Wow, last port, Brazil!
Day 1 April 21 2010
Today everyone on the ship pretty much hung around Salvador because trips did not start until day 2. When we got off the ship we were in a pretty sketch area. But, close by was a place called upper city where the historic district was. It was kinda weird because we had to take an elevator to get to this ‘upper city’. But, if was pretty cool up there. The buildings were all very colonial looking. There were a bunch of shops and restaurants up there too. I wasn’t too in love with Salvador so it is hard to express enthusiasm towards it, but I did have fun there so I will do my best.
All day Chloe and I walked around and just checked out the scene. Chloe speaks pretty fluent Spanish so she was my translator for the week. People in Brazil don’t even speak Spanish, they speak Portuguese, but Chloe’s 5 years of Spanish were more useful then my 1 year of German since at least some Spanish and Portuguese words are similar. I can’t say the same for German. Anyways, We did a little shopping but knew we would want to buy stuff when we go to Rio (day 2) so we didn’t want to buy too much here. There was a music video being taped for the Brazilian soccer team so that was way cool to watch. Everyone is Brazil has a ton of spirit. I would say like 3/4 of the people I saw while is Brazil were wearing yellow and green.
It was raining all day but luckily it wasn’t very cold so we just sucked it up and enjoyed our day even though we were soaked. We ate lunch with Sarah, Greta, Olivia (Minnesota), Kristin, and Katie (Virginia). They had bread and oil at the restaurant, I liked that. I got eggplant something or other which was really a butt ton of cheese with eggplant on top. Cheese is a big item on the menus in Brazil, it is actually kind of strange. (You will know what I am talking about as my entry goes on.)
We headed back to the ship to get cleaned up before dinner/going out. Around 7 we headed out to dinner - Tolan, Sarah, Chloe, and Carson, and I. We had heard that the ‘place to be’ was down by some light house so we took a taxi there. Well, you could say that there was absolutely no other Sasers in like a 15 mile radius. But, we made the excuse that it was still early and they just didn’t go out yet (which was actually not true at all). We checked out about 15 restaurants until we found one that suited all of us. It was kind of hard to figure out whether there was stuff we liked on the menu because 90% of the menus were in Portuguese. Eventually we chose a little Italian place. There was some deal on the menu that we couldn’t really decipher but Tolan, Sarah, and Carson got it anyways. It pretty much was like endless pasta and pizza for 14 bucks. I, on the other hand, thought I would play it safe and order bruschetta with mozzarella (picturing bread with fresh mozzarella and bruschetta on it). Wrong. I pretty much got bread with five pounds of cheese on it. It was good but I was pretty positive I had my serving for the week in cheese at lunch.
After dinner we walked around for a little while to see if we saw and familiar faces. We didn’t. And, FYI, we don’t normally search for where all the other Sasers are but we figured staying in a big group was probably not a bad idea considering the danger level in Salvador. (we had already heard of several muggings and theft). We headed up taking a taxi back to the upper city. We had avoided that initially because it didn’t seem like a super exciting place at night and we also had heard that it was very dangerous up there at night. We went anyway because we had not a clue where everyone else on our 800 passenger ship was.
I swear I could hear the crickets chirping when we got to the upper city. I could not fathom the fact that we still had not seen one person from our ship. Where we were was super shady and we didn’t even want to get out of the car. I saw a few white girls sitting at a restaurant across the street and I was pretty positive they were on our ship so we decided to get out. Our plan was to walk for like 5 minutes, if we don’t find anyone then we just go back to the ship. Well, Weirdly enough, we started walking and some man I had never seen before in my life was like, “Hey you, all your friends are in here!”, as he pointed to this outdoor club. Chloe and I looked at each other like PLEASE let our friends ACTUALLY be in there but we knew the possibility of him knowing who we were looking for was very slim. But some how, not only were there Sasers in there but there we our friends - Scott and Stacy, that we were suppose to meet up with later on. I have never let out a bigger sigh of relief in my life, well except when I reached the ship after traveling India for days.
That night ended up being really fun. We stayed at the outdoor club for a while until the band left and then we headed, as a large group, to a Samba club. The Samba club had a live band and a mix of locals and a ton of other Sasers. Everyone was dancing and having a ball. There was one local guy leading us all in a line dance that consisted of some very strange dance moves. I enjoyed it though.
Chloe and I had plans to head back to the ship early because we wanted to creep around the ship and see what goes on after people get back on the ship in port. We had heard it gets pretty crazy and dramatic. Eventually we did head back to the ship and get our video camera. Let the adventures begin! Nothing too exciting actually happened. There were two other guys running around with a video camera and we literally ran right into them which was really funny. We interview some drunk people and played ‘knock knock ditch’. The night was pretty uneventful but we had a good time. We eventually ran into our friend Danny (Chicago) and just hung around with him and continued to watch people stumble around the ship.
Day 2 April 22 2010
RIO HERE WE COME! Today was the day we were flying to Rio De Janeiro. My group consisted of Chloe, Kristen, Jeremy, and I but a ton of other Sasers were going to Rio also on the same flight as us. The flight was only like two and a half hours and of course I slept the whole time. I actually got my own whole row of seats, hollla.
Okay so Rio is divided into two main beaches (as far as I know) Impanema and Copacobanna. The majority of Sasers were staying in Copacobanna but we chose to stay in Impanema because we had heard better things or something, Jeremy made the plans. Either way, we really lucked out with our hostel. It was called Impanema Beach House and it had a rooms, a pool, a bar, and an outdoor eating area. We dropped our stuff there and decided to find some food and take a look at the beach. The beaches were pretty but not as pretty as Vietnam and Mauritius. Although, the people were a whole nother story. I have never seen a place with better looking people in my life. I think that I may have been the fattest girl on the beach and I may have gained a few pounds on this trip but I’m not that fat. Every girl had the perfect body, every guy was ripped. And, to top it all off they ALL knew how to play soccer. People were just juggling the soccer ball with their friends for hours. Some people were even playing soccer-volleyball.
That evening we had plans to go to a Brazilian Futbol game. There was a big group of us going which made it fun. It was not too big of a game but it was in the big stadium. The game was the quarter finals of the Brazil cup, Rio vs San Paulo. Not that this was a big deal but an interesting side note is that there is no alcohol sold in the stadium at all. It is also not sold in places within a certain circumference of the stadium three hours prior to the game. Apparently they are tried to ease the crowd in preparation for the world cup in a few years. Just thought that was an interesting fact.
The game ended up being really fun. The fans legit never sat down or stopped cheering at any point in the game. Like they didn’t just cheer where there was a good play or a goal they cheered for everything - a throw in, a pass, a time out, ANYTHING. I was excited because I officially had been to a soccer game and heard fans cheer OLE OLE OLE OLE!!
That night Chloe and I had planned to just go back to the hostel but we found a really cool looking outdoor sushi place and decided to stop by. It was so good. They had like hand rolls which were super delicious. I got mine with Salmon and cream cheese. YUM. While we were sitting there we were approached by some guy from LA. Now, let me just tell you something real quick - In places like Brazil, where very little english is spoken, people that speak english tend to get excited when they hear other people speaking english, its kind of like a sigh of relief because having a language barrier can get exhausting. So, anyways thats why those guys had come over to us, because they heard us speaking english. We talked to them for a little while and it ended up that we were kind of in like a backpackers going out area so we walked down the street to a ‘happenin’ place with them and just relaxed for a while. It was actually really funny because the one guy we met acted like he was a pro at interacting with the Brazilians even though he didn’t know Portuguese. So, his friend asked him to order him some bread because he didn’t know how to do it. Well, the guy ordered some ‘bread’ and about ten minutes later the waitress came back with a plate of cheese cubes. Like a full dinner-sized plate of cheese cubes. First of all, the guy looked like a fool for acting like he knew what he was doing. And, two, what kind of place has a huge plate of cheese cubes on their menu? hahaha BRAZIL DOES because they love cheese (TOLD YOU!). After that restaurant the guys were heading to a place called a silent club where you go in and are provided with headphones and everyone just dances to your own beat. Chloe was too tired so we didn’t go but I was kind of interested in what that could of possibly been like.
Day 3 April 23 2010
This morning we had a guided Favela tour. The Favelas in Brazil are kinda sorta comparable to the Townships in South Africa. I don’t really know exactly how they got set up but they are essentially the cheapest way of living in Rio. They are a bunch of apartments built next too and on top of each other in a certain area. Basically they have the system beat on everything. They don’t pay taxes, they break into the pipes to steal fresh water, and they some how get free cable too. It was cool to go through and see the different people that live there and the different stuff they own. There are schools, churches, stores, and restaurants there. They have a motorbike company, rather than taxi service, that gets them around the favelas and even out into the city.
After the Favelas we had planned to get our stuff from our hostel and move over to Copacobanna because a group of our friend were staying in a hostel called Mellow Yellow and we wanted to check it out. Long story short they didnt have enough beds there and we liked our hostel better so we went back to Ipanema and just checked in there for another night. We ran into Kristin when we got back to the beach house (because she had left us the night before to go with some other sas people) and ended up getting Sushi with her and Chris. For the rest of the afternoon Jeremy decided to walk around on his own so Chloe and I decided to head to the beach.
We walked along the beach for a while and just creeped. We stared at all the guys wondering what they are doing or taking to get such perfect bodies. Then, we looked at the girls and wondered how not one of them had small boobs or cellulite on their bottoms. Like, these bodies had to be computer generated. After walking for a while we decided to sit on the beach and watch everyone play soccer. Two guys came up to us and decided to have a chat. however, they only spoke Portuguese so I had absolutely no way of communicating with them. Chloe was able to hold a pretty solid conversation with them but i had not a clue what they were talking about so I just sat there and looked pretty. They ended up being kind of awkward and weird, so we ‘had to go meet our friends’ and got out of there.
That night there was a BBQ at our hostel that we stuck around for. My goodness was the food good. We hadn’t had grilled meat in decades so it was like heaven to us. We made friends with a bunch of people at the hostel from all over the world - Australia, Denmark, Chili, and England. We all hung out at the BBQ for a while and then decided to go out together that night. The one girl had been living in Rio for a few weeks so she knew of an outdoor concert going on. The concert was huge. Some of the songs started in English so that was fun but the majority of it was in Portuguese, which was still fun. It was funny there because I guess Rio’s famous drink is the Capoeira, its like a limey sugary drink, and thats what was being served everywhere there. I was getting tired and ready to head back to the hostel after a while which was a bummer because I really wanted to stay out later but oh well. One of our friends actually feinted so we took care of her and then some of us went back to the hostel and other went out to the night scene.
Day 4 April 24, 2010
Today was our last day in Rio. Jeremy and I wanted to see one of the scenic views but the Holy Redeimer was under construction and we heard Sugar Loaf Mountain was a better view anyways so we headed there. We had a very limited amount of time because it was about 10:30 and we had to be back at the hostel by 12:30 for to get picked up to go to the airport.
We got the the mountain with plans to take the gondala to the top and then just take it back down. However, the gondala was ridiculously expensive so I vetoed that idea. There was a hiking trail around so we figured we’ll just hike that for a little and then hike down and leave, better than nothing. We started hiking and figured we couldn’t be too far from the top. However, we had no idea what time it was or how far we were because the one guy we passed was German and said it was only ten minutes to the top and the time was currently 12:20. We had started at like 11:45 and only hiked for no more than 15 minutes so we assumed that he was not very good at english. **This was my ONE CHANCE to speak German in Brazil and I blew it, I was so mad!!!
Anyways, eventually we ran into someone that said we are not far at all from the top so we decided to just go all the way. We eventually got up to the top and it was so worth it. We walked around and relaxed for about a minute and a half until we realized that it was 12:06 and we had about 8 minutes to get back down the mountain. So what did we do? We RAN. All.the.way.down. This was no run in the park, it was like running from boulder to tree stump to branch. Not really, but it was tough, and I am really surprise that neither of us ate it hard.
Blah blah blah we rushed back to the hostel, met up with Chloe, went to the airport, and headed to Rio.
That evening we ate dinner on the ship to save a few dollars. That night was frustrating. We heard that everyone was going to this club called Dolce. Max, Ryan, Me, Chloe, and Sarah headed there. like 40 dollars later via taxi we arrived at this swanky club. I don’t feel like explaining the rest of the night but basically we got some food and drinks then realized Dolce was too expensive. Some people went next door to the cheaper club but Sarah and I headed back to the ship and had a sleepover :).
Day 5 April 25, 2010
Today was our last day in Brazil. We wanted to spend our last money and have an enjoyable last day in port. I really wanted to get my hair braided so we headed right up to the upper city to the ladies that had been sitting up there up everyday waiting for us to come back. I got my whole head cornrowed with colors braided in. It looked...sweet. Afterwards, we walked around for a little while and bought a few random things. We ate some lunch, one of the best lunches ive had, and then I headed back to the ship.
Sorry this blog entry was so boring but I am writing it during my last couple days on the ship - I can’t say its exactly what I feel like doing.
May 4th 2010
We had the ambassadors ball the other night. Everyone got dressed up and we were provided with a really nice dinner. I sat with Tolan, Sarah, and a few guys we got placed with but enjoyed sitting with. I originally planned on keeping my cornrows in until I got home, which would mean i would have had them in for the ball, but I ended up taking them out which I was happy about because I would have felt really goofy.
Finals were stressful but they are finally over. I did pretty well I think. We also finally finished our Global Studies project. Our project was within the top 20 projects so that was exciting. I hope to have gotten all A’s and one B but I have not yet found out.
Right now is so bitter sweet. I have been so excited to get home and see my family, friends, and dog for the past month. But, now that I realize I am about to be in the real world with out all of my semester at sea friends it is sad, really sad. Sarah and Tolan are two of my closest friends and they live in San Diego. Thats across the country. Chloe lives in Colorado..who knows when i will get out there! It is just so crazy to think about. Sarah lives in Cape May for the summer so I really hope to get to the shore to see her. And Greta actually works in Collegeville for the summer which I could quite possibly working too if I have to resort to working at BS for the summer. (no offense marm).
Well, I do want to write more of a reflection but I am going to go lay out and hang out with my friends for our last day on the ship.
I GET TO SEE MY DAD TOMORROW MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHH
Thank you to everyone who read my blog. I did enjoy writing it for the most part :).
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
GHANA!
Ghana Ghana Ghana...what to say about Ghana. Well, first of all, I had a great time. Lets start from square one. My father, Richard J. Politz, is the head butcher at Whole Food and is friends with a man from the seafood by the name of Salomon. Salomon is from Ghana but currently lives in the United States (obviously). But, luckily for me, he still has family in Ghana. Salomon gave my dad his cousin’s email address so I could contact him to show me around while in Ghana. So now, you know what I am talking about when I refer to ila as my dad’s coworker’s cousin.
Anyways, I contacted Ila via email weeks ago and we discussed everything I wanted to do. He was down with it. We exchanged contact info and had plans to meet up the morning I arrived in Ghana.
Day 1 Sunday, April 11th 2010
Sarah, Tolan, Chloe, Jordan, and I all got off the ship together and were very excited to meet our Ghanaian connection, Ila. We called him from a policeman’s phone and met him right outside the port. Ila had his bff with him, Daddah. Get familiar with Ila and Daddah because I am going to be mentioning them a lot.
Today was basically a day of exploring. We took a Trotro into Agra. Now, let me describe a Trotro right off the bat so you are not confused every time I mention it. a Trotro is a 12-20 passenger van that is used for pubic transportation around Ghana. You can take them short distances or you can go to a Trotro station and hop on one that is going longer distances. Some of them are air-conditioned and others are not. When I saw they are 12-20 passenger vans I mean that the minimum amount of people ever put in one is 12-20 people. But, usually many more squeeze in. The other detail about them I need to mention is that the ones going semi-long or long distances do not leave until EVERY seat is full. This will bite me in the ass later on in my journey.
