Travel with a Purpose: Bucket List Travel Adventures

Bucket List Travel Adventures is based in Toronto and helps travellers who are interested in travel to Peru and Africa. These adventures last several days to include both volunteer opportunites and airfare from Toronto. They do offer pricing from other cities though.

Description of the volunteer activities:
Saccaca Community Volunteer Work (B, L, D) We will be volunteering in the Saccaca community 4 1/2 hours outside of Cuzco. Most of our porters for the Inca Trail live in this community and it was a logical choice for our next project. We will be building a local community centre and tasks will include building mud bricks for the project, building, painting, crafts, games as well as many other activities that the whole family can participate in. A chance to get your hands dirty and help out and become members of this community. Overnight Home stay.

There seems to be quite a bit of hiking as well so make sure you are prepared to work! Rebekah kas shown interest in Peru for her trip...I'm not holding my breath (yet) because she has changed already (twice!)

Camels are called "ships of the desert" for a reason

So one week before leaving for my trip I did research on how to ride a camel. Not my best preplanning move ever. I immediately went to my fitness instructor and said I needed to work out my inner thighs. A lot. In a new exercise segment she called the "Andrea workout" (which I didn't really appreciate because my name has been damned numerous times the past week) she worked inner thigh muscles I didn't know I had. I certainly hope this helps somewhat when I hold on with all my might using only my inner thighs.

Research will show you that riding a camel is not like riding a horse. I kind of already knew this what with being 9 feet in the air during the ride. This is not much lower than the roof of a house. So jumping off a camel is not really a likely method of dismounting. Their little spindly legs worry me because I am not little and I don't care that they are used to hauling hundreds of pounds of cargo across long stretches of desert.

Here is a short video to give you an idea:


I hope when I get back I can post a video of one of us showing off as well! I certainly hope we get our own camel because those sharing don't look comfortable!


Additionally, some friends of mine who lived in Saudi Arabia warned me about the rocking motion. So I have stocked up on DRAMAMINE. I will be sure to take it before we get on the camel because the last thing I want is to be sea sick in the middle of the desert 9 feet off the ground! (See also: NO TOUCH MONKEY! On Dress)

A month in review

If anyone knows where January went could you have her give me a call? She left and I totally didn't notice! Despite the fact that January took off before I could say goodbye, this year is looking good! I'm on track to complete everything on my resolutions list!!

 First off I need to Organize my bucket list! (which is actually on my bucket list but I won't count it for my 12 :) ) DONE! I even posted two sections this month as well.

1. Books to Read (from 1001 Books to Read Before You Die):
Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut 01/03/12
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré 01-13-12
Choke – Chuck Palahniuk 01/08/12
Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel 01/05/12
Less than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis 01/27/12
Rabbit, Run – John Updike 01/31/12


2. Movies to Watch (from the list of movies that won Best Picture):
1971 - "The French Connection" 01/12/12

8. Plant a vegetable garden, Can't be crossed off yet as nothing got planted. BUT we did create the garden, hauling wheelbarrow loads of dirt from the farm so that Craig can smell "home" when we wants.




9. Donate platelets once a month for a year. Contribute to a microloan at kiva.org This change is chronicled here.

10. Spend 3 months getting my body in optimum shape STARTING TODAY! Cannot be crossed off, but one month down. I have worked out at least 5 hours each week. I plan to work out more when I get back from the cruise, and some day I will actually start watching what I'm eating too!

February is a short and sweet month and I plan to do a lot of reading and some movie watching. I have Slumdog Millionaire on Tivo too now. Who wants to watch this and Hurt Locker with me this month???

The three times rule

I have a lot of thoughts jumbling in my head this Monday morning. This weekend was not even very packed but I fell asleep last night at 8:30 and woke up at 6:30. I made cream of wheat for Craig and juiced like 25 oranges (the farm has a small orchard and I am up to my ears in citrus) which creates a lot of thinking time. Like there has to be a more modern way for me to juice oranges. I like this one because it looks like a science experiment :)

 Also I was thinking about what my friend Dana told me this weekend about a three times rule. She was actually commenting on the Malawi phenomenon I had had in the last couple weeks. See, one of the friends I am meeting in Morocco (Nancy) has a friend/coworker who is moving to Malawi for a few years and told her that she was welcome to stay with them if she wanted to visit. Since Nancy knows I'm more than up for most travel ideas, she mentioned this to me. All I know of Malawi came from the collection we did in fifth grade for Bangladesh and Malawi. This made me believe that Malawi was located someplace in Southeast Asia. I was wrong.

Malawi is in fact located in Southern Africa, southwest of Tanzania to be specific. And Kenya/Tanzania have been my dream vacation locations since I was a little girl. So I'm thinking wow, this would be fantastic but Africa again REALLY? The likelihood of Craig letting me go back any time soon is low. Like below Absolute Zero.

