"Excuse Me, Can You Hold This Flag?"

Day 1 in Brazil

The first day in Brazil was a bit surreal for me. For one thing, it was my last time getting off of the ship in a new port that wasn’t in the US. Second, we were back in a country that spoke hardly any English. We were absolutely spoiled in the past four countries we were in, and pretty much everyone in them spoke English incredibly well. Not so much in Brazil. Everything was Portuguese, which meant that I could read some of the signs because some of the words are similar to Spanish, but understanding was a completely different story. Portuguese sounds nothing like Spanish at all, the pronunciation is totally different.

Anyways, Team Awesome set out to explore on our last day together in port, since we all had different destinations for the next four days. We first wandered over to an ATM because we pretty much all needed money. After the ATM, we headed over to the big market that was near the waterfront. Sat down at a restaurant and some of us ordered a beer, even though it was only 10:30 in the morning (hey it’s 5 o’clock somewhere, right?). We got to sit and enjoy our drinks while watching Capoiera being performed on a stage right in front of us. Capoiera is a martial art that was developed and practiced in the 18th century, but it was eventually banned, so the Brazilians made it look like a dance instead, but it remained a martial art, if that makes sense. We wandered around there for a little bit, then decided to take the elevator into the upper city. The elevator cost .15 reals, which is the equivalent of about 10 cents US.

We took the elevator up to the upper city, then walked around. There was a big square, then a bunch of side streets you could wander off into. Not 10 minutes after we stepped off of the elevator, it began to sprinkle. Within another minute, that little sprinkle turned into a downpour. We ran over to the tourist information center for cover, got some info on a place to each lunch, then stepped outside and inched along under a miniscule overhang until we reached a restaurant. We all sat down and ordered our food. There are 2 unique things about Brazil: First, portions are pretty much always meant for two. Second, there is no such thing as a quick lunch. Our lunch took about 2 and a half hours to finish completely, so we were definitely ready to get out of there.

We walked out and down a little side street, and we stumbled upon a rather large square that had a stage set up in the middle of it, and a whole bunch of people wearing yellow and green outfits. After a little bit of questioning, we found out they were shooting a music video for the world cup. One of the guys came up to Victoria and said “Excuse me, but where are you from?” When she said Hong Kong, he said “I’m so sorry, but do you mind holding and waving the Japanese flag for us and dancing around with it?” She just laughed and said ok, and the rest of us got to jump in the background and dance. We stayed through about 3 shots, and the final video is now on youtube. As far as I know, you can’t see us in any shots, but some SASers make an appearance in the background of some shots, and you can see Victoria for a split second. We had a blast and danced around, then wandered through the shops a little bit. Once again, we decided it was time for an ice cream stop. After having phenomenal condensed milk and almond ice cream, which Shauna and I both went crazy over, it started to rain a little bit again. Some people decided to go back to the ship and nap before nighttime, and others wanted to stay out. I was one of the ones that wanted to stay out. Some of us wandered around, bought coffee, and got hair wraps before heading back to the ship to shower and get ready for our last dinner.

We headed out to dinner, and right as we got off the ship, it started downpouring. So much for looking cute. Anyways, there were 6 of us going to dinner, so we split up into two cabs, and they made their way to the upper city. This restaurant was supposed to be home to one of the best chefs in the world, so we were definitely looking forward to it. When we all sat down and ordered, we found out they were out of a lot of the stuff that we had originally ordered. Alli and I ordered this steak thing in a sauce. It’s really hard to describe, but it is served with rice and it is absolutely phenomenal.

Afterwards, we were looking for a place where a bunch of SAS kids were, some big outdoor party. As we were walking around, we couldn’t find all of the other SASers, but we happened to run into an American. As we were walking, he stopped us and said “Hey, are you Americans?” When we said yes, he said “Oh thank god, I haven’t spoken English in 3 weeks!” Upon talking to him a little bit more, we found out that his name was Devon, and he was living in Brazil for 5 months shooting a documentary about street children. He was hanging out with two Spaniards and a Brazilian or two that he called his friends. For not living there very long, he spoke incredibly good Portuguese. It was rather funny to watch his translations go back and forth from Spanish to English to Portuguese to English to Portuguese to Spanish.

It was about 10:30, and Devon and his friends said they had a club we could go to. So we headed to the club they were talking about, since it seemed as though we had nothing else to do at this point. Upon arriving to the club, we were let in by one of the scariest men I have ever come across in my life. He had the biggest muscles I have ever seen, and it was apparent that he was on steroids. He had a bunch of tattoos, and a tiny tank top and jeans and he was slightly terrifying. We walked in and up a set of stairs, and there were two ways we could go: to the left was a bar, and to the right was the dance floor. The dance floor was a small room whose walls were covered with sequins, and there was a dj playing in the corner. We were the only people in the entire place, but we danced it up anyways. We were informed that the parties don’t really start until midnight, so we were an hour and a half early. We danced for a little bit, then decided to head out to another little bar that Devon knew about.

When we got to the bar, there were 2 tables set up outside, so we split up. Vic, Alli, Kara, and I sat at one, and Brit, Graham, and Shauna sat at the other. We sat and talked with Devon for a while, and he translated his friends’ Portuguese into English, and in this way, we were able to have a pseudo-conversation. I was able to understand a little of the Portuguese. At least, I was able to understand enough that I got when the Brazilian said that we were all very beautiful and I understood when he asked where we were sleeping. We were also taught a dance by the men that we liked to call Revelation (it really mean revolution, but the way it is sung makes it sound like revelation). After we sat there for a little while, it starting pouring rain. It was definitely one of those surreal moments on the trip where you think life can’t get any better than it is at that moment in time. After sitting there for a while, we all hurried back to the square to get cabs back to the ship. We all had a great last night together, and we were all ready for our trips the next day.

Day 2 in Brazil

This trip was a USD girl trip. There were 4 other girls and myself that were going to a little island off the coast of Salvador called Morro de Sao Paulo. Emily, Amy, Laney, Clara, and I (all from USD) set off on our 2.5 hour catamaran ride that would take us over to the island. Upon arriving at the island, my mouth dropped open. There was a giant hill with a lighthouse sitting on top of it, and there were palm trees everywhere. The water was beautiful, and the island itself looked like a little slice of heaven. The second we got off the boat, a guy came up to us and was asking if we knew where we wanted to stay. I gave him the name of a little pousada (or inn in Portuguese) and he took us there. As we were walking down the streets, I absolutely fell in love with the place. There are no cars allowed on the island, the main mode of transportation is usually your feet. There were small stores and restaurants everywhere, and kids were running around completely unsupervised by their parents. We arrived to our little pousada, got two rooms, checked in, and decided to wander around a little bit. We walked up and down the beaches, went in some stores, then went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner.

We went to dinner at this beachside restaurant around 7:30 or 8 pm, and we were the onl ones there. I forgot to mention that Brazilian tend to eat dinner ridiculously late at night, like around 9. So we all sat and ordered food. Two of us shared crab moqueca, which they bring to you in a pan and you pour over rice. It was absolutely phenomenal and so yummy. When we first got there, we got a coupon for one free drink each, so we all ordered caipirinhas, the traditional Brazilian drink of their rum and lime juice. We got them and they were absolutely phenomenal. Eventually we learned how to say free drink in Portuguese, so we would turn up the charm and keep asking the owner for free drinks, and he kept giving them to us. We each got about 4, then we each ordered a pina colada as well. We sat at this restaurant for about 4 hours, laughing talking, drinking, and enjoying each other’s company.

