Follow along on the journey
Megan and David, our fearless Nkula Overseas Educators, just sent in these pictures from their time with The Olive Branch for Children working on literacy projects. Thanks Olive Branch for a fantastic week!
Nkula is now on their Student Directed Travel and has made it to the island of Zanzibar – we can't wait to hear more of their adventures.
So finally, we made it to the ocean. The group was overjoyed, and understandably so, given that our only contact with large bodies of water has been Lake Atitlan. Our contact organization is Project Woo, an organization focused on community-driven development and regulating the effects of Volunteerism. We started off our week by helping some local fisherman haul in their fish nets. Unfortunately there were only eight or so fish in the net, so haul may not be the right verb. Regardless, the rest of the week went swimmingly (pardon the pun). We baked pastries, learned how to surf, and spent a morning running activities for the local children at the beach. An early morning hike up The Giant´s Foot provided a great view of the beach… and of Ben´s phenomenal dance moves. We finished off the week with some Nacatamales and toasted cheese-bagel-donut-thingies that all the Carpe students helped make. Our next stop is Project Bona Fide, located on the island of Ometepe, situated in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.
we spent the week and a half after Project WOO at Bona Fide permaculture farm, on Isla Ometepe. It's a volcanic island made up of two volcanoes, hence the two boulders. And they were some niiiiiiice boulders!
A typical day at Bona Fide consisted of getting up at six, starting work at seven, eating breakfast at eight, and doing three more hours of work from nine until noon. In addition, we sometimes had activities or kitchen duty in the afternoons, which made for long days and curiously early bedtimes.
Bona Fide is a permaculture farm, which means quite a few things. Basically, permaculture is a way of life (not just an agriculture method) that maximizes efficiency and minimizes waste. For example, instead of toilets we did our business in compost latrines. The solid waste was used as fertilizer, and the liquid waste was used as a nitrogen-rich way to water the plants. The farm was definitely difficult to get used to. In some locations, there were so many bugs that you had to cover your nose to keep from inhaling any. It was difficult to keep clean, simply because nothing was truly inside and nature got all over you whether you liked it or not. But after a stressful first few days, we came to like it.
The most major activity that we did over that week and a half was the seed exchange, which Bona Fide had been planning for weeks. They are partnered with a local organization called Project Mano Amiga, which is an agricultural and health education center for the community. Once a year, Bona Fide puts on a community-wide faire that raises awareness about the new agricultural practices that take place on the farm as well as expose the community to new foods and ways of preparing food. It was a small affair–just a couple of booths and a piñata for the kids–but it was a labor of love on everyone's part.
As a farewell, we prepared pizza for all the farm's volunteers, which numbered about thirty people. It was a true hippie party, with crazy dancing and singalongs and all-natural pizza. I even enjoyed washing dishes! That was probably a onetime thing, though. Even now, group members are starting to think about returning to Bona Fide. I'd do it just for the sunsets.
Hey there!
Wow, our most recent adventures have been truly one of kind. Sorry, to eveyone out there that has been looking forward to our latest post, we haven't had the chance to catch up on group orientated activities lately; such as blogging because we where staying at the beautiful Phool Chatti Ashram in Rishikesh. Last week was such a terrific and benificial experience for us all. A soul cleansing, spell enchanting stay that was much needed and had been something we were in all need of after our second stay in Delhi whether we knew it at the time or not. The ashram is a small paradise nestled between large mountainous hills and it overlooks the scared Ganges river. Setting the perfect atmosphere for personal growth and deep reflection time. Our days spent there were some of the most structured so far on our journey. Each morning we were met with a budding sunrise of warm colors and powdery clouds. The mornings consisted of us beginning with a silent meditation, chanting, yogic cleansing practices and finally followed by Hatha yoga. Thereafter, we would grab our plates up to silent breakfast (all meals and activities before lunch where carried in silence. And I have to say it really added a special element to meal time). Breakfast was my favorite meal, nothing better than fresh tropical fruit salad and hot homemade honey porridge in the morning! I ask you ”please sir may I have some more”? Our afternoons were filled with daily chores and nice soothing walks along crisp clear rivers,creeks, and waterfalls. We often found ourselves becoming one with the nature around us and looked forward to exploring more of the beautiful sites. After lunch and 2 hours of free time we would spend our evenings conversing over lectures, grabbing our yoga mats for one more round and commencing the evening affairs with Pooja. Finally, to end our long days we would finish with Kirtan (musical melodies of flutes, violins, drums and chantings). Lastly, before venturing off to join our dreams we went to evening guided meditations. As days went by it began to feel routine and we began to make friendships. Some of the highlights were: dunking ourselves into the fridged mother Ganges as a way of rejuvenating our bodies, minds and souls; basking in the warm sun like children do hours on end and swimming in the Him river; bundling up tight next to each other; playing music and acting out skits next a large bonfire as we sipped cups of chai. But personaly the most enjoyable moment was on the final day of our stay; we did a Fire Ceremony which involved reciting a chant 108 times and throwing a mix of special woods into a small flame. It was a perfect way to end our stay. We left feeling our healthiest, strongest and clearist in minds that we have felt in a long time.
