Long Way Home – Tire Houses in Guatelmala
Long Way Home is a Non Profit organization whose mission is to break the cycle of poverty by creating educational opportunities, cultivating civic interaction and encouraging healthy lifestyles. We work side by side with the community of San Juan Comalapa in the Highlands of Guatemala to implement sustainable development projects. Construction is underway on our largest project yet – a public and vocational school for over 500 students utilizing rammed-earth tires, pounded earth-bags and dirt and trash filled plastic bottles. In addition to providing a much need elementary and ... 
Try This: Pozos
Three bus rides away from San Miguel De Allende in the central Mexican province of Guanajato, is Pozos, an old mining town. Pozos is actively promoting an "Art Walk," and the mysteries of its abandoned silver mines.
Over five hundred barely noticeable circular cement markers are scattered around the outskirts of the town, indicating the presence of mine shafts, some over 150 feet deep. You can walk through the faded red ruins of the mining industry - brick buildings where equipment was stored and accommodations for the workers. The first ruin up the road from the main ...
Off the Radar called it with “Pharmacy from the Rainforest”
Keep reading Off the Radar and you can bet you're probably ahead of the news at least by a few months. We were pleased to see National Geographic Traveler's 50 Tours of a Lifetime May/June 2009 recommend an International Expeditions trip we covered way back in our October 2007 newsletter: Pharmacy from the Rainforest – Global Perspectives in Healthcare. This expedition leads travelers into the Peruvian rainforest to hike, bird-watch and cruise the Amazon all while learning about traditional medicines of the jungle. Don't wait for Traveler to tell you about these great trips, hear it first at Off the ...
Job Posting – Project Manager, SE Asia
Globalteer is looking for a sociable, dynamic, flexible patient team leader who has the enthusiasm and energy to manage a guesthouse and to work with other NGOs in and around Siem Reap. Contact manfred.messerli@globalteer.org for more details.
East Meets West Foundation Documentary
Check out the Easts Meets West Foundations documentary; a 24 minute film shot by Emmy award winning cinematographer Stephen McGee. The film showcases 20 years of work by the foundation. With beautiful footage shot all over Vietnam, the film takes you to villages, hospitals, schools and local homes for an up-close view of the innovative programs of EMW that have had a profound impact on over 2.5 million people living in poverty in Vietnam. Watch it here
Travelocity’s Travel for Good Offers Funding for Volunteer Travel Opportunities
Travelocity's Travel for Good program offers the Change Ambassadors Grant to help support Americans who wish to travel to participate in volunteer opportunities (volunteer vacations).
The program will help fund transportation and other costs of any trip organized by one of Travelocity's volunteer travel provider partners for individuals or groups chosen on the merit of their applications (including financial circumstances) and their ability to meet the grant requirements.
Grants will be awarded to people who have demonstrated long-term contributions through volunteering, but do not have the financial means to take a ...
Conservation Safari Raffle
Win a Safari in Africa valued at $50,000! Raffle tickets cost $150, and all money goes towards TUSKS projects in Africa. The Safari is twenty days long, and includes round trip business class airfare. The raffle will close in December 1st, 2009 or when 2000 tickets have been sold - which ever comes first. Fill out the request form here.
Internships with Green Living Project
Green Living Project (GLP), a fast growing and successful media production and marketing company, is seeking hard working, talented, and success-motivated students (individuals or teams) or working professionals to help develop the following projects. Each project has the potential to directly impact GLP, therefore the company is specifically looking for entrepreneurial-focused individuals with a passion for multi-media, global sustainability, and moving GLP forward with an eye on the future. Depending on the success of the project, individuals might have the opportunity to continue with the project following the initial period.
Project #1: Membership Program
Project #2: TV Show ...
Himalayan High Treks Staffer Summits Everest
Himalayan High Treks (featured in Off the Radar's May, 2007 newsletter) reports that staff member K. B. Tamang (younger brother of HHT's regional manager Amber Tamang) just made it to the top of Mount Everest! Only 25 years old, K. B. did this without the financial and logistics support western climbers take for granted (things like like satellite phones, high-tech clothing and a support crew). He did suffer mild snow blindness on the descent and also had a delay at Lukla airport (like many trekkers) due to mountain weather. ...
All the Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy completely mesmerizes with his dark and laconic prose in All the Pretty Horses. Although this book takes place in Texas and Mexico in 1948, it captures the beauty, paucity, and unforgiving nature of life at the hands of wildness and almost eerily applies to any time when you feel a horse under you. Don’t be surprised if you can’t put this book down, as McCarthy gasps imagination and harshness into a vivid landscape and cast of characters. Available here.
Tunes from Dave Steward
The first time I heard Dave Steward sing I was overlooking the miles of endless canyon country in the heart of Canyonlands National Park. As the Green River pushed on to its deeper destiny and convergence with the Colorado River below, Dave crooned the sweetest, saddest, loveliest Western tune I had ever heard.
