava Early in the morning, we took a seven-hour bus ride from Boudha to Pokhara to get to the 3 Sisters Trekking Company guesthouse. 3 Sisters is an all female-run trekking company that empowers young women and works hard to make trekking significantly safer for women travelers. On our first night, we were welcomed with lots of food (dal bhat, obviously), fun, and laughter while we got… Read More

Love: A Wish for Someone to Be Happy

Tristan’s right shoe was never found. It’ll be forever missing in the rice paddies of Kopan. Sophia’s left shoe began to cause her food to bleed. It worked out that the lonely shoe was put to use: Sophia wearing Tristan’s left shoe and her right shoe. It matched her shirt, and she looked astonishing. We wrapped up our time in Kopan by making our rounds and saying goodbye to all… Read More

Our FIRST Blog ;)

Howdy Folks! Tara here (Sophia & Sophia) the power couple and some of the two most valuable members of Tara ;P and we’re here to INFORM you about what is UP! We are dropping some major knowledge/deets here so get hyped up folks!! (Sophia wrote all of this, not Sophia) We met up in Kathmandu and boy was it crazzaaayy!! The group LOVES each other. We have formed unbreakable bonds… Read More

What I Learned From Traveling with Your Students

By Executive Director, Jenny Huq To the Parents of the Nkula Spring 2018 Students, I have had the pleasure of speaking with some of you before your students departed for East Africa three months ago. Most of you I do not know directly; although, I feel a connection to all of you because I had the incredible opportunity to spend three weeks in Tanzania with your students. I joined Carpe… Read More

Learning Much More Than I Taught

By Hadley Olivia, Latitudes ’18 Uganda When I found out that I would be spending three months in southern Uganda teaching at a special needs school, I was equal parts excited and terrified. I had the opportunity to visit my placement during my East Africa group semester, so I had a vague idea of what I was getting myself into… but in the end, I truly had no idea what… Read More

How to Walk a Jaguar

By Finn, Latitudes ’18 Bolivia I’ve spent the past three months in the middle of the Amazon working with—and walking—Bolivia’s rescued wildlife and jungle cats. Only seven hours from the closest big city, Parque Ambue Ari is found in the depths of the wild. Given its remoteness, the park comes with all the fine amenities you’d expect: little to no electricity or cell service, the coldest showers you’ll ever take,… Read More

Swimming In Stars

At 1:30 am Rachana shook me awake. In the dark, my head still thick with sleep, I assumed it was one of my roommates waking me for my 6 am dolphin survey. This was not the case, I quickly realized, checking my watch and recognizing the culprit responsible for disturbing my sleep. “Come on! I have something to show you!” Now, I am not a person who likes to be… Read More

Peace Farm, Australia

By Ella Gambell, Latitudes Australia I’m not going to lie, the first couple weeks of this semester were pretty tough for me. At Latitudes orientation right before I came here, I heard about all of the amazing things all of the other Carpe kids are doing and I wondered if I could be doing something better or more adventurous than working on a farm. I would be weeding in the… Read More

To All the Little Moments….

I’ve thought about leaving many times; some days I was excited to move on and other days I dreaded the day I would have to say goodbye. And now that time where I have to say goodbye and move on is not in the far-off future anymore – tomorrow I must say goodbye. And, now that the time to leave is finally here I find it hard to accept the… Read More

Spider Monkeys on a Hot Tin Roof

By Eli Karsh-Lombardo, Latitudes Ecuador ’18 The days start at 6:30 AM with the crazy urge to pee after the three-Nalgene-a-day-from-sweat kicks in. Real alarm clock is when the family of seven Spiderman and 200 square monkeys decide to jump play and fight on the thin loud metal roof of the volunteer house. After that, depending on the schedule of the day, we either head straight to the bodega for… Read More

Touching the Stars

By Renee Noordzij It’s always hot here. And when it isn’t hot, it’s downpouring. So I’m either sweaty or soaked with rain. It’s just a little bit different than the snow of my hometown near Boston. There’s bugs. Everywhere. On the walls, the floors, in the shower, in my bed. My legs are covered in bug bites. My main source of nutrition is rice. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner I… Read More

Batwa Interview

By Chandler Christopher During my time with the Batwa, I received the opportunity to interview four of the members who spoke English. In Batwa communities, it’s very rare that people are educated and know English. So, this was a very big, uncommon opportunity to verbally communicate in the same language with these people. The Batwa are the indigenous people of Uganda, the native people of this beautiful country. Their ancestors… Read More

Making Uganda Home

By Daisy Osowski The rainy season is upon us. Dirt paths have turned to slip and slides and hauling water from our water tank 30 feet away has turned into an adventure. Just the other day while I was hauling a 40-pound jerrycan up to my house I made it to the top of the hill and slid all the way back down it. The rainy season isn’t all bad… Read More

Volunteering at an Elementary School for Deaf Children

By Maggie Otal Been in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala for a few weeks now and it is just as beautiful as I remember. I love the atmosphere and all the friendly faces. Every person you walk past says “Buenos Dias” or “buenos tardes” even if they have no idea who you are. Some of my favorite parts of being in Xela (short for Quetzaltenango) is seeing the panaderias (bakeries) on every corner… Read More

A New Experience that Came Along with Five Children

By Kyla Moede I never would’ve imagined myself to have gained a deep obsession with five baby howler monkeys in such a simple, tiny town in Belize called Sarteneja. It’s amazing how life always seems to work itself out. My initial inclination was drawing me to Australia, Thailand, Bali or Costa Rica, and I was somewhat disappointed in my choice of location, but now, I’ve realized that there is no… Read More

Foods of Lobitos

By Josh Krauss, Latitudes Peru ’18 Welcome to Lobitos Greetings everyone, I am Joshua Krauss, and I’ll be your spiritual guide to all things food. And our first destination is in the small beach town of Lobitos Peru. Most people come for Lobitos to catch some waves, enjoy the time on the beach or even watching the beautiful sunset on the edge of the horizon. However, deep within the heart… Read More

First Impressions

By Emma Clements, Latitudes Uganda Spring ’18 When I first arrived at the airport I had no idea what to expect. Were people going to be mean? Would I get lost? How many marriage proposals would I get? Mosquitos? Weather? Did I pack enough? With all these questions running through my mind, I stepped out of the airplane and into a new beginning to an end. After dealing with all… Read More

Deforestation, One Week Later

By Scott Penfield, Latitudes Brazil Last week, I posted about a farm that we visited near Belisario, where we witnessed firsthand the destruction of the rainforest in the name of agriculture and mineral extraction. Today, we received a somewhat hopeful update from Robin. He was initially skeptical that a complaint to the police would yield any results, despite the fact that the cutting of the forest was objectively illegal. Earlier… Read More