So, as I was saying, we all hopped onto a Trotro and went into Agra, the main city nearest to the port. It was Sunday so not much was open so we just walked around, saw the beach, checked out the scene, met some peeps, etc. It was fun to go exploring but it was hot as a mo-fo out. We were all drenched-DRENCHED in sweat. But, I wasn’t complain because it wasn’t too long ago that I was freezing my booty off on the Great Wall of China.
We went into Ila’s village to drop my backpack off because I had plans to sleep in the village that night. His village was filled with nice people. When we got to his ‘house’ we opened the door and took a seat. His place consisted of a full sized mattress on the floor, a mini couch, a coffee table, a mini fridge, a tv, and a fan. In reality, he didn’t need much else. He has the essentials and more. Side note: this trip around the world, especially since I am taking an ‘anthropology of stuff’ class, makes me realize how much unnecessary stuff I own. I am of course not referring to my 45 pairs of sneaks though.
The one place we stopped for a rather long time was the market that Ila and his family own shops in. We looked around the market for a while and saw stuff such as drums, t-shirts, world cup jerseys, hats, animal carvings, masks, dressed, etc. Ila insisted on giving us all a gift for our families. We did not want to accept without paying him money but he was one of those people that would physically not accept any money. It was beginning to enter into the late afternoon early evening time and we were still hanging there. Tolan bought a drum and was jamming with some locals. We were all relaxing but decided it was time for dinner.
That night we had dinner at a place in Agra. It was pretty americanized. I got a chicken club sandwich. It was aight. After dinner we walked to the shuttle stop so that Jordan, Chloe, Tolan, and Sarah could hop on the shuttle back to the ship. When the shuttle came all the SAS people got on accept me. I felt like it must have looked so sketch for me to be walking away from the shuttle with two strangers, and it did. A lot of people told me that there was confusion on the shuttle of where I was going and who I was with.
Daddah, Ila, and I took a Trotro back to their village. I was suppose to stay in a family’s home or with Ila’s aunt but it was pretty late so Ila insisted on me staying in his place. Okay, so all day Ila and Daddah were SO SO SO SO SO nice but I still had bad thoughts of me sleeping in the same room, let alone the same bed as a stranger from Ghana that I had met just hours before. I was nervous but I sucked it up and just thought about how loaded my guns (biceps) were and how I could probably hold my own if Ila tried to pull a fast one. (not that I thought a nice guy like him would, but JUST INCASE). Needless to say, nothing happened. But, let me describe my sleeping situation. It was hot, very hot. I slept in a tank top and shorts face up with no blankets or sheets. Basically I laid there sweaty with one eye opened ready to sprint for the door anytime Ila even flinched. I guess I did end up falling asleep at one point because I had a dream that Mr. and Mrs. Howell opened a restaurant and wouldn’t hire Danielle, she was pissed. Lets move on...
Day Two Monday, April 12th 2010
I feel like anytime I have to wake up before like 9 am I say “I had to wake up bright and early” when in reality it is sort of normal to wake up around 7am or 7:30. But, that morning we woke up around 7 so that we could get an early start to our LONG day ahead. There are famous waterfalls in Ghana called the Wli Waterfalls. About an hour and a half from the waterfalls was a monkey park which i was TOTALLY down for. So, we headed there first.
The Trotro ride SUCKED. I was hot, I had no where to lean against, I had sweat rolling down my calves from the back of my knees (which has never happened to me before), the people next to me’s skin was sticking to mine, and uhh yeah it was shitty. But, we made it like 4 hours later. We hopped out of the Trotro and onto motorbikes (!!!!!!!!!!!!!). To the monkey forest thing we went. We got there and had a tour guide with bananas show us to the monkey families. THe monkeys were everywhere but it was hard to see them. But, our tour guide made a monkey call and held out bananas and they all came to us. THEY WERE SO CUTE. There were a couple other American tourists with us too. We all took turns feeding the monkeys. The monkeys would wrestle each other for the banana and their feet and hands would be all over my hand, it was so fun! The monkey visit was short and sweet.
After the monkey forest we headed to the waterfalls. One motorbike ride and a sorta long Trotro ride later we got there! There was a semester at sea trip there the same time as us so I saw a couple people I knew. We hiked to the falls which took about twenty five minutes or so. The waterfalls were SO SO SO worth it. They are the biggest waterfalls in Ghana (or something). I didn’t have a bathing suit so I just hopped in with my clothes in. We had a blast splashing, taking pictures, and getting pounded on the head by the falls.
I wasn’t feeling great so we didn’t end up eating all day but outside the waterfalls were fresh fruit stands and OH MY GOODNESS did they look good. I got two mangos, a banana, and a pineapple. YUM YUM YUMMMM. That night we were suppose to meet back up with Chloe and Jordan since Ila and Daddah didn’t stop talking about them allll day. But, this is where the little Trotro dilemma occurs.
So, we get to the Trotro station, buy tickets, and hop on a non air-conditioned Trotro which is fine with me because the windows produce enough wind. But, for whatever reason, right before the Trotro leaves we Ila and Daddah decide that we are going to get out and find a different Trotro. Well, the people and the driver of this Trotro did not like this. Ila and Daddah were demanding their money back and the driver was not having it. The driver and the Trotro left so Daddah and Ila talking to the guy at the info desk. That guy called the Trotro driver and told him to turn around and come back. You can imagine how mad this made the Trotro driver and his passengers. So, when that Trotro got back all the passengers got out and started yelling at Ila and Daddah. Then, one of them saw me and started screaming about me being white and american and all that type of stuff. You can only imagine how uncomfortable I felt. Even though I have been so many countries already I have never been pointed out as the minority and definitely have not been yelled at for my skin color. I was not scared or afraid I just felt strange. Ila and Daddah assured me I would be okay. Eventually, we got our money back and headed to the Trotro with air-condition that we had planned on getting on from the beginning. Still following my story? Well, if you assumed that we just hopped in the Trotro and headed back to hang out with Chloe and Jordan you are wrong. You are wrong because THE FREAKING TROTRO WAS NOT FULL FOR LIKE THREE HOURS!!!!!!! Therefore, we did not leave for THREE HOURS. A full nap and rainstorm go by and then we finally leave. We got back around midnight, mind you I still have not eaten much at all all day. So, I get back to the ship starving and eat what I have in my room - a pickle, a granola bar, and a plum. yuuuummmy. I then went to sleep like a baby.
fyi - there were mom’s and babies on that Trotro and in Ghana aparently mom’s breast feed their babies in public and do not cover anything. You can imagine how comfortable that made me feel, nott.
Day Three Tuesday, April 13th 2010
Today Daddah, Ila, and I planned to head to Cape Coast. Cape Coast is where
the famous slave trade castle is along with beautiful beaches. I hopped on the shuttle to meet them in Accra. On the shuttle I ran into a bunch of other sasers, friends and not-yet friends, that were also heading to Cape Coast. I told them they should come with us.
There were about 15 of us in total. At first I regretted my desicion of inviting all of them because I could only imagine how hard it was going to be to find a Trotro with enough space for all of us. But, it actually ended working out in our favor. We all got in one Trotro that drove us around for the day. We had a really fun group. Not all of us knew each other initially but by the end of the day we were all friends.
It took a lot longer to get to the Cape then we expected (surprise surpise) but I think we were all pretty exhausted from the past couple days so we didn’t mind the nap time.
The first place we went was the Canopy Park. I wasn’t aware of this park until we were in the Trotro talking about what to do. But, I am glad we went there. Basically, the park was a rain forest and above all the trees were suspended bridges. The width of the bridges was only about one foot but there were nets and ropes on each side to hold on to. The bridges were probably thirty feet high, or maybe higher, and swayed from side to side as we walked on them. It was a little nerve racking but also super fun.
After the canopy walk we grabbed some lunch and headed to the Slave Castle. I really wanted to stop at the ostrich farm on the way there because I heard people rode ostriches in South Africa and I was really jealous. (I believe everything I hear so there quite possibly could have been no one that actually rode ostriches). But, we were running low on time so i got vetoed. Bummer.
About an hour later we arrived at the Slave Castle. This is a history castle dated way back to the slave age. I do not know all of the history but there were designed cells for people and very small rooms that housed hundreds of slaves. There was also a room that had a skull and cross bones on it which was for the slaves that tried to protest. They were put in that room to die. It was a pretty heavy place.
We hung out there for a while and then decided to head back to Accra because it was our last night in Ghana and everyone wanted to go out. We had a little discrepancy with the Trotro driver (once again, surprise surprise) but after fighting with him for about twenty minutes we were on our way. I guess he got the sense that we were kind of short on time because he decided to go about 90 mph over a speed bump. This cause us three lucky ones in the back row of the van to slam our heads on the ceiling. COOL DRIVER.
We were exhausted but did not want to become party poopers that night so we got the party started in the Trotro. It got pretty wild (in the safest way possible). We made record time getting back but did not have enough time to go back to the ship before going out that night. No sweat, I wasn’t wearing shocks and a tank top or anything. Nothing I wouldn’t wear out normally HA. But really, I couldn’t have cared less.
I ran into Chloe and we grabbed some food before going to the club. There was a club called Citizen Kofi that was in a really convenient part of Accra so there were a ton of people there. Daddah and Ila went to their village to shower and then came back and met up with us at the club. We all have a great time but I desperately needed to get back to the ship. I was exhausted and cranky. We caught a cab with some other sasers and the rest was all a blur.... Jking, we just went back to the ship and I passed out in less than one second.
Day Four Wednesday, April 14 2010
Nope, did not sleep in. Jordan, Chloe, and I headed back into Accra to spend our last day with Daddah and Ila. Zach, a kid that was a part of our group the day before, and Mary, his friend, tagged along with us also.
We didn’t do anything too eventually, just some general housekeeping things like last minute gifts, stamps, postcards, stickers, and some lunch. That didn’t go as smoothly as it sounds but we did get it all done.
One place we walked through that day was the main huge market. All I am saying is that they had EVERYTHING there from wigs to PIGS FEET. There was also fish, live crabs, and other random items everywhere. Anytime Tolan and I smell something really gross we say D.A. that stands for dickass. This market should have been called D.A. It STANK. But, it was a funny thing to experience.
Ila and Daddah took us back to their place in the market and MADE ME pick out things for all of my friends and family. Alot of Salamon’s family (salamon is my dad’s coworker in the states) was there that really wanted me to take stuff for everyone. I felt really guilty but at the same time felt like if I didn’t take anything then I would be insulting them. It was definitely awkward because they really deserved money for all of the stuff but they were definitely the kind of people that would not accept money, no way, no how.
The day was winding down and we were back at Frankie’s, the place we ate the first day, for lunch. It was delicious even though the service sucked.
Jordan, Chloe, and I really really wanted to give Ila and Daddah something for making Ghana such a fun experience. Along with that, they were the nicest guys we had ever met and I could not leave there with out letting them know that. Being the trickster we are we decided to give them Jordan’s drawstring bag as a present and put some money inside. Being the intelligent people they are they noticed that there was stuff in the bag and threw it back at us. We tossed it back and got onto our shuttle to the ship so that they were stuck with it. That made us happy :)
I am kind of in a rush right now because we are in Brazil and the ship just got cleared so I can get off now. But, I really really enjoyed Ghana. It gave me a more realistic taste of Africa as a whole. The people were really super nice. Some of the men were creepy but thats whatever. Many of us girls got proposed to and asked if we wanted an Africa boyfriend. We were able to make light of the situation even though we were pretty sure the men were being serious.
I am also so thankful that I had a connection in Ghana (Ila and Daddah) they really made my time in Ghana so great and memorable. I feel like if I didn’t have them there to help me find my way around and barter with the locals then my Ghana experience could have been very similar to my India one. THANK GOODNESS it wasn’t.
We all still keep in touch with Ila and Daddah via email and I am definitely going to be sending them all the pictures I have from Ghana when I get back. The End
HELLOOO BRAZIL!!!!!!!!!!
HOME IN TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY AHH AHH AHHH!
Anyways, I contacted Ila via email weeks ago and we discussed everything I wanted to do. He was down with it. We exchanged contact info and had plans to meet up the morning I arrived in Ghana.
Day 1 Sunday, April 11th 2010
Sarah, Tolan, Chloe, Jordan, and I all got off the ship together and were very excited to meet our Ghanaian connection, Ila. We called him from a policeman’s phone and met him right outside the port. Ila had his bff with him, Daddah. Get familiar with Ila and Daddah because I am going to be mentioning them a lot.
Today was basically a day of exploring. We took a Trotro into Agra. Now, let me describe a Trotro right off the bat so you are not confused every time I mention it. a Trotro is a 12-20 passenger van that is used for pubic transportation around Ghana. You can take them short distances or you can go to a Trotro station and hop on one that is going longer distances. Some of them are air-conditioned and others are not. When I saw they are 12-20 passenger vans I mean that the minimum amount of people ever put in one is 12-20 people. But, usually many more squeeze in. The other detail about them I need to mention is that the ones going semi-long or long distances do not leave until EVERY seat is full. This will bite me in the ass later on in my journey.
So, as I was saying, we all hopped onto a Trotro and went into Agra, the main city nearest to the port. It was Sunday so not much was open so we just walked around, saw the beach, checked out the scene, met some peeps, etc. It was fun to go exploring but it was hot as a mo-fo out. We were all drenched-DRENCHED in sweat. But, I wasn’t complain because it wasn’t too long ago that I was freezing my booty off on the Great Wall of China.
We went into Ila’s village to drop my backpack off because I had plans to sleep in the village that night. His village was filled with nice people. When we got to his ‘house’ we opened the door and took a seat. His place consisted of a full sized mattress on the floor, a mini couch, a coffee table, a mini fridge, a tv, and a fan. In reality, he didn’t need much else. He has the essentials and more. Side note: this trip around the world, especially since I am taking an ‘anthropology of stuff’ class, makes me realize how much unnecessary stuff I own. I am of course not referring to my 45 pairs of sneaks though.
The one place we stopped for a rather long time was the market that Ila and his family own shops in. We looked around the market for a while and saw stuff such as drums, t-shirts, world cup jerseys, hats, animal carvings, masks, dressed, etc. Ila insisted on giving us all a gift for our families. We did not want to accept without paying him money but he was one of those people that would physically not accept any money. It was beginning to enter into the late afternoon early evening time and we were still hanging there. Tolan bought a drum and was jamming with some locals. We were all relaxing but decided it was time for dinner.
That night we had dinner at a place in Agra. It was pretty americanized. I got a chicken club sandwich. It was aight. After dinner we walked to the shuttle stop so that Jordan, Chloe, Tolan, and Sarah could hop on the shuttle back to the ship. When the shuttle came all the SAS people got on accept me. I felt like it must have looked so sketch for me to be walking away from the shuttle with two strangers, and it did. A lot of people told me that there was confusion on the shuttle of where I was going and who I was with.
Daddah, Ila, and I took a Trotro back to their village. I was suppose to stay in a family’s home or with Ila’s aunt but it was pretty late so Ila insisted on me staying in his place. Okay, so all day Ila and Daddah were SO SO SO SO SO nice but I still had bad thoughts of me sleeping in the same room, let alone the same bed as a stranger from Ghana that I had met just hours before. I was nervous but I sucked it up and just thought about how loaded my guns (biceps) were and how I could probably hold my own if Ila tried to pull a fast one. (not that I thought a nice guy like him would, but JUST INCASE). Needless to say, nothing happened. But, let me describe my sleeping situation. It was hot, very hot. I slept in a tank top and shorts face up with no blankets or sheets. Basically I laid there sweaty with one eye opened ready to sprint for the door anytime Ila even flinched. I guess I did end up falling asleep at one point because I had a dream that Mr. and Mrs. Howell opened a restaurant and wouldn’t hire Danielle, she was pissed. Lets move on...
Day Two Monday, April 12th 2010
I feel like anytime I have to wake up before like 9 am I say “I had to wake up bright and early” when in reality it is sort of normal to wake up around 7am or 7:30. But, that morning we woke up around 7 so that we could get an early start to our LONG day ahead. There are famous waterfalls in Ghana called the Wli Waterfalls. About an hour and a half from the waterfalls was a monkey park which i was TOTALLY down for. So, we headed there first.