We got word that there was a party going on on Second Beach that started around midnight. All of the beaches on the island are in numerical order, from first through fifth. You could easily walk between each one. Our pousada was on first beach and the restaurant and parties took place on second beach. The other three beaches were a little quieter and places you would go during the day to relax. Anyways, after we headed over to second beach, we all had our desserts. Acai bowls. Acai is a wonderful berry that is so good frozen and blended up with bananas and granola on top. After savoring those for a little bit, we noticed more and more people wandering around the beach. Many of the booths were beginning to set up their stands on the beach for the parties. Majority of the booths consisted of every tropical fruit you can imagine, and a few different types of alcohol. You would walk up and tell the people which alcohol you wanted with which fruits, and they would make the drinks right there in front of you. We stayed until the part got started at midnight, danced around for a while with some Brazilians, and then two of us started not feeling well. Clara and I headed back to the hotel to get some sleep, as we both felt nauseous and not too hot (no it wasn’t from drinking too much). The others got back around 3 or 4 in the morning.

Day 3, 4, and 5 in Brazil

I combined these because they pretty much consisted of doing the same things every day we were there….
I woke up the next day to a light knock from Clara on my door wondering if I wanted to get breakfast with her. We ate right at our hotel, since it was included in the price, and it was pretty good. Eventually, the others slowly woke up, and we all still weren’t feeling too hot. We couldn’t figure out if it was the food we had eaten, or too much of the really sugary alcohol, or the fact that the ice in the drinks may have been contaminated. We have no idea. Anyways, for the next three days, we spent a ton of time sunbathing at the beach, ate a lot of acai and crepes, partied from midnight to varying times in the morning, and just relaxed in our last port.

Some of my favorite moments on the island consisted of our early morning swims in the beautiful clear waters of the Atlantic Ocean, watching the local sunset soccer games right on the beach outside of our hotel, laughing with the girls, eating phenomenal food, and just enjoying life. I mean, what else would y be doing if you were on a gorgeous island for 4 days? I know I’m doing a terrible job of explaining everything we did, but we didn’t really do much except explore, relax, and catch some last minute sun. Our basic schedule for the last 3 days was: Breakfast, swim, wander, tan, lunch, wander, stop for a drink, tan, shower, watch soccer, dinner, beach party, bed. I’m not trying to make this short, but there really isn’t much else to say.

On April 25th, we caught a catamaran back to Salvador, and while majority of the people slept, my mind was racing. This was it. My last journey back to the ship from a port. I started having a slideshow moment in my head, where memories kept flooding back from the countries I visited and the experiences I had in the last 3.5 months. It was a long ride, and when we got back, I headed to the market to spend a few last minute reals. In the midst of wandering, I lost the other girls, so I got to head back to the ship alone, which was perfect. I walked back with my backpack on my back, my moneybelt securely around my waist, my souvenir bags in my hand, and a smile on my face. As I got closer to the ship, however, the smile started mingling with tears, and it was with a heavy heart that I swiped my card onto the ship for the last time.

Brazil was an absolute blast for me. My day in Salvador was great, and I had a great time relaxing on Morro. Brazil is definitely right on the top of my list for places to go back to, because I want to go to Rio, the Amazon, and Carnaval. One thing I must do before I go back to Brazil is learn a little Portuguese! It was a little more difficult to get around here with English than it was in the past 4 countries I had been in. Most of the people that I had met were incredibly nice and accommodating, although some people did get robbed. The entire country is so vibrant and colorful, even more-so than countries like South Africa and India. There is music always playing from windows, people are always out and about, and the whole environment is just one of fun and good times.

So, this blog details the end of my travels. I, at the time of writing this, have been home for almost 4 weeks (I’m a slacker I know), and I am getting ready to leave for Guadalajara, Mexico for summer school. I will be writing one last final days on the ship/reflection blog, but I honestly don’t know when it will be posted. I’m still trying to make sense and integrate everything that happened on my trip, so that reflection might be a little while from now. Everything is still sinking in, and not a day goes by that I don’t think about the ship, the countries, the people, and my lifelong friends that I have made. I cried almost the entire plane ride home with the girl sitting next to me, and I am pretty sure other passengers on the ship thought we were crazy. Thank you to everyone who has followed me as I circumnavigated the globe, I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures and that now maybe some of you will either go on Semester at Sea as lifelong learners (look it up….great thing for when you retire!) or that some of you will consider sending your kids on Semester at Sea, or you can apply to be a teacher or nurse on board. I also want to say a huge thank you to my mom and dad for sending me on this trip, and a big thank you to everyone else who helped out. Love you all!

Ghana-na-na

Ok, so I know that I am already home and that I have been slacking on my blog for the past month, mostly because: 1. I got lazy, 2. The was a lot of sun to catch, and 3. Because I wanted to spend as much time as I could with my friends at the end of the trip. I apologize to all of my lovely loyal readers who have traveled with me thus far, and I will let you know that I will be finishing my blog within the next week. I am going to do a post about Ghana and Brazil, then one last post about the last four weeks on the ship. Enjoy Ghana!

Day 1 in Ghana

So for the first day in Ghana, a bunch of us were headed out to simply wander around. We got off the ship relatively quickly and hopped in a cab. Now, we were docked in Tema, which is a 30 to 45 minute bus ride outside the main city of Accra, which really sucks, to put it nicely. So instead of waiting another hour for the shuttle since we had just missed the first one, we hopped in cabs and took off. We wanted to go to a little city called Jamestown, and instead our drivers took us to a market right outside of Jamestown that they got commission from if they took us there and we bought anything. At this point, none of us had Ghanaian cedis, so we told them we would come back. We headed off to try and find a bank, which proved to be relatively easy, as there were about 10 within a square block. We got some money, then headed off into Jamestown. Jamestown is an old little town in Accra that is obviously incredibly poor. There were shacks built up alongside the road, and there was trash everywhere. I had major flashbacks to India and how dirty it was there. We were going towards the lighthouse that sits along the coast when a local came up and introduced himself to us as Vis. He asked us if we wanted to go down to the local fishing village that was sitting along the water. We replied that we were going to go get a soda somewhere, and his eyes lit up and he told us to follow him. He began leading us toward the fishing village, and we followed, not asking questions. We learned from past travels that if a local wants to show you a place, most times you should go/it is safe to go, especially in broad daylight.

Once we got down into the village, he took us to a little shack that was playing loud music on old blown out speakers, and he led us through a curtain to the inside. We were pleasantly surprised to find that this little wooden shack was technically a “bar”. There were drinks lining the back wall, one table, and 7 or so chairs. We all sat down, relieved to be out of the heat. Some ordered a beer, but I was perfectly happy with my ice cold Coke in a glass bottle. Let me tell you, foreign countries know how to do it. Soda tastes way better in a glass bottle than it does out of a can or a plastic bottle. We sat in the little shack and relaxed with Vis for a little bit, all the while getting stared at by a little girl of about 3 or 4. Vis said the reason she was staring was because she had never seen white people before, which was a strange concept for all of us to comprehend. Although I guess it makes sense, since Ghana isn’t exactly a tourist destination for those who can afford to travel to far-off foreign lands. After enjoying a soda, Vis took us around the fishing village a little more, and we got to see more of the shacks, mothers washing their children, the wooden fishing boats they used to fish with, and kids playing soccer barefoot on the beach. Going into a place like that is an incredibly humbling experience, and it shows just how much we all have to be grateful for in our lives. But the best part about going into these places is seeing how happy the people are, despite the fact that they don’t have much. It is all they know, and although we could tell times are rough for these people, many of them smiled to us as we walked by.

After the fishing village, Vis got us two cabs and had them take us to downtown Accra. We were starving, so we stopped in a place called Papaye, which is Ghana’s equivalent of a fast food restaurant such as McDonalds. The only difference between Papaye and McDonalds was the food choices (this place had chicken, French fries, fried rice, etc) and the time it takes to get your food. Whereas Mickey D’s can take 5 minutes max, this place took a half an hour just to get our food. I must say, I like this about foreign countries. There is never a rush, meals take at least half an hour, and dinners rarely last less than an hour and a half. It is a nice change from the US, where we always seem to eat as fast as we can and you are rushed out of the restaurant by waiters and waitresses. Our lunch was quite tasty, especially the fried rice that Victoria got.

