Namaskar friends, family and anonymous readers! Emilia here, writing this from Rajasthan, the westernmost state of northern India!
We left the mountains and Mother Ganga behind in Rishekesh, and took a 13 hour train ride to the desert! Our adventure began on the train to Jaipur, when a bunch of kids came to visit our bunk to talk and sing with us and tell us about their yoga competition they… Read More
Dear Parents,
Do you miss us? Of course you do, how could you not? It’s been quite a while since you’ve had the grace of seeing the beautiful faces you’ve all raised, although worry not- we will all be returning in just over a week to eat you out of house and home, and make an unnecessary amount of noise at 1 A.M.
Now that the introduction is out of… Read More
Costa Rica- Pura vida!
After a 4:30 am wake up and around 14 hours of traveling, we finally made it to Costa Rica! We were welcomed with a huge fiesta at one of the homestays, accompanied by a drastic difference in food; Ribs and BBQ chicken instead of just the usual rice and beans. We were given a quick intro to CIRENAS, the program that we worked with for the… Read More
This past week, our group went on a yoga retreat just outside of Cusco at a place called Inbound Yoga. When we arrived, we were met by Chaitanya, our meditation and yoga instructor for the week. We were led to quaint volunteer stays made from only mud and straw. The retreat doubles as an ecofarm, with compost toilets and solar panels as the only source of electricity. The farm has… Read More
How ya goin’, Mate?
This past week, we embarked on our long awaited scuba/snorkel adventure in the Great Barrier Reef. For those of you who don’t know, the Great Barrier Reef, located of the coast of Queensland is the largest coral system on Earth. It can even able to be seen from space! When it comes to scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef is widely regarded as one of the… Read More
In Thailand we carried bulging heavy packs into the San Francisco airport, our day packs strapped across our chests and our hands dripping with sweat. We carried different backgrounds and unique stories to share, as well as the nervousness that clung to us as we arrived on the other side of the world with complete strangers. In Cambodia, we carried sweat stained shirts that never seemed to become clean, a… Read More
After spending the week scuba diving and relaxing on Phu Quoc, student directed travel has officially begun! As a group we’re responsible for booking accommodations, transportation, and day-to-day activities. It definetly hasn’t been easy for it to all come together but we’re so relieved that it has.
Yesterday we kicked off our newfound freedom by going to VinPearl Land, an amusement and water park on the northern part of the… Read More
Blog from Matt N. Part One: Shock and Awe Before diving into the shenanigans of Diwali, Varanasi’s own Festival of Lights of the Gods, let us delve into the bizarre business of banking. Immediately following the unexpected demonetization of all high-value rupee notes, the Rs 500 and the Rs 1000, the group began to fear the worst. Will the trip continue? Will we have to go home earlier? What do… Read More
The last week in Cambodia, before departing for Vietnam, we spent at a mangrove conservation project along the Kampot river. We stayed in a Muslim fishing village in thatched roof houses overlooking the water. We collected propagules, planted baby mangrove trees, and started the foundation to a walkway bridge over the water. We had a great time with SUP Asia stand up paddle boarding and kayaking along the river. We… Read More
Like every other week of this trip, this week was none the less of amazing. So much has happened and we even became open water certified scuba divers.We had an interesting, unexpected turn of things at the beginning of the week when our flight from Alice Springs to Cairns wan cancelled. Which actually ended up being a treat because Quantas Airlines paid for everyone’s overnight accommodation along with $50 for… Read More
After a 10-15 minute tuk tuk ride from our hostel in Phnom Penh we arrived at the Killing Fields, a memorial dedicated to the over one million people killed during the Cambodian genocide.
The genocide lasted from 1975-1979, killing 2 million people, a quarter of Cambodia’s population.
On April 17th 1975, the Khmer Rouge army overthrew the Lon Nol government. They took control over Phnom Penh, forcing everyone to abandon… Read More
Namaste all of you beautiful souls! With a happy heart and a calm mind I am blessed to be writing to you from the quaint town of Rishikesh where we just completed our one week transformational journey at the magical Phool chatti Ashram! Nestled along the banks of the Holy Mother Ganga, this beautiful yoga ashram is 120 years old and surrounded by mountain ranges that have aged over the… Read More
Blog from Matt and Jo During this past week of Thanksgiving celebrations, we are sure our friends at home are finishing coursework, reviewing the past semester and stressing to the max about upcoming finals. While they are anxious about freshman year, we are nonchalantly celebrating a Thanksgiving party with our homestay families, exploring the beautiful and historic streets of Stonetown in Zanzibar and swimming with dolphins in the Indian Ocean.… Read More
We said goodbye to our new friends at the Mystical Yoga Farm climbed onto a small boat and begun our Student Directed Travel time in Guatemala. Getting across Lake Atitlan was and adventure through some huge waves and, to say the least, our butts are pretty sore from boat ride.
Student Directed Travel took us to Antigua, a beautiful colonial town. A few of the fun activities we took part… Read More
After our beautiful stay in the small quechua community of Patacancha we started out our student directed travel in Lares with a relaxing day at the hot springs. Willy, Emi, Douglas, Rebecca, Sam and Harvey decided to head up early to the hot springs to get a full day at the “Spa” to be joined later that day by the rest of the group. Our hostess at the hostel thoughtfully… Read More
We just finished up our week of student directed travel, and have now settled down in Costa Rica. Sunday morning we left the Mariposa Spanish school at 8 am and hitched a 1-hour van through the school to Granada, Nicaragua.
We had been planning our student directed travel for several weeks, beginning deliberations in Ometepe and finalizing our itinerary in La Cancha. We were in charge of booking accommodations, reserving… Read More
Blog from Jada & Brent “Kamwene” (hello!!) From the Foxes NGO!
After a fun week of student directed travel, we made our way over to the Mufundi highlands, where we started the week off in homestays. We were in groups of 2 spread among 3 villages within the community. During our homestays we had the privilege of learning and experiencing daily life in rural Tanzania. Students participated in everything from… Read More