The Trotro ride SUCKED. I was hot, I had no where to lean against, I had sweat rolling down my calves from the back of my knees (which has never happened to me before), the people next to me’s skin was sticking to mine, and uhh yeah it was shitty. But, we made it like 4 hours later. We hopped out of the Trotro and onto motorbikes (!!!!!!!!!!!!!). To the monkey forest thing we went. We got there and had a tour guide with bananas show us to the monkey families. THe monkeys were everywhere but it was hard to see them. But, our tour guide made a monkey call and held out bananas and they all came to us. THEY WERE SO CUTE. There were a couple other American tourists with us too. We all took turns feeding the monkeys. The monkeys would wrestle each other for the banana and their feet and hands would be all over my hand, it was so fun! The monkey visit was short and sweet.
After the monkey forest we headed to the waterfalls. One motorbike ride and a sorta long Trotro ride later we got there! There was a semester at sea trip there the same time as us so I saw a couple people I knew. We hiked to the falls which took about twenty five minutes or so. The waterfalls were SO SO SO worth it. They are the biggest waterfalls in Ghana (or something). I didn’t have a bathing suit so I just hopped in with my clothes in. We had a blast splashing, taking pictures, and getting pounded on the head by the falls.
I wasn’t feeling great so we didn’t end up eating all day but outside the waterfalls were fresh fruit stands and OH MY GOODNESS did they look good. I got two mangos, a banana, and a pineapple. YUM YUM YUMMMM. That night we were suppose to meet back up with Chloe and Jordan since Ila and Daddah didn’t stop talking about them allll day. But, this is where the little Trotro dilemma occurs.
So, we get to the Trotro station, buy tickets, and hop on a non air-conditioned Trotro which is fine with me because the windows produce enough wind. But, for whatever reason, right before the Trotro leaves we Ila and Daddah decide that we are going to get out and find a different Trotro. Well, the people and the driver of this Trotro did not like this. Ila and Daddah were demanding their money back and the driver was not having it. The driver and the Trotro left so Daddah and Ila talking to the guy at the info desk. That guy called the Trotro driver and told him to turn around and come back. You can imagine how mad this made the Trotro driver and his passengers. So, when that Trotro got back all the passengers got out and started yelling at Ila and Daddah. Then, one of them saw me and started screaming about me being white and american and all that type of stuff. You can only imagine how uncomfortable I felt. Even though I have been so many countries already I have never been pointed out as the minority and definitely have not been yelled at for my skin color. I was not scared or afraid I just felt strange. Ila and Daddah assured me I would be okay. Eventually, we got our money back and headed to the Trotro with air-condition that we had planned on getting on from the beginning. Still following my story? Well, if you assumed that we just hopped in the Trotro and headed back to hang out with Chloe and Jordan you are wrong. You are wrong because THE FREAKING TROTRO WAS NOT FULL FOR LIKE THREE HOURS!!!!!!! Therefore, we did not leave for THREE HOURS. A full nap and rainstorm go by and then we finally leave. We got back around midnight, mind you I still have not eaten much at all all day. So, I get back to the ship starving and eat what I have in my room - a pickle, a granola bar, and a plum. yuuuummmy. I then went to sleep like a baby.
fyi - there were mom’s and babies on that Trotro and in Ghana aparently mom’s breast feed their babies in public and do not cover anything. You can imagine how comfortable that made me feel, nott.
Day Three Tuesday, April 13th 2010
Today Daddah, Ila, and I planned to head to Cape Coast. Cape Coast is where
the famous slave trade castle is along with beautiful beaches. I hopped on the shuttle to meet them in Accra. On the shuttle I ran into a bunch of other sasers, friends and not-yet friends, that were also heading to Cape Coast. I told them they should come with us.
There were about 15 of us in total. At first I regretted my desicion of inviting all of them because I could only imagine how hard it was going to be to find a Trotro with enough space for all of us. But, it actually ended working out in our favor. We all got in one Trotro that drove us around for the day. We had a really fun group. Not all of us knew each other initially but by the end of the day we were all friends.
It took a lot longer to get to the Cape then we expected (surprise surpise) but I think we were all pretty exhausted from the past couple days so we didn’t mind the nap time.
The first place we went was the Canopy Park. I wasn’t aware of this park until we were in the Trotro talking about what to do. But, I am glad we went there. Basically, the park was a rain forest and above all the trees were suspended bridges. The width of the bridges was only about one foot but there were nets and ropes on each side to hold on to. The bridges were probably thirty feet high, or maybe higher, and swayed from side to side as we walked on them. It was a little nerve racking but also super fun.
After the canopy walk we grabbed some lunch and headed to the Slave Castle. I really wanted to stop at the ostrich farm on the way there because I heard people rode ostriches in South Africa and I was really jealous. (I believe everything I hear so there quite possibly could have been no one that actually rode ostriches). But, we were running low on time so i got vetoed. Bummer.
About an hour later we arrived at the Slave Castle. This is a history castle dated way back to the slave age. I do not know all of the history but there were designed cells for people and very small rooms that housed hundreds of slaves. There was also a room that had a skull and cross bones on it which was for the slaves that tried to protest. They were put in that room to die. It was a pretty heavy place.
We hung out there for a while and then decided to head back to Accra because it was our last night in Ghana and everyone wanted to go out. We had a little discrepancy with the Trotro driver (once again, surprise surprise) but after fighting with him for about twenty minutes we were on our way. I guess he got the sense that we were kind of short on time because he decided to go about 90 mph over a speed bump. This cause us three lucky ones in the back row of the van to slam our heads on the ceiling. COOL DRIVER.
We were exhausted but did not want to become party poopers that night so we got the party started in the Trotro. It got pretty wild (in the safest way possible). We made record time getting back but did not have enough time to go back to the ship before going out that night. No sweat, I wasn’t wearing shocks and a tank top or anything. Nothing I wouldn’t wear out normally HA. But really, I couldn’t have cared less.
I ran into Chloe and we grabbed some food before going to the club. There was a club called Citizen Kofi that was in a really convenient part of Accra so there were a ton of people there. Daddah and Ila went to their village to shower and then came back and met up with us at the club. We all have a great time but I desperately needed to get back to the ship. I was exhausted and cranky. We caught a cab with some other sasers and the rest was all a blur.... Jking, we just went back to the ship and I passed out in less than one second.
Day Four Wednesday, April 14 2010
Nope, did not sleep in. Jordan, Chloe, and I headed back into Accra to spend our last day with Daddah and Ila. Zach, a kid that was a part of our group the day before, and Mary, his friend, tagged along with us also.
We didn’t do anything too eventually, just some general housekeeping things like last minute gifts, stamps, postcards, stickers, and some lunch. That didn’t go as smoothly as it sounds but we did get it all done.
One place we walked through that day was the main huge market. All I am saying is that they had EVERYTHING there from wigs to PIGS FEET. There was also fish, live crabs, and other random items everywhere. Anytime Tolan and I smell something really gross we say D.A. that stands for dickass. This market should have been called D.A. It STANK. But, it was a funny thing to experience.
Ila and Daddah took us back to their place in the market and MADE ME pick out things for all of my friends and family. Alot of Salamon’s family (salamon is my dad’s coworker in the states) was there that really wanted me to take stuff for everyone. I felt really guilty but at the same time felt like if I didn’t take anything then I would be insulting them. It was definitely awkward because they really deserved money for all of the stuff but they were definitely the kind of people that would not accept money, no way, no how.
The day was winding down and we were back at Frankie’s, the place we ate the first day, for lunch. It was delicious even though the service sucked.
Jordan, Chloe, and I really really wanted to give Ila and Daddah something for making Ghana such a fun experience. Along with that, they were the nicest guys we had ever met and I could not leave there with out letting them know that. Being the trickster we are we decided to give them Jordan’s drawstring bag as a present and put some money inside. Being the intelligent people they are they noticed that there was stuff in the bag and threw it back at us. We tossed it back and got onto our shuttle to the ship so that they were stuck with it. That made us happy :)
I am kind of in a rush right now because we are in Brazil and the ship just got cleared so I can get off now. But, I really really enjoyed Ghana. It gave me a more realistic taste of Africa as a whole. The people were really super nice. Some of the men were creepy but thats whatever. Many of us girls got proposed to and asked if we wanted an Africa boyfriend. We were able to make light of the situation even though we were pretty sure the men were being serious.
I am also so thankful that I had a connection in Ghana (Ila and Daddah) they really made my time in Ghana so great and memorable. I feel like if I didn’t have them there to help me find my way around and barter with the locals then my Ghana experience could have been very similar to my India one. THANK GOODNESS it wasn’t.
We all still keep in touch with Ila and Daddah via email and I am definitely going to be sending them all the pictures I have from Ghana when I get back. The End
HELLOOO BRAZIL!!!!!!!!!!
HOME IN TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY AHH AHH AHHH!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Cape Town!!!
Hello Everyone! I would like to let you know that my enthusiasm has done a 360 degree turn from India to South Africa. Cape Town may quite possibly be the coolest city I have ever been to.
Day 1 Wednesday March 31st 2010
Today when we got let off the ship a bunch of us headed to Table Top Mountain. If you don’t know what that is then google it because it was sick. We ended up getting on a tourist bus tour around Cape Town because it was the cheapest way to get to and from Table Mountain. Greta and I were a little antsy to get off the bus and see the city so ended up hopping on and off a little bit between stops. The city had a lot of cool little shops and bistros. By the time we got to Table Mountain we realized it was later than we had originally planned. The line for the cable car up the mountain was really super long so we decided to hike.
I don’t know what kind of hike I was picturing but either way it was ten times harder than I imagined. I thought The Great Wall of China had a lot of steps - I was wrong. It took us about a hour and a half to get to the top. We stopped probably only 7 times for less than 2 minutes. We were hauling ass for sure. It was more like boulder climbing than hiking. Our legs were burning, we were sweating bullets, but we were so happy to see the top. The view was amazing and the climate difference from top to bottom was insane. We were freezing once we got up there because we were above the clouds. After hanging up there for a little while we took the cable car back down to save our knees from collapsing.
After the hike we hopped back onto the tour bus and headed to the beaches. They were beautiful. It looked almost identical to the California beaches (not that i’ve ever seen them but thats what I heard). There were shops and restaurants right across the street. It was really strange, specifically in this area, because you couldn’t tell the locals from the tourists.
After drooling over the beaches and wishing we lived there, we did a little bit of shopping around Cape Town but it was about 6 oclock and everything shuts down right around then. We then headed back to the ship to get ready for the night.
Long Street is the bar and club street where everyone and their mom goes out. Remind you, it was a Wednesday night and it was probably the wildest Wednesday night I have ever had. Sarah, Greta, Chloe, Kristen, Tolan, Sarah, Jeremy, John, a couple other people, and I headed to one restaurant/bar for dinner. Chloe and I got the worst nachos ever but the most dank pizza ever too so they evened themselves out. After dinner, our night began. We bar hopped a little bit but then ended up at The Dubliner. This was an Irish pub where a bunch of locals were hanging out watching the soccer game that was going on. It was really cool watching the game and just chilling with all these people. As the night went on more SASers came and it got packed and crazy. It was a lot of fun though. Around 2:30 a.m. we headed back to the ship.
Day 1 Thursday April 1st, 2010
Rise and Shine bright and early. This morning I got up around 7 because I signed up for a Habitat for Humanity service trip. I was very excited about this. There were about twenty SAS students signed up to do it. We headed to a township to finish up a house.
Here is some background information on the Townships. Cape Town is basically two different countries: The rich waterfront area where our ship was docked. And, the Townships where all the black people that got kicked out of their villages during apartheid got sent to live. Within these townships are very very small 2 room brick houses that the government has supplied ever since they guaranteed everyone housing around 1995. Unfortunately, not everyone has gotten their house yet so there are also a lot of shacks built from scrap metal and cloth. These shacks were built by the people that live in them because they had no other option. What was interesting was that the shacks looked very poor from the outside but the inside of some of them would have nice couches and a big screen T.V. This would be because the people living in them had jobs within Cape Town but since they were still waiting for the house the government guaranteed they have not moved yet.
The house we were finishing was a two room brick house. We had to finish the roof, some of the walls, and clean it up because the owner was going to be presented with it later today.
There were three of us working on top of the roof - Chris, Toby, and I. There were a few locals guys working up there with us also. We talked with them for a while because there was some down time here and there. We learned that most South Africans lose their virginity around 12 years old. We also learned that when a man and woman get married the man is to give the woman 20 cows.
Because there wasn’t a ton of work to be done but there were about 20 of us there to help, there was a lot of spare time. But, right where we were building the house there were about 25 little kids running around. Most of the day was spend playing with them. These kids were ages 5 - 11 and they were adorable. Some of them spoke english and others did not. They sang us songs, held our hands, jumped all over us, etc. It was a lot of fun to interact with them all day. At the end of the day when we were trying to take a picture of all of us and the house we built all the little kids jumped in the picture and it is the best picture I have ever seen.
After Habitat for Humanity I was running on empty but was determined to waste no time in Cape Town so I didn’t take a nap. Deirdra (my friend from Rhode Island) and I decided to go to a local pub with free wifi and use our laptops. We did that for a while, got some food, and then headed out. There was free jazz festival in the main area of Cape Town so we hopped in a taxi and headed there. A lot of SAS people, including most of our friends, were on safaris to Kruger Park and not around in Cape Town the next couple nights. Anyways, we got to the Jazz festival and it was really cool. Like sitting there and realizing that we are in South Africa, listening to live South African Jazz, surrounded by South Africans was awesome. We found two of our SAS friends Ryan (boulder) and Alex (Las Vegas) and just kind of walked around and got some food with them that night. It was kind of an early night because we were all exhausted and had to get up early the next morning.
Day Three April 2nd 2010
Today Sarah, Tolan, and I were determined to get to the Cape of Good Hope. We knew it could quite possible be difficult to do so but we knew we’d get there. We took a train from Cape Town to Simon’s Town which is about three quarters of the way to the Cape. That was a lot easier than we thought and definitely a lot easier and a whole lot better overall than our train experiences in India. Simon’s Town was just a cute little town that we walked in for a little while. While I was shopping, Tolan and Sarah went to the tourist place that set us up with a driver for the rest of the day so we could get to and from the cape in a solid amount of time.
On our way to the Cape, with this tour guide/driver that tried to sell us one of his tour offers every ten seconds, we stopped at a few pretty views and such. One time we had to stop because there were BABOONS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Ok, this is what I learned about Baboons. They are mean, very mean. If you have food they will find it and get it any way possible. One of those ways, which I viewed WITH MY OWN TWO EYES was to approach a parked car (with stupid tourists in it), unlock the trunk somehow, open the trunk, unzip a backpack, steal bread out of the backpack, and walk away. It was sick.
Anyways, we eventually reached the Cape. it was very cool. The Cape of Good Hope, for those of you that was not familiar, is on the western tip of Africa where the Atlantic and India Oceans meet. It used to be called the Cape of Storms because it was nearly impossible for ships to survive while traveling around it. We climbed to the top of the cliff that overlooked the two oceans meeting. It was a pretty amazing view.
We had a three o’clock train to catch, it was about 2:35. We REALLY wanted to stop and looked at the penguins but we knew we had no time because we really needed to be on that train in order for our plans to work out the rest of the day. Needless to say, we didn’t see the penguins but we did make our train. We did see ostriches though.
After taking the train back to Cape Town and arriving at the ship we got changed and headed back out. Tonight we had plans to sleep at a Bed and Breakfast in one of the Townships. A bunch of our friends had told us about these B&B’s because they had done organized township tours the day before.
After figuring out the cheap minibus system to the Township we hopped in and luckily arrived at the right location to meet our B&B host. Mpho was her name and she was one of the nicest woman I have met. She walked us to her house and welcomed us. I don’t really know how to go about writing about this bed and breakfast so i’m just gonna explain our night. Basically we sat around her house and talked to her and her mom, Thope, and ate the most delicious homemade pastries I have ever had. I got the recipe for them, thank goodness! Their house originated as a two room house given to them by the government but since then they have added a ton of additions including three bathrooms, a family room, a kitchen, a dining room, three bedrooms, and a garage. It was a really nice house.