Our time there was well spent and we all experienced feelings that we have never felt before. But like always the time came when we had to hit the road. We decided to extend our stay in Rishikesh as we felt that there was just so much we had yet to see and do still. We didn't waste anytime and before we knew it we rafting class 3 rapids and riding the bull!!!! Let's just say Lindsay rides in style, guys. We left with smiles on our faces as we chased after our departing train to Dharamasala. What an adrenaline rush that was!
Today Shanti left the Dev Bala family farm in outer Dharamsala, where we stayed for five rejuvenating days. Dev Bala sits right on the foothills of the Himalayas, which means you can stand in the garden, gazing out over luscious semi-tropical fields and farms in the valley, and turn your head to look at the snowcapped peaks right above you. The family at the farm grows what seemed like everything imaginable to us–bananas, papayas, cherries, starfruit, spinach, pumpkin, squash, coriander, turmeric, ginger, hibiscus, roses, peonies, the list goes on and on. They made us homemade bread and fresh curd and buffalo butter every day as well. Some of our activities this week included lovely walks through the surrounding wheat fields, a bumpy open top jeep ride to a hot springs IN A TEMPLE, a visit to a nunnery, playing frisbee, meeting a Tibetan activist and watching a documentary about Tibet, lots of reading in the garden, extended breaks for chai, and doing henna with our host sister, Priyanka.
Today we're dealing with Indian bureaucracy trying to get travel permits and shaky internet connection before we continue to Bir.
In good spirits and health, sending lots of love for everyone at home,
Shanti Group
This week there was an overthrow of the Audrey/Greg regime as the students took the reins for "Student Directed Travel". It didn't take us long to figure out what we wanted to do as soon as Amalia put bungalows on the beach and a National Park on the table. So, instead of heading straight to Vietnam, we decided to extend our stay in Cambodia and chill on the beach in Sihanoukville.
As soon as we arrived at our collection of bungalows only a few steps from the ocean, there was a rush to jump into the clear cerulean blue waters. Which ocean it was turned out to be a topic of much confusion. It was the Gulf of Thailand, guys. 1 point for Andi.
It’s been a week full of emotional highs and lows, which is really quite a fitting way to visit a country like Cambodia, whose people have experienced some of the most horrific extremes of human capabilities and yet still find ways to smile, laugh, and welcome visitors with open arms.
We started the week in the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, where we visited the S21 prison that was run by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970’s. Thousands of people were sent through the prison for interrogation, or before being sent to the killing fields, and only about a dozen survived. We were taken on a tour through rooms where blood stains still remain on the floors and walls from the prisoners who were tortured to death. We also saw rows of miniscule prison cells equipped with shackles to ensure prisoners couldn’t escape, and countless photographs taken by Khmer soldiers of the men, women and children who were imprisoned there, as well as photos depicting the horrendous torture they endured.
After S21, we decided to make sure our day would be as sad and terrifying as we could possibly make it and went to the killing fields. Through individual audio tours, we learned about the mass burial sites below our feet where thousands of people were murdered genocidally. Pol Pot was quoted as saying that “it’s better to kill an innocent person than let a guilty person survive.” With that slogan in mind, the Khmer Rouge brutally beat and murdered adults and children alike, and then buried them in massive pits in the ground.
On our way back to our guest house, the tuk tuk I was in took a different turn than the rest of the group. I thought for a second that we might become the inspiration for the next Taken movie, but our spirits were quickly lifted when a random motorcyclist drove up and handed each of us a mango just for kicks.
Those mangoes really turned the metaphorical emotional frown upside down because the rest of the week has been all good vibes. We spent two days at a mangrove conservation site where we kayaked, swam, watched an incredible sunset from a boat, and sang moon songs to our dearly beloved moon during a lunar eclipse. We are currently located just outside of Kampot, chilling in cabanas above a beautiful river, spending our days paddle-boarding and cooking breakfast for dinner. It’s super chai.