After lunch, we headed out onto the streets to do some business with some street vendors. There were numerous little stalls set up all along the streets selling the typical little knick-knacks and souvenirs that we had already seen a lot of. Shauna and I got these awesome pairs of patchwork pants that are incredibly comfy and cheap. Graham got some more pirated movies to add to his collection, and we got a few other things as well. After wandering around the shops for upwards of an hour, we headed to an ice cream shop to get ice cream. It was absolutely excellent, especially on a day whose temperature was well into the high 90’s. After ice cream, we were headed to a hotel to meet some friends. We hailed a taxi and were about to get a second one, since there were six of us, but our taxi driver told us we could squish. So squish we did. We had Graham in the front seat with Victoria on his lap, then Brittany, Shauna and I squished into the back seat, and Alli splayed out across us with her knees bent. We were cracking up the entire way to the hotel, which was probably a 20 or 25 minute drive. Once we got to the hotel, we met up with Trevor, Christina, Melinda, and Jose, who were staying there for the night before headed out to the jungle the next morning. It was absolutely wonderful to get out of the sweltering heat and sit on something softer than a plastic chair or wooden bench.

Christina had bought a bunch of fruit, cheese, and crackers as well as wine, so she made a little spread of stuff for us to much on until some others got there and we could all head to dinner. We hung out in the room for a little bit, then we went to dinner in the hotel. We spent about 2 hours having dinner (I had a wonderful pizza), then we headed over to the casino that was attached to the hotel. It was a tiny little casino, but Graham and Thomas found the blackjack table and were happy little campers. We hung out there for a little bit, the girls played a little bit of the slots, then we headed back to the room. We hung out for a little longer, then hopped into cabs for the 45 minute drive back to the ship.

Day 2 in Ghana
Day two in Ghana had me up early (again) to go to the OSU Children’s Home in Accra. We hopped on our buses and had about an hour drive into the city. Once we got into the children’s home, they took us all into a room to talk to us a little bit about the orphanage and what they do there. The orphanage houses about 250 children that range from the ages of 1 day old to 18 years old. Most of the time the children end up there because their parents did not want them, their parents are incarcerated, or their parents can’t afford to send them to school. The children at the orphanage are required to get an education, which is why parents who can’t afford school would drop them off there in the first place. After a brief intro, the lady showed us around a bit, and then we got to take off in separate directions and play with whichever children we wanted to. At the very beginning, I stayed with the infants who were playing outside. They were maybe a year old, and they were just playing around and hanging out. I sat down, and immediately this one little guy came over to me, so I picked him up and sat him in my lap. He had on a bright yellow shirt and a diaper made out of a towel, and he was so cute. He sat in my lap for a good 15 or 20 minutes before falling asleep, and which point one of the house moms took him and put him down in a crib.

I then wandered over to one of the places where there were older kids. These kids ranged from between 4 to about 6. I had packed some stickers in my purse, and when I brought them out, I was swarmed. I was warned that they would like stickers, but I really wasn’t expecting such a reaction. At first I would stick one on their shirts, but then they would always take them off and stick them on their faces, so eventually I would just stick them on whatever patch of skin they would let me stick them on. They had them everywhere! Their foreheads, noses, cheeks, ears, upper lips, everywhere. They were so cute! Eventually I ran out of stickers, so we had to find other things to occupy the kids. We played ring around the rosy, I gave them piggyback rides, and they stole my sunglasses, which is how I ultimately found the two loves of my life. There was a boy and a girl, both who stole my sunglasses, put them on their faces, then posed for the camera as I took photos of them. What made me fall in love with this boy and girl was the fact that they both held up peace signs as I took photos of them. The girl had the cutest little attitude, and the pose she struck when I took her photo was so awesome for a girl of about 4 or 5 years old. We played around with the kids for a little longer, then we all hopped on a bus to go to yet another buffet lunch, then we hopped back on the bus and went back to the orphanage for another hour and a half.

Going to a place such as this in a place such as Ghana can definitely teach anyone a lesson. Although these kids don’t live in the greatest conditions, they are some of the happiest children I have ever seen in my life and they always have a smile on their faces. They can teach kids here a thing or two about privilege and happiness and materialism. What you have/own definitely is not what makes you happy in the long run. We got back from the orphanage around 5 or 6, and I caught up on some stuff before heading to bed before my village visit the next day.

Day 3 in Ghana
Goodbye ship life, hellooooo village visit. We were headed off to a village about an hour and half away from our ship. Upon arrival, we were all shocked to see just how many people were gathered to welcome us. There were at least 100 people waiting, if not more. We got off the buses and were immediately bombarded by children. There were plastic chairs set out for all of us, and the children all walked with us, hand in hand, until we were sitting in our chairs. Then, the naming ceremony began. It took about 3 hours for all of us to get our African names, and it was slightly exhausting. In between us getting all of our names, the children would perform dances and pull us up to dance with them. The only way to really describe their dances was walking around with a mixture between a prancing horse and a flapping chicken. Eventually I got my African name, which turned out to be Setsoafia…quite a mouthful. It literally means “god saves”, and I was handed a pot with my name on it and a bracelet was tied around my wrist before I was allowed to head back to my seat. As everyone else was getting their names, I wandered off to play with some of the kids in the village, and I spent the last hour of the naming ceremony doing so. I played with some absolutely adorable kids; one was wearing a Beatles shirt, and another had on a shirt with a giant face of Obama on it.

After the naming ceremony was finally over, we went across the “road” to see where the members of the village did their weaving and pottery making. The pots were the simple clay pots that you would see the giant plants in sitting outside of restaurants. They were doing the weaving in the traditional kente pattern, which was created specifically in Ghana. Apparently, the Chinese had recently been recreating the pattern and selling items woven with it, but Ghana somehow sued for the rights to their pattern and won, so China had to stop producing items with the pattern on it. The machine they were weaving on was so old and rickety looking, it didn’t look like there was any way possible that anything could be created on it. But the scarves and cloths that came of off it were absolutely beautiful!

After the village, we headed to a smaller wildlife reserve that housed a bunch of baboons and some antelope. We were headed for these caves that were filled with bats. They told us while we wer eon the bus that we all should have worn tennis shoes (little late), and that it would be easiest to get into the caves if we weren’t wearing flip-flops. A girl behind me said the cave wasn’t that amazing anyways, so most of us in sandals stayed on the bus. When the others got back, they said we didn’t miss much, and that the caves just smelled like bat crap. Therefore, I decided that my decision to stay on the bus was a wise one.

Day 4 in Ghana
On my last day in Ghana, we were headed to the Accra psychiatric hospital for a class. After going to a psychiatric hospital in Hawaii, I was excited to go to Ghana and see what mental health care was like in a country that is about as opposite from the United States as you can get. Upon arriving at the hospital, they opened the gates and our bus drove on in. The grounds were run down, with very sparse trees and the majority of the area was all dirt. The buildings looked old and dilapidated, but the area itself was huge.

Once we hopped off the bus, the resident psychiatrist walked over and introduced herself to us, saying that she would guide us around for the day. First, she took us over to the women’s ward, and let us right in. There was a small courtyard when some patients were sitting, and there was a nurse in the corner washing a patient’s hair. She gave us a quick intro, and we were allowed to go into the ward and see the beds and the areas where the patients were staying. They slept on rickety old cots, and we also noticed that there were mats on the floor. My professor asked how many people were in the entire hospital, and she responded with 1,200. What was the maximum capacity of the place? 600. They had 600 more people than they could technically fit. As a result, people slept on mats on the floor. Once we got outside and she began telling us more about that particular ward, one of the patients came up and asked if she could speak. She began telling us what she was doing there, and her speech was rather scattered. After she was done talking and after she had walked away, the resident took her file and explained to us that she was bipolar and that a recent episode of postpartum depression was what brought her back to the hospital.

