Bananas and Rice

FEBRUARY 28, 2018 |INTI

Hello Everybody,

My name is Alex Combs and I am from Washington State. I am currently 18 years old and also a part of Carpe Diem Education’s South American program. This week was full of memorable and extravagant adventures so I hope you are prepared for a decently-sized read.

Over the past week, we have been staying in the coastal region of Ecuador more commonly known to the locals as Manabi. Our lovely hosts greeted us on Monday to a banana plantation known as Las Delicias approximately four hours away from the capital of Quito. Our first night was possibly the most humid of our trip; everyone toughed out the initial heat and unpacked for the days ahead. The second day of our stay in Las Delicias was when the real work had begun. We delved into the culture experiencing the food, which mostly consisted of rice and bananas in whatever form they could devise. Over the duration of our stay we began our classes in Spanish and divided our group into levels; it was the perfect location for people with no experience to begin and those more advanced to remember. On the second night, the forest surrounding us was decorated with fireflies and filled with the sound of nature. By morning, though, our arms and legs were covered by the bites of mosquitos teaching us the importance of using insect repellent. Regardless, Juan Carlos, the owner of the plantation, took us to view the harvest of the bananas. We were then given the opportunity to help them with the harvesting and shown the ways of each individual action. Needless to say, it was a day full of hard work so we were treated to a great meal of bananas and rice yet again. Nevertheless, it was still delicious and was served with peanut butter to change the texture. It was prepared by the students and presented with some of the native banana leaves as a symbol of our hard work.

On Thursday, we went through the regular routine of breakfast straight into Spanish classes. The group was then offered to learn how to make chocolate by the locals and everyone decided to participate. We were taken by Juan Carlos’ nephew to harvest cocoa fruit (for their beans) and brought them back to the farm after we gathered them. When we returned we were taken through a brand new process of cooking, grinding, and melting. When we finished we were given samples of the natural ‘Nutella’ that was fantastic, it was by far the most natural and pure chocolate anyone in the group had experienced.

Friday, we went about another day of classes followed by a trip to the local river. Since we only had one car available we had to divide the group in two – having one group travel on land for a short distance only to be picked up later. I was a part of this group and I definitely regret bringing my towel since everything we had brought got wet due to the tropical downpour. When the truck finally found our group along the dirt pathway we traveled the remaining 10 minutes to the river. Miraculously, the rain cleared in time for everyone to hop into the muddy river.
After our short time in the river, the group transitioned to playing soccer in a field we learned later to be made of cow excrement. We returned and organized the order of showers like civil human beings on a banana farm. The next day we took our last day of Spanish Classes followed by lunch, the only difference was we had to kill chickens. Two of the students were tasked to kill the chickens while others were offered to help pluck the feathers off of the bodies. Later we attended a church service provided by Juan Carlos as a sign of respect (as he is a pastor) and came back to go to bed.

After we woke up we had our last meal on the farm and said our goodbyes, some of the instructors had decided to come with us to the beach though. We drove approximately two and half hours with a small break in between to a picture perfect Ecuadorian beach. We stopped for a small lunch and dove straight for the beach. After our adventure on the beach, we said goodbye to the remaining instructors that came with us and ventured to our next location. An hour along the coast we arrived at another farm called “la Finca Mono Verde” which we currently reside. Our current location is an awesome example of permaculture that I will leave the next person in line to explain in more detail – until then, ‘hasta luego’.

By Alex Combs

A Warm Introduction

FEBRUARY 26, 2018 | NKULA

Hi family and friends!

Nkula 2018 wanted to start by introducing ourselves so that you have a better idea of who you will be reading about over the next three months!

Tosca – Known by the Ugandans as Jesca Vancostrum, the professional bird spotter and rhino ranger, represents Europe. She’s passionate about discovering new animals, especially black mambas and cobras.

Kayleigh – A true Portlandian, Kayleigh is excited about going to SNEC (Special Needs Education Center) and learning Swahili. She is passionate about the environment and never fails to make people smile.

