Previously on 24….. Titikaka, shamans, and a few long bus rides to Cuzco, our story continues.
Snap! Crash! Our first hostel in Cuzco was shotty to say the least. Within 5 minutes of inhabiting our inhabitance, a bed was broken, and brain cells were being killed with wet paint still on the walls. Yet, in the morning, we were still alive and kicking.
Like every other big city, Diegito and… Read More
Greetings faithful readers, ¨Jumping for Joy at The Door of Wisdom¨ On our last episode, we had just finished shreding the sandy slopes before heading up to altitude. We got into Puno around 8:01 pm, found some grub, and hit the sack. Sleeping proved a wee bit dificult for some, as Puno sits at about 11,000 ft, especially mixed with the chilly weather. What happened next, we knew not. We… Read More
Hello all! We have begun our freetravel adventures and are now officially Peruvian vagabonds. On sunday, we made our way to the bus station, leaving Arequipa behind. Unfortuanately, along with the great city, we also left Eli and Amanda behind. Sickness was the decisive element, as our group had to part ways again, if only briefly. Fourteen hours, and a terrible Morgan Freeman movie later, we made it to the… Read More
Rafting was a success. We flew down the rapids like condors flying through the Ecuadorian sky. All we can really say about it is that it was fun, incredible, and got us really wet. While in Puyo we also explored the local aquarium. We entered through a giant crocodile mouth and explored its innards that were filled with many scary peses including an empty anaconda cage. Where it went, no… Read More
GOL!!!!! In the 93rd minute in La Casa Blanca in Quito, the away team put a laser into the upper 90 to tie the game. That was last sunday. Monday took us to the amazon… so, after another extended bus ride, we arrived in Puyo, the capital of this province. From there, one of the volunteers we´re staying with — Jeremy, a pretty chill guy from Cali whose travels have… Read More
Hey peeps. Hope you´re all doing as fabulously as we are. We once again spent the last we separated. The Blink 182ers headed to the forest to spend a tranquilo week in the Bosque Nublado. Much like the last group we spent the days teaching English in two different schools (with super cute ninos). Once our work was done we were able to take some time to explore the beautiful… Read More
Hola parents. We are yet again finishing up another week in beautiful Ecuador. Sadly our group of nine was split in two this last week. One group consisting of Amanda, Andrew, Jordan, Jordi, Hannah and Alejandro, visited the cloud forest outside of Otavalo. They spent their time teaching at two different rural schools. The little ninos were absolutely adorable. We taught them as much English as possible, as well as… Read More
We are wrapping up another week of this bacancisimo trip and figured it was about time for another blog! Today was our last day of Espanol classes and its been SAMtastic. Each person has been learning and improving at their own pace. We´ve have been spending our mornings from 8 to 12 in class or going on creative field trips to markets, museums, or parques and then later enjoying the… Read More
¡Hola familia y amigos! Its been a great past week spent in Rio Muchacho- an organic farm in the transition region of Ecuador. Not only have we spent the past week farming and adjusting to creating zero waste but we have also been learning about the different aspects of organic farming such as composting, the lunar calendar, and problems with most US farms. We have been able to meet incredible… Read More
Our first three days in Ecuador have been incredible! We arrived at our hostel, Hostel Saiananda, in Bahia, Ecuador Thursday after many hours of travel by plane and bus. We arrived early Friday morning, got a couple hours of sleep and awoke to a delicious breakfast of local fruit, eggs, and homemade bread. After some bonding activities, we set out on our first adventure, a scavenger hunt through Bahia. Our… Read More
Nannette here-blogging on behalf of the SAM group:
I’ve just gotten off the phone with Amanda & Drew-everyone was waiting for a bus in Guayaquil to take them to their orientation site. They are all safe, happy, and incredibly excited to begin their adventure, although they are feeling Zoe’s absence…. Alas, only a few more days until the group is truly complete…
Look for further blogs from the group themselves… Read More
This video was made by the SAM group who is desperately missing their final student: Zoe Coleman. Zoe… you’ve been so wonderful through all this weather and your attitude has been very appreciated! The group, likewise, is eager to have you with them and send this out with great love and excitement at your joining them in a few short days. Video 24Video Length 1:55 Click here to watch… Read More
Phew. … after a little longer than we would have liked, everyone that’s supposed to be is together and accounted for! Poor Zoe will be joining us a few days later in Ecuador thanks to these incredible East Coast storms, so we’ll reserve some extra cheer for you on your arrival. For now, we’re all optimistic and excited as Drew reported it to be a phenomenal group thus far and… Read More
Emotion mounts as the days pass quickly toward the ‘launch’ of our SAM- South America- semester. The subtle reasons why the eleven of us will be coming together on this three-month exploration will reveal themselves gradually over time as we experiment with unique and fresh realities throughout Ecuador and Peru.
As you pack your bag, remember that lighter is always better! We’ll be covering a good number of miles along… Read More
Happy thanksgivin! The Sammers celebrated a little early by enjoying a huge feast and playing secret turkey for each other. We all are very well rested after a very amazing and spiritual stay at our yoga retreat. Sunday, a very sunny woman at that, shared her Hindu practices of meditation, astrology, and all the different yoga types and philosophies with us. The courses were intense, we sang, danced, meditated, and… Read More
Floating islands, a place none of us have ever expierenced before. The people create their land from condensed dirt and place piles of yellow reeds on top. The sun light reflects beautifully off of the islands as well as the lake, which creates a gorgeous contrast. Along with the reed monster boats that dock outside their homes. These islands literally float and in order for them to stay in place… Read More
Here we are – it´s free travel time! We are in the tourist haven of Puno right now, super fried after our two weeks of spanish classes in Arequipa.
Colca was incredible, as you could probably tell from the pics.
After a 6 hour bus ride in a double decker, flying on all sides of the ¨road¨ through the most picturesque landscapes of the Peruvian mountains we arrived here with… Read More
We have emerged from the jungle and now we have arrived in Perú!
Our week in the Amazon was muy interesante. We stayed in a lodge on a ridge above a village on the Puyo-Pongo river, and our project for the week was to build the stairs to get to the lodge! The path was steep and slippery and in need of a lot of maitenance. We perfected our machete… Read More
hello home! que tal? we have some bad news… ecuador lost the world cup qualifying game…we were in quito that weekend and the streets were crazy. we even tryed a little dancing in one of the clubs that night… an interesting experience that some of us enjoyed more than others. then we packed up and headed into the cloud forest of Alto Choco for the week. we were planing on… Read More
