CURRICULUM DESIGN

Magic Carpet Rides (MCR) is an educational program empowering participants to explore the world of possibilities before defining a life path.  The experiential curriculum fosters development of life skills, discovery of one's passions and international understanding through opportunities for cultural immersion, service learning and natural exploration in developing countries.  Whether you crave trekking to pyramids buried in jungles, teaching indigenous children computer skills or weaving textiles in a remote Maya pueblo, Central America’s superb combination of rich cultural heritage and stunning natural beauty offers something to engage everyone.  According to the Lonely Planet,

"If continents had their own ecosystem of gap-year opportunities, this region quite possibly offers the most abundant and varied of them all.  The majestic scale of the area, the extraordinary variety of the terrain and its amazing creatures, and the history of its inhabitants lend themselves perfectly to a grand adventure."

The MCR program is intense, structured, flexible, group-oriented, individual, paradoxical, challenging and above all fun and stimulating.  You will enjoy the colonial charm of Antigua, one of the world's top travel destinations, and explore dramatic nature in out-of-the-way places where the comforts of hot showers and “hermetically-sealed” homes are not always possible.  Over an extended period of travel in developing countries, your comfort zone and belief structure will be challenged with stimulus that vary according to each person’s individuality.
 
Whatever you might conclude about Central America, there is an opposite fact that will persuade you to surrender into the mystery and adventure, a dazzling paradox that can be one of life’s greatest teachers.  At the very least, you will discover a variety and nuance concerning the human condition…that wealth and happiness come from the heart.