After the bipolar lady, we went to visit the model men’s ward, which looked very much like a prison. As we walked through, we stopped in front of one section that had about 8 beds and one guy was lying down. The resident called him over, and he came shuffling out. The resident started asking him questions, like why he was there, how long he had been there, etc. He said he was there because he was hearing voices in his head. When my professor asked how many, he just shrugged and said 4 or 5, and they sometimes all talked at once and said bad things about him. He seemed so sad and depressed about this, and it made me realize how much I really want to help people with mental illness. We spoke to him for a few more minutes, then my prof asked if we could go to a ward that was not a model ward. So, we got to go to the men’s forensic ward, where there were over 288 (it was mean for 60) men that had all committed some crime but were deemed too mentally ill to stand up in court. When we all walked in, everyone immediately started walking over to us. Under normal circumstances, I think this would be incredibly scary. The thing that I really think managed to calm everyone in my group down was the fact that the behavior of the nurses was so incredibly calm, cool, and collected. They never gave off any uneasiness at our presence. We were allowed to talk to a bunch of the patients, and one guy in particular told us his story about him having a device in his foot that controlled what he did.

The psych hospital was definitely the best field work I did in any country on this trip. That one trip taught me more than any time in any classroom ever did, and I loved it. Ghana was such a learning experience for me overall. Going from South Africa into a “real” African country allowed me to see things that I couldn’t see in a big city like Cape Town. The people we all so nice for the most part, and it was great to be in a country where people could understand you. I definitely want to go back to more African countries in the future, as I think the continent has so much to offer and so much more to see and learn from. Next, off to Brazil!!!!

Why Fake It When You Can Have The Real Thing?

Day 1 in South Africa, day 73 of my voyage

We are docked in South Africa, and when I looked out my window I could have sworn we skipped the rest of the trip, went around South America, and ended up in San Francisco. The port we were in was an actual cruise ship terminal this time around, and the area we were in was called the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, or V&A for short. There were little places where you could book tours, and a ton of seafood restaurants with live music. There was a small aquarium and a bunch of little stores. It literally could have been San Francisco.  The downtown area had a ton of bars, there was a big convention center, and everyone spoke English for the most part. It definitely felt just like a big city in the US.

 

Simone and I decided to spend the first day together, and our plan was to attempt to go to Robben Island, even though everyone was saying the tickets were sold out. Well, they were sold out, which really sucks, but hey, it happens. So we improvised. We went to the aquarium instead. They had a bunch of awesome stuff and I was definitely reminded of the Monterey Bay aquarium, except this aquarium had more sharks and they had an entire tank of Nemos!!!! I was really happy about this as I love the movie. After the aquarium, we wandered around the craft area that was next to the aquarium for a while and we had lunch there as well. I had a piece of pizza, which I have been craving for the longest time since I have been on this trip. We listened to a street band play for a little bit, and Simone bought their CD, which I love. After lunch, we were meeting Carson to head to Table Mountain. We hopped in a cab (which is much more expensive here than in other countries), and got to the base of the mountain only to find out that it was too windy to take the cable car up to the top, so we enjoyed the view from the base of the mountain. The view was absolutely breathtaking, and everything was so gorgeous. It was a relatively clear day, so we were able to see everything, which was nice, as there can sometimes be a bit of haze that covers the harbor and makes things not so clear.

 

We had asked our cab driver what a good place to go shop and stuff was, and he told us Long Street, so we headed there next. We had a blast wandering around all of the stores, and we even found a surf shop that had really cool stuff in it. We also stumbled upon a t-shirt stall that sold all kinds of quirky t-shirts. Carson bought one for her brother that said “I like Jesus, but he loves me, so it makes things kind of awkward” or something along those lines. It was pretty funny, and when you bought a t-shirt you got a free beer! So we sat down with Carson’s Black Label beer, which was pretty decent, and talked for a bit. Our next goal was to find a place for dinner. Now, Carson and I have been absolutely craving Mexican food for a long time, so when we saw a place called Mexican Kitchen, we were so excited! We went inside, and Carson and I decided to split a pitcher of strawberry margaritas, which were very tasty, and the three of us split nachos, tacos, and fajitas. The food was so good, and I felt a little bit like I was back in San Diego, except the tacos and the margaritas weren’t two dollars a piece like they are at Taco Tuesdays. After dinner, we headed back to the waterfront to wander around and get some ice cream before heading back to the ship and going to bed, since we both had early mornings. We headed to the Haagen-Dazs that was really close to our ship, had yummy ice cream cones, then headed to the ship to pass out.

 

Day 2 in South Africa, day 74 of my voyage

Simone and I both woke up at the crack of dawn. Her safari left at 4, and I had to be up at 5 a.m. because I was going shark diving! Ok, so I am absolutely terrified of sharks. So logically, someone who is afraid of sharks will willingly jump in a cage and get dumped in the ocean with them right? We watched a video about sharks on the way to our dive spot, which was 2.5 hours away from the ship. Brittany and Graham tried to sleep on the way there without success. It was actually incredibly interesting and about a guy name Mike Rutzen who free dives with sharks…no cage, no chain mail. Just him, a wetsuit, a tank of air, and his wits. It was absolutely incredible to watch, and it gave me a bit more respect and lessened my fear of these animals that sometimes acted like puppies (I know it’s a weird comparison, but if you watched the video, you’d understand). So we got to the area where our trip was going to take off from, and we had a light breakfast of a croissant-type thing (there are a lot of croissant-like pastries in these countries) and the best granola and fruit and yogurt ever. We then drove down to the dock, where we hopped on our ship, which was the fastest ship of its size and holds the world record for going around the world the fastest. So we hopped on our little boat and had a 45 minute cruise to our dive spot.

 

Once we got to the dive spot, we got instructions on how to get in and out of the cage, where to hold on the cage in order to not get any necessary bits of our bodies bitten off, and what to expect. He said on Monday they had a total of about 9 sharks that came over, so hopefully we would see quite a few when we were out. We all put on our wetsuits and booties, and prepared to get in the cage. There was a group of about 14 of us and two weren’t diving, so we were getting in the cage 6 at a time. Brittany (who is also terrified of sharks) and I were in the second group, and by the time it was our turn, my adrenaline was going and I was more excited than scared. The first thing I noticed when I got in the cage was that the water was cold…definitely a little more chilly than one would think, being off the coast of Africa and all. For those of you who know me, you know I am always cold, but I was so pumped up that it wasn’t all that cold to me.

 

So this is how shark diving works. Once we anchor at our dive spot, the dive company people will throw chum into the water, which attracts the sharks. Once everyone is in the cage, one member of the crew will put a giant tuna head (which smells absolutely nasty) onto a giant thing attached to a rope. This is used to bait the sharks and to get them to come close to us. They try to not let the sharks get the bait, as this will eventually lead the sharks to associate the humans with food and lead them to not hunt for themselves. One thing I didn’t mention was the fact that we were diving with great whites…Yes, we were diving with Jaws. Great Whites are surface feeders, which means they have no problem coming close to the top of the water to get food. Anyways, the guy holding the end of the rope the bait is on will throw it out until he sees a shark, then pull it away and essentially make the shark chase the bait. Think of a cat with a laser pointer, minus the pouncing. Now, as the shark chases the bait, the bait inevitably gets pulled closer to the cage, which leads the shark to come incredibly close to the cage. When a shark comes near the cage or the bait, the person holding the bait will shout “Down left!” or “Down right!” to tell us where to look when we go under to see the sharks.

