Day 1: After breakfast we headed out looking for the black sand beach of Monterrico. After some haggling with the company arranging shuttles and taxis we finally convinced them to take us for $10 US each. We made a pit stop at the only store in the vicinity and picked up some drinks and snacks. After about a half hour of driving toward the beach (and some sketchy occurrences that may or may not have been someone casing us) we started to be a little worried; it was supposed to only be 20 minutes away. So we asked and it turns out the beach was actually about an hour away. We finally got there after about an hour of driving on country back roads and immediately sat down at a little café-type restaurant for lunch. Delicious. I had a coconut while we waited for the food to be done. I’m going to miss those.
After lunch we walked down to the beach; it was beautiful. The sand is soft (and really hot) and dark because it comes from volcanic rocks. The waves were HUGE and way too strong to swim in so we played along the edge. We booked a horseback ride along the beach and let me tell you, an hour on a horse is painful. But it was fun; we spent the whole ride trying to keep our horses from biting one another and singing ridiculous songs. After that we made our way back towards the town to get a ride back to the ship; we made a stop at a bar and all had really yummy cocktails. Rhina arranged for us to get a ride in the back of a pickup for $7 with a police escort because it was getting dark; apparently no one in Guatemela travels at night without an escort due to the increased levels of crime that has been happening. We got back to the port and waited for the shuttle to take us back to the ship. While we waited I spent the last of my money on a really sweet bag from a little Guatemalan woman selling handmade goods.
I spent the next two days on the ship because I had homework to do and really had no desire to see anymore of Guatemala; the only thing I had wanted to do was go to Tikal but that was too expensive and dangerous. Instead I got some much-needed rest and got some work done. And in all honesty, I’m ready to be home. I never thought I’d get tired of traveling but I feel like I need a vacation from traveling; all the planning and frenzied pace really gets to you after a while. I’m ready to go back to my wonderful regular home life. I’ve learned so much on this trip about people, their cultures and religions and traveling in general; and most importantly, I’ve learned more about myself. The next week is going to be full of creative packing, sleepless nights, media-swapping, nostalgia and sappy goodbyes. I’ve made some amazing friends on this trip, met some incredible people, done incredible things and I couldn’t have asked for a better 4 months; I only hope next time around I can bring everyone I love with me to share it with them. I hope you’ve enjoyed my journey. I might write more reflections later on but until my next world adventure, I’m out. Love and miss you all. <3
Friday, May 1, 2009
4/28 ? 4/30: Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
4/19 - 4/20: Honolulu, Hawaii
Day 1: After breakfast (where EVERYONE had their cell phones out…it was slightly overwhelming) we headed out in search of the mall and beach. Lucky for us this really nice guy driving the free shuttle picked us up and dropped us off at the mall. It wasn’t open yet so my friends and I bought some drinks and just hung out for a while. Then we spent a couple hours shopping – I found one of the three Harley shops in Honololu – and then ate a quick lunch before heading towards Waikiki beach. We spent a few hours on the beach, enjoying the amazingly warm water and then headed back to the ship to change for dinner. We met up with everyone at Senor Frogs for Rhina’s birthday dinner; the food, drinks and waiters were great. After dinner we made our way to one of the many ABC stores and bought our drinks for the night; Rhina got a Malibu lei. We found our way to the beach, drank and hung out until everyone was ready. Then we went off in search of an 18+ club so everyone could get in. Found the only club open and danced the night away. Around 3am we decided to call it a night and headed back to the ship.
Day 2: Woke up at a decent hour, ate breakfast and headed for the beach. Ate Taco Bell for lunch (because we’d all been craving it and they only have it in the US) and then left around 2 for the mall. We stopped at the international market first where I found a bunch of random wonderful things. Then on the way to the bus stop we had the most hilarious conversation with a bunch of very very drunk Navy guys from the Honolulu base…it was 3 in the afternoon and they were dunzo and highly entertaining. Victoria and I got to the mall and quickly got what we needed before quickly heading for the ship; it was after 5 and on-ship time was 6. We got back in time.