Finally, Dave has released a CD: Wild West Heart. Gary Cox, who has been the ranger in the incredibly remote Maze district of Canyonlands for the past 21 years, partnered with Dave on the lyrics to create a ...
Green Traveler Survey
Tourism and hospitality leaders want to make your vacations and business travel a "greener" experience for you, and for the planet. Global environmental and travel organizations, suppliers and media have joined with CMI Green and BBMG to produce this first-ever, comprehensive Green Traveler Survey. Your important feedback will help airlines, cruise lines, hotels, tour operators and destinations make their operations and communications greener. Please take the time to take this confidential, online survey. It will take about 10-15 minutes. If the link doesn't work, please paste the following into your browser: http://survey.communitymarketinginc.com/se.ashx?s=359D342B091C5292&name=Xola
Glacier Climbing, Kayaking and Hiking in Alaska
If you're looking to get a taste of Alaska on limited time and budget, experience it with some great day trips. Head just two hours north of Anchorage along the Chugach Mountains and do a morning hike through the wild maze of the Matanuska Glacier. Intimidating at first when you hear to watch out for crevasses or that the glacier moves a foot a day, but once you're into the playground of ice and hear the rushing water just inches below your feet you'll be sure to ...
Forbes and National Geographic Coverage for OTR Features
It's always a thrill to see mainstream press start to notice the trips and operators we cover in Off the Radar.
Check out Forbes Traveler - they're featuring PEPY in a list of only 10 recommended Voluntourism Trips. PEPY, a regular on Off the Radar, offers guests the chance to cycle through rural Cambodia and support volunteer projects at local schools. Learn more about their upcoming August 2009 Rural Experiential Tour.
And another great mention for one of our past featured trips comes from National Geographic Traveler's 50 Tours of a Lifetime May/June 2009 issue. The article recommends an International ...
Web Series Explores “Good Intentions”
Does international aid make a difference? What happens when it fails? A ten-episode web series was recently launched to spark discussion about how far good intentions get us. What method is the most meaningful? What's the real deal with short term volunteers? What about missionaries or one of the other seven methods filmmaker Tori Hogan explores around the world?
Recommended to us by Daniela Papi whose organization PEPY is engaged in volunteer tourism and education in Cambodia, the videos are well made and Tori’s comments are thought provoking. I think they'll grab you with the dialogue they're starting.
Visit ...
Eagle Creek Video Contest
Tell them your travel tale and you could win free gear! Our friends at Eagle Creek invite you to submit a video of you talking about what you love about travel, a recent memory/funny story from a trip, or something that inspires you to hit the road. Post it to their Facebook page by Friday, May 22. Three winners will be selected, have their videos shown at our sales meeting (thus becoming EC legends) and win $150 in Eagle Creek gear! Watch this for more info.
$1000 Airfare Credit to Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia
Adventure travel tour operator Boundless Journeys just announced it will give people up to $1000 toward their airfare when they book by May 25 for their November departure to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. "Each day, we do as the locals do, walking or pedaling our way through villages, or cruising Ha Long Bay, the Mekong, and Perfume River in longboats." Read more about the trip on the Boundless Journeys website.
Adventure Travel Might Make You Smarter
An article by Courteney Hutchison in the June 2009 issue of Psychology Today magazine caught my attention with the statistic that 70% of Americans now live in an urban environment. Major cities in the USA are ranked by the size of their open/green space as a percentage of total city area: New York: 25.7%; Los Angeles: 9.9%; San Francisco: 19.8%; Washington, D.C.: 19.1%; Boston: 15.7%;Philadelphia: 12.4%; Chicago: 8%.
Courteney observes that researchers at the University of Michigan have found that a 45-minute walk in a park enhances cognitive performance, but walking around downtown does not. Even spending time simply LOOKING AT ...
Are You Near the Willamette River? Get out and Kayak with NRG
Every Thursday evening 7-8:30, join NorthWest Paddling for a free evening of kayaking on the Willamette River at Sellwood Riverfront Park. Join NRG Instructors and students for a free paddling opportunity every week - the Skills Social! Every Thursday we gather a Sellwood Riverfront Park in SE Portland for an evening of kayaking, light instruction and new friends. Click here for more information.
Underwater Photo Competition – Winner Announced
DivePhotoGuide.com and Wetpixel.com announced the winners of their 4th annual underwater photography & video competition in association with Our World Underwater. The competition is part of a joint series of international underwater imagery competitions, with world-class prizes, esteemed judges, significant media support, and the opportunity to have your images showcased to the world. As with all Wetpixel & DivePhotoGuide competitions, 15% of proceeds are donated to marine conservation efforts. View the winning entries here.