We departed from Sihanoukville bright and early at 6:00 AM ready for a 12 hour bus ride into Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Our estimated 12 hours of travel soon doubled when our bus' engine broke down and we were left sitting on the roadside with our transport kindly sending smoke signals out the back. Being the fearless travelers we are, we organized a sit-in protest against paying for private van and we were rewarded after a few hours of stubbornness with a second bus all to ourselves! Eventually, after a breif, unexpected overnight layover in the Cambodian border town, we arrived in Vietnam.
Now the students are all planning out our remaining days of student directed travel in the wonderful, bustling city of Ho Chi Minh.
After the bus took us out of the city of Cuzco, steep mountains began cropping up on either side of the road. We had entered the Sacred Valley. After watching the rural (compared to city) lifestyle move by in the window for about half an hour, we came around a bend and the bus came to a stop. A river rushed along the right side of the road, along with the adobe building where we would practice yoga, on the left side of the road we saw a sign that read ëco yoga. We had arrived.
Chi-tanya greeted us and welcomed us to sradhavan (sanskrit name for the community). Several adobes were sprawled over a hill, they stopped with the beginning of a steep incline of a peak in the Andes mountain range. From the instant we arrived we felt the magic of the place, anticipation for a very relaxing and refreshing experience. On the day of arrival we had our first yoga class. As the week progressed we had an hour of meditation each morning followed by yoga and then breakfast at 9:30.
On the first full day we had a class on the yoga diet, and breathing techniques in yoga called Pranayama. In yoga there are three different types of food, satuic, rajasic, and tamasic. The satuic diet includes fresh organic vegetables and fruits. It also includes grains like corn, barley and wheat. Honey, maple syrup and molasses are the sugars of the satuic diet. For snacks nuts and seeds are suggested, and milk is on the list, as long as its from a healthy cow. To sum it up, this is a diet of natural and whole foods that are grown with care and prepared in meals with love. The Rajasic diet is partly made up of hot foods and spicey foods, they make the body soften with their intensity, therefore are only good in moderation. Other foods with strong flavors such as pungency (pickles and other canned foods), bitterness, sourness, dryness, saltyness, all promote productivity but can make the mind restless when eaten too much. When eaten excessivly the rajasic diet can cause us to become angry, lustful, greedy, violent or agitated. Refined sugar, coffee and tobacco are also considered rajasic. Too much food from the tamasic category causes us to feel heavy and slugish. Foods in this diet include meals cooked and eaten 6 or more hours later, foods with preservatives, too much salt, too much sugar, fried or reheated (in a microwave) foods, overcooked or overripe foods, meats, fish and alcohol. Eating too much, even if it´s healthy, can also cause tamasic energy. You will know you ate too much if you are extremely sleepy afterwards.
So, after going into the topic of our first class with extensive detail, I will keep the rest simple. On the second full day we learned how to make adobe bricks. The ingredients are mud, stones, water and straw. Our bricks will be used for the structure that is in progress right now at sradhavan. On our third full day we had classes on the seven Chakras. These are energetic disks located along the spine, and each one determines our outlooks and feelings on certain aspects of our lives. On our fourth (and final) full day we learned about Vedic Astrology. Many peoples signs in western astrology will move back one in Vedic astrology. For example, my birthday being May 1st, I am a Taurus in Western, but an Aries in Vedic astrology. This is because the dates for the signs are different, starting with November 15th to December 15th for Scorpio, and so on.
This final class with Chi-Tanya was a good way to use what we´d learned during our time with him, and leave with an even deeper -if not broader- understanding of self, and the role we all play in the world. All in all, the five days spent practicing yoga and meditation in the Sacred Valley were appreciated by all of us in the Inti group. After weeks of being on the move, it was wonderful to be able to completely commit to the present moment. Even though our stay was short, our experience was vast and one to be kept in our memories as we complete our ventures through Peru.
-Suntea'Ohna
Once upon a time, eleven wazungu went into the wild. These are the things they saw…. lions, tigers, bears oh my! Just kidding about the tigers and bears, but the lions were a thing. Oddly enough, two out of the three times we saw these lions, momma and papa were doing the “downtown shuffle”. In those moments we all felt that we were right inside of Animal Planet. Along with those lions, we encountered an elephant about ten feet away from our safari car! We also met many giraffes, which always inspired some to yell “TWIGA” (giraffe in Kiswahili). Along with our twiga friends we saw antelopes, greater and lesser kudus, baboons, one distant cheetah, hippos, warthogs, eagles, zebras, lizards, dik-diks, jackals and an assortment of birds.