I need to go back to Hawaii but I’d like to go to the less populated islands next time; Honolulu’s beauty is dulled by the din of the city. I didn’t do much besides eat, drink and enjoy the beach but the little time I had there was wonderful. Next up (and last), Guatemala.
Friday, April 10, 2009
4/8 - 4/9: Tokyo/ Yokohama, Japan
Day 1: We woke up early and headed to the metro station to get to the main Yokohama train station. There we took a train to the main Tokyo station. After getting there we walked around for a couple of hours looking for the Imperial Palace to no avail; it seems that the royal gardens don’t ever actually lead to the palace. After giving up on that we headed in the direction of the Tokyo Tower. We took a break in Hibiya Park, laying in the grass and enjoying the beautiful weather. On the rest of our walk we couldn’t find a restaurant we liked so we stopped at a convenience store instead and grabbed random pre-made sushi and foods; we ate it outside on the sidewalk. After lunch we finally found Tokyo Tower and went up to the half point; you can see all of Tokyo! After we left the tower – which I stupidly decided would be fun to race down the 20 or so flights of stairs – we thought we would go check out the wholesale market which we had found on the map. Lucky for us, the wholesale market turned out to be a fish market. So we decided that we were all tired of walking around so we headed back to the main station and to Yokohama. We got back to the ship in time for dinner and spent the night watching movies and such.
Day 2: I had to wake up really early for a SaS trip to Mt. Fuji. Once we got on the bus at 7am we took off; it was going to be a 2 hour drive so everyone was hoping to sleep. NOT! Our tour guide was the world’s most talkative person; I don’t think she ever so much as stopped for air during the entire trip. Our first stop was at the tourist center at the very bottom of the mountain; we took a few pictures, bought a few things and headed up to the Level 5 station. There we had 30 minutes to take a few pictures, play with the snow and buy a few things before getting back on the bus. The mountain itself is still covered in snow which is why we could only get up to Level 5; the others are still snow bound. After that quick stop we headed out to Hakone, which is a town about 2 hours from the mountain. There we took a cable car ride to the top of another mountain with a different view of Mt. Fuji from its summit and then a boat ride around the lake at its base. After the boat ride we were back on the bus to head back to the ship. It was a beautiful day but we literally spent over half of it on the bus so it was a little exhausting.
Japan is on my top 3 list for favorite places so far; the climate reminds me of New England, the people are nice and helpful and even the cities are clean and feel safe. The only downfall is everything is expensive in comparison to all other countries. Now we’re off to Hawaii; a 10-day trek across the Pacific that we’ve been told is very long and very rough. You’d imagine after not having had class for more than 2 days in a row for over a month how 10 days in a row is going to feel. There are only 27 days left before we’re back but it’s the hardest part of the trip, academically. Wish me luck. I’ll see you all soon. All my love.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
4/6 ? 4/7: Kobe, Japan
Day 1: A long morning. We woke up early for breakfast but we had to wait to get off the ship because Japan’s customs is really strict. So after breakfast, the diplomatic briefing and the temperature checks, we had to wait around for each hall to be called to go through customs. Our hall didn’t get called until almost 11am and then we had to wait for our passport to be scanned and our photo and finger IDs to be entered into the system. Once that was done we took off to the center of the city by metro. We walked around and through the central plaza for a while and found somewhere to eat. The woman working didn’t speak much English so we basically ordered by pointing at pictures; it worked in our favor because it was all delicious. After lunch we took off looking for the tattoo studio we had heard about. It didn’t take us long and after talking to the owner for a while, Rhina decided she wanted to get it done; I wasn’t willing to pay the exorbitant prices they had so I told her I’d wait until Hawaii. The girl was really quick and Rhina’s anchor was done in less than 30 minutes; it came out cute. After that I had to go back to the ship for a welcome reception I had signed up for. Got back and met a few Japanese university students, saw some performances, did origami, gave them a tour of the ship and that was that. Then dinner and out we went to enjoy the night life.