 

My first glimpse of a shark was totally surreal to me. Who would have ever thought that I would be in South Africa jumping in the water with Great Whites? Not me! They move much slower than you would think, and they don’t look as scary in person. At least, they don’t look scary until the hit your cage and the entire thing shakes with 5 of you inside of it. Yes, we had a 9 or 10 foot great white shark hit the side of our cage in an attempt to get the giant tuna head that was floating right next to it. Brittany let out a rather high pitched scream and latched onto Graham, which was pretty funny in retrospect. I was in the water for a grand total of about 40 minutes or so, and it was so much fun. I would gladly do it again, and overall, my fear of sharks has been lessened quite a bit from this experience. After our boat ride back, we had lunch at the same little place we had breakfast, then we had our 2.5 hour car ride back to the ship, during which all of us in the car passed out.

 

The three of us got back to the ship and showered, then headed out to Greenmarket Square to listen to some live music. The weekend we were there also happened to be the same weekend as the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, and they were having a free concert in the square. We stood and listened to some awesome jazz music for a little bit, then got ice cream and ciders, and waited to meet Victoria and Sally. When they arrived, we all hung out in the square for a little bit, then we ran into two others from the ship, Christina and Trevor. The original 5 of us had dinner reservations at a place at 8, and we were able to add the other two on to make us a fun party of 7. We were eating at a place called Mama Africa, a restaurant known for its game meats and traditional food.

 

We arrived, got seated, and looked at a menu. We decided that we would all share a platter of various types of meat, then get our own dinners. I ordered an African dish called Bobotie that I had on the ship at the South African dinner and enjoyed, so I figured I would like it here as well. Boy was I right! It is a meat dish that has egg on the top of it, and it has an almost Indian flavor to it. It was served with rice and vegetables, and was so yummy and so good! Now, let me move on to the highlight of the night for me…the meat platter. The platter had 4 different types of meat on it: kudu (a steak and sausage), springbok, ostrich, and crocodile. They were all absolutely fantastic, and the ostrich and crocodile were my favorites. Graham had some yummy stew with kudu and some other meat in it, both of which were so tender than they melted in your mouth. After dinner, we ordered dessert. Sally and I decided to share coconut pudding, which is basically a spongy cake with a yummy sauce on top and coconut. Upon trying it, my taste buds went into quite a frenzy of happiness. This may have been the best dessert I have ever tried, even better than (dare I say it?) a pizookie from BJ’s. It was hot and coconutty (yes that is now a word) and wonderful, and Sally and I finished it in about 2 minutes flat. After dinner we headed out to the Square again and then left relatively early.

 

Day 3 in South Africa, day 75 of my voyage

Another early day for Renae and Graham, and this time we were headed to see some more animals, only this time, they were on land instead of water and I was in a 4 wheel drive rather than in a cage. It was about a 2.5 hour drive to the Aquila Game reserve, which meant nap time once again for Graham and I. Upon arrival, we were served sparkling grape juice (which is quite good) and we had to sign a waiver that basically said we wouldn’t sue if any psychotic animals attacked us. The game reserve is set on this huge piece of land, and the lodge and little cabins they have are absolutely adorable. The roofs of all of the buildings are made to look like eagle feathers, as “Aquila” means eagle in Afrikaans. We hopped into our vehicles and the group of us were off on our game drive. We saw kudu and springbok right away, then we saw some zebras in the distance. We drove over to them and were able to get so close! There was even an adorable little baby zebra that I definitely wanted to take home with me. As we were sitting watching the zebras, our guide told us to look straight ahead, and there were two massive rhinos walking toward us. Now, rhinos are not the friendliest animals you have ever met, so all of the drivers had to be extremely careful around them.  It was a mother and her baby, but this was the biggest two year old I have ever seen. They just walked over and hung out with the zebras, eating their grass and hanging out. After the rhinos, we were off to see the elephants. We went over to the watering hole, where there was one elephant and one other one off in the distance. The one that was already at the watering hole was drinking, splashing, and playing. African elephants are different than Indian elephants because of their ears, which look different. African elephants also tend to look like they are smiling when their mouths are open….it’s really cute. I got a great photo of the elephant squirting water everywhere out of its trunk. After the elephants, we headed to the lion enclosure. We didn’t get to see any in the big enclosure, but we did get to see some sleeping in another area of the park. We also got to see a leopard, and some other random animals as well. We spent about 2 hours on our game drive, and we had an absolute blast. After the game drive was lunch, which was so good! Another 2 hour nap later and we were back at the ship.

 

We showered and got ready, then Victoria and I headed out to meet Brittany and Graham and one of Brittany’s friends at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was a late dinner, but it was really good. After dinner, we headed to Long Street, the party district of Cape Town. Think downtown San Francisco or San Diego, only with a bigger variety of nationalities. There were people from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and a bunch of other places. Graham and I were tired, so we only stayed out until about midnight, then caught a cab back to the ship.

 

Day 4 in South Africa, day 76 of my voyage

On day 4, there was a group of people going wine tasting and the others weren’t back from their safari yet, so Sally and I took off for the day. We slept in and had lunch on the ship, then headed out to Long Street to do some shopping. They have souvenir shops with everything you can possibly imagine, so we just wandered around down there for a few hours, salivated over the giraffe statues that were taller than me, then headed back to the ship to grab our computers. There was a little café close to the ship that had free internet, so we sat down and ordered calamari and a drink and used the internet for a bit, then I took Sally to get gelato. Now, Sally had never had gelato, which I consider to be a crime. It was so good, almost as good as I had in Italy, which is saying a lot. After our snack, we headed back to the ship, and I got ready for my one big night out in Cape Town. The girls were coming back from Safari, and we were celebrating Bruck’s birthday, even though it wasn’t until April 8^th. Graham, Shauna, Alli, Victoria, and myself went and had Mexican food for a really late dinner, then we were headed out to the bar. We went to an Irish pub first, but there were about 50 million too many SAS people there, so we headed to a smaller place called the Ivy League, where there were only a few SAS people and some others. We ended up hanging out there all night until the wee hours of the morning, and then we headed back to the ship and passed out, ready for our last day in South Africa.

 

Day 5 in South Africa, day 77 of my voyage

Four of us woke up the next morning, had a yummy breakfast on the waterfront, did a little bit of last minute shopping to spend the last bit of rand we had, and then we had our animal whispers tour. Everyone hopped on a bus for the hour bus ride, and we headed to the Spier wine estate, which also houses the cheetah outreach project and a bird of prey sanctuary. The cheetah outreach project was really cool, and we got to pet a cheetah. We also got to hold numerous birds of prey, from a barn owl to a vulture. After seeing the wild animals, we got to do a tiny bit of wine tasting before heading back to the ship.

 

My time in South Africa has definitely made it one of my top 3 ports. The people were all so great and so nice (again) and there is so much to do, even just within Cape Town itself. It is so hard to believe that this is my third to last port, and I am so not ready for this journey to be over! Next up is Ghana, and it will be nice to get out of the big city that was Cape Town and head to a smaller, even more “African” country.

Water Is Never Water; Shit Is All In Your Head

Blog title is from my theology teacher. We were discussing the symbolism behind each of the above mentioned items. I love my teachers!

 

Days 67 through 72

I found out that I get to go to Guadalajara for summer school!!! I get to take 6 units, then I only have to take 15 in the fall instead of the 18 I had originally planned. It is hard to believe that I am halfway around the world and I am already planning yet another trip. I still have a pretty long summer, as I get 3 weeks before summer school then 6 weeks after. I not only get to stay with one of my sorority sisters, I also get to live with a host family! That means I get legitimate Mexican food for 6 weeks straight….YUMMY! I can’t wait! Anyways…

 

On day 70, we had no school because it was Africa Day! Before new countries we usually have a day off of school in which there are various seminars and informational presentations about the continent we are going to be visiting. We had Asia Day, now it was Africa day. The first seminar I went to was one for Invisible Children. For those of you who do not know what Invisible Children is, it is a project that was started to help the abducted child army members in Uganda. This was the organization that I got all of those books donated for my sophomore year. The girl making the presentation has been working with the organization since 2006, so she gave us more background on the NGO and she is holding an explorer seminar between South Africa and Uganda to show us the original short film that was made about the project as well as tell us how we can get more involved. If you want you know more about it (just a little advertisement), you can go to (I think) www.invisiblechildren.org.

