Written By Louise & Eli Our last week at Kipuka Olowalu and our few days in Hana were filled with so many tiny moments of pure joy, laughter, adventure, love, and deeper appreciation, not only for each other, but for the amazing contacts we’ve had the opportunity to work with. Having spent two weeks at Kipuka, we were able to gain a better understanding of Hawaiian culture and practices while… Read More
Dear team Aloha,
What a journey these two months have been with you all! It hasn’t taken us long to start missing you all. We are packing up at Olowalu, right where everything began and ended on our wild ride, reminiscing on some of our favorite memories from our time together.
It was only a few days prior to your departure that a few of you finally figured out your… Read More
Written By Mackenzie & Clare Continuing from where we left off last week, we’ll start with last Sunday! The group hit the beach for a dip and played around in some super fun waves!
On Monday, we worked in the greenhouse and garden before our tour of the bamboo farm by Rich, one of our hosts. After lunch we learned about how they had managed to turn the initially empty… Read More
Written By Anabelle & Genevieve Aloha! Over these past two weeks we have had the opportunity to work and connect with many new people and landscapes. At the end of our time at Evan and Danielle’s farm, we got to spend a day with George Kahumoku Jr. or, Unko George, who is a Grammy Award winning musician and sustainable farmer. After waking up for a 6:00 am departure to his… Read More
Written By Lachlan & Gemma Aloha,
Its Lachlan and Gemma from the aloha group! This week was one of introspection and self discovery. We went to the Sacred Garden to do our meditation retreat where Danielle, who we spent time with previously at the organic farm, led the retreat. Deep meditation and yoga starting at 7 am, then six hours of reflection, finished off by another meditation at 6:30. It… Read More
Written By Rachael & Adam Hola! This is Rachael & Adam your OE’s checking in one last time. What a trip it has been! We have been honored to guide this group through these last two months. We formed a thoughtful, joyful, & capable community together and we are so thankful for each one of our students.
We embarked on this journey at the end of what has been a… Read More
Written By Audrey & Veronica Hola and happy Easter friends and family,
For the majority of our second and final week at Cirenas, we continued to learn and physically experience permaculture. We spent the mornings helping out around the property with the full time employees. From an onlooker perspective, we were mostly sweating our butts off and desperately seeking shade. However, the work we did contribute to included: planting tomato,… Read More
Written By Alma & Maggie Sunday was our first full day at Cirenas. We awoke to the briny ocean breeze and the hilly permaculture campus, littered with tree debris disguised as biomass. Haunted by a clan of walking skeletons, also known as a group of stray dogs, and a friendly cat whose name is still highly contested, scholars do not agree (we are scholars thank you) we had a… Read More
Written By Ally and Sarah Aloha!
We left off last week’s blog with one more free day before our last work week at the refuge. We took the opportunity to finally see Iao Valley, which is a popular site. It was a very short “hike” to see the “Iao Needle.” A brave few, Sarah, Dani, Chloe, Doug, and Anya, jumped into the frigid river. With time to spare, we went… Read More
Written By Dani Aloha everyone!
This week we transitioned from Camp Olowalu to Waihe’e Refuge for some conservation work. We got all set up with the help of Kia’i our guide and facilitator for our time here. His name also happens to mean “guardian” which is very fitting, considering he lives on this land and takes care of it.
We started on our first project which was installing rolls of… Read More
Written By Jane and Tara As we transferred to our next stay at a local regenerative farm in Makawao this past week, so much changed; our landscape, the weather, and our day-to-day activities. But one thing has remained constant throughout our ability to have a Taylor Swift sing along no matter the location.
Pono means to live righteously and in harmony with one another and the earth. Here, Evan, the… Read More
Written By Hank and Macy After a long and rewarding week at Rancho Mastatal, we used our Sunday to regroup. We slept in until brunch at 10 a.m. and had the day to ourselves. In the evening, the group trekked up many hills to the next town to see the beautiful Costa Rican sunset. We watched as the sky grew pink, relaxing on the cliffside and taking many photos. After… Read More
Written By Balkhiis and Cole It was a beautiful, sunny, and humid, yet melancholic day leaving Turrialba last week. We were leaving behind our Spanish teachers and beautiful balcony that allowed us to see perezosos (sloths) during class almost every morning. We were leaving behind Fernando’s amazing cooking and the kitchen that enabled us to cook exquisite meals. Most importantly, we were leaving behind the living room where Zumba sessions… Read More
Written by Chloe and Justin Despite the rainy weather on Maui, this week was flooded with new learning opportunities and experiences for our group even if we needed to keep our rain jackets with us.
On Sunday our group vans, Ronnie and Mabel climbed to the top of Poli Poli recreation area in Kula. we wound our way through eucalyptus and redwoods forests. In the second half of the hike… Read More
Aloha friends and family of the ‘Ohana Spring 2021 semester!
It’s Peter and Natalie here from the beautiful Olowalu campsite on the west coast of Maui. We are full of gratitude and appreciation for the past week getting to know our incredible group of students. Orientation has been jammed pack full of adventure, learning, and connection. Students spent the day in Lahaina on their scavenger hunt in two teams. They… Read More
Written by Alexa & Clare This week began with a rainy campsite so we decided to take a day trip to the sunny Southside of Maui for a hike. We spent all day walking across volcanic rock along “King’s Highway” with gorgeous views of the ocean coast, even stopping a few times to take a dip in an oasis.
On Monday, we learned about keeping bees and even got to… Read More
Written By Tyler & Cece Hola from Turrialba! We’re Tyler and Cece and we’re so excited to share with you some highlights from our two weeks in this beautiful place.
Our first notable excursion was to The Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE). We not only learned about many of the unique plants native to and present in Costa Rica, we also learned about CATIE’s mission and role… Read More
Written By Ashley and Gemma Aloha! Our first week began on an unsuspecting note of arrival dates due to the weather in Dallas. After officially gathering as a full group on Camp Olowalu, we dove right into orientation with lots of swimming, learning, beach time, camp exploration, and fun! One morning we went sea-kayaking from shore and snorkeled in the neighboring reefs. Two highlights from that morning were sightings of… Read More
Peter and Natalie here, writing from the beautiful town of Kihei, situated on the southwest shores of Maui. This past week, we have had the opportunity to reconnect with each other and plan parts of our semester– (we actually have been friends for five years and led trips in Colorado together last summer). It’s been an awesome week– eating delicious local fruits, vegetables, and poke, visiting black and white sand… Read More
Written By Sasha Hey everyone, my name is Sasha and I will be reporting on the activities and places we’ve done this week (February 15th- February 23th). This week we were primarily stationed in the beautiful eco retreating Chilamante, Costa Rica until the 21st when we left for our next spot – Turrialba for language school.
While at the resort our primary focuses were: nature and building connections with each… Read More