Well you can imagine the night life on a Monday night but we made it work. We all bought drinks and just sat in a park to drink. I tried ginger flavored Smirnoff and something called Strong beer which tasted nothing like beer; it was 8% alcohol, lemony and delicious. We made friends with 2 new SaS kids – Shannon and Jordan -- that were hanging out in the same park as us. We got harassed by someone who wanted our booze. Then we ended up finding a karaoke bar that was decently priced and spent over an hour screaming songs at each other in a tiny room. The drinks I had did me in and I was gone after 3 of them but I kept drinking; mistake number one. During karaoke I managed to chip a tooth (just a small chip) when my friend Graham shoved the mic in my face and I wasn’t looking. After karaoke we went to McDonalds because what better drunk food is there? I apparently started crying because I felt bad that I was so drunk and making a bad impression on Shannon and Jordan and in general. I think after McD’s is when Shannon and Jordan took off and the rest of us headed back to the ship. Apparently I told a boy from the ship – that I didn’t know – that he was cute and we bonded over having girlfriends. I eventually got to my room and passed out.
Day 2: And the next morning I was reminded of why I don’t drink often or a lot because I was either still drunk (after only having 5 drinks) or I had the world’s worst hang-over. Needless to say I skipped out on any adventuring and spent the morning sleeping it off. I woke up in time for lunch, showered and went out hoping to at least see the Himeji castle before I left but I couldn’t find a bank to exchange money in and I didn’t have enough to cover the metro fair (which was $20 roundtrip) so I ended up just walking around a little and then coming back to the ship to wallow in Grey’s Anatomy and the stupidity of my decisions. Once again I swear off drinking for a while. I don’t understand how most of the kids on this ship get drunk every day that we’re at port; I couldn’t do it nor would I want to. Ugh.
What I’ve learned:
*Drinking things in Japan that say ‘strong’ in excess equals bad; and apparently I’m now a light-weight. Thank goodness for great friends.
*Japanese people all have impeccable fashion sense; everyone looks like they walked off the pages of a magazine including older women and the young men.
*Their Haagen Das ice cream parlors have green tea flavored ice cream.
*All the girls here wear knee socks, leg warmers or leggings and crazy cool high heels.
*There’s an entire section of the plaza mall area dedicated to cards and gamer stuff; it made me giggle.
Now we’re off to Yokohama, Japan where my friends and I are going to Tokyo for a day and then I have a trip to Mt. Fuji. And there will be no drinking happening at either. Love and miss you all.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
4/1 - 4/2: Shanghai, China
Day 1: Woke up early and waited around for Chinese immigration to clear the ship. I did a SaS trip to a local kindergarten and spent the entire 2 hours being entertained by the cutest little kids ever; we also stopped at a community center and had green tea while we learned a little about how each community runs. We went back to the ship for lunch and I spent the afternoon doing art homework and watching Grey’s Anatomy. Then I got dressed and went down to help out with the formal open ship Semester at Sea had for all the Chinese dignitaries who donate money to the program; I gave a few ship tours and enjoyed a fancy dinner and ceremony that took most of the night. I didn’t feel like going out so I stayed in and watched some more Grey’s Anatomy.
Day 2: Woke up early and went to breakfast. Then Shelly, Cara, Graham and I went out to explore Shanghai. After finding a bank and realizing the market that we wanted to go to was far, we took a taxi to the street where most of the activity in the city is. We walked around and found the market mall; I bought a pair of red fake Converses and a cool painting. Then we had lunch at McDonalds because my friends wanted American food. After lunch we had a taxi take us to the Bund which is an underground tunnel that connects the new and old city but you had to pay and couldn’t just walk across so we decided not to. Instead we walked outside and found a sweet underground market with loads of souvenirs and nifty things. Spent an hour or so there and headed back to the ship.
Things I’ve learned:
*Language barriers suck; maps with Chinese characters and English written on them are lifesavers.
*Hong Kong really is nothing like China; no one here speaks English but almost everyone in HK did. And the people in Honk Kong were much nicer to us.
*China really does have a problem with air pollution; you can’t even tell the sun has risen because the smog is so thick on some days.
*Shanghai is a 2-hour drive from tip to tip; it’s a huge city broken up into new and old halves.
*The buildings in new Shanghai are really cool; I got some great pictures of the night skyline.
*When you and the taxi driver don’t speak the same language, you can both end up really confused; at one point we had to ask 3 different drivers to take us to one spot (which I pointed to on the map) and even then they took us to the wrong place.