So I kind of forgot about it. Until Rebekah comes home from girl scouts to tell me the country they will be studying and displaying for World Day is MALAWI. OOOOOkay. Mark one. Then when visiting Dana her husband hands me a book written by a man who worked in the Peace Corps as a teacher in MALAWI. Mark two. I said maybe it means something. One more Mark and I'm meant to go. Dana said like a three times rule? And I thought YES! Maybe that's what it is. It could be a five times rule or even ten times, but how many times does something come up before it's a sign.

I mean is it all a sign? Or am I just now more aware of this country and it registers on my mind now. I think there is a term for this but it escapes me. If you know it PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Whether you believe in God's signs (which I do) or fate or coincidence, you have to know about those times where ideas or items keep showing up in your awareness and you get that feeling that someone is trying to tell you something.

This has also happened to me with the event Burning Man. I noticed this event occurs on several Bucket Lists out there. It wasn't something that spoke to me, but I was not surprised to find it on my friend Cindy's list. And then today when I read the Bloggess (whom I read every day if I can), and her weekly wrap up included this video which requires a warning.

DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK UNLESS YOU DO NOT MIND MINOR NUDITY. If that doesn't make you click on it, I don't know what will!

Burning Man and Dr. Seuss

So now I have two marks for Burning Man and two marks for Malawi. Things that make you go Hmmmm.

Andrea's Bucket List- Part 1

I was shocked how many of my friends emailed me or posted on my facebook that they didn't have bucket lists. WOW. One asked me if things were "okay" to put on the list and my answer was "It's YOUR list do what you want!" Another friend was afraid to start one because she didn't have the time or money to do any of it right now. And I realized. Bucket Lists can be scary. It's a giant HA HA at you for things you can't do right now. So I came up with a few ideas I figured I'd share. Plus I want to post my bucket list on this blog (but mine is realllllly long so I will have to do it in installments!) so I have it on the Internet in case my computer I have it on dies....though I do have it on google docs as well. It's important information this Bucket List.

1. You can't make a mistake. It's your list. If you change your mind, delete an entry. It's not set in stone. I add to mine all the time. Initially I wanted to ride a camel IN the Sahara. After doing research, yeah, not so much. Riding a camel period is enough for me!

2. You don't have to complete them all. So you don't get to them all so what? Who really cares? I promise there are no Bucket List police! I have things I am unlikely to complete (volunteering for a month abroad? Unlikely while I'm married to Craig. And I'm stuck with him till I die. Or he does. Hmmmmm.)

3. It doesn't have to cost any money. In fact you could have a bucket list of all FREE things. Now that could be a challenge! You could have a bucket list of only things you want to volunteer your time with. So you stay at home with your kids. Go to a nursing home FOR FREE and hang out for a couple hours, play bingo. The kids will learn something (patience, understanding, sympathy) and the elders will love the new company. Just let the residents win at bingo. Those games get ugly!

4. Bucket Lists tell you about who you are. And where you want to be. It's an exploration of self. It's a motivation to stop letting life HAPPEN to you and deciding you are going to LIVE it. It's a positive reinforcement that something good is coming up and the next turn you take will be that much more to achieve. I don't mean to get all uplifting and crap but I personally am sad when I hear someone doesn't have or want a Bucket List. I mean if you don't know where you are going then how do you know you got there? Or even more so how can you look forward to the journey?

One thing I learned about my trip with Craig was that surprise visits that HAPPEN to you take all the joy and anticipation out of it. His ONLY complaint about the whole thing is that he didn't have the weeks to look forward to the trip. Talking it out with friends and family. HEetold me the next time I wanted to do something I could just do it but LET HIM KNOW.

And that is my bucket list in a nut shell. It's a way of telling myself. HERE. This is your journey. I have no idea how you are getting there. I have no idea WHEN you are getting there. But check out the books. Read about them. Research them because ONE DAY. One Day you will be the one standing there taking the picture and helping someone else get there too!

ADVENTURE

Set foot on each of the seven continents.

Climb the cliffs to Masada

Trek to see Anasazi Cliff Dwellings

Participate in Carnival in Venice or Brazil

Walk the Capilano Suspension Bridge in Vancouver, BC

Run to the top of the Statue of Liberty

Throw tomatoes at Tomatina (thanks Cindy for reminding me...I wanted this on my list too!)

SCUBA in the Great Barrier Reef  ( I have a horrible fear of sharks.....this will probably never happen)

Raft in the Grand Canyon

Rappel in the dark at Natural Bridge Caverns

Take an around the world trip (maybe?)

WATCH the running of the bulls in Pamplona

Go on a red dress run

Travel somewhere foreign alone.

Rollerblade

Drive across America coast to coast

Heli-Hike in British Columbia

Hike in the Catskills

Travel  for 24 hours with only a purse.  January 2009 in Las Vegas

White Water raft in West Virginia

White Water raft in the Grand Canyon

Sky dive

Kayak in the San Juan Islands

Jeep (or ATV) through Moab

See Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills

Dance on the bar at Coyote Ugly

Ride a hot air balloon October 2009 in Central California

I have lots more parts but this is enough for now!