CulturallyOurs’s inaugural India travel retreat was a huge success! What a fantastic time spent exploring Jaipur city as well as the rural Rajasthani countryside with our amazing group of women entrepreneurs as they spent time getting to know India, her people and her culture.
Jaipur city stole our hearts as we explored not just the touristy hotspots like Hawa Mahal, Amer fort and City palace but also meandered our way into the little by-lanes, hidden temples and markets to get a sensory overload of sight, sounds, smells and tastes. To say one can eat their way through India is not a joke and our brave attendees were game for anything and everything India had to offer from a cultural and culinary standpoint.
We soon left the hustle and bustle of the city to head into the jungle to catch a glimpse of India’s national animal, the tiger. But this was no ordinary safari. With our veteran guide of over a 100+ salaries, we got a glimpse of the behaviors of the tiger as well as India’s various flora and fauna.
Being a creative travel retreat meant we got our hands dirty, literally and figuratively, with many of India’s arts and crafts as well as shared tea and stories with many women artists and artisans who are true change makers. They are in the forefront of making a difference in their lives and the community – a true community over competition spirit.
We wrapped our week long excursion with a trip to a local village where we got to meet with the local women, practice our photography skills as well as learn Indian cuisine from a local chef. I am so proud of the women who joined us on our creative retreat to Jaipur for their openness and sense of adventure. Every activity was met with a resounding “yes, lets do it” and that positive and curious attitude meant real and heartfelt connections with each other and the people we met along the way.
It has always been our dream to take people to India, the country where Karthika Gupta, the founder of CulturallyOurs, is from, to show them a side of India beyond the typical tourist lens. We wanted to explore all that India has to offer from a cultural standpoint as well as to engage with local women entrepreneurs and non-government organizations (NGOs) working with rural women and girls to learn first-hand about local business practices and social entrepreneurship.
We have lots of exciting things in store for our future retreats!
2019 retreats are almost ready to be announced. If you are interested in joining us along our India adventures, sign up to be notified when dates are announced.
{Thank you to Meeta Rao @tridiva.uttarakhand for some of the #bts images in this post}
Enjoy some images from our wonderful trip!
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