Now we’re almost to Japan. We make 2 ports for 2 days each with 1 day in between; Kobe and Yokohama. My friends and I are trying to get tattoos while there and I have a trip to Mt. Fuji on the last day so I’m really, really excited. I think I’m down to 32 days or so left until I’m back in Maine so I’m getting really anxious for that too. Hopefully the rest of the trip goes by as good and quickly. Love and miss you all.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
3/29 - 3/30: Hong Kong
Day 1: Woke up early for breakfast and the diplomatic briefing. Got our passports and headed out to the Star Ferry, which takes people from Kowloon (Hong Kong mainland) to Hong Kong Island. We went searching for another ferry depot so we could find out how much it would cost to go to Macau, which is another ‘region’ of China but like Hong Kong, it’s considered separate from China so we wanted to go get another stamp on our passport. However, we found out it was $40 US roundtrip so we gave up on that idea and decided to eat lunch at a Chinese fast food chain; not the best food but it was cheap so it’s all good. Then Rhina, D and I decided to go try and find a market or something to do by following the street signs. We ended up at a café (after asking 3 people for directions) so we could use the internet, then we walked through a small market and bought a few trinkets. After that we ended up walking for 2 hours in search of something called the Western Market; well after walking uphill and in circles and asking about 5 different people directions, we finally found it. The biggest disappointment of the day; it was really just a small 2-story mall. lol BUT the adventure of looking for it was fun so we didn’t really mind. Went back to the ship for dinner and took a power nap until 8pm when Hong Kong Island’s laser light show started; the show is done every night at 8pm and corresponds to music. It’s in the Guinness World Record book for being the largest permanent light show. It’s really sweet because the lights are on the front of the skyscrapers and buildings; it looks like a giant rave! After that we took off to the famous Temple Street night market to do some shopping. Found some cool stuff and then we decided to get a snack; we ended up at McDonalds because everyone was craving some good ol’ all-American junk food. Went back to the ship, watched a movie and went to bed.
Day 2: Woke up early for breakfast and got on the bus to go to Lantau Island for an SaS trip. We stopped along the way to take pictures of the world’s longest dual-suspension bridge (or something like that) and at a beach. Then we stopped at a traditional fishing village, whose houses are built on stilts. There we saw a small temple and I met an older man named Wilfred who used to be a merchant who traveled to the U.S; my friends Elle, Emma and I made friends with him and chatted him up a while. He was a funny old man who was a bit senile and going deaf but he was great to talk to; we took a picture with him and promised we’d send him postcards and a copy of the picture. Next we went up to a statue of the world’s largest sitting bronze Buddha and then walked down the 256 steps to the Buddhist monastery where we had a delicious vegetarian lunch. After lunch we walked around a little and explored the temple and then the Ngong Ping cultural village (which is just another name for a street of gift shops) before taking a cable car back down the mountain of Lantau Island to where a bus was waiting for us to take us back to the ship. Spent the rest of the day relaxing on the ship.
Interesting tid-bits:
*There are sooo many stairs on Hong Kong Island; it’s a city built into the side of mountains so it’s all uphill as soon as you get off the ferry and a lot of the side walks are stairs.
*They have a beautiful metro system; very clean and efficient.
*The street signs are sometimes wrong and lead you in the wrong direction; so do the locals.
*Hong Kong Island’s streets and walkways are way sophisticated and efficient; they have walkways that go above the roads, connecting all the important places together so you don’t have to deal with traffic; we only found that out when we tried to walk alongside traffic. lol Also, all the roads on Lantau Island are made so that during the wet season, the torrential rains don’t ruin the roads.
*Hong Kong is made up of hundreds of islands but only about 22 are inhabited; Lantau is the largest.