We talked for about 3 hours and it was the most interesting talk I have had with anyone. Mpho and Thope were such bright and inspiring women. Thope does a lot of talks around the world of entrepreneur business opportunities and women empowerment. After listening to her talk for so long Sarah and I felt like we needed to go and make a difference in the world Asap. We were exhausted so we hit the sack for a well deserved full nights rest. Sarah and I snuggled.
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Day Four April 3rd 2010
Well I can say that this morning I had the most delicious breakfast ever. (other than cinnamon buns on Christmas morning). Mpho made us a semi-traditional African breakfast of meat, eggs, tomatoes, onions. Then, we had yogurt and granola on the side. Now that I think about it it wasn’t really anything too special but it for sure hit the spot compared to the same breakfast I have on the ship everyday - bad oatmeal with unevenly toasted bread, unripe fruit, and overcooked bacon. Thats just me being a brat and super ready for food from home. The food on the ship is actually pretty good its just getting old.
That early afternoon we took a tour of the township. Mpho showed us a shoe maker’s shack, her friend’s house, and introduced us to some kids who we could give pencils, balloons, and stickers to. It was really nice feel safe as white people walking through the same all black community that Amy Beihl was in killed in for being white just fifteen years ago. If you do not know who Amy Beihl is you should look up her story, it is really inspiring. Anyways, we talked to a bunch of the locals and got a sense of their lives. Everyone loved waving and talking to us also.
After the township tour it was time to head back to Cape Town. I was determined to get my whole head braided. For some reason I pictured it looking really cool and stylish. Well, needless to say, I got it done when we got back in town and it looked nothing but cool and stylish. It was actually kind of wild but I grew to like it. (I already took them out because I was unable to shampoo or condition them so my head got really itchy. I really enjoyed them and kind of miss them already. 4/9)
We got some yummy food for a late lunch. It was Shormas. I got a grilled veggie shorma that came in pita bread. Afterwards, Tolan and Sarah headed back to the ship to get ready for the jazz festival, and I did a little shopping at the market. I had a bunch of money left over that I felt like I had to spend because the next day was Easter and I had heard absolutely nothing was going to be open. Also, exchange rates are super shitty so it usually makes more sense to just spend the money in the country it belongs to.
After about two hours of frustrating shopping I gave up. I feel like anytime I had money to spend or like my mom offers to buy me an outfit I never can find anything I like. Thats how it was. I headed back to the ship and found Chloe and Kristin. They were getting ready to get some dinner and go out so I decided to just join them.
Kristin’s boyfriend’s friend’s brother lives in Cape Town so we met up with him and his girlfriend. Connections like that have been happening a lot on this trip. People find any connection they can in the countries we go to because it is just so nice to know a local. In Ghana I am meeting up with My dad’s coworker’s cousin. Better than nothing!
That night we went to this German Pub on the waterfront and had some yummy beer and food. We then headed to Long Street. I feel like I can leave a lot of the details of this night out but I will say it was wild. We bar and club hopped with Kristin’s friend. It was really fun to be at spots where there were no other semester at sea kids but sometimes I like seeing them. Eventually we ran into a big group of our friends and ended up hanging out at the same club as them called Stones. It’s so weird to be able to go out and order drinks seeing as I am only 20. But, it was nice for sure. I really liked the hard ciders, I didn’t know such a thing existed.
We headed back to the ship kind of early because Greta is a baby and needed sleep. Oh, and Sarah was really drunk and needed to go to bed (she is 21 so it’s okay mom).
That night when I got back to the room I for whatever reason had a productive night haha. I apparently ate some chocolate, talked to my roommate, sent some emails, and used my internet time to post a picture on my mom’s facebook wall of my braids.
Day Five April 4th 2010
Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, everything was not closed - contrary to what I had heard. But, for some reason I woke up with a little less money than I had gone out with so I can’t say I was in desperate need to go shopping anymore.
That morning a pretty big group of us went to church. It was a nice experience for sure. I am glad we went. The church we went to was a mix of different divisions of Christianity. There was some great music and a mix of different languages. One thing I found funny was that when there was a long reading the Pastor would read/sing it rather than do one or the other. It was kind of like he decided to sing it last minute but just made up the notes as he went along. I really liked that he did this haha. Mallory - remind me to sing to you the way this pastor sang the readings.
After church we all went and got some lunch. I had the best sandwich I have had on my entire trip. It was like tomato, mozzarella, salami, pickles, etc! Lunch took longer than we expected so we only had a few hours left until we had to get back on the ship. Chloe and I decided to find some internet so we could skype our parents on Easter and then she had some extra money she wanted to spend at the grocery store.
We were on the internet for longer than we thought so we had to rush to get to the grocery store. Which was fine because I loved talking to friends and family from home!
Okay, so the other day I was pretty sure I had put money aside to use for the last day but I couldn’t find it so I assumed I spent it while I was out. But, when I went back to my room to get my laptop I found some money and assumed it was the money I had put aside. So, while at the grocery store I was running around frantically trying to find stuff to spend my money on without getting a ton of chocolate and candy. After about twenty-five minutes I went to check out. I was pretty excited about some of the stuff I got. When I went to pay for it the cashier told me the money I handed her is not accepted there. I didn’t understand why until I looked at it and realized that I had handed her Mauritian ruppies rather than South African Raan. I felt like kind of an idiot but I was in such a rush that I couldn’t do anything other than say “Sorry!” and then get out of there and get back to the ship. Bummer
I really enjoyed South Africa and felt like it is the one port I learned the most about and will always remember. Before arriving there we had a pre port lecturer who was very interesting and enjoyable to listen to. Between and him and Thope from the Township bed and breakfast I think I gained a lot of knew knowledge from two separate prospectives (Michael being a white South African and Thope being a black South African). Although Africa and India have some of the same economic and environmental problems I just see them completely differently. I really feel like South Africa is making the best of what it has and although the government has not yet given them all the houses they promised they still are living their lives the best way they can. After learning all about the Apartheid it was hard to imagine two communities merging together with open arms but that is exactly what it was. I was nervous that just by the color of my skin I would be looked at differently, and I think I was, but not in the negative way I had thought.
The other thing about South Africa is that it is getting ready for the World Cup. Many of us thought that that would do great things for the economy there but we learned otherwise by talking to the people. Cab drivers will not be benefiting as much as one would think because the government is bringing in many other cab drivers from other countries that will be stealing business from the locals. The government is also scared that the appearance of the townships along the main roadways are going to scare all the tourists, make them feel in danger, and change their opinion of Cape Town and South Africa. Because of this, they are putting up huge walls so along the highways to block the townships. They are telling the people it is to prevent people from the Townships from committing suicide by jumping in the roadways but everyone knows that is just a cover. Personally, I think the townships need to be seen because without them tourists are going to get almost a fake image of South Africa.
I am excited to go to Ghana because I definitely feel like South Africa (Cape Town specifically), like all the other countries that hold large national events, is being beautified for tourists and is not the greatest representation of Africa itself.
Lastly, one thing that is so striking to me is that in a lot of the countries I am going to, specifically India and parts of Africa, there are tons and tons of people dying everyday from hunger while in the United States some of the leading causes of death are diseases linked directly to obesity. Isn’t it strange that we are essentially dying from eating too much food while other countries are dying from not getting enough food?
Ship life has been very uneventful, in a good way. I have just been catching up on some work, laying out, eating, sleeping, etc. :)
Anyways, I will be home in like 27 days or so and I CANNOT WAIT.
Ghana tomorrow - should be really sweet.
Love and miss all of you!!!!
Day 1 Wednesday March 31st 2010
Today when we got let off the ship a bunch of us headed to Table Top Mountain. If you don’t know what that is then google it because it was sick. We ended up getting on a tourist bus tour around Cape Town because it was the cheapest way to get to and from Table Mountain. Greta and I were a little antsy to get off the bus and see the city so ended up hopping on and off a little bit between stops. The city had a lot of cool little shops and bistros. By the time we got to Table Mountain we realized it was later than we had originally planned. The line for the cable car up the mountain was really super long so we decided to hike.
I don’t know what kind of hike I was picturing but either way it was ten times harder than I imagined. I thought The Great Wall of China had a lot of steps - I was wrong. It took us about a hour and a half to get to the top. We stopped probably only 7 times for less than 2 minutes. We were hauling ass for sure. It was more like boulder climbing than hiking. Our legs were burning, we were sweating bullets, but we were so happy to see the top. The view was amazing and the climate difference from top to bottom was insane. We were freezing once we got up there because we were above the clouds. After hanging up there for a little while we took the cable car back down to save our knees from collapsing.
After the hike we hopped back onto the tour bus and headed to the beaches. They were beautiful. It looked almost identical to the California beaches (not that i’ve ever seen them but thats what I heard). There were shops and restaurants right across the street. It was really strange, specifically in this area, because you couldn’t tell the locals from the tourists.
After drooling over the beaches and wishing we lived there, we did a little bit of shopping around Cape Town but it was about 6 oclock and everything shuts down right around then. We then headed back to the ship to get ready for the night.
Long Street is the bar and club street where everyone and their mom goes out. Remind you, it was a Wednesday night and it was probably the wildest Wednesday night I have ever had. Sarah, Greta, Chloe, Kristen, Tolan, Sarah, Jeremy, John, a couple other people, and I headed to one restaurant/bar for dinner. Chloe and I got the worst nachos ever but the most dank pizza ever too so they evened themselves out. After dinner, our night began. We bar hopped a little bit but then ended up at The Dubliner. This was an Irish pub where a bunch of locals were hanging out watching the soccer game that was going on. It was really cool watching the game and just chilling with all these people. As the night went on more SASers came and it got packed and crazy. It was a lot of fun though. Around 2:30 a.m. we headed back to the ship.
Day 1 Thursday April 1st, 2010
Rise and Shine bright and early. This morning I got up around 7 because I signed up for a Habitat for Humanity service trip. I was very excited about this. There were about twenty SAS students signed up to do it. We headed to a township to finish up a house.
Here is some background information on the Townships. Cape Town is basically two different countries: The rich waterfront area where our ship was docked. And, the Townships where all the black people that got kicked out of their villages during apartheid got sent to live. Within these townships are very very small 2 room brick houses that the government has supplied ever since they guaranteed everyone housing around 1995. Unfortunately, not everyone has gotten their house yet so there are also a lot of shacks built from scrap metal and cloth. These shacks were built by the people that live in them because they had no other option. What was interesting was that the shacks looked very poor from the outside but the inside of some of them would have nice couches and a big screen T.V. This would be because the people living in them had jobs within Cape Town but since they were still waiting for the house the government guaranteed they have not moved yet.
The house we were finishing was a two room brick house. We had to finish the roof, some of the walls, and clean it up because the owner was going to be presented with it later today.
There were three of us working on top of the roof - Chris, Toby, and I. There were a few locals guys working up there with us also. We talked with them for a while because there was some down time here and there. We learned that most South Africans lose their virginity around 12 years old. We also learned that when a man and woman get married the man is to give the woman 20 cows.
Because there wasn’t a ton of work to be done but there were about 20 of us there to help, there was a lot of spare time. But, right where we were building the house there were about 25 little kids running around. Most of the day was spend playing with them. These kids were ages 5 - 11 and they were adorable. Some of them spoke english and others did not. They sang us songs, held our hands, jumped all over us, etc. It was a lot of fun to interact with them all day. At the end of the day when we were trying to take a picture of all of us and the house we built all the little kids jumped in the picture and it is the best picture I have ever seen.
After Habitat for Humanity I was running on empty but was determined to waste no time in Cape Town so I didn’t take a nap. Deirdra (my friend from Rhode Island) and I decided to go to a local pub with free wifi and use our laptops. We did that for a while, got some food, and then headed out. There was free jazz festival in the main area of Cape Town so we hopped in a taxi and headed there. A lot of SAS people, including most of our friends, were on safaris to Kruger Park and not around in Cape Town the next couple nights. Anyways, we got to the Jazz festival and it was really cool. Like sitting there and realizing that we are in South Africa, listening to live South African Jazz, surrounded by South Africans was awesome. We found two of our SAS friends Ryan (boulder) and Alex (Las Vegas) and just kind of walked around and got some food with them that night. It was kind of an early night because we were all exhausted and had to get up early the next morning.
Day Three April 2nd 2010
Today Sarah, Tolan, and I were determined to get to the Cape of Good Hope. We knew it could quite possible be difficult to do so but we knew we’d get there. We took a train from Cape Town to Simon’s Town which is about three quarters of the way to the Cape. That was a lot easier than we thought and definitely a lot easier and a whole lot better overall than our train experiences in India. Simon’s Town was just a cute little town that we walked in for a little while. While I was shopping, Tolan and Sarah went to the tourist place that set us up with a driver for the rest of the day so we could get to and from the cape in a solid amount of time.
On our way to the Cape, with this tour guide/driver that tried to sell us one of his tour offers every ten seconds, we stopped at a few pretty views and such. One time we had to stop because there were BABOONS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Ok, this is what I learned about Baboons. They are mean, very mean. If you have food they will find it and get it any way possible. One of those ways, which I viewed WITH MY OWN TWO EYES was to approach a parked car (with stupid tourists in it), unlock the trunk somehow, open the trunk, unzip a backpack, steal bread out of the backpack, and walk away. It was sick.
Anyways, we eventually reached the Cape. it was very cool. The Cape of Good Hope, for those of you that was not familiar, is on the western tip of Africa where the Atlantic and India Oceans meet. It used to be called the Cape of Storms because it was nearly impossible for ships to survive while traveling around it. We climbed to the top of the cliff that overlooked the two oceans meeting. It was a pretty amazing view.
We had a three o’clock train to catch, it was about 2:35. We REALLY wanted to stop and looked at the penguins but we knew we had no time because we really needed to be on that train in order for our plans to work out the rest of the day. Needless to say, we didn’t see the penguins but we did make our train. We did see ostriches though.
After taking the train back to Cape Town and arriving at the ship we got changed and headed back out. Tonight we had plans to sleep at a Bed and Breakfast in one of the Townships. A bunch of our friends had told us about these B&B’s because they had done organized township tours the day before.
After figuring out the cheap minibus system to the Township we hopped in and luckily arrived at the right location to meet our B&B host. Mpho was her name and she was one of the nicest woman I have met. She walked us to her house and welcomed us. I don’t really know how to go about writing about this bed and breakfast so i’m just gonna explain our night. Basically we sat around her house and talked to her and her mom, Thope, and ate the most delicious homemade pastries I have ever had. I got the recipe for them, thank goodness! Their house originated as a two room house given to them by the government but since then they have added a ton of additions including three bathrooms, a family room, a kitchen, a dining room, three bedrooms, and a garage. It was a really nice house.
We talked for about 3 hours and it was the most interesting talk I have had with anyone. Mpho and Thope were such bright and inspiring women. Thope does a lot of talks around the world of entrepreneur business opportunities and women empowerment. After listening to her talk for so long Sarah and I felt like we needed to go and make a difference in the world Asap. We were exhausted so we hit the sack for a well deserved full nights rest. Sarah and I snuggled.
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Day Four April 3rd 2010
Well I can say that this morning I had the most delicious breakfast ever. (other than cinnamon buns on Christmas morning). Mpho made us a semi-traditional African breakfast of meat, eggs, tomatoes, onions. Then, we had yogurt and granola on the side. Now that I think about it it wasn’t really anything too special but it for sure hit the spot compared to the same breakfast I have on the ship everyday - bad oatmeal with unevenly toasted bread, unripe fruit, and overcooked bacon. Thats just me being a brat and super ready for food from home. The food on the ship is actually pretty good its just getting old.
