After 4 hard days work at Mirror Foundation we started our Trek to the Akah village which is a hill hill tribe in northern Thailand. The trek started out with a drive to our guides village where he showed us the Hill Tribe village museum which was an eye opening experience to see how these villages work and the tradition that the Thai government is trying to make disappear, which… Read More
Namaste everyone,
Arriving in Kolkata at 3:30am, with no idea of where we’d be sleeping, put many of the Carpe kids on edge. Another contributing factor being that many of us had a stomach bug, which was causing some not so pleasant trips to the bathroom. Aside from all these factors, the Shiva group knew we’d soon be heading to The Mother Teresa House, to start some very rewarding volunteer… Read More
( Adapted from personal blog – http://www.jackdubreuil.blogspot.com )
The Ecuadorian villiage of Pucará is a solid candidate for the title of World’s Most Unassuming Place. It’s a humble little town, small in every sense, with modest buildings dwarfed even further by the Andean monoliths that pierce the horizon in every direction. The center square, complete with a small church, two stores, and a volleyball court, branches out into a few… Read More
Hola y Buenas Dias!
This week we moved in with our homestays in Matagalpa. This is the most progressive and feminist city we have visited yet. We are all a little relieved to be finishing our last week of Spanish classes and we have been involved in several different cultural activities. From cooking, to history, to dancing, we finished our last activity this week with a testimony from a LGBT… Read More
Previous to my arrival in the city of Varanasi I had never seen a dead body in person. My first encounter with a corpse was so blatantly casual, I had to stop and register what had just occurred. It happened quite quickly; as my group struggled up the crowded street, under the flickering lights of the Diwali festival, I saw a group of 4 men, hurriedly carrying (what I thought)… Read More
Today marks the halfway point of our journey together. We have grown a lot since those first days at Diva 3 in Chiang Mai, both independently and as a group. We now crave the sweet sweet release that all white rice meals (aka all meals) leaves us with. Our thigh muscles are rock hard and our aim has increased ten fold from all the post white rice squat toilet visits.… Read More
The Kifaru crew got to visit Sustainable Harvest Coffee, a project that works with local women farmers to sustainably increase income and sell fair-trade coffee. Here are a few photos of the excursion, courtesy of Alison and Simon. Enjoy!… Read More
Namaste and tashi delek, dear Carpe family!
I’ve been in northern India for over a month now, and words can’t describe how wonderful it is to be here. I was breath-taken upon my initial arrival and seeing my new home in the mountains for the first time, and I don’t think I’ve taken a full inhale yet – although, that could also potentially be attributed to the altitude here.
For… Read More
Hola all!
This week was a nice transition into our new home of Nicaragua for the next month or so. Traveling went as smooth as we hoped and arrived to the Mariposa School early Sunday morning. The first thing that we did was split into groups of 4 people to do 3 different types of service projects. Audrey, Ariana, Emily and Ottilia volunteered at a local primary school reading and… Read More
Hola, loved ones! After our brief return to civilization in San Juan Del Sur, we jumped off the grid again on the beautifully untouched coast of Costa Rica, where we spent a week at a sea turtle conservation and research center. When we arrived, we stood in silence as our jaws dropped at a nearly 360 degree view of untouched coastal wilderness. Palm trees sagging with coconuts scattered the beaches… Read More
Thursday October 22nd, 2015
4:15-5:30 AM.
We woke up at Ohana Amani. Early. So early. There was a fifteen minute interval of people rolling around, groaning, and kicking each other up. It was pitch black, the only sounds audible were ones of animals in the forest. It was cold, too. Maybe 60 degrees Fahrenheit. We got our bags packed up and made our way from the campsite to the lodge,… Read More
The sun has been shining for hours by the time you wake up. It’s 7:00 am. “Yadra Nana and Tata!” (good morning host mom and dad.) Tie up the mosquito net, grab some toilet paper and head outside to the bathroom. Check for frogs and other mellow creatures making shelter in the concrete cubicle before getting down to business. Afterwards wash your hands with antibacterial soap in a sink or… Read More
Bula Vinaka Family and Friends!
We have just completed our first week in Togalevu village on the western side of Viti Levu island, Fiji! Our week started with a traditional welcome from the villagers, which included a hearty serving of kava, the traditional root drink used in special ceremonies. Shortly after, we were introduced to our host families and brought to our new homes. The following days were spent building… Read More
Monday, October 19th:
The group arrived in the capital city of West Bengal (also known as the cultural capital of India), Calcutta or, more correctly, Kolkata, after another rather sticky night on a two-and-a-half-hour-delayed overnight train (a new record!). We taxied to the Sunflower Guest House, a nice tourist establishment with the front desk curiously located on the top floor. After making ourselves at home in our shared seven-person room,… Read More
The ocean.. what a treat she was to us. After making a trip on a ferry midst a thunderstorm from Ometepe to hopping on a bus to San Juan del Sur, Nica, the gentle waves of the Pacific were beaconing us. We arrived at Casa del Oro, a sweet set up of a hostal, Mitch (from Bona Fide) from Bona Fide manages. Settling in, our tummy growls navigated us to… Read More
Lightning crackled across a dark grey sky, temporarily illuminating the faces of the twelve intrepid travelers sitting around the table in the Pucara community center. However, just outside the doors a crime of magnificent proportion was underway. Blissfully unaware of the larceny taking place outside, our jolly wayfarers drowned out the following clap of thunder with a raucous bout of laughter and other expressions of mirth. Half an hour passed… Read More
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