Kiara – Small but mighty, Kiara is a professional negotiator. She got us free dessert at Ziwa Rhino Preserve. We all expect to vote for Kiara for president in 2034.

Morgan – A loyal Eagle County citizen and rodeo queen, Morgan enjoys the game awkward turtle and ketchup on her tomatoes.

Ellie – A recent high school graduate, Ellie shares her love of trekking with the group as we look forward to our week at Lake Bunyoni.

Jason – You can catch Jason doodling in his journal or petting flea-less dogs. Jason is excited for everything Africa has to offer.

Maytal – A yogi and permaculture master, Maytal is excited for the retreat at Ohana Amani in Tanzania. She guides yoga for the group in the morning and her positive attitude is contagious.

Rebecca – Harvard-bound and funny, Rebecca loves horror movies and adrenaline rushes, which is why she is super excited for rafting the Nile tomorrow.

Mary Dudley – A world traveler and experienced group participant, Mary Dudley is excited to venture through Africa with a new group of people and see everything this country has to offer.

Now that you know everyone, welcome to the blog! This last week, we spent time at Ziwa Rhino Preserve monitoring rhinos and helping with some maintenance. We saw a five-day old rhino, crocodiles, and bushbucks. We are adjusting to the blaring heat of the African sun, but everyone is loving our time abroad! Tomorrow most of us are rafting the Nile and then we will head to Kampala.

Sending love from Uganda to all our family and friends around the world.

Kicking Off Our Journeys in Central America

FEBRUARY 26, 2018 | MAYA

¡Hola Tod@s!

This week kicked off the official start of our three-month journey in Central America! After spending our first few nights in a beautiful hostel in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala, getting to know each other and the itinerary, we loaded ourselves into a minibus, said goodbye to our brief home-away-from-home, and made the trek to our first destination. The car ride was filled with nervous hearts, a few queasy stomachs, and many an off-key note as we sang along to some of our favorite songs. Beyonce, it turns out, is pretty much universal.

We spent the first week of our trip at La Escuela de la Montaña, a small Spanish language school located in a rural mountain town, 15 minutes away from the nearest city. The most interesting and culturally challenging part of our week was our homestays, for sure. We each ate meals individually with a family living in the town, none of whom spoke any English. Many of our houses had dirt floors and no door, with only a small curtain separating the rooms and keeping the chickens out of the house. None of us quite knew what to expect from the experience, but I can say that it involved a lot of tortillas. Annie, being from New Mexico, was accustomed to a tortilla-heavy diet, but for the rest of us, it was a bit of an adjustment. We have a running tortilla count that I will include at the bottom of this blog post, but for now, all you readers at home can guess how many we ate in total this week. Hint: It’s more than you think.

One of the highlights of our week was playing a soccer game with a local team in Colomba. Talia and Angelo both killed it, one being a soccer star from home, and the other having absolutely zero soccer experience and instead using his gymnastics background to crush the competition with fancy footwork. With the help of Hannah and Julian, our Overseas Educators (OE’s for short), I´m happy to report that we won the game.

In an effort to escape the heat of the gym, Chloe, Kaitlin, Juliette, Maddie and I went out into the streets of Colomba to do some grocery shopping. Fun fact: When shopping for fruits in Guatemala, you should try to stick to fruits with a peel, such as avocados or oranges, as they are safer to consume. Another fun fact: If you buy a Pepsi in Colomba, it will most likely be poured into a plastic bag with a straw. Who knew?

Overall, our first week was a success. We met many amazing people within the community, and fully immersed ourselves in Spanish with four-hour, one-on-one classes each day. We learned a lot about each other and celebrated our first Carpe birthday (Talia!) with a piñata. We left La Escuela de la Montaña on Sunday morning, feeling bittersweet, yet ready for the next part of our adventure.

And don’t think I forgot about the tortilla count…
With a rough average of 12 tpd (tortillas per day) and 14 members of our group, our tortilla count so far comes to 1,176 tortillas! This is, of course, a rough estimate, but expect all of us to come back with a few more pounds than we left with.

