Before I begin, I need to point out that some very important pieces of our Shanti family were missing during this adventure. Our long legged mountain man, Jake, was too sick to trek and our beloved Peter stayed back with him. On day 3, Isadora wasn;t well enough to carry on and went back to the resort. We missed you sitting around the campfires with us, girl 🙁 We were… Read More
Blog from Atticus Flannigan-Burt. Photos from Cari
Our time at Dharmalaya was a good one. All the staff, architecture students, and workers were kind, patient and knowledgeable. We learned a lot across a myriad of subjects – from brick-making to vegan cooking and meditation.
Meditation was an important part of our time at Dharmalaya. We spent thirty minutes meditating every morning and on some days another half hour before bed.… Read More
By Jillian and Tori
The day began with the microbus ride straight out of a circus. 16 of us crammed into a bus for 14 for 3 excruciating hours followed by a short boat ride through mountains and volcanoes of lake Atitlan to arrive at the mystical yoga farm. As soon as we stepped off the boat, it became apparent that we were not in Kansas anymore. We were greeted… Read More
Hola!
This week we arrived in the beautiful, historic town of Ollantaytambo. After a few days of mental and physical relaxation provided to us in the form of the yoga retreat, it was time for a week of learning. On Sunday around 4 we arrived in the center of town to meet our host families. Upon arrival, the group took a moment to look around at the scenery beyond the… Read More
by Kate Cone
After a bittersweet goodbye to the all you can eat pancakes at Hostel Oasis and all of Granada’s luxuries like real flush toilets, smoothies at The Garden Cafe, reliable electricity and free internet, we strapped all 14 packs to the van, ready to face a week getting in touch with nature and all it had to offer on the island of Ometepe.
With all of our Spanish… Read More
By Hadley Hobbs
We never thought we’d actually get this far in the trip but here we are…finished with our trek! After finishing up at SNEC we transferred to Lake Bunyonyi to spend one night at Edirisa’s Lodge before heading out. It was pouring down rain and the road was too muddy to drive so we ended up taking a very wet boat ride across the lake. LD’s yellow umbrella… Read More
By Siena and EmilySquatty
When we first saw it we held our poop for days,
But then we became accustomed to its natural ways.
There’s no toilet paper so we drip dry when we piss,
It’s really upsetting if we poop and we miss.
We’re no longer scared when we see just a hole,
But we are always excited when we see a bowl.
Fran’s Traveling Hair Salon,… Read More
By Nico and Oliver
For those of you who emailed headquarters, yes we are still alive!
After a challenging two weeks in Fiji, we arrived in the beautiful city of Newcastle. The change in pace was dramatic but offered the opportunity to recover from illness. Much needed. Our evenings were spent eating familiar foods, watching movies, and relaxing. Many of us admired Australia’s strikingly beautiful landscapes and were excited to… Read More
By Sea
Arriving at the Golden Temple in Amritsar immediately felt different from the rest of India.
A few of the main focuses of the Sikh religion are equality among all humans, generosity, selfless service, cleanliness, facial hair, devotion, and connection to God. This was immediately apparent with the marble tiles that made up the streets surrounding the temple and the lack of garbage littering them. The people were all… Read More
By Matt Harmon
Hola a mi Carpe Diem Familia!
We started this week with WAVES (Water, Adventure, Voluntourism, Education & Sustainability) in Lobitos, and ended in Cusco with Eco Yoga Inbound. Our final two days with WAVES was full of magic and lifelong memories.
On Monday, we woke up at 6:00 am to go out fishing with locals. This wasn’t just any ordinary fishing, we were one with the line,… Read More
By Naomi Garcia
Monday morning in Junín. High energy breakfast. Why? Biscuits, jam, AND cream cheese! A simple sounding breakfast for us back in the States but such a delicacy for us here (some even snagged jam-filled bread rolls in their pockets for later… Shhhh). After fueling up our bodies, we went on a five-ish hour hike through the cloud forest. Surprisingly, the clouds were so dense, we got to… Read More
By Eliza Patterson
For about the past week, we have been exploring the cities of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. These two cities have offered us two very different, but interesting, experiences.
Siem Reap is a city built for tourists. There were three different night markets within walking distance from our hostel and at least two fried ice cream roll stands on every corner. Chocolate croissants and even… Read More
By Jon
Hey, Jon here covering part two of our “Escuela de la Montaña” adventure. Big thanks to Dylan for part one. Give the man a Pulitzer, 10/10 writing. Anyways, let’s hop right into Thursday, November 9th, 2017. As it’s been explained, we had been split up into afternoon and morning classes. Now, there were two planned times for groups to go the local Mayan SHAMAN at a town called… Read More
By Dylan Crovo
Sunday morning was spent in Xela (pronounced shay-la); like any other morning spent at 8,000 feet in Guatemala, the day broke shockingly cold. Shivering despite my poncho, an impulse purchase made at one point or another by every member of the group, I arrived at Xela’s central park. In the mere 10 minutes it took for the rest of the group to arrive at the park, looking… Read More
By Overseas Educator Matt Shamey
Exploring bee fences as a means to mitigate elephant crop pillaging and doing some slashing of the grasses around the fences at the farm.… Read More
By Tate Scarpaci
After our last week of homestays, we began our week of Student Directed Travel (SDT). Everyone was stoked for some more adventure.
An eventful ride in a microbus led us to the city of Leon, our first stop of the week. It is a large, slightly touristy city, but a quick bus ride will get you out of the hustle and bustle to a nice little beach… Read More
By Brad and LD AKA: The Gentlemen of Kifaru
On Sunday, November 5th, 2017, the world was changed forever.
While at the Special Needs Education Center in Kabale, Uganda, we went to church. We thought it would be normal, but when they started to auction off goods to the community at the end of the service, our lives took a turn for the legendary.
As teenage boys, we really wanted… Read More
By Lily Hue
This week started at Mufindi Children’s Village where we continued working on the projects we started the week before. Our days were long but full of rewarding and purposeful work that left us tired but content at the end of the day. We all got a chance to work in the garden, hoeing and weeding the vegetable garden that makes up a large portion of the children’s… Read More
By Grace Frances Nelson
Do you find yourself questioning the monotony of the culture around you?
Have you never experienced what it feels like to be a minority?
Do you purposely choose to isolate yourself from the world beyond your precious city, state or country?
If you answered yes to any or all of these questions you may be suffering from a mild to severe case of what I call… Read More
