Studying Ayurveda in Kerala
Dianne Sharma-Winter Writes:
Every cloud has a silver lining, sometimes even gold.
This belief had sustained me through the first month of a course of training in Ayurveda in a small-unexplored area of Kerala, India’s premier state for the practice and study of this ancient science.
Even though I was aware that one-month course would barely scratch the surface of the vast ocean of knowledge that is Ayurveda, I was more interested in learning about the practical forms of massage and herbal treatments to adapt to my own massage practice in New Zealand. Read more
“How many times have you been travelling and visited a school or community or local charity that you would love to help? The school needs books, or a map or pencils; an orphanage needs children’s clothes or toys. All things that, if only you’d known, you could’ve stuffed in your rucksack. But once you get home you forget, or you’ve lost the address, or worry that whatever you send will be stolen before it even gets there…” Read more
The idea of volunteering in another country has long been considered the province of students and recent graduates; images of intrepid twenty-year-old Peace Corps workers in a remote Sierra Leone village might spring to mind. Today, however, the idea has reached far beyond that to become accessible, and highly popular, among travelers of all types and ages. Volunteer travel has grown so popular that a term has even been coined for it: Voluntourism. Read more
When I was in Cusco, Peru, a guy called Angel crossed my path and told me about his work at a Shamanic healing centre. Shamans (medicine men) perform ancient healing ceremonies, praying to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) and dwelling in the spiritual world.
What intrigued me most was the “Ayahuasca ceremony”. Ayahuasca is a Quechua word meaning “vine of the soul,” and is a powerful, vile-tasting drink made from a jungle vine. The shamans use it as way of unraveling the self, and it is supposed to be able to cure anything, from physical illness (like cancer) to psychological pain (depression) – or put simply, it is a good way to clean up any baggage, big or small, in your life… I felt like fate had thrown an unusual opportunity onto my path. Read more
Hot, tired and sweaty, Daniela and I flopped onto our hotel beds, turned the air con on, smiled and breathed a sigh of relief to be back from “Jungle Boot Camp”. This is the “affectionate” term we gave the three days we had just spent in the Peruvian Amazon jungle at an eco-lodge, where the wearing of gumboots was compulsory and we were “forced” to do all manner of drawn-out jungle activities from dawn til well after dark in the sticky, oppressive jungle heat. Not only that, we had paid for it. You do these crazy things when you are travelling. Read more
Mark Baldwin saw the potential to match cash strapped travelers with people who need a hand and has set up Helpandhost.net Read more
Karen Jettmar runs Equinox Wilderness Expeditions and SkiGrlz out of 
Alaska and I guess that sometimes they want to wallow in the sunshine, because she has just arranged a trip for 17 women to Ecuador in mid-November for 3 weeks of activity, including trekking, natural history, coast beaches and dry forest hiking and biking, Galapagos sailing.
Someone has dropped out, and there is room for one lucky woman to join this trip – especially the week sailing in the Galapagos. Read more
Moments in Time
Lyn Baker the founder of Tiger Travel spent many years travelling extensively throughout India as a professional photographer – she has an eye for the country, for its people and its culture.
The idea of sharing India with small groups of women travellers seemed a great way of adding to her relationship with India. So Tiger Travel was born. Read more
Have just been searching You Tube for Women travel pieces – and discovered this YouTube Channel – Women Travel for for Peace,
Women Travel for Peace brought five intrepid women to Senegal to work with local farming women. Together we built a well for the women’s farming plot. As a result of our contribution, the local women now have water year-round to farm their crops, and they are able to work a shorter workday. When you work 365 days a year under the African sun, a shorter workday makes a vast difference.
The cost of travel is high – both financially for our own pockets and also increasingly we are counting the cost of travel in terms of the planet and the social and environmental impact of travel.
There is no easy solution – simply to stop travelling will have enormous economic impact on small communities for whom travellers provide a major economic boost to the local community. In New Zealand – tourism is set to overtake exports as New Zealand’s top export earner. There is also the potential to put an economic benefit to forests not being cut down, because of the benefit in terms of tourism.
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