Overall, the safari was amazing! But, one dreary night, we had quite the “shituation” on our hands (and in our pants). The clock struck 4 and three girls’ insides betrayed them. The journey to the bathroom was far too dangerous as many feared attack by rampant hippos. It was a night of terror, but of course they made it through the fire and to the morning. Our insides will never defeat us! After the dreadful night, we went back out on safari and saw a leopard, the animal we had long await to see. The safari as a whole was beautiful, and we won’t forget the gorgeous reddish-orange sunrises and sunsets. We all enjoyed our two and a half days of being tourists.
After our safari, we hopped from Iringa to Njombe in the southern highlands. We visited the local milk factory and had REAL CHEESE for the first time in a long time. At night we had a stimulating discussion on privilege and what it meant to us. At the end of our conversation, we were all aware of our unearned privileges and how they affected each individual in the group.
Along with that deep thinking, came more deep thinking at our holistic living retreat at Ohana Amani. There we met our amazing friends and teachers Chevy, Curry and Luka. Each had an abundance of knowledge to share with us. Throughout the entire retreat, Curry and Chevy pushed us to dig deep and get to know ourselves. They also taught us farming techniques, cooking, building fires, yoga, taking care of ourselves and overall simple living. Luka taught us how to make risotto and spent countless hours outside working on building the tool shed with us and by himself. This tool shed was a project given to us to benefit everyone living at Ohana Amani and teach us to take care of our bodies physically. We exercised mentally and spiritually with interesting conversations on our values, beliefs and what it would be like to go home.
For the cherry on top, we were surrounded by beautiful rolling hills and luscious pine trees. The house had hot showers, a fire always burning and an abundance of books. We haven’t even talked about the food! On Easter we walked down to a grand waterfall and had a picnic consisting of savory, cheesy and everything-in-betweenie stuffing, a salad, watermelon and pear cake home made by chef Chev. The meals following after did not once fail to impress us. We had fresh salad from the garden everyday, pizza, risotto, potato au gratin, stir fry, fried rice, potato soup, frittata, french toast, potato salad, spaghetti, garlic bread and cupcakes. All the food was fresh, local and mostly from the garden. We loved every minute of being spoiled with such delicious food.
All in all the holistic retreat and our new friends has been yet another amazing experience in Africa. So much gratitude and love goes out to Chevy, Curry and Luca!
This world we live can be such a beautiful place if you let it be. If you open yourself up to what it has to offer you can find yourself again.
This week Shanti India found themselves in the Asian fairy tale of Sikkim. Famous for its wide variety of plant life, that attracts botanists from all over the world and opportunities for mountaineering tourism. We arrived at our destination of Yoksom by being hosted by the Ajam residence a small mansion run by a lovely family. The village of Yoksom is surrounded by lush Caradom farms stacked on the rolling hills and clouds that cover like mist forming massive imaginary landscapes. Each night we were met with epic thunder storms that clashed against black sky. And each morning a smiling child walking in the garden with his mother.
As we take in the remote beauty of the forest, we are given chance to focus on our next task as a group, our 35 mile trek through the Kanhanynga National park. With the goal to reach the summit and witness the rising sun over the worlds highest peak. In our adventure we were in the most capable hands of our crew of 11 men, 13 horses, personal cook and cooks assistant. We were treated with the utmost care. And will always remember their kind faces as they served us chai every morning, played Frisbee with us after the summit and served us a delicious cake with the message "see you soon".
In our trek we encountered first hand the wide diversity of vegetation offered in this unique tropical forest. As the altitude changed we were able to see the lush green forest covered with ferns that would be foraged later for our meals. To the highest altitudes where we were literally walking through clouds. We found as a group that each of us were pushed in ways we never could have imagined. A rewarding experience that was achieved by our own two feet, each strain in our muscles a reminder of the unforgettable sights were were able to see. Looking down from the mountain they were many opportunities to stop and take in the big and small complexities that lie hidden in every organism. We were not only given the chance to take in the landscapes but were able to see the unique relationship between the mountain and those that call it home.
