This is a chance for all Namaste fans to join us for this challenging and inspirational tour in Nepal and Tibet. With trekking on scenic high altitude trails and exploration of the two different cultures this is sure to be a trip of a lifetime! Namaste co founder Bill Thompson and his family will be leading this adventure in September of 2011.
Your adventure begins the moment you arrive — with time to explore or relax at a Kathmandu hotel famous for its hospitality. After a few days of exploring in Nepal, you’ll board a breathtaking flight, taking a first glimpse of Everest, destined for Lhasa’s Gonggar Airport in Tibet. Here you’ll acclimatize and explore the local Yambulagang Tombs, Samye Gompa and Lhasa city itself — with highlights including the Tibetan Barkhor neighborhood surrounding the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Palace. Recently opened to tourism after its long isolation, it is still closed to the outside world from time to time. We will also be visiting the Dickey Orphanage, one of Namaste’s selected charieties. Here we will get to play with the 72 childeren who reside at the orphanage. We hope to visit on September 10th- which is the big birthday celebration for all of the children. Tibet promises exciting travel experiences and memories.
Then, it’s back to Nepal for a high mountain trek. Here is the chance for an unforgettable adventure to the Solu (near Everest) region of Nepal. Here you can see many 8000 meter peaks as well as Mount Everest. Experienced travelers always tell us that the views in this region are more beautiful than anywhere else in the world. With flexibility and a smile you will enjoy and long–remember the challenge and mystery of our unique exploration through this ancient land. Travel in Nepal and Tibet really is the experience of a lifetime! Along the high passes we discover secluded valleys — only inhabited by high-altitude nomads and their yaks. Be prepared for “roughing it” as conditions are as variable as the topography. This moderate tour and trekking program offers an unforgettable opportunity to enjoy unspoiled Tibetan and Nepali culture against the backdrop of magnificent scenery.
If you are interested in this tour please don’t hesitate to contact Bill at: namaste.women@gmail.com
For a detailed itinerary please click here!
A wonderful promotional film to mark the launch of the third Because I am a Girl Report which focuses on the issues that girls and young women face growing up in the 21st century economic climate. Because I am a Girl: Girls in the Global Economy argues that the current financial slowdown is severely affecting girls and young women, who under the best of circumstances are the least likely to survive, be fed, go to school, or stay healthy.
Don’t forget that 1% of your purchase at Namaste will go to a featured charity- check out the Sharing section of the Namaste web site here.
A good friend of ours Frida Waara is embarking on a trip of a lifetime- traveling to the Antarctic! Not that Frida is a stranger to these types of trips- Frida also participated on the all women’s unsupported 28-day expedition on skis to the North Pole. This woman is the real deal! Good luck to Frida and John on their trip! You can follow their adventure at: http://conditiononefilm.com/wordpress/
Filmmakers John Major and Frida Waara are producing a film that reveals the challenges and obstacles of the extremes created by cold, darkness, ice, and weather patterns at Antarctica’s McMurdo Station and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Condition One, the most extreme weather condition in Antarctica, will be used as a metaphor for facing dangerous and inhospitable landscapes. Interviews with support staff will reveal the common threads that will become the story of Condition One, and interwoven will be the stark contrasts of inner city urban landscapes and the stories of the young people who live there. Waara and Major will use their experiences in Antarctica to draw out students in interviews at schools in Detroit and Los Angeles, to talk about and contrast their fears, the hazards, and challenges in their urban surroundings, uncovering, in effect, their own Condition One while revealing the universality of the human spirit. An exhibition of photographs will augment the film, capturing candid portraits of the film’s subjects, and be useful for producing and promoting the film.
Condition One and its accompanying photo exhibition will be more than a chronicle in the lives of people in Antarctica. Transcend the more traditional themes in film and photography of the beauty of the landscape and the vigor of Antarctica’s residents, Condition One will explore the theme of landscape and the human spirit and resiliency in a fresh, timely, and exciting cultural context. Condition One will fill a gap in information about the cultural characteristics of Antarctica, and advance understanding of life in cold, dark, and harsh conditions through juxtaposition with the urban landscape at which it is seemingly at odds.