I would love to come back to Hong Kong; it’s a big city (app. 7 million permanent residents) but it didn’t overwhelm me; it never felt over-crowded or dirty or aggressive. Now we have 2 No-Class days until Shanghai, China; most students stayed off the ship to go to Beijing or just spend more time in Hong Kong so there’re only about 150 students left. I’m a little sad that I didn’t get to go to the Great Wall or to see the Terra Cotta warriors but I’m hoping I’ll get to come back someday; it just wasn’t meant to happen this time. Plus now I get to spend the next two days working on my scary pile of homework; it would’ve been impossible to go do anything because of it so I’m glad I’m on the ship.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
3/22 - 3/26 VietNam
After that we found the Ben Thanh Market that we had heard about and shopped for about an hour; it's crazy though because they literally have anything and everything you could want all in one area. I bought a bunch of cute, cheap stuff. Side note: $1 US = approximately 17, 500 dong! Lol It's crazy! Then we came back to the ship and I chose to stay in while my friends went out because I'm completely out of clean clothes (which I have to hand wash again!) and I have ridiculous amounts of homework to do.
Day 2: Woke up early for breakfast. Took a bus to the Da Thien School for Handicapped Children; we heard a little about the school and then spent an hour or so playing with the children. It was hard because the kids only know Vietnamese so we couldn't talk to them at all or anything. We just ended up playing games and coloring and stuff. Then the people at the school provided us with an amazing lunch (which wasn't included in the original itinerary) and then we left. It was good but the past 3 service visits I've done have been a disappointment; more just that I don't actually consider it service because all we're doing is playing with children. I don't feel like I'm actually doing anything of substance. I expect them to put me to work doing something like building a playhouse or cleaning something. I guess it's just my mentality. Anyways, after that I came to the ship and slept the afternoon away, ate dinner, watched a movie and worked on my art journal.
Day 3: Woke up early for breakfast. Took a bus to a public elementary school where we were given a briefing on the school and then given free reign to walk around for 2 hours and mingle with the children. I learned a lot of valuable information for the 8 page case study I have to write for my education course. I got back around lunch time, ate and took off with D to find the post office and then the market again. I got soooo many souvenirs at the market; D and I are master bargainers! So I came back very happy; among my purchases were a Vietnamese hat for myself and seasons 1-4 of Grey's Anatomy (for less than $9 US...bootleg of course) I also got almost everyone else on my list something from the market. Yay! Then just back to the ship for some chill time on the pool deck, dinner and to my room for homework.
Day 4: Woke up early for breakfast then off on a 2 hour bus ride to the Mekong district. Along the way we stopped to see a Cao Doa (?) temple and walk through a small market before getting to the river and being transported over to an island where they grow exotic tropical fruit. We sampled some of the fruit; mango, pineapple, lychee, sweet grapefruit, and jack fruit. Then we got into these smaller boats made for traversing through the canals; except it's the dry season here so the canal was basically dried up and our boatman had to push us through the murky water for about 15 minutes. But it was really cool because it was like traveling through jungle. From there we were dropped off on another island where they make coconut candy; we got to see the whole process, sample and then buy some. We also stopped there to have a cup of kumquat tea; they just squeeze the juice of a kumquat and mix in some honey and add hot water. Both the tea and coconut candy were delicious. Last on the trip was a lunch of Vietnamese food; mostly rice noodle and seafood dishes prepared in a variety of ways. The best part was when they brought out a huge fried elephant fish perched upward on the plate and placed it in the middle of each table; no one really knew how to take it or what to do with it until one of the servers showed us how to make our own fish spring rolls. After lunch we went back across the river and had fresh coconut water on our way back to the bus. Then the 2 hour drive back to the ship.
Day 5: I only left long enough to go buy a bubble tea, a couple of t-shirts and to exchange my dong back into US$. Homework beckons. 2 days of classes and then we're in Hong Kong so I've got plenty to keep me busy
What I've learned:
*Both Vietnamese men and women go to extreme measures trying to hide their skin from the sun; they almost all wear pants and long sleeves in 90 degree heat and they all wear gloves, hats, and face coverings whenever they're in the sun for an extended amount of time.
*Communism can't be that horrible of a system because I never saw a single homeless person while in VietNam; they also have a very low crime rate.
*The cone-shaped hats they wear really do keep you cooler; I wore one during my Mekong Delta trip.
*Ho Chi Minh City used to be called Saigon; it still says it everywhere.
*You can get almost anything you want or need in a market; food, clothes, accessories, etc.