That early afternoon we took a tour of the township. Mpho showed us a shoe maker’s shack, her friend’s house, and introduced us to some kids who we could give pencils, balloons, and stickers to. It was really nice feel safe as white people walking through the same all black community that Amy Beihl was in killed in for being white just fifteen years ago. If you do not know who Amy Beihl is you should look up her story, it is really inspiring. Anyways, we talked to a bunch of the locals and got a sense of their lives. Everyone loved waving and talking to us also.
After the township tour it was time to head back to Cape Town. I was determined to get my whole head braided. For some reason I pictured it looking really cool and stylish. Well, needless to say, I got it done when we got back in town and it looked nothing but cool and stylish. It was actually kind of wild but I grew to like it. (I already took them out because I was unable to shampoo or condition them so my head got really itchy. I really enjoyed them and kind of miss them already. 4/9)
We got some yummy food for a late lunch. It was Shormas. I got a grilled veggie shorma that came in pita bread. Afterwards, Tolan and Sarah headed back to the ship to get ready for the jazz festival, and I did a little shopping at the market. I had a bunch of money left over that I felt like I had to spend because the next day was Easter and I had heard absolutely nothing was going to be open. Also, exchange rates are super shitty so it usually makes more sense to just spend the money in the country it belongs to.
After about two hours of frustrating shopping I gave up. I feel like anytime I had money to spend or like my mom offers to buy me an outfit I never can find anything I like. Thats how it was. I headed back to the ship and found Chloe and Kristin. They were getting ready to get some dinner and go out so I decided to just join them.
Kristin’s boyfriend’s friend’s brother lives in Cape Town so we met up with him and his girlfriend. Connections like that have been happening a lot on this trip. People find any connection they can in the countries we go to because it is just so nice to know a local. In Ghana I am meeting up with My dad’s coworker’s cousin. Better than nothing!
That night we went to this German Pub on the waterfront and had some yummy beer and food. We then headed to Long Street. I feel like I can leave a lot of the details of this night out but I will say it was wild. We bar and club hopped with Kristin’s friend. It was really fun to be at spots where there were no other semester at sea kids but sometimes I like seeing them. Eventually we ran into a big group of our friends and ended up hanging out at the same club as them called Stones. It’s so weird to be able to go out and order drinks seeing as I am only 20. But, it was nice for sure. I really liked the hard ciders, I didn’t know such a thing existed.
We headed back to the ship kind of early because Greta is a baby and needed sleep. Oh, and Sarah was really drunk and needed to go to bed (she is 21 so it’s okay mom).
That night when I got back to the room I for whatever reason had a productive night haha. I apparently ate some chocolate, talked to my roommate, sent some emails, and used my internet time to post a picture on my mom’s facebook wall of my braids.
Day Five April 4th 2010
Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, everything was not closed - contrary to what I had heard. But, for some reason I woke up with a little less money than I had gone out with so I can’t say I was in desperate need to go shopping anymore.
That morning a pretty big group of us went to church. It was a nice experience for sure. I am glad we went. The church we went to was a mix of different divisions of Christianity. There was some great music and a mix of different languages. One thing I found funny was that when there was a long reading the Pastor would read/sing it rather than do one or the other. It was kind of like he decided to sing it last minute but just made up the notes as he went along. I really liked that he did this haha. Mallory - remind me to sing to you the way this pastor sang the readings.
After church we all went and got some lunch. I had the best sandwich I have had on my entire trip. It was like tomato, mozzarella, salami, pickles, etc! Lunch took longer than we expected so we only had a few hours left until we had to get back on the ship. Chloe and I decided to find some internet so we could skype our parents on Easter and then she had some extra money she wanted to spend at the grocery store.
We were on the internet for longer than we thought so we had to rush to get to the grocery store. Which was fine because I loved talking to friends and family from home!
Okay, so the other day I was pretty sure I had put money aside to use for the last day but I couldn’t find it so I assumed I spent it while I was out. But, when I went back to my room to get my laptop I found some money and assumed it was the money I had put aside. So, while at the grocery store I was running around frantically trying to find stuff to spend my money on without getting a ton of chocolate and candy. After about twenty-five minutes I went to check out. I was pretty excited about some of the stuff I got. When I went to pay for it the cashier told me the money I handed her is not accepted there. I didn’t understand why until I looked at it and realized that I had handed her Mauritian ruppies rather than South African Raan. I felt like kind of an idiot but I was in such a rush that I couldn’t do anything other than say “Sorry!” and then get out of there and get back to the ship. Bummer
I really enjoyed South Africa and felt like it is the one port I learned the most about and will always remember. Before arriving there we had a pre port lecturer who was very interesting and enjoyable to listen to. Between and him and Thope from the Township bed and breakfast I think I gained a lot of knew knowledge from two separate prospectives (Michael being a white South African and Thope being a black South African). Although Africa and India have some of the same economic and environmental problems I just see them completely differently. I really feel like South Africa is making the best of what it has and although the government has not yet given them all the houses they promised they still are living their lives the best way they can. After learning all about the Apartheid it was hard to imagine two communities merging together with open arms but that is exactly what it was. I was nervous that just by the color of my skin I would be looked at differently, and I think I was, but not in the negative way I had thought.
The other thing about South Africa is that it is getting ready for the World Cup. Many of us thought that that would do great things for the economy there but we learned otherwise by talking to the people. Cab drivers will not be benefiting as much as one would think because the government is bringing in many other cab drivers from other countries that will be stealing business from the locals. The government is also scared that the appearance of the townships along the main roadways are going to scare all the tourists, make them feel in danger, and change their opinion of Cape Town and South Africa. Because of this, they are putting up huge walls so along the highways to block the townships. They are telling the people it is to prevent people from the Townships from committing suicide by jumping in the roadways but everyone knows that is just a cover. Personally, I think the townships need to be seen because without them tourists are going to get almost a fake image of South Africa.
I am excited to go to Ghana because I definitely feel like South Africa (Cape Town specifically), like all the other countries that hold large national events, is being beautified for tourists and is not the greatest representation of Africa itself.
Lastly, one thing that is so striking to me is that in a lot of the countries I am going to, specifically India and parts of Africa, there are tons and tons of people dying everyday from hunger while in the United States some of the leading causes of death are diseases linked directly to obesity. Isn’t it strange that we are essentially dying from eating too much food while other countries are dying from not getting enough food?
Ship life has been very uneventful, in a good way. I have just been catching up on some work, laying out, eating, sleeping, etc. :)
Anyways, I will be home in like 27 days or so and I CANNOT WAIT.
Ghana tomorrow - should be really sweet.
Love and miss all of you!!!!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Mauritius was WONDERFUL!
I really really loved Mauritius. For those of you that do not know - Mauritius is an Island in between India and Africa. It is right of the east coast of Madagascar. Mauritius itself is only about 35 miles long but it has the most cultural diversity I have ever seen. You can go into a restaurant and see a Christian African women speaking french eating an India Dosa at a restaurant that serves Mauritius, French, Indian, African, and American food.
We docked in Port Louis, the biggest city of Mauritius. The city is on the west coast more than south. The first day 13 friends of mine and I took a van to Blue Bay because Thomas’s mom booked a hostel there and it was super cheap. Blue bay is in the south east corner of the island. That day, we got settled at the hostel and headed for the beach. On the way, Sarah, Tolan, Michael, Carson, and I stopped for some lunch. I had seen signs for pizza and sandwiches and they had made me crave american food. But, I know that my group was trying to eat some Mauritian food. Luckily, the restaurants have such an array of food that we were able to find a place that suited all of our taste buds. I had a chicken sandwich and fries - yum. Afterwards, we hopped on a bus and headed to the beach. Well, like you have learned in my past blogs, nothing ever goes completely smoothly. Our bus the broke down. It didn’t end up being that big of a deal, we just hopped on the next one about fifteen minutes later. When we finally got to the beach we met up with the rest of our group. Someone had approached us about snorkeling so we took their offer. We all hopped on a boat and went to the lagoon to snorkel. The fish were beautiful and the coral was sick. It was kind of an overcast day with a little rain but that didn’t ruin our day at all.
After snorkeling we headed back to the hostel to get cleaned up and such. There was free wifi so i got to skype with my rents. That made me really really happy and I think it made my marm and dad real happy too.
That night the town we were in was pretty dead. After all, it was a tuesday night. We had heard that there was a restaurant near us that had live music so we decided to check that out. We found it by asking another restaurant for directions and having them randomly call a free shuttle for us. It was super nice. There was live music and good food. I got a scrumptious hawaiian pizza. We were there for a while and then Carson, Michael, Tolan, Sarah, and I decided to call it a night because we had plans to get up early in the morning. The two couples and I shared a bedroom. Tolan, Sarah, and I even shared a bed haha. Fifth wheel is always fun :). They were chill about it though so it was all good.
The next morning we woke up around 6 because we had arranged with our Hostel ‘mom’ to take us around the island. The 6 of us squeezed into her little car because it was cheaper than getting a van.
Our first stop was at a hiking trail. We thought the trail took us to waterfalls but we never really found them. We did find about 6 inches of mud for about 40 feet though. We laughed about it and had a good time. Our hike was only about an hour long but we saw a bunch of frogs.
Next stop was the actual waterfalls. They were so pretty. First, we saw them from like high up and then decided to work our way down to them. We found our way and were able to climb on the top of the waterfalls and work our way down a little bit. They were so relaxing and fun. I really love waterfalls.
Third stop way at the red river gorge or something. It was just a really really nice view of the island. We were kind of on a tight schedule so we pulled a hiroshima and got out, took pictures, and went on our way. (I say ‘pull a hiroshima’ because in Japan max, lele, ryan, and I took a train to hiroshima, took a picture, and hopped back on the train)
Right by the gorge were the seven colored earth sand dunes. Overrated. I thought by seven color they meant like red, orange, yellow, green, blue, etc. But, apparently what they meant was mocha-brown, chocolate-brown, cappuccino-brown, etc. There were some hue turtles there though. They were pretty cool looking but a little ugly.
Next, we were headed for the beach. Tolan’s uncle lived in Mauritius and had recommend a beach called La Monde. It was easily the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in my life. The water was like bright bright bright blue and the sand was super white. We only had about an hour and a half there but we wished we had a week and a half. We got some food there. I had a burger and fries - it hit the spottttttt. Then, we just relaxed in the water because it was like 90 degrees outside.
We decided to ourselves some time at the end of the day to shop in Port Louis because we had heard good things. We left the beach at 2:30. We were told it takes an our to get back to Port Louis. We had to be back on the ship by 6 p.m. but that really means by 5 p.m. so that we are not late. Well, around 4:45 we realize that we are cutting it too close for comfort. There had been a traffic accident right outside Port Louis that had backed up traffic for miles and miles. We really had no idea what to do at this point. If we were late getting back at the ship then we would be getting dock time. What that means is that for every 15 minutes after 6 we are getting back on the ship that is 3 hours we have to stay on the ship at the next port. SO shitty if that happens. At this point traffic was bumper to bumper and we were about 4 or so miles away from the port. We decided to get out and walk since it seemed faster than driving. We walked for about twenty minutes and realized that traffic had started moving, it was still slow but now seemed faster than walking. We weren’t really sure waht to do. A taxi went by that had 2 of our staff in it - the psychologist and her friend. We flagged them down and they had one spot left so I hopped in there. My friends hopped in another taxi. For some reason i felt like if I showed up to the ship late with the psychologist it would look better than showing up with my friends. Long story short our taxi driver missed the turn for the port so we had to go out of our way and blah blah blah we got back to the ship around 5:20 and there was line to get through security that was like 30 feet long. We assumed we were screwed but, security luckily went fast and we got on the ship around 5:30. My friend’s taxi did not miss the turn so they were already on the ship by the time we pulled up to it. Thats karma for me bailing on them. oh well, it worked out.
Okay so I don’t even know if this story is going to make sense at all but it was really really funny at the time so I figure I will give it a try. A few days before Mauritius I had read on Wikitravel.com about the waterfalls. Wiki described them as ‘awkward to get to’ which my friends and I found really strange. We were all talking about like what could possibly be awkward about getting to waterfalls. We were like ‘why couldn’t they say difficult or confusing or even like misleading?” So, the night before we went to the waterfalls we were joking about it like ‘is everyone ready for this awkward walk to the waterfalls?’ We started discussing what could possibly make a walk awkward and we were like ‘maybe you walk through a nude beach on the way...thats awkward’ or ‘maybe you run into your ex-girlfriends like “uhh can’t go left [shreeek] thats awkward”. It was just really funny all together. We obviously joked about this for like a solid hour and completely killed it but it was entertaining for sure. So like I said, when we went looking for the waterfalls, that we didn’t find, the only awkward thing about the walk was that it was a really deep muddy path. Soo I don’t know what awkward situations we missed out on by not continuing all the way there.
I don’t really feel like proofreading this entry so if there are typos and such just ignore them. Currently, we are on our way to South Africa. The water is a little more rough than it has been in the past which is a bummer. Apparently around the cape of hope it is suppose to get really rough.
P.S. I LOVE EMAILS so email me :) jgpolitz@semesteratsea.net
We docked in Port Louis, the biggest city of Mauritius. The city is on the west coast more than south. The first day 13 friends of mine and I took a van to Blue Bay because Thomas’s mom booked a hostel there and it was super cheap. Blue bay is in the south east corner of the island. That day, we got settled at the hostel and headed for the beach. On the way, Sarah, Tolan, Michael, Carson, and I stopped for some lunch. I had seen signs for pizza and sandwiches and they had made me crave american food. But, I know that my group was trying to eat some Mauritian food. Luckily, the restaurants have such an array of food that we were able to find a place that suited all of our taste buds. I had a chicken sandwich and fries - yum. Afterwards, we hopped on a bus and headed to the beach. Well, like you have learned in my past blogs, nothing ever goes completely smoothly. Our bus the broke down. It didn’t end up being that big of a deal, we just hopped on the next one about fifteen minutes later. When we finally got to the beach we met up with the rest of our group. Someone had approached us about snorkeling so we took their offer. We all hopped on a boat and went to the lagoon to snorkel. The fish were beautiful and the coral was sick. It was kind of an overcast day with a little rain but that didn’t ruin our day at all.
After snorkeling we headed back to the hostel to get cleaned up and such. There was free wifi so i got to skype with my rents. That made me really really happy and I think it made my marm and dad real happy too.
That night the town we were in was pretty dead. After all, it was a tuesday night. We had heard that there was a restaurant near us that had live music so we decided to check that out. We found it by asking another restaurant for directions and having them randomly call a free shuttle for us. It was super nice. There was live music and good food. I got a scrumptious hawaiian pizza. We were there for a while and then Carson, Michael, Tolan, Sarah, and I decided to call it a night because we had plans to get up early in the morning. The two couples and I shared a bedroom. Tolan, Sarah, and I even shared a bed haha. Fifth wheel is always fun :). They were chill about it though so it was all good.
The next morning we woke up around 6 because we had arranged with our Hostel ‘mom’ to take us around the island. The 6 of us squeezed into her little car because it was cheaper than getting a van.
Our first stop was at a hiking trail. We thought the trail took us to waterfalls but we never really found them. We did find about 6 inches of mud for about 40 feet though. We laughed about it and had a good time. Our hike was only about an hour long but we saw a bunch of frogs.
Next stop was the actual waterfalls. They were so pretty. First, we saw them from like high up and then decided to work our way down to them. We found our way and were able to climb on the top of the waterfalls and work our way down a little bit. They were so relaxing and fun. I really love waterfalls.
Third stop way at the red river gorge or something. It was just a really really nice view of the island. We were kind of on a tight schedule so we pulled a hiroshima and got out, took pictures, and went on our way. (I say ‘pull a hiroshima’ because in Japan max, lele, ryan, and I took a train to hiroshima, took a picture, and hopped back on the train)
Right by the gorge were the seven colored earth sand dunes. Overrated. I thought by seven color they meant like red, orange, yellow, green, blue, etc. But, apparently what they meant was mocha-brown, chocolate-brown, cappuccino-brown, etc. There were some hue turtles there though. They were pretty cool looking but a little ugly.
