We have finished our final homestays and spanish classes on this trip. In Ollantaytambo, Hollyn and I stayed with Abella and Alex along with their two daughters, Alexandra and Janice. We had spanish classes every day but would often do cultural activities like walk to the ruins or make guacamole during class time! We went on a few different hikes throughout the week. One was to a really pretty waterfall… Read More
The group woke up at 5 in Lobitos and took a bus to Piura to catch our flight to Cuzco. At the aiport, the group had a little trouble with security. The guards at the bag check individually searched our bags for drugs, good thing we had time to spare.
After a smooth flight, the group arrived at our hostel in Cuzco at 4 and Paxton, who is “cribs” for… Read More
“Swoosh” ; the sound of the waves crashing against the shore of Lobitos as the Inti group awakened for the first time in Peru. This week the group worked with Waves, a local organization that supports Lobitos by bringing in volunteers to help the economy through tourism and education. Lobitos is a small town on the northern coast of Peru famous for surfing and fishing. The first work day, half… Read More
¡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
“This is one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been” – Hollyn
¡Bienvenidos a Pucará! For the past 5 days, we’ve been spending our time in the beautiful subtropical climate known as the cloud forest. We’ve been staying individually with host families, and spent two of our days volunteering and helping with reforestation. We were able to see the whole process of making coffee all the way from picking the… Read More
Thursday, October 13th, officially marks the one month anniversary of our group’s journey. Similar to the rest of the week we began the day with Spanish class from nine to one. After 4 hours of spanish, we were all ready for a delicious meal from our host families. Generally, almuerzo consists of a vegetable or chicken soup accompanied by tea and bread from the local panaderia. After a filling meal… Read More
We arrived in the small town of Peguche on Monday after a full day of travel from the Amazon. The group was greeted by Lorena whom we met in Banos and introduced to our homestay families and homes for the week.
On Tuesday morning, we had an artesan workshop in which we learned about the intricate process of making “bufundas” or scarves. From dyeing the wool with natural pigments from… Read More
Hola familias! The second half of our week in the Amazon went quite swell. On Thursday, we worked in the garden harvesting turmeric, which is used for medicinal purposes in local communities. After that long, hard day of work we got to go tubing in the river! Tubing was fat lit. Maddy and I held hands the whole way and Paxton got some mosquito bites to remember the trip by.… Read More
We arrived here on Sunday evening after a long travel day. We were dropped off by the Arajuno Bridge and then took a motorized canoe (which was pretty awesome) to our destination. My first thought when we pulled to the Arajuno Jungle Lodge, was that it was much more modern than I expected. The facility is very nice, which is a relief because we are working quite hard and it… Read More
Today was our last full day here in Baños before we leave for the Amazon and the end to an amazing week. We topped off our stay here with white water rafting trip earlier today, everyone had a blast and Harvey even went for a little swim. Yesterday we went on a little trip up to Casa de Arboles, a beautiful park atop one of the many mountains that surround… Read More
Today is our fourth day in Baños. We have all settled into our host families. Me and Katie are staying with Lorena, the administrator of the Spanish school Raices. We have three dogs that are constantly playing with us and looking to be rubbed on their bellies. Tasting all the home-cooked meals is a delicious way to experience the local culture. Our classes are 3-4 hours a day, with a… Read More
Hola from Santa Domingo, Ecuador! Currently on our way to la playa for our last day here on the finca (banana farm). The finca is a banana/plantain farm. It is beautiful here! Our first day we picked bananas and plantains to help the farm’s weekly harvest. The owners of the farm are the kindest people. They made their home feel like our home. Even though Chari and Juan Carlos (the… Read More
The group is off the the coast today to start their first week of Spanish classes. The will have little to no access to internet while there, but in the meantime, enjoy some photos from the past few days in Quito!… Read More
Today we were roaming around Ecuador on a exciting scavenger hunt! Our group started out with a long walk to Carolina Park. Then we made our way back picking up other items on the list along the way. We stopped for a nice ethnic lunch at Hollyn and Sam’s subway. Then we found weird cake balls at an Ecuadorian bakery. Though we didnt find THAT many things on the list,… Read More
What´s cracking, it´s ya boys and ya girl, Paxton, Willy and Kaydee. We´re in Quito, writing this blog. Exploring and what have you. You could say we are Carpe-ing the heck out of this Diem. We are writing this blog together in an internet cafe in Quito, Ecuador. We just visited Basilica del Voto Nacional, a very beautiful castle-like structure. We are taking a lot of photos, but haven´t figured… Read More
We arrived in Quito two nights ago. We were greeted by an accommodating hostel and a delicious meal. After passing out in our beds, we woke up the next day and set out for our first full day in Quito. In a nearby park, we did several Orientation activities, going over rules and safety as well as just getting to know eachother. Today, we embarked on a scavenger hunt in… Read More
After many long hours of travel, we’ve received word that the INTI crew has safely arrived in Quito. They are heading for their hostel, where everyone is excited to get some rest and then dive in to orientation tomorrow. Stay tuned for more over the next few days!… Read More