Scavenger Hunt: Four Voices

FEBRUARY 19, 2018 | Southeast Asia- SABAI

The first week of Southeast Asia is so amazing. Something that I completely adore about the city is the architecture. The vibrant colors just show so much of the countries culture and how they live. Every building that I look at is different and are significant in their own way. The temples are on every corner and being able to see a new temple every 5 seconds is so amazing. Being able to go into the temple just to see the intricate details and being able to pray is so amazing. I hope that one day everyone gets to experience this.
– Dominique

This week has passed by fast. It feels like we have been here a lot longer. So far the standers for males and females have stood out the most. One of the first things I noticed when we went to the temples, was how females were perceived in the paintings. They seem to have less power than the male figures. It was also interesting to find out that females say certain phrases differently than a male would.
– Ashley

One of the main ideas of Buddhism is establishing a sense of gratitude for what you have been given. Much of the books I have been reading (The Book of Joy, Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior), and previous studies have explained this principle over and over again. I was utterly shocked and full of joy to see how much the people of Thailand were grateful for even the simplest of things from taking away a plate to being paid for a Song-Tao ride. I was shown many smiles for showing my thanks with the traditional “Thank you” of bowing slightly with my hands in a traditional prayer gesture. It actually made my day to see the natives of Thailand give genuine beaming smiles in my attempts to show traditional thanks. I wish that level of appreciation and just a general policy to live full of smiles was present in the United States.
– Jeremy

It has been such a mind blowing experience so far! There has been many emotions but over all seeing and being in this new culture has been amazing. I’m excited for what’s to come.
– Nitzny

Scavenger Hunt Blog: Smells

FEBRUARY 18, 2018 | Central America- Maya

Walking through Xela, there are so many different and unique smells. From delicious street food to the dry herbs in the market. But not all of the smells here are ones to be sought out. Walking through the streets, the unfortunate odor of garbage and gasoline is extremely prevalent. Luckily enough the hostel we are staying in is usually filled with the aromas of cleaning fluids and basil. But, if you step not to far out of the city you are guaranteed to be engulfed in the fresh, crisp air of the Guatemalan highlands which, fortunately, is where we will be spending the next week as we learn Spanish at the escuela de la montaña.

Scavenger Hunt Blog: Sounds

FEBRUARY 18, 2018 | Central America- MAYA

The sounds in Xela have been both familiar and foreign to us thus far! We have heard things like cars, food cooking at a street food stand, and people conversing with each other. We have heard some new things, like people speaking in Spanish with one another and new music. Some of our favorites have been children laughing, tacos simmering, music we have shared, and the voices of those in our group. We have had a wonderful time hearing the old and new sounds, and we cannot wait to continue exploring this beautiful place!

Scavenger Hunt Blog: Sight

FEBRUARY 18, 2018 | Central America- MAYA

We have seen so many amazing sights this week! When we were first flying in, those lucky enough to get window seats were treated to a bird’s eye view of Guatemala city. The sights continued as we piled into a minibus and began the long, winding trip up to Xela. We passed acres upon acres of farmland, most of which were barren for the winter. As the bus navigated perilously tight turns, the gorgeous vista of the countryside lay before us. From our vantage point in the mountains, the farms that we’d previously passed looked tiny. Despite our collective exhaustion, it was hard to fall asleep while looking at the spectacular views. After some more tight, steep turns, we were in Xela! The city’s streets were a lot narrower than we’d expected, with cobblestones that jostled our little bus to and fro. We passed street vendors, signs in Spanish, and even a few fellow foreigners. Everything was so new, and we couldn’t wait to experience it all from outside the bus windows. When we arrived at our hostel, Casa Siebel, we were greeted with beautiful flowers and plants growing under the open roofs. As we went to sleep that night, our dreams were filled with the beautifully novel sights of Guatemala.