Next, we were headed for the beach. Tolan’s uncle lived in Mauritius and had recommend a beach called La Monde. It was easily the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in my life. The water was like bright bright bright blue and the sand was super white. We only had about an hour and a half there but we wished we had a week and a half. We got some food there. I had a burger and fries - it hit the spottttttt. Then, we just relaxed in the water because it was like 90 degrees outside.
We decided to ourselves some time at the end of the day to shop in Port Louis because we had heard good things. We left the beach at 2:30. We were told it takes an our to get back to Port Louis. We had to be back on the ship by 6 p.m. but that really means by 5 p.m. so that we are not late. Well, around 4:45 we realize that we are cutting it too close for comfort. There had been a traffic accident right outside Port Louis that had backed up traffic for miles and miles. We really had no idea what to do at this point. If we were late getting back at the ship then we would be getting dock time. What that means is that for every 15 minutes after 6 we are getting back on the ship that is 3 hours we have to stay on the ship at the next port. SO shitty if that happens. At this point traffic was bumper to bumper and we were about 4 or so miles away from the port. We decided to get out and walk since it seemed faster than driving. We walked for about twenty minutes and realized that traffic had started moving, it was still slow but now seemed faster than walking. We weren’t really sure waht to do. A taxi went by that had 2 of our staff in it - the psychologist and her friend. We flagged them down and they had one spot left so I hopped in there. My friends hopped in another taxi. For some reason i felt like if I showed up to the ship late with the psychologist it would look better than showing up with my friends. Long story short our taxi driver missed the turn for the port so we had to go out of our way and blah blah blah we got back to the ship around 5:20 and there was line to get through security that was like 30 feet long. We assumed we were screwed but, security luckily went fast and we got on the ship around 5:30. My friend’s taxi did not miss the turn so they were already on the ship by the time we pulled up to it. Thats karma for me bailing on them. oh well, it worked out.
Okay so I don’t even know if this story is going to make sense at all but it was really really funny at the time so I figure I will give it a try. A few days before Mauritius I had read on Wikitravel.com about the waterfalls. Wiki described them as ‘awkward to get to’ which my friends and I found really strange. We were all talking about like what could possibly be awkward about getting to waterfalls. We were like ‘why couldn’t they say difficult or confusing or even like misleading?” So, the night before we went to the waterfalls we were joking about it like ‘is everyone ready for this awkward walk to the waterfalls?’ We started discussing what could possibly make a walk awkward and we were like ‘maybe you walk through a nude beach on the way...thats awkward’ or ‘maybe you run into your ex-girlfriends like “uhh can’t go left [shreeek] thats awkward”. It was just really funny all together. We obviously joked about this for like a solid hour and completely killed it but it was entertaining for sure. So like I said, when we went looking for the waterfalls, that we didn’t find, the only awkward thing about the walk was that it was a really deep muddy path. Soo I don’t know what awkward situations we missed out on by not continuing all the way there.
I don’t really feel like proofreading this entry so if there are typos and such just ignore them. Currently, we are on our way to South Africa. The water is a little more rough than it has been in the past which is a bummer. Apparently around the cape of hope it is suppose to get really rough.
P.S. I LOVE EMAILS so email me :) jgpolitz@semesteratsea.net
Monday, March 22, 2010
Ship life
Once again, ship life has been kind of uneventful. The weather has been so beautiful so everyone just lays out like usual :) :) Everyone on the ship takes a class called global studies. We had a global studies exam yesterday so uptil then everyone was cramming for that. I studied a ton because I bombed the last one.
The other day we crossed the equator! This means I am on the southern hemisphere which means its officially summer for us - even though it has felt like summer for the last month anyway. But, on ships, the day you cross the equator is called Neptune Day. Neptune day for us was Saturday so we didn’t have class. We were woken up by the crew dressed up in like warrior gear banging drums and chanting. Then, we went up to the 7th deck and went though ‘initiation’. Basically, fake fish guts were poured on us, we jump in the pool, and then we kiss a fish. It was a stupid little fun activity. The rest of the day was devoted to the head shavings. It is a tradition for people to shave their heads on Neptune day. Believe it or not about half of the 100 or so people that shaved their heads were girls. If the girls hair was long enough then it would be donated to locks of love. I did not shave my head because I am still trying to make new friends and look for my future husband. Shaving my head would have stopped me from doing both of those things. Some of the girls can pull off the bald look but others kind of creep me out. It took balls though, I will give them that.
That afternoon I took a nap and had a weird dream/nightmare that there were weird bald people walking around in the next port. Then, when I woke up I was totally freaked out that so many people had shaved heads.
We will be in Mauritius tomorrow. Mauritius is a small island, about 30 miles long, between India and Africa right next to Madagascar. It is suppose to be a very cultural island so I think it’ll be sweet. We are only there for one night and two days. My plan is to rent a bike with some friends and explore. I hope to find some water falls and other cool stuff. The second day I hope to go snorkeling in the morning and maybe to this sweet zip line park in the afternoon.
That is all for now, sorry for the delay on the India blog entry! Feel free to keep emailing me because I have a lot of time between ports from here on out. 63 days down, 43 days to go! Its so bitter sweet its not even funny.
Tomorrow is my sister’s birthday and friday is my brother’s birthday. It is crazy that we are all in different countries, and continents, right now! I love you Mallory and Gregory hope you both have great birthdays!!!!!
The other day we crossed the equator! This means I am on the southern hemisphere which means its officially summer for us - even though it has felt like summer for the last month anyway. But, on ships, the day you cross the equator is called Neptune Day. Neptune day for us was Saturday so we didn’t have class. We were woken up by the crew dressed up in like warrior gear banging drums and chanting. Then, we went up to the 7th deck and went though ‘initiation’. Basically, fake fish guts were poured on us, we jump in the pool, and then we kiss a fish. It was a stupid little fun activity. The rest of the day was devoted to the head shavings. It is a tradition for people to shave their heads on Neptune day. Believe it or not about half of the 100 or so people that shaved their heads were girls. If the girls hair was long enough then it would be donated to locks of love. I did not shave my head because I am still trying to make new friends and look for my future husband. Shaving my head would have stopped me from doing both of those things. Some of the girls can pull off the bald look but others kind of creep me out. It took balls though, I will give them that.
That afternoon I took a nap and had a weird dream/nightmare that there were weird bald people walking around in the next port. Then, when I woke up I was totally freaked out that so many people had shaved heads.
We will be in Mauritius tomorrow. Mauritius is a small island, about 30 miles long, between India and Africa right next to Madagascar. It is suppose to be a very cultural island so I think it’ll be sweet. We are only there for one night and two days. My plan is to rent a bike with some friends and explore. I hope to find some water falls and other cool stuff. The second day I hope to go snorkeling in the morning and maybe to this sweet zip line park in the afternoon.
That is all for now, sorry for the delay on the India blog entry! Feel free to keep emailing me because I have a lot of time between ports from here on out. 63 days down, 43 days to go! Its so bitter sweet its not even funny.
Tomorrow is my sister’s birthday and friday is my brother’s birthday. It is crazy that we are all in different countries, and continents, right now! I love you Mallory and Gregory hope you both have great birthdays!!!!!
India
Namaste!
I just finished my traveling through India and it was quite an adventure. Independently traveling, compared to doing a Semester at Sea trip, is very exhausting and usually frustrating at times. This port was by far the most frustrating one to travel through. I was with four other people; Tolan. Sarah, Carson, and Thomas. We really wanted to see the Taj Mahal which is in Agra, northern India, but the ship docked in Chennai first and then Cochin – both of which are in Southern India. But, we booked a flight to Delhi for the second day and a flight from Varanasi on the second to last day. That left us the 12th, 13th, and 14th to travel.
Disclaimer: Due to the frustration my group and I had while we had while traveling, I am still a little bitter towards India. So, if you foresee your self taking any of my upcoming hostility toward India personally then maybe you should not read this post. Love, Jill.
Day 1 March 11th 2010
We arrived in Chennai, India. I once again had no idea what to expect. I was told it was gonna be hot, poor, and dirty. That was an understatement. I was also told that every American women is looked at as a slut when they get to India due to shows like Baywatch, so all women should have their knees and shoulders covered while traveling India. That was kind of an exaggeration.
Sarah and I decided to go on a hunt for an internet café while Greta was on a short SAS trip that was done in a few hours. We were told that the internet café was less than 3k away so we decided to walk. We walked, and walked, and got hounded by people, and walked some more. It was blistering hot and humid. i was wearing jean capris so my knees were covered. Needless to say, I was sweating my balls off. Anyways, No sign of an internet café or even much civilization at all was there. We saw Eric and Thomas go by in a rickshaw and decided to join them. They got off back at the ship and Sarah and I ventured with this rickshaw driver to an internet café. It was a journey but we eventually got there and they did not have wifi or the skype. Aka it was a completely worthless trip. I hate getting my hopes up and getting shot down when it comes to skyping!
Later that day Sarah and I went to meet up with Greta back at the ship. It was hard to want to leave the ship again and explore some more but we did it because we are only in India once. We stuck with the same rickshaw driver. He showed us around to all these shops, the big mall, a spot for lunch, and the beach. It was a nice day of exploring Chennai. I bought a few things but the best thing was the wild pair of pants I scored on. just kidding, but really they are wild. The last event of the night was checking out the beach. It was pretty nice but no one was in bathing suits, which i expected. There were mini carnival rides there for kids and snack stands in the parking lot. I got to ride a horse for a dollar. It was sweet. I can’t say Chennai, India had a crazy night life so we played it cool on the ship for the rest of the night.
Day 2 March 12th 2010
This morning began the most adventurous week of my life. We were late leaving for the airport to catch our flight to Delhi. Consequently, our taxi drive was fifty times crazier than it would have been if we weren’t running late. But, we made it to the airport on time, caught our flight, had a smooth ride, and got to Delhi safely. (By the way, I use to the term airport lightly because it didn’t actually have any terminals and the desks were all outside.) The airport had a tourist help desk that hooked us up with a ‘nice’ hotel and taxi driver to get us there. We were given the choice between two hotels - one cheap and one cheaper. We decided to go to the nicer of the two and that was a good decision. The hotel was called a Sheraton but it was farrrrr from it. Anyways, I am done bashing. The hotel gave us what we needed - a bed and a bathroom.
Before leaving the hotel we decided to talk to them about train tickets and such. Let me lay out the situation for you: We currently planned on going to Agra the next morning by train then spending the day there and taking the overnight train to Varanasi. In Varanasi we’d explore for the day, get a hotel for the night, and then catch our flight back to the ship the next afternoon. The problem was that we did not have a train ticket from Delhi to Agra and we were on the wait list for the overnight train to Varanasi. In addition to the fact that we did not book any other hotels. Basically, after spending way too much time in the hotel’s travel agent’s office we decided that we’d let the agent get us a driver to Agra and then back to Delhi and spend another night in Delhi. Then, take a flight from Delhi to Varanasi the next afternoon. The situation kind of sucked but we figured it was our only option. It still kind of left our plans in the air but alteast we had a plan B if we didn’t get on to the overnight train. Needless to say, we left the hotel travel agent’s office very frustrated. We needed to eat.
Next, we headed to get some food. We were all about finding a local restaurant to eat a good India meal at. We succeeded and had a great meal. Some sag chicken, paneer, chicken masala, naan, and more that i don’t know the name of. To be honest I was a little nervous about eating the food because I don’t have the most reliable stomach int he world and I know that I couldn't rely on India having the most reliable toilets either. But, no worries, my stomach was fine.
After lunch we were on a quest to find an instrument shop for Tolan. Tolan was determined to get a sweet instrument because he is totally musical and his parents gave him money for his bday to pick one. Long story short, he bartered the hell out of this one guy and got a Harmonium and 2 drums. We were told that the post office would have time to pack the instruments and get them ready to ship before they close. Well, we took them there and they began to pack them up. Don’t even begin to think that they used standard shipping boxes because they didn't. They wrapped the instruments in layers of bubble wrap and then HAND SEWED potato looking sacks around them. about 2 hours later they were done. At this point the post office was closed. COOL. We decided to just lug them around for the day and ship them in Agra. When we got to post office in Agra they told us that they needed to see inside the packages but they did not have an xray machine. There was no f’ing way we were letting them open these packages and then take the time to resew them up. We said forget it and we decided to just bring them onto the ship so that Tolan can just ship them when we get back to the U.S.A. Consequently, we were lugging these instruments around the next couple days, which isn’t as big of a damper as it may sound.
Later that evening, since the instrument ordeal took about 4 hours, we decided to go to a government run travel agent because we felt like the guy at the hotel was ripping us off (this becomes a common theme throughout the whole trip). We got the travel agency and the people running it were cool as hell. It was a guy and girl that were dating. The guy hooked us up with drivers, tour guides, hotels, and train tickets for the rest of our time in India. It was a little pricy but it was freak load of stress off our shoulders. They were suppose to close and go to a movie at 7 and we kept them there til like 8:30 with all our questions and little details so we decided to make it up to them by treating them to dinner. They picked the place and it was sweet. It was called Picodellis. It was totally modern and cool.
The last stop of the night was the movie theatre. We couldn’t be in India without seeing BOLLYWOOD MOVIE! The movie we saw was called Atitha. Before we got into the theatre the guards frisked us and took our camera batteries until after the movie. The movie ended up being pretty bad, especially since it was all in Hindi, but I am glad we went. The popcorn was banging though no doubt.
That night I had my first hallucination due to the Malaria meds I am on. I was sleeping next to my friend Carson. I woke up and I was positive that she was spooning with the bell boy from that hotel. I stared for a while, unsure if I should give them some time alone or maybe save Carson from this weird boy. I decided to reach over and touch him to make sure he was there. Needless to say, it was just Carson...alone.
Day 3 March 13th 2010
So today was one of the most frustrating days of my life so it will be very difficult to keep this entry G rated when it comes to my language. But, i will try my best.
First of all, we were off to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. We only had that day until like 11 pm to spend in Agra so we were excited to get there and explore. The travel agents told us that it would take three hours tops to get to Agra. 7 HOURS LATER we arrived in Agra via stick shift car on the streets, not highways, of India. Oh, and we specifically said that we did not want a tour guide because we really wanted to be able to go around on our own and not just be tourists. Well, we got out of the car in Agra and there was our good ‘ol tour guide. HE SUCKED. We got to the Taj Mahal happy as can be (kinda). I won’t lie, it was really really beautiful - better than the pictures I had seen. The story about it is sweet too. Basically an emporer had the taj built for his wife when she died and her and his tombs are the only ones in the whole building. Everything about the Taj Mahal is symmetrical so that makes the architecture look awesome. We got there around 4:30 so we decided to stick around for sunset. Time went by, the sun went down, and we were STILL there. FYI there is nothing to do at the Taj after you’ve already taken all of the pictures you want and seen every inch of the mosc. Our tour guide conveniently lost his cell phone and told us to wait for him before we leave. Well, he never came back so we decided to head out. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, our tour guide was at the exit looking for us. We were pretty much fuming at him because he wasted a good part of our day. But, to think positively, if i was stranded somewhere for 2 hours in India I would definitely want it to be at the Taj Mahal.
Unfortunately, the day did not get much better. The tour guides and rickshaw drivers have been notorious for bringing tourists to these Marble Emporium shops. Basically, they are huge stores with stuff from carpets to gadget at ridiculous prices. If they bring tourists to these stores they get a free t-shirt or something so they always do it. Well, we knew about this setup already so we specifically told our tour guide that we DO NOT want to go to any of those places we just want to go get spices and tea..........I am sure you can guess where our next stop was. ONE OF THOSE STUPID EMPORIUMS!!!! I wanted to murder this tour guide, as did all my friends. To top it off, we thought we had some more time to go shopping and maybe get some food but our tour guide then told us that we were an hour and a half from the train station and we have to be there two hours early. Aka we were now heading to the freakin’ train station. OUR WHOLE DAY CONSISTED OF A CAR RIDE, THE TAJ FOR WAY TOO LONG, AND A DUMB @$$ EMPORIUM.