With a combined total of more then 45 years of videography experience, Ms. Waara and Mr. Major approach film production as artists; as professional videographers they tackle each project with a high level of management skills. They have three collaborative films in production; a previous film by Ms.Waara won an Emmy award. Ms. Waara joined an unsupported 28-day expedition on skis to the North Pole, and Mr. Major has extensive experience with the National Ski Patrol; their cold weather experience provides a degree of confidence of success in working in the conditions of Antarctica, including the patience needed to adapt in rapidly changing environments. Their human-relations skills bring an ease to everyone they meet. As a two-person team, they are able to work quickly and efficiently to capture “reality-style” action. As professional videographers, they have high-quality filming, photography, and production equipment, and have obtained initial corporate support, including a hands-free camera, to begin production and distribution of the film and development of the photo exhibition.
The Life of an Adventurous Woman from Cara Lopez Lee on Vimeo.
WARNING! Watch this video and you just might start packing your bags! What a fabulous adventure for Cara and a wonderful philosophy for life!
Remember the days when your dad threw the baseball to you in the front yard for hours? The Vogel family puts a whole new spin on what it means to get the kids active.
John and Nancy Vogel, of Boise Idaho, take biking and family road trips to a new extreme. The couple, along with their twin boys, is some 14,000 miles into their 18,000-mile biking tour. (Those zeros are not a typo.) The foursome began in Alaska and is following the Pan-American Highway down to where their tour will conclude at the tip of Argentina.
Just to give you an idea of what 14,000 miles looks like in terms of time – not to mention how long they’ve been on those hard little bike seats – the boys were 10 years old when they set out on their journey with Mom and Dad. Now they’re 12.
Both John and Nancy are teachers and ensure that they’ve been taking care of their sons’ formal schooling. From the looks of their surroundings, it seems as though the geography lessons are a little more hands-on.
No P.E. class required.
I spent this past weekend in Evanston, Illinois, where my mom and I try to make a yearly fall visit to see my older sister, Erin. I like to affectionately call this weekend getaway, “Back to School Shopping.”
But aside from Evanston and Chicago’s shopping appeal, I really just love being somewhere new for a few days. Even though I’ve visited Erin’s place a handful of times over the past few years that she’s lived in Evanston, it always feels fresh and exciting to me – the old historic houses, the quaint and inviting front porches and the tree-lined sidewalks. It’s a city with a history, but also a hip city with Northwestern University at its center.
I get anxious (and some might even say, cranky) if I don’t squeeze at least some workout in a good six days of the week – I’m not unlike our dog in that way. And since I skipped any kind of workout on the Sunday while I was at her apartment, other than walking her little Min Pin, Frank, around the block, my legs were begging for a run. I’d never ventured around the city by myself but like a good sister, Erin directed me on how to make it to the lake where a nice long bike path and running path winds along the shore.
I achieved no sleep the night before this “first run.” I attribute my short-term insomnia to a combination of excitement for lacing up my shoes and heading out a different front door, and also anticipation for the coveted Michigan Ave.
By 7:45 a.m. Monday, I had double-checked my route, slipped on my shoes and left the apartment for my first run through Evanston and along Lake Michigan.
My pace was steady and my breathing easy, controlled. I felt different than when I run at home. Sometimes I’ll wake up and already be bored with a run before I even start. Not today. Today everything was new. The houses and neighborhoods. The stoplights. (I don’t hit a single one on my runs in Marquette.) The sounds. The people. Everything was new, so much so that I didn’t really feel like I was running – I simply took it all in. And by the time I had taken Greenleaf all the way to the Lake, I had a sudden sense of home. Almost all my Marquette runs include a view of Lake Superior, and now that I found myself pounding the pavement along another shoreline, with a sandy beach and sailboats, I subconsciously quickened my pace. I was at an in-between – between familiar and new. This place was rejuvenating and freeing.
I ran for an hour that day, and felt like I could have gone for another. Maybe it was because I had been well rested from a day off, but I think it was because when your eyes see new, so does your body. I moved with not necessarily a new appreciation, but a different appreciation for my body’s ability to run. This time I didn’t have to trick myself into running further by replaying a favorite song or counting my steps. I didn’t have to tell myself, “Just to the next light pole. Okay, now the next one.” I didn’t have to convince myself not to stop. I just ran and that was it.
And when I ran today, at home, on my usual route, I felt really good. Everything looked just a little different because I’d been away, and this time it was the familiarity that quickened my pace.