Thanks,
Paige, Chloe, and Hanna

Scavenger Hunt Blog: Taste

FEBRUARY 18, 2018 | Central America- MAYA

On the first night we ate some delicious Thai salads with a wonderful peanut butter dressing. However, our favorite meal was today when we ate scrumptious tacos filled with chicken and peppers on tortillas with lentils and guacamole on the side. For a drink today we had some fresh papaya juice the after taste was a little odd. The best drink we had so far was this magnificent lime and sugar juice. Not to mention the street food in Xela has been nothing short of amazing, you can get three tacos for 10 quetzales!!! Julian loved the veggie ones! So far so good, we’re having a dope time!!!

Much Love,
Talia, Annie and Elliot

Las Delicias Banna Farm

FEBRUARY 18, 2018 | South America-INTI

Saludos de Quito! Today marks our final full day in the hostel, until we leave for the coast to stay at Las Delicias Banana Farm. Our journey began with landing in the magnificent city of Quito after several hours of traveling, and we were happy to finally be on the ground. After a quick nap we spent the rest of the day getting to know one another through various group activities. The first adventure during our time in Quito was a trip to the market where we split into groups and got to know each other over a piquant seafood lunch.

As the days went on – so did orientation where we covered the exceedingly important Sacred Six and other rules and agreements. Over the past few days we got to know each other and explore the city together. Our first day exploring the city without Alex or Avy was structured around a group scavenger hunt. Although each group went their own way we all climbed to the top of Basilica Voto Nacional cathedral: one of the most astonishing sites to see in Quito. Along with the amazing sites around the city one of the most unbelievable qualities of staying here was the food. On our second-to-last day we got to go on a food tour around the city, tasting many of the country’s unique foods like cow placenta stew, cow stomach, guatita (cow innards), and Aloe Vera tea with honey.

After our food tour we went to experience a piece of the night life in La Ronda. This is a street where the party of the night is going out with family and enjoying tons of amazing food. The whole street is lined with shops and restaurants that are closed during the day. We went to a little hole-in-the-wall bar that served a hot Ecuadorian beverage consisting of cinnamon, brown sugar, orange juice, and cloves as a garnish. Es muy delicioso, and tastes a lot like apple cider.

We then went back to the hostel to relax and watch movies.

The next morning we woke up, had our last day of yoga, and got ready to go on a walking tour of Quito. For breakfast we had a protein-stacked egg and tomato meal with bread and many fruits. Then we left for the walking tour. We strolled around the city for a few hours with a guide and saw tons of amazing buildings around the city. We saw the Independence Plaza, where the president of the country and the Mayor of Quito reside. After that we went to The Church of la Compania de Jesus in where the whole interior was decorated with gold. We learned that the Quito version of the Virgin Mary was built with wings. The Virgin of Quito is completely unique and the artist that made it is the renowned Bernardo de Legarda. His work can be recognized for the detail that he put into the dress of the Virgin of Quito and his baroque style of art.

After the tour we split into groups of four and gathered snacks and shirts in the city to prepare for our trip to Las Delicias. We also got lunch because most of us were famished and exhausted after walking around for three and a half hours. Then we all met back up at the hostel, started packing, and did some final orientation activities.

Group Scavenger Hunt: Part 3

FEBRUARY 16, 2018 | South America-INTI

Week One:

We landed in Quito three days ago. Now, we started off pretty slow due to the intense travel. But the first day we were able to get to know each other decently well. After we checked into our hostel we got to go eat at the local market, where we tested our Spanish knowledge by ordering lunch. Day two was much more active; we started the day with a delicious breakfast cooked by the lovely chefs at the hostel. We then went to the park where we were able to continue orientation and getting to know everybody on this incredible adventure. After a short lunch and soccer break, we visited an amazing gorgeous cathedral near the hostel. The journey back to the hostel lead us to a quick siesta and then a fantastic chicken and mushroom dinner followed up by hilarious games later that night. Today nearly everybody participated in morning yoga, while some enjoyed a cup of coffee while looking at the view. Now we are all involved in an intense three team scavenger hunt.