Earthoria Travelcasts

In Spanish only. The story of a Guatemalan war victim. Kidnapped and tortured by the army, Filipe was shot twice and witnessed the execution of some of his fellow prisoners. Un victima de la Guerra civil en Guatemala conta su historia en Espanol.

We have now entered week 5 of our Spanish studies at the Co-operative of Guatemalan Spanish Teachers in San Pedro La Laguna, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. This podcast contains an update on our wonderful new house by Lake Atitlan, plus a trip to a cemetery during a fiesta for the dead. We finish up by discussing how the Spanish studying is going.

Thomas and Tina move in with a Guatemalan family in their second week’s Spanish course at the Cooperative Spanish Language School in San Pedro La Laguna, on the shores of lake Atitlan in Guatemala.

This podcast was made as Thomas and Tina embark on their first week’s Spanish course at the Cooperative Spanish Language School in San Pedro La Laguna, on the shores of lake Atitlan in Guatemala. We'll be publishing a new episode each week that we study here. Next week: Living with a Guatemalan family. By Thomas & Tina.

Tina and Thomas arrive in Lake Atitlan, a beautiful lake in the Guatemalan highlands surrounded by volcanoes where they will be studying Spanish at the Cooperative Spanish School, San Pedro for several weeks and living with local families.

Thomas and Tina arrive in La Antigua, Guatemala at the start of their journey through Central & South America. La Antigua is the cultural centre of Guatemala - a stunning Spanish colonial town, surrounded by volcanoes and founded in 1543.

Sounds only. This audio compilation contains radio clips, sounds recorded in our street, music recorded at our local temple, insect noises and lots more. The final song is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the friends I made in Thailand.

This podcast is a bit of a departure from the usual in more senses than one. Firstly, it's from Spain and secondly it's not about enemas, or massages... it's about 'the beautiful game' - football. It features the sounds of the Spanish celebrating their Euro 2008 win in <a href="http://www.earthoria.com/vejer-de-la-frontera-spain.html">Vejer de la Frontera</a>, a small town in Andalucia in Southern Spain.

Tina discusses the highs and lows of her time in Thailand, as well as her reasons for moving on. We then receive a blessing from a monk at Wat Phratat Doi Suthep, the temple on the mountain overlooking Chiang Mai.

Tina and I did the intensive 4-week CELTA (TEFL) course with ECC in Chiang Mai, Thailand over two consecutive months. CELTA qualifies you to teach English to adults and is recognised as one of the best English teaching qualifications in the world. We made this audio diary along the way.

In Tinas last week in Chiang Mai, we went to Sabai De Ka Thai Massage to do a one day sensual oil massage course with a lovely Thai lady called Kloy. What a way to spend a day....!

Tina and I go on the Wat Suan Dok meditation retreat. The retreat is organised through the Wat Suan Dok Monk Chat program, and it departs from Wat Suan Dok, Chiang Mai, Thailand at about 2pm every Tuesday. By Thomas and Tina.

Our Thai cat 'Pudsey' goes into labour in Chiang Mai and makes some extraordinary sounds.

Sounds only. It is coming to the end of the dry season, and Chiang Mai has just been subjected to several weeks of intense heat, hardly relieved at all this year by Songkran, the water festival. It has been so hot that I have started to find it quite difficult living here. A good night’s sleep has become a thing of the past, and you find yourself sweating around the clock - you wake up damp, and go to bed damp. Not very pleasant at all!

Last night the weather finally broke, and the sounds you hear in this audio file are the sounds of the first storm following this build up. I’m happy to say it’s now gray with temperatures probably back around 30 degrees again! Bring on the rainy season!

Sounds only. This was recorded in our street in Chiang Mai, Thailand at about 6pm on a weekday night - in early April. Every night the cicadas start screeching at about the same time, and in the background (if you listen carefully) you can hear the sounds of the local community 'announcer' chatting away through the loud-speakers strategically positioned on lamp posts at the end of our road.

Pai (pronounced 'Bai') is a small town in northern Thailand about 140KM north of Chiang Mai on the main Chiang Mai - Mae Hong Son route. Years ago Pai was a quiet market village, mainly inhabited by Shan people, but nowadays it thrives on tourism thanks to its arrival on the 'backpacker map' of Northern Thailand. Nowadays both Thai and foreign tourists are making their way to Pai in droves - the numbers of Thai tourists has increased dramatically since 2006 after Pai featured in two popular, Thai-made romantic movies. There are also frequent music festivals held in Pai - including the <a href="http://www.paifestival.com/" target='_blank'>Pai Reggae Festival</a> that also features briefly on this podcast.

Sounds only. This was recorded on a Saturday afternoon in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I had gone to the pool to relax and wind down after a hugely stressful month, and this is what I was subjected to....

Tina visits Care for Dogs, a dog shelter based outside Chiang Mai, Thailand.

In this podcast, I met up with Peggy and Jo - the two founders of Pun Pun organic farm and restaurant from the Chiang Mai area, Thailand. During the interview, we discussed their views on Sustainable living and farming, Earthen house building, how they started out, and the philosophy and vision driving their work.

If you are a foreigner living in Thailand, you'll probably be familiar with the concept of a 'visa run'. Depending on what visa you enter Thailand with, you may be required to leave Thailand after 30, 60 or 90 days. There are a few points that you can do this, but two of the most common are the crossings at Mae Sot and Mae Sai. Both these crossings require that you walk over a bridge, enter Burma and get your passport stamped.

This month I decided to do my crossing at Mae Sai as it can be done in one (albeit long) day from Chiang Mai. 13 hours later I returned home.

This Podcast is a short interview I did with Tasanee founder of Safe Haven Orphanage on the Thai/Burma border. It was recorded in December whilst motorbiking around Northern Thailand with my sister. The interview is also contained in the much longer Podcast 1483km by motorbike in North Thailand. Any questions or comments, please post them on our blog at: www.earthoria.com

Sounds only. I recorded this at around 7.30pm on a weekday night at our local vegetarian restaurant on Suthep Road in Chiang Mai. I popped to the restaurant and had a Khao Soi - one of the traditional northern Thai 'curry' dishes. Dinner cost 25THB (about $0.60) and was incredibly tasty. As I ate I was treated to some wonderfully cheesy background music, as you will hear in the recording!

Join us on Koh Lipe, a small island surrounded by emerald green seas and coral in Southern Thailand. Koh Lipe lies in Satun Province, near the Tarutao National Marine Park, on the Andaman (west) coast of Thailand adjacent to Malaysia. This podcast was recorded over a 2 week period during Christmas and New year 2007/2008. By Tina and Thomas.