 

After the Invisible Children seminar, I stayed in the Union for Professor Abel’s shark presentation. Now those of you who know me know that I am terrified of sharks, yet I am going to jump in a cage and swim around in the water with Great Whites. Reeeeeal smart right? I figured I should know a little bit more about these animals, and I really did like his talk. Professor Abel is incredibly knowledgeable in his field and knows pretty much everything there is to know about marine life. He does shark research of the coast of South Carolina and is so happy whenever anyone asks him a question about his work or his field.

 

After lunch, I went to spiritual dance, African style. Spiritual dance is headed by a woman named Jenny Finn, whom everyone absolutely loves. She is fun, quirky, and is always willing to talk to anyone. Spiritual dance is a way to get yourself grounded and to get yourself in touch with your body through movement. It sounds so very hippie-ish, but it is so much fun, and you feel so relaxed afterwards. It was really fun to dance to all of the African beats, and after the half an hour, my head was clear and my body was relaxed, so I sat in the Union again for our interport lecturers talk on South Africa. He talked about his growing up in South Africa, the World Cup coming to South Africa this year, and he answered questions. All it did was make me really excited to get there already! We have been able to see the coast of South Africa for two days, and it is such a tease! Most of us just feel like jumping out and swimming the 6 miles to shore or stealing a lifeboat, but we think that may break a rule in the voyagers handbook.

 

Later that night, we had a “South African” dinner. I put it in quotes because I don’t really know how South African it actually is, what with us being on the ship and all and only having limited ingredients. They did have a really good beef dish of some kind, which was a nice change from the pork or chicken.

 

Day 71 was also a rather exciting day, or shall I say night. It was crew appreciation day, as well as the crew talent show, which my extended family says is the best night of the year. Some of my favorite waiters (Alan, Darwin, and Mezram) were going to be performing, and I was so excited. Simone and I arrived in the Union at 7, 2 hours before the show, and people already had seats saved. We still managed to get seats in the third row right in the middle, so we still had a great view of all of the activities that were going on. Majority of the talents involved music, whether it was singing or dancing. Mezram, my favorite Jamaican waiter who is always singing while he works, did 3 short songs a capella style. It was so funny to see him in regular clothes, and let me tell you, the man is hip. He had baggy pants, a tank top, a hoodie, a hat, and light up sunglasses. It was such a change to see him in regular clothes for once! Darwin did a couple of different acts; he sang, he danced, he did it all. He and his band sang a few songs the entire audience knew, such as All The Small Things by Blink-182. By far my favorite performer of the night was Alan, who also happens to be my absolute favorite waiter on the ship. Hi played guitar in one song, drums in another, he danced, and he showed off some amazing bartending skills with a wine bottle. Alan is quite a wild thing when he is not in uniform, and I am pretty sure half of the girls on the ship are in love with him.

 

It is so much fun to see the entire crew let go, wear normal clothing, and just have fun. You can tell all the guys really know how to have a good time when they aren’t on duty, and it would be so fun to hang out with them when they aren’t working. It kind of makes you wonder what craziness goes on in the crew quarters, where they have their own stash of alcohol and no 3 beverage limit, a bunch of musical instruments and video games. They wait on me hand and foot and always greet me with hey beautiful or hey baby in the morning, and they spoil me rotten and bring me my favorite cereals or desserts. I need to tell my boyfriend he has some competition from these foreign men who have managed to steal my heart within the past 70 days.

 

Day 72, and I got to see about 100 dolphins swimming next to our ship this morning at breakfast! They were jumping out of the water and swimming past us into the horizon, and it was really awesome to see them out in the open ocean instead of at Sea World. We have logistical and cultural pre-port tonight before we get to South Africa tomorrow!!!! I can’t wait to blog about my adventures, as there are going to be a lot of them within the next 5 or 6 days. Table Mountain, Robben Island, shark diving, the game reserve, a township visit, and my Animal Whispers tour should make for some great adventures. South Africa here I come!!!!!

Looks Like We're Sleeping On The Beach!

Day 1 in Mauritius, day 65 of my voyage

Before I start writing about my days, here are 6 things you should probably know about Mauritius before you visit:

1.) Hotels are nazi’s when it comes to how many people you have staying in your room.

2.) Sleeping on the beach can be quite an experience if you have nothing but a towel to sleep under.

3.) Sugar cane rum beats any rum you have ever tasted and goes great with Coke.

4.) Traffic is ridiculous in Mauritius, and a 20 minute drive can take up to an hour and a half.

5.) Taxi drivers may not have their licenses.

6.) No matter how much bug spray with deet you have on, if you go in the jungle in the morning, you will get attacked and bitten by forces of bugs

Ok, so now that you know these six tips, I will give you the story behind these findings…

 

I woke up so excited because we were in MAURITIUS! It is a teeny tiny island off the coast of Madagascar that was purportedly one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I could not wait to see some of it. We planned a very busy two days in Mauritius, and I was excited to start my day. My SAS trip to the adventure park and beach left around 9:30, and we were headed to the adventure park first. There was a big group of us that all went together, and it was so much fun. There were two different courses, one easy one and one not so easy one. The easy one consisted of 7 bridges to cross that were a number of different heights above the ground. We all had harnesses on an had to attach or cable every time we went across, and it was really fun. The second course, on the other hand was ridiculously difficult. There were planks spaced out about 6 or 7 feet apart, and you had to get from one to the other by swinging on these ropes that were above the planks. There was a net made out of ropes to go across, there were logs to jump across, a short zipline, and a tightrope. It was incredibly physically demanding, and I was exhausted after. Not to mention that we had to do all of this while being attacked by swarms of mosquitoes. They were relentless, and you could look down and see big clumps of them on your legs at one time. We were constantly swatting at our legs and dancing trying to get them off of us, and it made things slightly miserable. By the end of our adventure, we were covered in mud and bug bites, and we were so happy to have lunch and head to the beach to cool off and relax. We had curried chicken and rice for lunch, then we were off to the beach of Flic en Flac. We got to the beach and laid out, swam a little bit, and saw a couple of SASers. A lot of people rented villas on the beach for the night, so there were people all along the beach. After relaxing for about an hour, we hopped back on our buses and headed back to the ship.

 

After getting back to the ship, I threw my muddy tennis shoes in a garbage bag, then took a cold shower. We ate dinner on the ship, and once dinner was over and everyone was back from their trips, 11 of us hopped in a van/cab to head out to Blue Bay, where our hotel was and where our catamaran was leaving from. Upon arriving at the hotel around 9:30, we put our stuff in the rooms that three of the people had already checked into earlier in the day. We grabbed our sugar cane rum and headed down to the beach to hang out and have a good time. We hung out there for hours, playing music and singing, running around on the beach and in the water, and finally everyone was ready to go back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. Some of the girls had gone in already, so one room had 4 girls in it and the other room had 1 girl in it. Which meant that 9 of us still had to get in. Well, hotel security wouldn’t let any of us in. We stood there and talked to them for a while, and we knew there was no way we were sleeping in the hotel rooms. When I finally asked if I could just go upstairs and get my backpack, they wouldn’t let me, or any of us go in. Graham was able to go in because the room was under his name, and Brittany went with him as his plus one. Alli had gone in earlier when security wasn’t around, so she was also in the room. The guard finally allowed Shauna to go upstairs to get a backpack, and Graham ended up letting her sleep there and he came with the 6 of us that were stuck outside. The security guards told us we could sleep on the lounge chairs that were on the hotel’s private beach, so that is what we did.