Sunset above Arequipa
Rolling along with the food blog theme (considering food is one of the things we're enjoying most in South America), I wanted to share some of the weirder foods we've gotten to taste down here.
Cuy: I tried Guinea pig, which is a famous Peruvian dish but is available basically everywhere, in Pucara, Ecuador, where my homestay mother slaughtered one of her own guinea pigs to eat for dinner. Despite the strangeness of actually having to rip the meet off part of the skeleton with my hands, it was pretty good. Just have to avoid thinking of an actual guinea pig while you're eating it.
Chicken: At first glance, this would seem like the one food that couldn't be weird. Chicken is for people who don't like any other food. My homestay mother in Pucara, Magdalena, was nice enough to make me chicken after asking which kinds of meat I could eat on the first day. I assured her that I could eat everything, I had no dietary restrictions and would try everything, etc. So when she handed me a bowl of soup with two fresh chicken feet in it, I held back the initial shock and tried to eat them. I really did. But when Magdalena saw I was virtually gagging trying to eat around the toes, she offered me another piece of meat. I graciously accepted and began eating.
It was a chicken head. I realized this when I was done eating and was looking at the skull with eyes still in tact. That's how chicken becomes weird food.
Avocado Ice Cream: This credit actually goes to Gabriela, who ordered it when we were in Cuicocha right outside of Otavalo. I tried a bite, and it's basically just really creamy avocado. Weird, but a good way to eat ice cream without hating yourself.
Last but not least, Jugo de Rana: That means frog juice.
We all tried a bit at the market in Arequipa, though I could only manage a few sips. The ingredients are a live frog that is then skinned and boiled, honey, molasses, maca (a Peruvian grain) and some sort of broth that are all then blended together and strained for any chunks.
Getting over the initial disgust of drinking something you saw living 2 minutes before, it tastes like a bunch of sugar flavoring over what you'd expect a raw frog to taste like. Gabriela liked it, I definitely did not. The other tourists we gave a few sips to had mixed reviews as well.
Those have been our food adventures thus far, but we still have a month left to see what else is being sold.
Bonus: We saw a stand of frog skeletons and cows' heads to be cooked in soup. Bon appetit!
The view from the Top of the World!
Overnight trains are almost becoming comfortable — compared to train station floors.
We left the busy city of Calcutta and looked onwards towards the mountains of Gangtok, Sikkim. After our first jeep ride we were eager to make our way into the nearest cafe to grab pizza, hot dogs, and a cake to celebrate the 19th birthday of our wonderful group mate, Hava. We made our way into our homestay and found out we would be eating a second dinner. We had missed home cooked food since our homestays in Jaipur.
Our week in Sikkim was filled with volunteer work, gazing out into the endless mountain ranges, and enjoying our playful hosts. We first volunteered at a government operated school where we tried to play duck, duck, goose, and red-red-rover all with minor use of the English language. We then took our Shanti group to a rehab center for men where we got to know the patients and enjoyed singing songs in English and Nepali. It's been the first time since being in India we've been able to look at these vast mountainous landscapes and escape the plains with their never ending busy cities. As we prepare our bodies for the 5 day trek through 35 miles of trails we are about to endure we are thinking positive and excited for the hot shower at the end!
Cam
This week we left Thailand and moved on in our journey to Cambodia. We all knew that this week especially was going to be a pretty emotional and heavy because of what we were about to learn. We left our hotel in Korat to travel to the border of Thailand and Cambodia. There we crossed over and got our Cambodian visas and found a bus to bring us to the train station. We drove to PTD which stands for Ptea Teuk Dong and that is where we will be staying for a week. During that week we helped paint the library that the children would use and the gift shop, we learned about how mushrooms are grown and put the mushroom spores in crushed corn cob where they would grow, and we also taught at the English school in PTD. It was such a rewarding experience, especially seeing some of the kids faces light up when they saw the newly painted walls in the library! On one of the days we went around and we took a bamboo train down this track which went through these trees, we ate at a local market and climbed steep stairs to a temple, we went a temple where there was a ton of wild monkeys, saw thousands of bats leave this cave, and lastly we saw a killing field and a memorial which was super hard for all of us. We later watched a movie about the killing fields which was super emotional and its all about what was going on in Cambodia during the late 70's and early 80's. Unfortunately some of us got sick including me on the last few days of being at PTD so we missed another day that the group went into the city which was sad and it sounded super fun! That is where the picture attached to this blog is from. Today we are in Siem Reap having a rest day and also visiting Angkor Wat.