*Everyone drives a motorcycle or moped and they ALL wear helmets.
*Traffic is nuts; but if you close your eyes and just walk at a constant rate you won't get hit. I tried it and survived. It's almost like playing life-size Frogger.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
3/15 - 3/19 Thailand
Day 1: We woke up for breakfast and then just spent the rest of the morning just hanging out because we had been told that getting out of the port cost a lot of money and that there wasn’t much to do; plus Rhina and I had an SaS trip in the afternoon. So we worked on homework and stuff, ate lunch and then met up for our trip to the Elephant Village. So cute and so much fun! They told us about the elephant reserve and then we got to ride them!
When we got back we ate dinner and met up with some friends to get a shuttle to Pattaya where D was waiting for us at a guesthouse. We got there, dropped off our stuff, and went to find food at the mall. We walked around Pattaya looking for a ‘hopping’ but cheap bar or club but ended up just walking most of the night until someone we were with snapped about all the walking and lack of drunkenness. Dumbs. So Shelly and I left and spent an hour and a half at the computer place across the street from our room because it was only 40 baht for an hour. Yay! The rest of the crew eventually showed up and we all crashed.
Day 2: Slept in until 9:30 or so. Went out looking for brunch and then headed to the beach for the day. The water was bath warm and the sun was beautifully hot. After spending the day laying on the beach and playing in the water, we went back to change and pack up, went out to dinner and then Rhina, D and I went back to the ship to hang out and watch a movie.
Day 3: We woke up early, had breakfast and loaded the bus to go to the Pattaya orphanage with SaS. We stayed there for about 3 hours; just long enough for me to fall in love with one of the little boys that fell asleep in my arms. If I could’ve adopted every child there, I would have. Afterwards, we were dropped off at the Pattaya mall where we ate lunch and then went off in search of the train station. We finally got a truck taxi (a truck with seats built into the back) to take us for a decent price. Got there and had to wait an hour before the train came but it was only 31 Baht to Bangkok instead of the ridiculous prices that the taxis and shuttles were charging. However, it was the longest most uncomfortable train ride ever; 4.5 hours with not even padded seats.
Anyways we got there and had a taxi bring us to the road where a lot of our friends were supposed to be staying and found a guesthouse for a decent price. Dropped our stuff off and went to get dinner. Khoa Son road was the craziest place to be that night; it was St. Paddy’s and apparently we’d found the travelers area where a lot of backpackers go to. We ate pad thai from a street vendor and it was amazing. I found vendors who were selling patches, 3 for $1 US so I got 6 of the countries I’m going to or have been already. Then we had a green beer with some other SaS people we ran into. We walked around until we decided to go to an Irish pub on the street and had a few drinks, all Irish themed; black & tan, an Irish car bomb, an Irish flag, and an Irish Momo. Then had some more food and looked for a club; danced for a bit and decided to call it a night.
Day 4: We woke up late and took a tuk-tuk to the Grand Palace where we didn’t go in because I didn’t want to pay to see a bunch of statues and monuments PLUS have to pay someone an exorbitant price to rent a shirt so I could go in. So instead we walked around towards one of the Buddha temples nearby. Of course, we picked the hottest day yet to walk around. So after seeing the Buddha we were already tired of Bangkok so we decided that we’d go back to the ship; we were all also running out of money. So we took a tuk-tuk back to the guesthouse, checked out and walked down Khoa Son road again to eat a cheap lunch and get a few souvenirs. We walked to the tourist info desk nearby to find out where the bus station was and then had a tuk-tuk driver take us the half hour to the station for 300 baht. Got there 10 minutes before the next bus was leaving to go to Pattaya so we bought our tickets (for 95 baht), went to the bathroom and got on the air-conditioned bus and settled in for the 2 hour ride back to the ship. We got to the mall outside of the port, walked around and bought some snacks while Rhina got a massage then jumped in a taxi truck to take us into the port. We stayed on the ship the next day because we were all out of money and didn’t want to deal with the hassle of trying to get a ride out of port.