So, we headed to the train station. I don’t know why I thought this train station would be even some what decent but it was NOT. AT ALL. We arrived at 9:30 pm. We walked to the ‘waiting room’. Our whole walk there we were dodging bird poop because the rafters of the station were COVERED with birds. Then, we got into the waiting room and I couldn’t help but notice a few RATS running around ...ew. An hour and a half later we were getting excited that our train would be there soon so we carried our stuff to the platform. We checked the train times and realized our train was running an hour late. (notice how everything is getting better and better as the day goes on) My friends were hungry so we looked for some food. I cant say i had much of an appetite at this point. At this point in our journey I was in a very bad mood but I knew everyone was so I tried not to express my anger, i just I kept quite. We found a food area and sat there. My friends ordered doll (a gravy based stew type thing) and some naan (bread). Well, when the ‘waiter’ brought out the doll he spilled it not all over my pants (that i planned to wear the rest of the trip) but also down the side of my backpack into my water bottle holder and onto my hat that was in the holder. Lucky for this Indian man he did not know the meaning of F*** you so i refrained from even saying it. But, I would really have liked to call my mom crying and get her to buy me a plane ticket back to my ship. After dinner we went back to the waiting room and propped our feet up on our bags so no rats touched us. Basically for every hour that went by the train delayed an hour. FINALLY at 2:45 am our train arrived. But, the train was about 40 cars long and of course we were at the wrong end so we had to sprint to the correct end with our backpacks and Tolan’s instruments. LUCKILY, we found our beds on the sleeper train and they were perfectly fine. That was definitely a sigh of relief. My friend Thomas was on the top bunk next to mine so I didn’t feel completely unsafe.
That night I had another Hallucination due to my malaria medicine. I woke up in the middle of the night and on the end of Thomas’s bed I could have swore there was a monkey. The same monkey I saw swinging from the rafters at the train station. I wasn’t sure what to do about it so I closed my eyes and fell asleep as fast as possible.
Day 4 March 14th, 2010
I woke up very confused, somehow forgetting that I was on a sleeper train in the middle of India. Originally, we thought the train was suppose to get to Varanasi at like noon. Therefore, we assumed that since it was 3 hours late to pick us up then it won’t be getting to Varanasi until like 3 pm. We were wrong, luckily. We talked to some India people on the train that let us know that our stop was coming up in about 25 minutes. This really really helped us considering there was no conductor or anyone telling us when to get off or even what station we were at when we stopped. It all worked out. We got off at the right stop and found our driver who for some reason thought our train was suppose to get in at 7 am so he was mad that we were so late? whatevs.
That day, we made it clear to our driver that we did not need a tour guide to show us around the city or take us to lunch - we wanted to explore on our own. So, for the rest of the afternoon we explored Varanasi. We were not in a very touristy area which was nice. When we walked down the dirt roads we were see a combination of MONKEYS (!!!), rickshaws, cars, bikes, and livestock on the roads. There were stray dogs walking around all over the place. The shops (i also use this word lightly because there were no doors, walls, lights, or air condition) along the sides of the road consisted of all sorts of stuff but mostly fabric, jewelry, shoes, and mini snack shacks. There was this one back alley of shops (which were really little huts) that we went down. As we walked down the India people would say stuff like “Hi Hello Lady, would you like some scarf?” and if you ignored them you would hear “Hi Hello? LADY? Hiii!”. All the huts had a sign that said ‘fixed price’ on it but the prices were far from fixed. Although stuff was already super cheap we still felt the need to barter the prices down because we knew they had hiked them up just because we were tourists. After shopping for a while we got lunch at a local place again. All the Indian food was kind of blending together - some mush, like pareer or masala, with some chicken, and some bread - either naan or roti. It was all usually good but it put our stomachs in a doozie (doozie is in my word dictionary - interesting)
After dinner we had plans to meet a guide back at our hotel because we were going on boat ride with him that evening. The boat ride was on the Ganges at sunset. I don’t know too much about the Ganges but what I do know is that it is the most sacred water for the Indians. They bath in this water, they wash their clothes, they drink it, they do everything in it. But, it is some of the dirtiest water ever - we were advised to not even make contact with it. Along this Ganges are these stairs called Ghats. They are just stairs that face the sun that run into the Ganges. As we boated down the river we would see people bathing on the ghats.
There is one famous spot on the Ganges called the burning site. At this spot there are fires built to burn the bodies of dead people. This is very symbolic in India. When someone dies they are suppose to be burned in a fire (just like a camp fire) for 24 hours. Their soul goes to heaven and then their bones and ash are tossed into the Ganges afterwards. Usually only the men related to the burning person watch the fire because tears are said to interrupt the soul going to heaven and since women are known to be more emotional, they do risk the chance of crying. These burning sites were really interesting.
The rest of the night consisted of us just walking around Varanasi some more and then heading back to the hotel. We had plans to wake up for the sunset so we knew not to stay up late.
Day Five: March 15th, 2010
Rise and Shine at 5:30 a.m. We headed back to the Ganges for another boat ride. This ride we went the opposite direction down the river so we saw some different ghats and such. Since it was morning there were a lot more people bathing and playing in the water to get ‘clean’. The sun rise was epic so I am glad we got to see it. Last night the mosquitos were horrific but they were not nearly as bad this morning. There were lots of monkeys on the ghats this morning along with some goats, cows, chickens, and puppies. I love puppies and it killed me that I couldn’t play with them!
After our boat ride we decided to walk down to the burning sites because you couldn’t see too much from the water. While we were there there was only one fire currently burning. We saw someone’s intestine’s in the middle of it. It really hit us that people are actually burned in these fires. I also saw a stray dog gnawing on a human bone :(. I learned that there are a few types of people that are not burned in the fires but rather just thrown right into the ganges. Two of these types of people are kids and pregnant women. The reason is along the lines of the idea that kids have not lived long enough to have a soul worth burning (or something) . And, consequently, since they do not burn kids then they will not burn a women with a child inside her either.
Next on the agenda was our city tour. We went to a University in Varanasi. It only costs about 8 dollars a year, believe it or not. We then checked out a few temples. I had expressed my interest in all the monkeys around India and how I loved to watch them. Because I had expressed that interest, our tour guide took us to the monkey temple. Well, this is where my relationship with monkeys went from love-love to love-hate. The walk way to the temple was filled with monkeys. No cages, no gates, no fences, NOTHING. Well, I saw a baby monkey eating a banana so I crouched down to watch it. Apparently its mommy didn’t like this because she began to SPRINT, if monkeys can sprint, at me. For those who know me very well know that I did a very obnoxious scream of horror and ran away. Luckily, I was safe. But, I didn’t like that one bit. Needless to say, we were not there much longer. I do find it crazy that monkeys’ bodies work so similar to ours. Like if a monkey wants a banana it just grabs a banana and peels it with it’s fingers. If you see a monkey- pay attention to how it sits. I noticed a bunch of these monkeys sitting on their butts and resting their arm on their knee just like a human would. Weird, So weird.
Last stop on the city tour was a silk shop. FINALLY a tour guide that wasn’t trying to rip us off. This was a wholesale shop that loved our business and had an actual fixed price that was very do-able. I’m not gonna go into details of what I bought here because a lot of you will be finding out around christmas time :)
It was now time to go back to Cochin, where the ship was. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) We went to the airport and worked our flights out, luckily. After some confusion we all got onto the same flight to Mumbai (where our layover was). When we arrived in Mumbai we had a layover and then were heading to Cochin. Well, no one decided to tell us that there were two different airports in Mumbai so rather than having a leisurely layover we were actually completely freaking out trying to figure out where to go. We found it. We got on the plane. We got to Cochin. PHEW! One would think that we would go right to the ship to shower and sleep. But, no. We needed to go through immigration before getting back on the ship and the office closed at 8 p.m. It was now 10:30 p.m. so we had to stay in a hotel room that was about 10 minutes from our ship. It was kind of a tease but it could have been worst.
Day Six: March 16th, 2010
We finally reached our last day of India. I thought I would never see the day. My stomach was A little confused so I wasn’t really trying to go anywhere. But, once again I figured that I was only going to be India once, EVER. (sorry for the pessimism)
Anyways, I went out with Greta, Sarah, and our new friend uhh Kayla? I think that was her name. Cochin is a set of islands so we decided to take a ferry over to another island to do some shopping and get stamps. Well, after about a half hour we were uncomfortably hot and didn’t really see anywhere to shop so we got stamps and called it a day.
After getting back to the ship I realized I still had 2,000 ruppies which is about $40. I did not want to leave India with that much India money because I would never have any use for it, ever. Consequently, I had to get back off the ship to find a money exchange place. OF COURSE this was not a simple task. I took a rickshaw (a motor scooter w/ a cart built onto it). The first bank we went to did not have any U.S. dollars. They recommended another bank. The rickshaw driver had quite some trouble finding this bank but eventually we got there. When I got there they told me they were able to do it. They took about a half hour to figure out how many U.S. dollars to give me. Then, 20 minutes later they realized that in the whole bank they only had four 5 dollar bills and six 1 dollar bills - I needed 40 dollars. So whatever. I decided to just exchange some of my money for that 26 dollars and then just go shopping with my extra ruppies because I did not have the tolerance to try to find another place. Well, once again, my driver took me to all those stupid freaking emporium shops. I did not have much patience so when I saw the emporium coming up on the road I would be like I DON’T WANT TO GO THERE SO DO NOT STOP. He got the point. Finally, I just told him to take me back to the ship. Beleive it or not something convenient actually happened - on the way back to the ship we passed an outdoor market, which I wanted to go to initially, and we stopped there. I spent the rest of my money and FINALLY headed back to the ship. The rickshaw driver knew I was a female tourist so he totally tried to rip me off but I was ready for it so I gave him the amount of money I had thought was legit and ran onto the ship before he could do anything about it. THE END.
PEACE OUT INDIA
I just finished my traveling through India and it was quite an adventure. Independently traveling, compared to doing a Semester at Sea trip, is very exhausting and usually frustrating at times. This port was by far the most frustrating one to travel through. I was with four other people; Tolan. Sarah, Carson, and Thomas. We really wanted to see the Taj Mahal which is in Agra, northern India, but the ship docked in Chennai first and then Cochin – both of which are in Southern India. But, we booked a flight to Delhi for the second day and a flight from Varanasi on the second to last day. That left us the 12th, 13th, and 14th to travel.
Disclaimer: Due to the frustration my group and I had while we had while traveling, I am still a little bitter towards India. So, if you foresee your self taking any of my upcoming hostility toward India personally then maybe you should not read this post. Love, Jill.
Day 1 March 11th 2010
We arrived in Chennai, India. I once again had no idea what to expect. I was told it was gonna be hot, poor, and dirty. That was an understatement. I was also told that every American women is looked at as a slut when they get to India due to shows like Baywatch, so all women should have their knees and shoulders covered while traveling India. That was kind of an exaggeration.
Sarah and I decided to go on a hunt for an internet café while Greta was on a short SAS trip that was done in a few hours. We were told that the internet café was less than 3k away so we decided to walk. We walked, and walked, and got hounded by people, and walked some more. It was blistering hot and humid. i was wearing jean capris so my knees were covered. Needless to say, I was sweating my balls off. Anyways, No sign of an internet café or even much civilization at all was there. We saw Eric and Thomas go by in a rickshaw and decided to join them. They got off back at the ship and Sarah and I ventured with this rickshaw driver to an internet café. It was a journey but we eventually got there and they did not have wifi or the skype. Aka it was a completely worthless trip. I hate getting my hopes up and getting shot down when it comes to skyping!
Later that day Sarah and I went to meet up with Greta back at the ship. It was hard to want to leave the ship again and explore some more but we did it because we are only in India once. We stuck with the same rickshaw driver. He showed us around to all these shops, the big mall, a spot for lunch, and the beach. It was a nice day of exploring Chennai. I bought a few things but the best thing was the wild pair of pants I scored on. just kidding, but really they are wild. The last event of the night was checking out the beach. It was pretty nice but no one was in bathing suits, which i expected. There were mini carnival rides there for kids and snack stands in the parking lot. I got to ride a horse for a dollar. It was sweet. I can’t say Chennai, India had a crazy night life so we played it cool on the ship for the rest of the night.
Day 2 March 12th 2010
This morning began the most adventurous week of my life. We were late leaving for the airport to catch our flight to Delhi. Consequently, our taxi drive was fifty times crazier than it would have been if we weren’t running late. But, we made it to the airport on time, caught our flight, had a smooth ride, and got to Delhi safely. (By the way, I use to the term airport lightly because it didn’t actually have any terminals and the desks were all outside.) The airport had a tourist help desk that hooked us up with a ‘nice’ hotel and taxi driver to get us there. We were given the choice between two hotels - one cheap and one cheaper. We decided to go to the nicer of the two and that was a good decision. The hotel was called a Sheraton but it was farrrrr from it. Anyways, I am done bashing. The hotel gave us what we needed - a bed and a bathroom.
Before leaving the hotel we decided to talk to them about train tickets and such. Let me lay out the situation for you: We currently planned on going to Agra the next morning by train then spending the day there and taking the overnight train to Varanasi. In Varanasi we’d explore for the day, get a hotel for the night, and then catch our flight back to the ship the next afternoon. The problem was that we did not have a train ticket from Delhi to Agra and we were on the wait list for the overnight train to Varanasi. In addition to the fact that we did not book any other hotels. Basically, after spending way too much time in the hotel’s travel agent’s office we decided that we’d let the agent get us a driver to Agra and then back to Delhi and spend another night in Delhi. Then, take a flight from Delhi to Varanasi the next afternoon. The situation kind of sucked but we figured it was our only option. It still kind of left our plans in the air but alteast we had a plan B if we didn’t get on to the overnight train. Needless to say, we left the hotel travel agent’s office very frustrated. We needed to eat.
Next, we headed to get some food. We were all about finding a local restaurant to eat a good India meal at. We succeeded and had a great meal. Some sag chicken, paneer, chicken masala, naan, and more that i don’t know the name of. To be honest I was a little nervous about eating the food because I don’t have the most reliable stomach int he world and I know that I couldn't rely on India having the most reliable toilets either. But, no worries, my stomach was fine.
After lunch we were on a quest to find an instrument shop for Tolan. Tolan was determined to get a sweet instrument because he is totally musical and his parents gave him money for his bday to pick one. Long story short, he bartered the hell out of this one guy and got a Harmonium and 2 drums. We were told that the post office would have time to pack the instruments and get them ready to ship before they close. Well, we took them there and they began to pack them up. Don’t even begin to think that they used standard shipping boxes because they didn't. They wrapped the instruments in layers of bubble wrap and then HAND SEWED potato looking sacks around them. about 2 hours later they were done. At this point the post office was closed. COOL. We decided to just lug them around for the day and ship them in Agra. When we got to post office in Agra they told us that they needed to see inside the packages but they did not have an xray machine. There was no f’ing way we were letting them open these packages and then take the time to resew them up. We said forget it and we decided to just bring them onto the ship so that Tolan can just ship them when we get back to the U.S.A. Consequently, we were lugging these instruments around the next couple days, which isn’t as big of a damper as it may sound.
Later that evening, since the instrument ordeal took about 4 hours, we decided to go to a government run travel agent because we felt like the guy at the hotel was ripping us off (this becomes a common theme throughout the whole trip). We got the travel agency and the people running it were cool as hell. It was a guy and girl that were dating. The guy hooked us up with drivers, tour guides, hotels, and train tickets for the rest of our time in India. It was a little pricy but it was freak load of stress off our shoulders. They were suppose to close and go to a movie at 7 and we kept them there til like 8:30 with all our questions and little details so we decided to make it up to them by treating them to dinner. They picked the place and it was sweet. It was called Picodellis. It was totally modern and cool.
The last stop of the night was the movie theatre. We couldn’t be in India without seeing BOLLYWOOD MOVIE! The movie we saw was called Atitha. Before we got into the theatre the guards frisked us and took our camera batteries until after the movie. The movie ended up being pretty bad, especially since it was all in Hindi, but I am glad we went. The popcorn was banging though no doubt.
