Hello family and friends! If you read the title, you just learned the Thai word for Thailand! But before you lucky readers learn more Thai, let’s go back a couple weeks.
Bangkok was a great way to release the angst of the Mokken Village. Great shopping, (bargaining is the name of the game) and hot showers (OH MY GOD!) We even spent one night at the Lava Club night club… Read More
Hello world, its been far too long since our last blog. Happy to report that we are all still alive and kicking. This addition to the blog is being typed up by yours truly Nichlas Stephens. When you last left the group we were in the high mountain village of Darjeeling, known for its quality teas and fresh air, things have taken a drastic turn as we descended that towards… Read More
Hola Todos,
We have been in a small Andean, rural community for the past week, each in our own homestay families. Living conditions have been intense but varied. We´ve all learned to appreciate comfort and convenience which we experience at home. However, it is an incredible experience regardless-there is no better way to learn about a language and culture than living with the families and in their reality.Our living conditions… Read More
Greetings from Auckland, We have just arrived in New Zealand after having a wonderful experience at our homestays in Togovere Village. We were wlecomed with a sevu sevu ceremony where we were offered kava and where we met our Nau’s (mothers) and the people of Togovere. The first night we got aquainted with our homestay families and went up the hill to watch an amazing sunset (which we did night… Read More
The morning we get ready to take off from Nananu theres a solemn feeling in the air. We all grew so close to our families, but we were looking forward to the next location on our adventure, and trying some new foods rather than we’ve been having every day in the village. All of us are going to miss the families that we stayed with, the little kids that we… Read More
Saturday was our trip up to chi chi. Unlike our other trips this one was planned entirely by the students. The plan was to take a mini bus to Minerva where these guys ask you where your going and then try to drag you into their bus. Once we found one that was headed to chi chi we all hopped on. Keep in mind this was no New… Read More
The group at dinner in San Andres, group photo in Poptun (the school we volunteered at), Tikal group shot, Post-rain tikal pensive temple shot, Somee of us on the top of a temple in Tikal in the pouring rain, Temple of the Jaguar, TARANTUALA, Mary and Bridget fascinated with the TARANTUKA, Semuc Champey from the view point, us at the viewpoint, the pools!… Read More
Hey friends and family!So after departing our awesome hilly homestays and language school in San Andres which we all loved (especially since it included Flores, Tikal, ARCAS animal refuge, a bonfire and the occasional slice of pizza!) we took the bus to Coban. Our “cribs” member Whitney set us up in the awesome Hotel La Paz for two nights. Coban is old school, busy, pretty, and a little too cold… Read More
Ahh, sweet mysterious of the Mokken Village we have uncovered thee! Upon arriving to the Mokken bay tinted with broken red bull bottles and climbing inside the Village Cheif’s house, nothing more than a living room sized shack with open windows and harsh, unshaven bamboo branches, we quickly and abruptly came to a single conscious realization: We aren’t in America anymore.
Different problems arose quickly for different people. What will… Read More
The crew just left JJ’s and is getting ready to spend a night in Mbale before heading off on a 9 hour bus ride to Fort Portal tomorrow. To recap, after leaving Jinja last week, we caught a ride into Mbale where we celebrated Zoe’s 18th birthday! We had a nice dinner at an Indian restaurant and enjoyed an East African supermarket cake. The next morning we met up with… Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
