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Fiji village

Today. we had an amazing day exploring a breathtaking beach with our family and friends at the village. We played countless games of vollyball, swam like fish for hours, played some beach soccer and ate some tasty sandwiches for lunch. We then headed back to the village for preperation of a bountiful dinner as usual. The next day was spent with our home stay families, talking, laughing and exchanging life… Read More

Tashi Delek from Mcleod Ganj!

Hey friends and family! Dani here, just giving you all a quick update on our time so far in Mcleod Ganj. Once we left the Sustainable Living Institute we hopped in a taxi which took us to our hotel in Bhagsu, right outside of Mcleod. It was a little after our halfway point of the trip, so we decided to throw a pizza party to celebrate! It was a welcome… Read More

Holistic Living Retreat

Blog from Jo and Audrey As kids, the majority of us were enthralled with Disney movies. We loved them (well, most of us did.) They made up such a large portion of our lives and many of us even went so far as to center huge parts of our lives around them. One favorite Disney movie among some members of the group is a little old film called Lilo and… Read More

Ladakh, Trek, and Photos!

Blog from Grace. Photos from Jon & Anya Finishing our week at SECMOL was bittersweet. The school itself was so interesting how it taught students from various villages not only school, but how to sustainably live off the land in an eco-friendly way. The cultural exchange between the students our age was fascinating to experience. During conversation class, which was a 15 minute talk between a student and volunteer, about… Read More

From Rishikesh To Ladakh

Blog from Rachael J. As I’m on my bed that is closer to the floor than I expected at SECMOL (The “Student’s Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh”) where I’m trying to string together the many similes so the reader can actually feel what I am talking about. I try to think of an onomatopoeia that distinctly describes the many noises or the lack of noises that I hear while… Read More

Shanti Lives Sustainably

Oh hey! The Shanti family has just spent the last week as members of the Dharmalaya Institute for Compassionate Living, in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Alessandra here writing to you from an internet cafe in McLeod Ganj; what Dharmalaya lacked in internet, it more than made up for in spectacular mountain views. Under the wisdom of our new friend, Mark Ji, we learned about the incredible institute he founded… Read More

Safari & Wildlife Connection

Blog from Reed & Max. Photos from the Overseas Educators. Greetings from the town of Njombe in South Western Tanzania- It has been an adventure filled week since we last touched base so we have a lot to share and will do our best to keep it nice and short although there are no guaranties. When we last touched base we were part-way through our Kiswahili school and homestays up… Read More

Junin and Otavalo

¡Adios Ecuador! After a great stay in Pucará, getting to know the local community & natural environment, and planting enough trees to offset the carbon footprint of our carbon footprint of our Carpe Diem trip, we departed for Junín. We all boarded onto the back of Don Fausto’s open top truck for the final time and we were taken to a trailhead. Our suitcases were shuttled away as we headed… Read More

First week at Finca Bona Fide

This week was a very eventful and exciting week. We began on Monday by traveling from Matagalpa, Nicaragua to the island of Ometepe. We left nice and early at 8 AM and took private transport to the beach town of San Jorge. During the four hour van ride, we slept, listened to music, talked and eagerly awaited our arrival in San Jorge. When we got to San Jorge, we ate… Read More

Updates from Viñales

Yes, it’s time for the weekly team Chango update. After a wild week of going with the punches for independent student travel, I think all of us were a bit relieved to have a set schedule again in the heart of a beautiful farming town. And although the churros here are ten times the price of the churros in Santiago, I still can’t complain because there is something so sweet… Read More

Eco-Lodge and City Adventures

After an exciting week full of turtles and sleep deprivation, we packed our bags and caught a bus back to San Jose for the night. We stayed at Mi Tierra, a local hostel, and because of the size of our group (a whopping 14 people) we had the whole place to ourselves! The next morning we swapped tires for wings and flew to Guatemala City, Guatemala. The view from the… Read More

Cutting It Close

[ezcol_1fifth] [/ezcol_1fifth][ezcol_1fifth] [/ezcol_1fifth][ezcol_1fifth] [/ezcol_1fifth][ezcol_1fifth] [/ezcol_1fifth][ezcol_1fifth_end] [/ezcol_1fifth_end] This week has been crazy hectic between jumping off a ten hour train to Ayutthaya, bicycling around the city, then heading to Bangkok for three days where we got to witness the people’s reactions to the king’s death firsthand. Every single citizen in the city is dressed in black to show they are mourning. We stumbled upon a mourning ceremony devoted to making sure… Read More

Costa Rica and Turtles!

Hola! Following Ezra´s last post of our time in San Juan Del Sur, we took a bus from San Juan to Rivas, then waited a while for another bus, which then took us across the border (long process of getting on and off the bus about three times) and into Costa Rica. Once across the border, we bussed for the next 4 or so hours and arrived in San Jose.… Read More

Week four updates

Hello family, friends, and all peoples who have come to this blog. It is I, Caden, your guide to all things about our tour of Cuba. Last week in our travels we were in the city of Santiago, known for its rebellious history, Afro-Cuban culture, and being really, really hot. After the excitement of Hurricane Matthew, and the disappointment and relief that it didn’t hit, we got settled in for… Read More

All the rest of NZ!

Adios Student Directed Travel! Let’s take a moment to admire how much ground we covered, meals we ate, places we stayed, and the people we’ve befriended along the way. Go Hongi! Now moving on. Our new host, Tiaki, took us to a retreat cottage. Upon arrival he introduced us to Rob, an elderly man you could just look at and tell he was filled with wisdom. We helped him cut… Read More