 

We all set up our lounge chairs relatively close to one another and tried to fall asleep. I fished a towel out of the backpack Graham had brought down to use as a blanket, and while it helped, it was still cold. One thing I do have to say is that the stars were absolutely beautiful, and you could see the milky way and the southern cross, and so many other stars that I never seem to see at home. Eventually, the wind started to pick up and it got cold, so I managed to tuck my entire body under the towel to keep the wind out. Graham took one of the lounge chair cushions and propped it up to block the wind and tucked himself inside his shirt. All of us were laughing at what a story that night would make, and we were right. I slept intermittently throughout the night, but it definitely wasn’t the best night of sleep I’ve ever had.

 

Day 2 in Mauritius, day 66 of my voyage

Waking up at 6 to a little bit of light on the horizon was not something I planned on doing, but the sunrise that followed made it totally worth it. It was absolutely beautiful, and it was wonderful to see it from our lounge chairs we were sleeping on. We were all still tired from the restless night’s sleep, but once we were awake, there was no going back to sleep. We gathered up some leftover stuff from the beach (two of the boys lost their iPods the night before but we managed to find them) and went to the rooms that all of our stuff was in. Four of us used the breakfast vouchers and had breakfast in the restaurant while the others were getting ready, and we smuggled out some croissants and baguettes for the others to eat.

 

Once everyone was ready, we all hopped in our taxis and headed over to the jetty that our catamaran was leaving from. By the time everyone arrived, there were 18 of us getting on the catamaran that day. At first we thought we were the only group that was going, but a bunch of about 6 or 8 French people with a little boy pulled up right after we hopped on. We were all pretty worried about a 4 year old boy being on a catamaran around a bunch of college kids under the influence of alcohol, but his parents didn’t seem too worried at all.

 

We set sail and were told that it was a 3 hour ride to the island we were traveling to, then we would get about an hour total for two other parts of that area. The first three hours were a blast; we all relaxed, sat in the sun, had some drinks, sang songs with the French people, danced with the French people, and just generally had a good time. Once we got to the island, we didn’t actually go ashore but kind of sat in the middle of the water. We had the option of snorkeling for about 20 minutes or parasailing. My friend Bruck has a cast on his arm, so he can’t snorkel, and so I offered to parasail with him. It ended up being about 25 bucks a person, which is way cheaper than parasailing in Hawaii. We were in the air for a few minutes and it was absolutely gorgeous. I didn’t bring my camera with me because I didn’t want to break it for whatever reason, but one of our friends got some good pictures from down below.

 

After the parasailing adventure, we ate lunch (BBQ chicken!) and then got to go to another part of the island and do some shopping and swimming for 45 minutes. The water was a great temperature for swimming, and it was great to relax and cool off for a bit. We got back on our catamaran and headed back to where we started, another 2 hours away. By this point, basically everyone on the catamaran was somewhere within the range of slightly tipsy to drunk (with the exception of the 4 year old and our driver). Those French people can party hard! We hit shore around 4 and booked it to our taxis to make it back to the ship. Our drivers told us it would be about an hour ride with traffic, which still left us an hour to get to the ship. We got into Port Louis around 5:10, and our driver still seemed to have no idea where he was going. He stopped and asked a security guard how to get to our port, and we discovered that we had to turn around in rush hour traffic. Our driver goes up to an intersection, hooks a u-turn and we see a solid block of cars sitting in front of us. But that wasn’t the best part of this little adventure. A couple seconds later, a cop pulls up behind us on a motorcycle, our driver pulls over, and the cop walks up to the window. He asks our driver for his papers, then proceeds to count how many of us were in the van. Apparently, our driver didn’t have a license to be driving that many people or something, so we all got out of the car, didn’t pay him, and left him to deal with the cop. We began running down the streets of Mauritius, and we could see our ship at the dock a little ways away. We asked a cop how to get there and he pointed to a water taxi, which we all ran to and hopped in. We told the guy to go, and he wouldn’t leave until he had any amount of money, so that took another 3 minutes. This was the slowest water taxi ever, and we arrived at the ship 20 minutes before on ship time, but we still had to wait in the massive line behind all of the people. We made it on the ship with about 11 minutes to spare, and man, were we happy. I was surprised to find out that only 2 people ended up getting dock time, and all the people that were in the line behind us made it one the ship.

 

I really liked Mauritius. There is a blend of cultures, and we didn’t stand out quite like we did in other countries. English is the official language of the country, even though it isn’t used too often. Creole is used for everyday conversation, French is used for mass media, and English is used in politics. The only bad thing was the fact that the reputation of SAS wasn’t so hot on the island before we got there. And I wish we could have had just one more night in Mauritius to do a little bit more, as everything felt very rushed and I feel as though I didn’t get much of a feeling for the island. Mauritius would be a beautiful place for a vacation home, yet I definitely would not want to live on that tiny of an island.

All Hail Neptune Rex!

Days 59 through 64

From now on, we have roughly 6 days between each port. While it is nice to have a longer break between countries than just two days, things on the ship can get rather boring. I have gotten the opportunity to read quite a few books since I have been here, which has been absolutely great, considering when I’m at USD I barely have time to breathe, let alone read something I actually want to read. Unlike the other 6 day passages on the water, this one would hold much more excitement because of one special day known as Neptune Day.

 

Neptune Day is the day the ship crosses the equator, and all of the passengers go from being “pollywogs” to “shellbacks”. This is how Neptune Day went down: I woke up early for breakfast, along with the rest of my friends. Around 7:30, I heard the rumor that people were getting woken up, so I ran down to deck 3 with my camera in hand. When I got down there, lo and behold, there were about 8 crew members with their faces painted going down the hall with whistles and drums, banging on all of the doors, and making a racket. They went through the halls twice, making sure everyone was wide awake and up for breakfast. The actual festivities didn’t start until 9 am up on the 7^th deck. The group of us made our way up there, and King Neptune Rex himself was waiting for us. King Neptune was our executive dean, and he had on a white robe and his face was painted. He also had a royal court with him, who were going to administer the various tests to the students to see if they were worthy of becoming trusty shellbacks (and yes I am trying to make this as cheesy as possible so you understand how cheesy it was on the day it happened). We had to take an oath, and the testing began. It began with getting fish guts dumped on our heads, then jumping into the swimming pool, then getting out and kissing a fish and King Neptune’s ring. After, the really brave people shaved their heads. I considered it for about .25 seconds, then decided against it, as I know mom would have killed me when I got home. I was incredibly surprised at the amount of girls that shaved their heads or chopped their hair really short. There had to be at least 20, if not more. Some of the girls got mohawks, some donated their hair to locks of love before shaving their heads, and others went totally bald. There was even a little lifelong learner that shaved her head! If I ever come back on SAS, I am definitely shaving my head on Neptune Day, no matter what anyone says. After the excitement of the head-shaving and fish guts, it was time for lunch. It was one of the greatest days ever, as we got BBQ for lunch. It is such a welcome change to actually eat some really good food on the ship. After the events, a group of us caught some rays on the observation deck, as we didn’t have classes.

 

On a completely different note, we had our second global studies exam between India and Mauritius, and it was definitely more difficult than the first. I still know I did totally fine, so I’m not worried. I absolutely can’t believe we only have four countries left and then I am going to be home. Mauritius is like our “spring break”, as we get to spend two short days on a tropical island with no school and friends. During preport for Mauritius, we got the lecture about being respectable, as past SAS voyages basically got to the island and the proceeded to wreak havoc, which is why our stay in Mauritius was so short. Some people had even tried to book hotels and been denied because the hotels knew the students were from SAS. Essentially, Mauritius hates SAS, and I have a feeling that it may not be a port SAS stops at for much longer.

