Our time in Ecuador is drawing to an end. We depart tomorrow (Saturday October 24) for Arequipa, Peru where we will begin the second half of our adventure. We arrived yesterday in Quito after ten days in the Intag region. While we were there, we learned about sustainable, organic agriculture as well as the fight between the people of that region and ENAMI, the Ecuadorean national mining company trying to… Read More
Ten days ago we arrived in the small Andean town or Pucara and were greeted our local contact, Peter Shear, along with almost half of the local community. We were sat down to a welcoming ceramony involving a cultural dance performed by women in traditional attire. After the ceremony we were all introduced to our homestay families and given the rest of the afternoon and evening to settle in to… Read More
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After a few bus rides, a hostel stay, and a four hour ferry ride, we have arrived to our village, Nasolo! We rolled up driving through their grass and sat around in their community hall for the welcome ceremony all wearing our new fancy sulus. None of us were accustomed to any Fijian words or traditions yet but we all sat around fascinated of what I think was a… Read More
Sawadeeka!
The name of this post honestly describes the past month here at the Mirror Foundation, based outside of Chiang Rai, in Northern Thailand. During the work week, I typically don’t know what 99% of the food I eat is. The 1% is rice. White rice, fried rice, ginger rice… but on Friday’s we get pad thai and spring rolls!! All of us volunteers have learned pretty quickly never to… Read More
You may have heard of the term monk. Maybe you think they’re all punks. Turns out they’re real cool, following tons of rules, and they made us all look like chumps.
Last week, we stayed at the Plikwiwek Dhamma Center on the border of Burma, and learned all about the monk lifestyle. We were introduced and led around by an Australian bloke named Laurie. He liked to say “ah?” sort… Read More
By Hannah A. Hello to our friends and family! We have spent the last week in the rolling hills of southwestern Rwanda at a picturesque project called L’esperance. L’esperance began as an orphanage in 1994 after a tragic genocide destroyed the country and functioned as such until 2014, when the Rwandan government outlawed orphanages, claiming that they had served their purpose. Later, the project served as a haven for women… Read More
We arrived at the Root Institute on Tuesday, the 13th of October. After our shortest train ride yet (about 5 hours) we arrived in Gaya. From the crowded train station we packed into three auto-rickshaws which took us all the way to Bodh Gaya, where we concluded that leg of our journey at the Root Institute: a Buddhist retreat center. It was well past 11pm, and the sleepy guard let… Read More
Bula! After diving into the crystal clear waters of Fiji, we are excited to embark on our next chapter in the village. The last three days were spent doing cultural exploration in Nadi and New Town. Here’s all the fun things we’ve done this past week: going to local mud and hot pools, watching a traditional Fijian fire dance, participating in that dance, and night swims in the ocean. We’re… Read More
Nestled between the papaya, banana, and coffee trees on the banks of Lake Atitlan lies a mystical yoga farm where we would spend the next 5 days. Between the sounds of the drum or the didgeridoo waking us up in the morning and the chanting and songs after dinner, our days at the Mystical Yoga Farm were filled with a lot of personal reflection and gratitude.
Each morning we were… Read More
At the end of Senior year, it seemed as if everyone was figuring out the next four to six years of their life, right off the bat, in a single semester of high school. Of course, being a teenager who had a an average gpa of 2.0 or lower, I found myself only seeing bland, mundane or worst of all, simple yearly lifestyles to come after high school. I was… Read More
Una semana luego… (in Spongebob tone)
Talk about the great outdoors this week! And when I say “great,” I MEAN it. This island and everything on it is truly MAGICAL. Not only are all of our meals completely fresh and natural, but literally the whole system of the Bona Fide farm and our way of living is all natural. First off (well, there really is no “first” because it’s a… Read More
Hi Friends and Family back home!
We made it to Fiji last night, and the group is off on a scavenger hunt today on a cultural exploration in Nadi! Keep your eyes out for a blog post before we head out to the village on Monday!
Bula Vinaka!
Avi and Lauren… Read More
The Bay of Islands were so beautiful and some of us went kayaking or just chilling on the beach. We had an awesome dinner for our last night in New Zealand. We didn’t do too much for the 2 days that we were there so it was nice to have a break after working at the farm for a week, but we all had fun and some good quality time… Read More
Bula bula! 2015 walkabout group has wrapped up our month in New Zealand. We made it safely to Fiji! We are all ready for tropical shorts and flip flops weather. We arrived yesterday in Nadi then took a short van ride to our hostel in New Town. The city is very unique and not like anything I have experienced before. I love the island vibe and all the positive energy… Read More
New Zealand felt like home right from the start. That may be because I have strong roots here or be because everyone was so welcoming and friendly but I have come to love this country so far from my own. I learned so much from this country that I couldn’t have learned anywhere else. I learned how hard it is to be with the same 12 people everyday, and while… Read More
Surely Raglan couldn’t be as cool as Avi said it would be.That’s because no place could be THAT cool. But it was better. From the moment we glimpsed the rooftops of the town and the white foam of the waves to the moment they disappeared behind us as we headed for Aukland, Raglan was amazing. Upon arrival we settled into a hostel called Solscape. To describe how we felt about… Read More
By Eliza J Although our time in Uganda was spent with amazing people, food and unique cultures, we are excited for new adventures and where our journey will take us. Early this week, we finished our time in Uganda with new friends and local communities during our three day hike and canoe on Lake Bunyoni. Over the course of our three day adventure we spent the first day paddling in… Read More
Hello again from the soap making, garden raking, “from scratch” baking Sabai group! We’ve just arrived back in Chiang Mai after an incredibly fun, eye opening, and beautiful week in “Pun Pun”. “Pun Pun” translates to “Thousand Varieties” and is a community centered around self-reliance and improving personal and global health, the economic struggles of current Thai farmers, and the environmental implications of sustaining our planet (with a focus on… Read More
