Pura Vida. The words roll off the tongues of locals and expats and embroider souvenirs across Costa Rica. The “pure life” is not only a greeting, but a mantra to the people who congregate in the country’s beaches and jungles.
WWOOFing: Work Exchange on an Organic Farm in Oregon
WWOOFing is one of the many cost-saving travel hacks I’ve used to travel the world. This post is a breakdown of what WWOOF is and a peek into my very first WWOOFing experience in Oregon back in 2017, where I spent a month on a farm, living in my self-converted camper van. I hope it …
Battling Hope and Despair Under the Ugandan Sun
In the summer of 2013, I spent my month-long break from my Master’s program in International Development volunteering at a locally run community development organization in Uganda. This blog post is a journal entry I wrote reflecting on my time there about 6 months later. Written: February 2014 When the heat of the sun’s rays …
Uganda Journals Week 3: HIV/Family Planning Classes, Bed Bugs, & Bacterial Infections
July 13, 2013 I know it probably seems like I’m just messing around and being a tourist in Uganda, but I really am volunteering during the weeks in between all of the fun! In Bandali village the last few weeks I continued to work on Adult Literacy classes and HIV/ Family Planning. For the literacy …
Uganda Journals Week 2: Village Life and Rafting Down the Nile River
July 5th, 2013 A lot has happened since my last post but I will try to sum it all up. We have weekends free, since the organization doesn’t have any weekend projects setup. So, Saturday I went white water rafting on the Nile River on grade five rapids which was amazing! We flipped four times …