 

There isn’t much else to report about my in between time between ports, so I will just make this one short and sweet. I will be writing again soon after Mauritius!

You Want Ali Baba Pants?

Day 4 in India, day 56 of my voyage

We got to sleep in today! Our wake up call came at 6 am, as we had a very busy day in Jaipur. Our first stop was at the Hawa Majal, or Palace of Winds. It was built in 1799 to house the emperor. We only got to see the outside, which is five stories tall and covered with intricate lattice work. It is said that this lattice work was created for the palace ladies to look out onto the streets without being seen, as they still observed the practice of keeping women’s faces covered. Like many building in India, it was built with red and pink sandstone. After the Palace of Winds, we were off for the highlight of the day: Amber Fort. We weren’t really excited to see the fort, we were more excited for our mode of transportation to the fort once we got to the base of the hill it was built on.

 

Upon arriving at the fort, our guide bought us our tickets, and we starting standing in line for our ride to the fort. Eventually, Cara and I made it to the front of the line and up onto the platform, and our mode of transportation walked up. She was a big grey elephant, and her face was still painted from the Elephant Festival that had taken place the week before. We climbed on the saddle type thing on her back, and we were off. It was about a 20 or 25 minute ride up to the top of the fort, and it was a very enjoyable experience. She was a very calm elephant, and her owner was hilarious. Once we got to the top, we had a tour of the fort, took some more pictures, then we were off to a jewelry place. The jewelry place specialized in precious and semiprecious stones, and quite a few people bought some things. The most annoying thing was the fact that we spent an hour and a half in the jewelry store, but we only got to spend an hour at the Taj. Why? Because our tour guide gets commission for products that get bought at the jewelry store by the people he brings there. This is how India works. If autorickshaw drivers or tour guides take tourists to certain stores and the tourists buy things, the guide or drivers get commission. So our tour guide was getting a BIG commission because a bunch of people bought jewelry.

 

We headed to lunch at a little restaurant, then we had 3 more locations to get to before we were done for the day. First, we headed to the Jantar Mantar, or the observatory. Here we got to see the biggest sundial in the world. They had a bunch of crazy tools for telling time and the location of the stars. Some of the instruments were also used for astrology. There were things that told you what specific zodiac sign you were in, there were others that told you where the moon was located, and others that did even more. After the observatory we headed to the City Palace, where we got to see some old relics from earlier days, such as weapons, chess sets, and clothing. After these two places we headed to a rug factory to see exactly how the beautiful hand-woven rugs are made. A small one takes 4 months to complete, and we got to watch one of the craftsmen sit there and tie the knots in the rug. A few of the people bought the smallest rugs, which started at $160, but you can bargain them down to $100. All of them were made with cashmere thread and were SO soft to touch. We also got to go upstairs to their textile store, where they sold everything from saris to placemat sets to table runners, all made from beautiful and bright materials.

 

After the rug store, we headed back to our hotel. Dinner wasn’t for another two hours, so Cara and I hopped in an autorickshaw and headed to a market. Markets in India tend to be outdoors, and there are usually a ton of people. One of the more popular stores we saw was a bangle store. Bangles (for those who don’t know) are the bracelets that are loose on your wrist and jingle when you move your arm. There were entire stores full of these bracelets. There were cabinets going up to the ceiling holding bangles of every size, color, and noisiness you can imagine. We wandered amongst all of the shops, dodging a cow wandering along the sidewalk every now and then. Yes, cows just wander about. Cows are sacred in the Hindu religion, so they do not kill them or eat them, and they can roam pretty much wherever they like. We had to go around one while we were in our bus because a cow was lying in the middle of the road. Anyways, Cara and I did a bit of shopping, then we headed back to the hotel for dinner and bed, since we had yet another really early morning the next day.

 

Day 5 in India, day 57 of my voyage

Our flight left at 8:10, so we got a wake up call at 5 and were out of the hotel by 6. We had a flight layover in Mumbai, which ended up getting delayed, so by the time all of our traveling was done, we got back to the ship around 3:30. After going to immigration, we waited in line to get back on the ship. An Indian immigration officer came up to me and started asking me all these questions, like my name, am I on the ship, how long have I been on the ship, etc. Eventually I realized that he thought I was Indian and that I was trying to get on the ship. This was the fifth time throughout my time in India that I had been mistaken for an Indian, which still amazes me, as I don’t think I look Indian at all.

 

Once I was back on the ship, Cara and I had hot dogs upstairs, then I showered and waited for the others to get back. Once Graham and Shauna got back, we decided we wanted to try and go see a movie. Originally, we planned on trying to find a movie theater that was showing Alice in Wonderland, since Shauna and I were both dying to see it. When we couldn’t find a theater that was showing it, we decided to see My Name Is Khan, which was in Hindi and did not have subtitles. Despite the obvious issues with the language barrier, the three of us understood perfectly what was going on in the movie, and we all loved it. It made us laugh and cry and gave us a bit of insight into what other nations might think of the United States at times, especially after 9/11.  There were about 10 other SASers there as well, and we definitely got some strange looks when the lights came on after the movie. After, we headed back to the ship and went to bed, to prepare for one final day of bargain shopping before sailing on the big blue ocean again.

 

Day 6 in India, day 58 of my voyage

Last day in India! Alli, Shauna, Graham and I got up and hopped in an autorickshaw and went to a market in a fishing village. It was the perfect place to find last minutes knick-knacks, clothes, souvenirs, and gifts. We went into a jewelry store since Shauna still wanted a ring from India, and then we just wandered around. Graham was on a mission to find “pajamas”, which is the name of a traditional men’s outfit in India. It consists of a knee length shirt with slits up the sides to the hip and long pants. They look ridiculously comfy, and he finally managed to find a set at one store. Along with Graham’s pants, Shauna and I found “Ali Baba” pants. They are really difficult to describe unless you have seen Aladdin and know what pants he wears. They have elastic at the bottom of the legs and are worn around the middle of your calves, and the crotch of the pants hangs really low, so they almost look like a dress when you wear them. They are absolutely the comfiest pair of pants I have ever worn, and I have every intention of wearing mine when I get off the ship in May. We had a final Indian lunch, then had our rickshaw driver take us to find henna. We were originally looking for a place to get henna done, but we couldn’t find one, so our driver found us a place to buy our own tubes of henna to do on the ship. After that, it was back home to the ship for us.

 

We got back to the ship, had some dinner, then had a henna party while listening to Indian music. It was a great way to end my trip in India, and I really hope I get to go back and explore of this wonderful country. Anything I said in my blog cannot accurately describe the country, as it is one of the ones that I truly cannot find words to describe. All of the people are incredibly welcoming, and you cannot go anywhere without getting a smile and a wave. One of the most interesting things I found was that India has some of the poorest people in the world, yet they are also some of the happiest people I have ever seen. It just goes to show you that money doesn’t necessarily equal happiness, no matter how easy it may make your life. India is the definition of poverty. As I said a little earlier, there are little shantytowns everywhere, there are people sleeping all over the streets at night, and there is trash everywhere. Over half of the population is living on less than $2 a day. Yet somehow, none of this takes away from the enchantment of the country. The children love foreigners and love giving high fives, and the parents don’t mind you touching and talking to their babies at all. People have no shame about coming up and asking to take a picture with you, and they get so excited when you say yes. There is so much culture and so much love for culture that it can be overwhelming. India is one of the oldest countries in the world, and the traditions have been carried out for thousands of years. So far, India has by far been my favorite port, and the only one I feel truly compelled to go back to at some point in my life. Everyone who has a chance really should visit this absolutely amazing place that holds almost 1/5 of the world’s population, as you can learn a lot by just visiting for 5 or 6 days. I am really going to make it a goal of mine to go back for a longer amount of time and really get to know people and explore in places I didn’t get to see this time around.