Today was probably my favorite day that we have had so far. It was really hard to get out of bed because I have been sleeping so well with the sounds of the ocean. We had pancakes and fruit for breakfast (so good!). Then we went to Red Frog Beach by boat and arrived at…
Camp has been set and the Peru Crew is setting in at the high Andean community of Cucani after a day of travel and a visit to the Inkariy Museum. Note: the SStS office receives daily updates from our climbing group through text from a special Garmin device. We are also in contact through SAT…
The group is happy to be settling into Rancho Quemado. What a journey!
June 18th Today was our first full day in Panama, and it has been very eventful! We started off the morning with a tour of the city as we learned about the history of this place. Panama is a country filled with so much diversity and culture! As we were walking through the city, we…
June 18, 2023 Allillanchu (hello in Quechua) from Peru!!! Today was our first full day in Peru. After a long travel day, everyone was ready to get up and explore the city and start learning about native cultures and the NGO we will be working with. In the morning, we heard from Alejandra, the founder,…
Last night (around 1 am) one of our night patrol groups found a female Olive Ridley on the beach. We came across the turtle tracks that lead us to her and the nest that she was building! Elsie got to catch the eggs as the female turtle laid them. She counted 101 eggs in total…
Throughout this day we followed Sandro, one of the local tour guides through an organic farming tour where we learned about how the local people here in Rancho Verde use the environment to survive and consistently make food. Sandro is morally courageous because he took a risk by starting to become eco-friendly. He decided to…
Ashley shared her story about her daughter Esperanza. There is not enough work in Rancho Quemado, so she has to leave with her parents so that she can work in another town. It drove home the points from our pre-course curriculum about the economic challenges facing people in this region and the difficulty in balancing…
It was a great fifth day in Panama. We had a very packed schedule starting with a beach cleanup and a tour of the recycling center in Bocas. We learned about the roots and reasoning behind the issue of trash in Bocas and how groups like Unidos por Bocas are trying to implement a better…
Hola! To start off our fourth day in Panama we had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and fruit, followed by lesson planning for the community centers and a discussion about “learning service” vs. “service-learning. We discussed our intentions for this trip and how we can leave a positive impact on the communities we encounter. “Learning…
The group has arrived, enjoyed a meal together, and is tucking in for a well-earned rest.
Hi from Bocas del Toro! We had a very exciting day at red frog beach! We played soccer and had a Sandcastle building competition! However, the most fun part of the day was playing lots of volleyball with some local kids at the beach Tomás and Emiliano. We had a nice dinner at a local…
After some fog-induced circling, our crew has landed and is on the way to Hotel Toucan for a meal followed by a well-earned evening of rest. Hope all journal readers have a restful evening as well. Until tomorrow . . .
During all my conversations with the local Kenyans in Meru, I’ve been asked various eye-opening questions about where I am from in America. Their confusion on topics normal to me, such as citizens’ carrying guns, teaches me more than even their answers to my own questions. First and foremost, I’ve learned the importance of peace,…
Day 9 Today we started the day early in the morning at 5:45 for our first agenda item for the day, the cow farm tour. There we got to see how to and got a chance at milking cows, afterwards we went to try some milk, sour cream, and cheese that was constructed from the…
Day 8 We started the day off with a breakfast of bread, fresh fruit, and huevos rancheros. After finishing breakfast we finished up painting the starting layer of white paint on the library. It was pretty satisfying to finally finish the painting after the many hours that we spent on it. After we finished painting,…
Travel Journal June 28th We were all together in that freezing cold room for a lesson about the Andean forests. Not much of the information was surprising — I know about glaciers melting and conservation hot spots, but what I did learn about how passionate Alejandra and the Llama Pack Project are about helping. I…
Today was a continued day of work, but we finally began to see the fruits of our labor. After two days of hauling sand up to fix the roof, we’ve seen the pile gradually shrink until finally, there was only one pile left. One Small Pile And it was done, we had carried out a…
Wanted to be sure the scene of students washing and hanging to dry clothes was on record!
see photo
Yesterday after lunch, everyone went inside instead of continuing to work because it began to rain. Our friends Sonam (co-founder of Arhaus Children’s Home), Tirsana, and Sukurani all took time out of their days to teach us a little bit of Nepalese. We learned basic phrases such as “thank you”, “my name is _____”, and…
The field reports: Long day Service in the morning; Learning from a gold miner turned conservationist in the afternoon Night hike, led by volunteer community members, formerly hunters, now conservationists. The crew is worn out!
The physical labor of creating raised bed gardens also put our crew to bed early! Let’s hope the fruits of their labor are in the form of a student journal entry tomorrow!
The group is healthy, preparing for a well-earned rest.
A continuation of the handwritten journal.
I’m posting the travel journal as it was sent to our office – a photo of this long day’s work. The medium is the message – though some of the descriptors might evoke a grin or two.
During today’s work hauling bags of sand to the roof, the team experienced the slow grind of commitment. At the end of the day we discussed the feelings we experienced during our work. We described a mutual feeling of something pushing us to continue despite urges to quit. Reflecting on the day helped me realize…
The day started at 7:a.m wake-up and breakfast at 8 of eggs and toast. with a 9:00 a.m. departure time. Our first visit was to the Maras salt pools. After the Maras salt pools, it was a short bus ride to the moray valley to look at some ancient ‘laboratory’ where the Incans experimented with…