The sun begins its descent as saguaro cactus line the horizon. Ocatilla cactus extend their arms towards the sky while barrel cactus cradle the earth. Thorns will be your companions in this arid landscape and as the moon rises coyotes awaken, permeating the air with their howls.
This portion of our semester in late November was a time of reflection and contemplation. We were to separate, walk through the desert,… Read More
It’s now 82 days into the Fall semester of the South East Asia 2012 trip and literally we have been busy almost every moment of the past few days. Even the last few weeks have been jam packed with a multitude of awesomeness. Sounds like I’m over exaggerating, but I’m not. We started free travel heading out from Ho Chi Mihn city down the Mekong Delta on a tour that… Read More
Buenas noches de Cuzco!
We all knew this was coming…December 11th…the end of our South American adventure. It`s after midnight, and in less than 3 hours we will roll out of our beds, stumble into taxis with packs now doubled in weight and size, and depart for the US of A. Well…most of us. Robbie, Michelle, Julia, and Daniel are staying behind to pursue further travels and adventures and/or take… Read More
Tigers to end it all:
Ellen and I (Alice) were in charge of the final leg of our student-directed travel: the visit to Ranthambhore National Park in Sawai Madhopur or to many, the best chance in India of seeing a tiger. Armed with our sharpest elbows, Ellen and I woke up at 3 am that morning to get tickets for the safaris, and experienced first hand the corruption that is… Read More
In the final week of Uganda the Group went canoe trekking. Although with a name like that you would expect to be in a CANOE. The canoe trek was 3 days and w traveled approximately 40 Kilometers with probably 2 kilometers of canoeing. The trekking part took us up the beautiful Ugandan hillsides and down into there valleys. We saw some pretty volcanoes and although the trek was rigourous and… Read More
My parents have told me of the invisible thread that holds all of India together. Unseen, unrepresented, but absolutely present. India is a country that I believe to have the most different extremes. Massive and minute, every kind of terrain and climate, extreme poverty and wealth, it’s all here. Some of the dirtiest things and people living with some of the cleanest. Areas of overcrowding neighbor lands uninhabited. All religions… Read More
So our semester is coming to a close and it has been a crazy and amazing experience. I have learned tons about Buddhism and Hinduism and even some Jainism. I have been blessed with the most magical group and couldn’t have gotten luckier. We have all shared our ups and downs and everything in between. It is a crazy thought that for my next shower I will be at home.… Read More
As I reflect on these past three months as a whole experience, it is difficult for me to come up with one cohesive piece of writing to sum it up.
It is easiest to talk about the more concrete internal and external changes that have taken place. The reasons why those changes have taken place here and now will have to wait.
Family:
We have built a family together. We… Read More
Free travel started off in Rishikesh, a beautiful, mountainous region near the Ganges filled with yoga-loving backpackers, and ended with an epic camel trek in the deserts of majestic Jaisalmer. Rishikesh was fun and relaxing for the Carpe Shiva group. We got in a fair amount of down time filled with good food (Oasis hummus being a fave of mine) and shopping (Lil and I got Punjab suits custom made!)… Read More
The writing of this post came at a time when I was (and still am) struggling to figure out how I would possibly describe and explain my experience here to family, friends, and even casual enquirers once back at home. For you Carpe students about to embark on your own journeys here in India, though, there is no point in trying to explain it… each of us will have had… Read More
A warm hello to everyone reading back at home! The group just re-entered civilization after an awesome 5 day outback experience with WayOutback tours. Our guide, Tamara, took great care of us while we all got acclimated to the 40+ degree desert lifestyle. We left Alice Springs on December 1st bright and early in the morning so that we could get to camp in time to hike around the famous… Read More
This week has been full of amazing experiences.
Let’s look at a normal day in the life of a Turtle conservation volunteer:
7pm: shift #1 starts
11pm: shift #1 ends – shift #2 begins
4am: shift #2 ends
7-8am: breakfast (optional, lots of people slept through it.)
12-1pm: Lunch (the more popular first meal of the day, depending on your shift the previous night)
1-6pm: hang out, read, sleep, rest,… Read More
Our adventure from Ometepe began with the very rocky boat ride back to main land Nicaragua. Cheridyn, Elise and I had a pretty normal boat ride, excluding the very bad dog horror movie that was playing for the duration of the boat ride. And then it hit us, a huge wave came through the window onto us and our bags just as we were turning into the dock! We weren’t… Read More
After leaving Tyler’s home in Playa Maderas, we began our free travel by spending Thanksgiving Day in nearby San Juan del Sur, where people could call their families at an Internet Cafe while others were able to secure transport and reserve a few nights at a hostel to our first destination. After a number of discussions, our group decided to all go to Isla de Ometepe, an island formed by… Read More
We started student-directed travel with a bang! Sarah and Tully (who are writing you now) headed the first leg of this massive operation. We decided to go to Bikaner and explore the massive state of Rajastan which includes the Thar desert. Pray tell, what is the best method of desert exploration? CAMELS! That’s right, we did indeed decided to do a camel safari to kick off our last leg of… Read More
Sorry for the delay 😀Kailash-La again, wrapping up the our last week of planned travel here in the beautiful mountainside town of Mcleod Ganj, the home of the one and only, Mr. Lama himself. It took some serious skills of bus hoping to get here, but we finally arrived early afternoon on Thursday just in time to meet Neema La. Neema La is the fantastic woman who helped organize … Read More
After discusions and discusions we came to a conclusion on where to go during free travel: Lake Titikaka, the biggest lake in South America. To get there we reserved a posh bus from Cuzco to Puno that served Coca-Cola and coca tea, had a buffet lunch and stopped at a church, Incan ruins and a museum. Each stop had local women that sold artisan crafts to the gringo tourists visiting… Read More
There is a song by Guns and Roses that starts off “Welcome to the Jungle, we´ve got fun and games¨ and continues with ¨Welcome to the jungle we take it day by day. If you want it you’re gonna bleed but it’s the price to pay¨ and that is just what we had to do to have an awesome time in the Amazon Jungle.
We traveld from Cusco to a… Read More