That night I had my first hallucination due to the Malaria meds I am on. I was sleeping next to my friend Carson. I woke up and I was positive that she was spooning with the bell boy from that hotel. I stared for a while, unsure if I should give them some time alone or maybe save Carson from this weird boy. I decided to reach over and touch him to make sure he was there. Needless to say, it was just Carson...alone.
Day 3 March 13th 2010
So today was one of the most frustrating days of my life so it will be very difficult to keep this entry G rated when it comes to my language. But, i will try my best.
First of all, we were off to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. We only had that day until like 11 pm to spend in Agra so we were excited to get there and explore. The travel agents told us that it would take three hours tops to get to Agra. 7 HOURS LATER we arrived in Agra via stick shift car on the streets, not highways, of India. Oh, and we specifically said that we did not want a tour guide because we really wanted to be able to go around on our own and not just be tourists. Well, we got out of the car in Agra and there was our good ‘ol tour guide. HE SUCKED. We got to the Taj Mahal happy as can be (kinda). I won’t lie, it was really really beautiful - better than the pictures I had seen. The story about it is sweet too. Basically an emporer had the taj built for his wife when she died and her and his tombs are the only ones in the whole building. Everything about the Taj Mahal is symmetrical so that makes the architecture look awesome. We got there around 4:30 so we decided to stick around for sunset. Time went by, the sun went down, and we were STILL there. FYI there is nothing to do at the Taj after you’ve already taken all of the pictures you want and seen every inch of the mosc. Our tour guide conveniently lost his cell phone and told us to wait for him before we leave. Well, he never came back so we decided to head out. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, our tour guide was at the exit looking for us. We were pretty much fuming at him because he wasted a good part of our day. But, to think positively, if i was stranded somewhere for 2 hours in India I would definitely want it to be at the Taj Mahal.
Unfortunately, the day did not get much better. The tour guides and rickshaw drivers have been notorious for bringing tourists to these Marble Emporium shops. Basically, they are huge stores with stuff from carpets to gadget at ridiculous prices. If they bring tourists to these stores they get a free t-shirt or something so they always do it. Well, we knew about this setup already so we specifically told our tour guide that we DO NOT want to go to any of those places we just want to go get spices and tea..........I am sure you can guess where our next stop was. ONE OF THOSE STUPID EMPORIUMS!!!! I wanted to murder this tour guide, as did all my friends. To top it off, we thought we had some more time to go shopping and maybe get some food but our tour guide then told us that we were an hour and a half from the train station and we have to be there two hours early. Aka we were now heading to the freakin’ train station. OUR WHOLE DAY CONSISTED OF A CAR RIDE, THE TAJ FOR WAY TOO LONG, AND A DUMB @$$ EMPORIUM.
So, we headed to the train station. I don’t know why I thought this train station would be even some what decent but it was NOT. AT ALL. We arrived at 9:30 pm. We walked to the ‘waiting room’. Our whole walk there we were dodging bird poop because the rafters of the station were COVERED with birds. Then, we got into the waiting room and I couldn’t help but notice a few RATS running around ...ew. An hour and a half later we were getting excited that our train would be there soon so we carried our stuff to the platform. We checked the train times and realized our train was running an hour late. (notice how everything is getting better and better as the day goes on) My friends were hungry so we looked for some food. I cant say i had much of an appetite at this point. At this point in our journey I was in a very bad mood but I knew everyone was so I tried not to express my anger, i just I kept quite. We found a food area and sat there. My friends ordered doll (a gravy based stew type thing) and some naan (bread). Well, when the ‘waiter’ brought out the doll he spilled it not all over my pants (that i planned to wear the rest of the trip) but also down the side of my backpack into my water bottle holder and onto my hat that was in the holder. Lucky for this Indian man he did not know the meaning of F*** you so i refrained from even saying it. But, I would really have liked to call my mom crying and get her to buy me a plane ticket back to my ship. After dinner we went back to the waiting room and propped our feet up on our bags so no rats touched us. Basically for every hour that went by the train delayed an hour. FINALLY at 2:45 am our train arrived. But, the train was about 40 cars long and of course we were at the wrong end so we had to sprint to the correct end with our backpacks and Tolan’s instruments. LUCKILY, we found our beds on the sleeper train and they were perfectly fine. That was definitely a sigh of relief. My friend Thomas was on the top bunk next to mine so I didn’t feel completely unsafe.
That night I had another Hallucination due to my malaria medicine. I woke up in the middle of the night and on the end of Thomas’s bed I could have swore there was a monkey. The same monkey I saw swinging from the rafters at the train station. I wasn’t sure what to do about it so I closed my eyes and fell asleep as fast as possible.
Day 4 March 14th, 2010
I woke up very confused, somehow forgetting that I was on a sleeper train in the middle of India. Originally, we thought the train was suppose to get to Varanasi at like noon. Therefore, we assumed that since it was 3 hours late to pick us up then it won’t be getting to Varanasi until like 3 pm. We were wrong, luckily. We talked to some India people on the train that let us know that our stop was coming up in about 25 minutes. This really really helped us considering there was no conductor or anyone telling us when to get off or even what station we were at when we stopped. It all worked out. We got off at the right stop and found our driver who for some reason thought our train was suppose to get in at 7 am so he was mad that we were so late? whatevs.
That day, we made it clear to our driver that we did not need a tour guide to show us around the city or take us to lunch - we wanted to explore on our own. So, for the rest of the afternoon we explored Varanasi. We were not in a very touristy area which was nice. When we walked down the dirt roads we were see a combination of MONKEYS (!!!), rickshaws, cars, bikes, and livestock on the roads. There were stray dogs walking around all over the place. The shops (i also use this word lightly because there were no doors, walls, lights, or air condition) along the sides of the road consisted of all sorts of stuff but mostly fabric, jewelry, shoes, and mini snack shacks. There was this one back alley of shops (which were really little huts) that we went down. As we walked down the India people would say stuff like “Hi Hello Lady, would you like some scarf?” and if you ignored them you would hear “Hi Hello? LADY? Hiii!”. All the huts had a sign that said ‘fixed price’ on it but the prices were far from fixed. Although stuff was already super cheap we still felt the need to barter the prices down because we knew they had hiked them up just because we were tourists. After shopping for a while we got lunch at a local place again. All the Indian food was kind of blending together - some mush, like pareer or masala, with some chicken, and some bread - either naan or roti. It was all usually good but it put our stomachs in a doozie (doozie is in my word dictionary - interesting)
After dinner we had plans to meet a guide back at our hotel because we were going on boat ride with him that evening. The boat ride was on the Ganges at sunset. I don’t know too much about the Ganges but what I do know is that it is the most sacred water for the Indians. They bath in this water, they wash their clothes, they drink it, they do everything in it. But, it is some of the dirtiest water ever - we were advised to not even make contact with it. Along this Ganges are these stairs called Ghats. They are just stairs that face the sun that run into the Ganges. As we boated down the river we would see people bathing on the ghats.
There is one famous spot on the Ganges called the burning site. At this spot there are fires built to burn the bodies of dead people. This is very symbolic in India. When someone dies they are suppose to be burned in a fire (just like a camp fire) for 24 hours. Their soul goes to heaven and then their bones and ash are tossed into the Ganges afterwards. Usually only the men related to the burning person watch the fire because tears are said to interrupt the soul going to heaven and since women are known to be more emotional, they do risk the chance of crying. These burning sites were really interesting.
The rest of the night consisted of us just walking around Varanasi some more and then heading back to the hotel. We had plans to wake up for the sunset so we knew not to stay up late.
Day Five: March 15th, 2010
Rise and Shine at 5:30 a.m. We headed back to the Ganges for another boat ride. This ride we went the opposite direction down the river so we saw some different ghats and such. Since it was morning there were a lot more people bathing and playing in the water to get ‘clean’. The sun rise was epic so I am glad we got to see it. Last night the mosquitos were horrific but they were not nearly as bad this morning. There were lots of monkeys on the ghats this morning along with some goats, cows, chickens, and puppies. I love puppies and it killed me that I couldn’t play with them!
After our boat ride we decided to walk down to the burning sites because you couldn’t see too much from the water. While we were there there was only one fire currently burning. We saw someone’s intestine’s in the middle of it. It really hit us that people are actually burned in these fires. I also saw a stray dog gnawing on a human bone :(. I learned that there are a few types of people that are not burned in the fires but rather just thrown right into the ganges. Two of these types of people are kids and pregnant women. The reason is along the lines of the idea that kids have not lived long enough to have a soul worth burning (or something) . And, consequently, since they do not burn kids then they will not burn a women with a child inside her either.
Next on the agenda was our city tour. We went to a University in Varanasi. It only costs about 8 dollars a year, believe it or not. We then checked out a few temples. I had expressed my interest in all the monkeys around India and how I loved to watch them. Because I had expressed that interest, our tour guide took us to the monkey temple. Well, this is where my relationship with monkeys went from love-love to love-hate. The walk way to the temple was filled with monkeys. No cages, no gates, no fences, NOTHING. Well, I saw a baby monkey eating a banana so I crouched down to watch it. Apparently its mommy didn’t like this because she began to SPRINT, if monkeys can sprint, at me. For those who know me very well know that I did a very obnoxious scream of horror and ran away. Luckily, I was safe. But, I didn’t like that one bit. Needless to say, we were not there much longer. I do find it crazy that monkeys’ bodies work so similar to ours. Like if a monkey wants a banana it just grabs a banana and peels it with it’s fingers. If you see a monkey- pay attention to how it sits. I noticed a bunch of these monkeys sitting on their butts and resting their arm on their knee just like a human would. Weird, So weird.
Last stop on the city tour was a silk shop. FINALLY a tour guide that wasn’t trying to rip us off. This was a wholesale shop that loved our business and had an actual fixed price that was very do-able. I’m not gonna go into details of what I bought here because a lot of you will be finding out around christmas time :)
It was now time to go back to Cochin, where the ship was. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) We went to the airport and worked our flights out, luckily. After some confusion we all got onto the same flight to Mumbai (where our layover was). When we arrived in Mumbai we had a layover and then were heading to Cochin. Well, no one decided to tell us that there were two different airports in Mumbai so rather than having a leisurely layover we were actually completely freaking out trying to figure out where to go. We found it. We got on the plane. We got to Cochin. PHEW! One would think that we would go right to the ship to shower and sleep. But, no. We needed to go through immigration before getting back on the ship and the office closed at 8 p.m. It was now 10:30 p.m. so we had to stay in a hotel room that was about 10 minutes from our ship. It was kind of a tease but it could have been worst.
Day Six: March 16th, 2010
We finally reached our last day of India. I thought I would never see the day. My stomach was A little confused so I wasn’t really trying to go anywhere. But, once again I figured that I was only going to be India once, EVER. (sorry for the pessimism)
Anyways, I went out with Greta, Sarah, and our new friend uhh Kayla? I think that was her name. Cochin is a set of islands so we decided to take a ferry over to another island to do some shopping and get stamps. Well, after about a half hour we were uncomfortably hot and didn’t really see anywhere to shop so we got stamps and called it a day.
After getting back to the ship I realized I still had 2,000 ruppies which is about $40. I did not want to leave India with that much India money because I would never have any use for it, ever. Consequently, I had to get back off the ship to find a money exchange place. OF COURSE this was not a simple task. I took a rickshaw (a motor scooter w/ a cart built onto it). The first bank we went to did not have any U.S. dollars. They recommended another bank. The rickshaw driver had quite some trouble finding this bank but eventually we got there. When I got there they told me they were able to do it. They took about a half hour to figure out how many U.S. dollars to give me. Then, 20 minutes later they realized that in the whole bank they only had four 5 dollar bills and six 1 dollar bills - I needed 40 dollars. So whatever. I decided to just exchange some of my money for that 26 dollars and then just go shopping with my extra ruppies because I did not have the tolerance to try to find another place. Well, once again, my driver took me to all those stupid freaking emporium shops. I did not have much patience so when I saw the emporium coming up on the road I would be like I DON’T WANT TO GO THERE SO DO NOT STOP. He got the point. Finally, I just told him to take me back to the ship. Beleive it or not something convenient actually happened - on the way back to the ship we passed an outdoor market, which I wanted to go to initially, and we stopped there. I spent the rest of my money and FINALLY headed back to the ship. The rickshaw driver knew I was a female tourist so he totally tried to rip me off but I was ready for it so I gave him the amount of money I had thought was legit and ran onto the ship before he could do anything about it. THE END.
PEACE OUT INDIA
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
By the Beautiful Sea
So, life on the boat between Vietnam and India has been very good. I have had some school work (a very minimal amount compared to what i would have if i was home) but other than that I have just been working on my tan, trying to shed some pounds I gained in Vietnam, and catching up on sleep. I bought a ton of DVDs in Vietnam so I have also been watching those - particularly every season of Entourage.
Saturday was taco day!!!! All that means is that we were served tacos for lunch. At home I don’t even eat tacos but damnnn did they hit the spot after not being offered them for months!
On Sunday we had no class because it was the Sea Olympics. The Sea Olympics were super fun. We were divided into different seas based on where our ‘dorm’ room is located. I was on the Yellow Sea team. My events were dodgeball and a wheelbarrow race. I am embarrassed to say that i was SO sore the next day from wheelbarrowing for only like maybe a minute and a half. But yeah it was a good time. We all dressed up in our colors and made up cheers and had a lip-sync. I felt like i was back at Walton Farm. I LOVED olympic day in elementary school so I am not complaing. Anyways, the best part of the Sea Olympics was the bbq for dinner. I can’t even explain to you how good a cheese burger and ribs tasted after being used to the same old food (pasta, potatoes, pears, plain salad, and stale bread) every day in the caf.
Other than that nothing else is too exciting on the ship. The weather has been very hot in the 90’s but the humidity is going down, luckily. FINALLY my laundry got done. I haven’t had my laundry done since before Japan so not only were my tshirts and shorts dirty but also all of my winter clothes. No worries though, everything is clean now.
Tomorrow I will be in INDIA! We are arriving in Chennai in the morning. My plans are for my friends and i to fly up to Delhi and spend the day and night there. Then, take a train to Agra where the Taj Mahal is. That night my friends and I hope to take a sleeper train to Varanasi but currently we are on the waitlist for that...pray for us, we need to get on that train! We will then spend the day and night in Varanasi because its suppose to be a really different city. Then, we will fly to Cochin and meet back up with the boat.
I will update again after India!!!!!
Saturday was taco day!!!! All that means is that we were served tacos for lunch. At home I don’t even eat tacos but damnnn did they hit the spot after not being offered them for months!
On Sunday we had no class because it was the Sea Olympics. The Sea Olympics were super fun. We were divided into different seas based on where our ‘dorm’ room is located. I was on the Yellow Sea team. My events were dodgeball and a wheelbarrow race. I am embarrassed to say that i was SO sore the next day from wheelbarrowing for only like maybe a minute and a half. But yeah it was a good time. We all dressed up in our colors and made up cheers and had a lip-sync. I felt like i was back at Walton Farm. I LOVED olympic day in elementary school so I am not complaing. Anyways, the best part of the Sea Olympics was the bbq for dinner. I can’t even explain to you how good a cheese burger and ribs tasted after being used to the same old food (pasta, potatoes, pears, plain salad, and stale bread) every day in the caf.
Other than that nothing else is too exciting on the ship. The weather has been very hot in the 90’s but the humidity is going down, luckily. FINALLY my laundry got done. I haven’t had my laundry done since before Japan so not only were my tshirts and shorts dirty but also all of my winter clothes. No worries though, everything is clean now.
Tomorrow I will be in INDIA! We are arriving in Chennai in the morning. My plans are for my friends and i to fly up to Delhi and spend the day and night there. Then, take a train to Agra where the Taj Mahal is. That night my friends and I hope to take a sleeper train to Varanasi but currently we are on the waitlist for that...pray for us, we need to get on that train! We will then spend the day and night in Varanasi because its suppose to be a really different city. Then, we will fly to Cochin and meet back up with the boat.
I will update again after India!!!!!
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