What I’ve learned:
*You can still travel on a tight budget; while everyone else paid up to $45 for a one-way shuttle to Bangkok, my friends and I took the train for 31 baht (<$1 US!) and a 95 baht bus back. In case you didn’t calculate, that’s $4 US in comparison to $90. lol Suckers! We were also able to do our entire 4 days for about $130. Love it.
*I have 2 great friends/ travel buddies and including others into our group just creates problems
*Thai people really do love their king; you can’t drive for 5 minutes and not see a picture of him
*English is not an important language here which made it difficult to communicate at times
*An elephant only has 4 teeth and their fur is really bristly
*People get their Irish on during St. Patrick’s Day even in Thailand!
*Pad thai and spring rolls from street vendors are cheap and delicious; 45 baht = app. $1.40 US…I think we had it for 3 meals. lol
*I didn’t think I’d ever see as many old, over-weight men in speedos as I did while in Pattaya, especially not with skanky Thai females that all look like they’re 14.
*Not all Thais are conservative; I saw more half-naked (and fully naked) women in one night than I ever have in the US; and some of my friends went to something in Bangkok called a ping pong show where they stick random things up where they don’t belong and shoot them out using muscles most of us don’t know how to use. Crazy.
*It doesn’t matter what country we’re in, those that provide transportation try to rip us off; they think we’re all a bunch of spoiled, rich Americans.
*The internet is so much more enjoyable when it’s not $30 per hour.
It’s 2 days later and we’re almost in VietNam; I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I just left India and Thailand and I’m almost in VietNam. One of my classmates has done this before and she said that you get back home and it all feels like a dream. I believe it because even this far it just feels like I imagined all the places I’ve been or things I’ve seen. I have to go slave away at the demonic pile of art homework I have but I’ll write again as soon as I can. Loves & kisses!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
3/4 - 3/7 India
India was amazing and I’ve decided rather than do a play-by-play blog, from here on out I’m just going to write a short version with more of my impressions, the things I’ve learned and some of the highlights because I did and saw so much that trying to write everything would take forever.
So the faculty and staff try their best before every port to scare us; they give us worst case scenarios and our pre-port lectures are usually based on what not to do and further emphasis on the negative. So of course, each student leaves the ship expecting the absolute worst but my 5 days in Chennai really weren’t bad. Apparently, because of what I did and where I was, I had a skewed experience compared to a lot of people but I still learned a lot.
So here’s the shortened version of what I did:
Day 1: My friends and I took off for
Day 2: I woke up late and had breakfast and finished getting ready for my homestay. We met in the
Day 3: Woke up early and had homemade breakfast (of Ramen-like noodles) and were dropped off at the bus; again we were late but no one said anything. We drove for about an hour and a half, picking up students that were staying further out of the city. The Rotarians had a full day for us; we went to a few monuments and an ancient temple called Mamallamaporam and then we spent a few hours relaxing at one of the Rotarian’s weekend house in the country before going to Crocodile Bank. It was 7:30 before we got back; we went back to the house to change and then Priyanka and her mom took us out to dinner. We came back, watched a movie and went to bed.
Day 4: We slept in a little and had the first non-spicy food I’d eaten in 4 days. We lazied around a little and packed our stuff up. Priyanka took us to get stamps and some snacks for the ship. Then we came back and picked up her mom and went to meet one of the other families at the Cricket Club where we had lunch. After lunch we went to the City Center shopping plaza, walked around a bit, had ice cream and then we eventually got back to the ship after a little bit of trouble with transportation. After that my friends and I just hung out and did some homework; I had to get up early the next morning.
Day 5: I spent my entire morning at a school for a service visit except I didn’t actually end up doing anything of service; we spent the entire time playing with kids and being entertained. The kids were all so cute and completely excited to be at school. The girls that danced for us were amazing; you wouldn’t think that little kids can move their bodies the way that some of them did. So after a few hours of talking to students and teachers, we went back to the ship for lunch. I spent the rest of the day napping and getting ready for school again.
Here’s a list of the things I’ve learned/ saw while in
*Getting anywhere here takes at least a half hour and no one really cares if you’re late.
*Cricket is a HUGE sport here.
*Colleges here have curfews; the girls I met had a 6pm curfew at all times.
*I visited a monument that defies the laws of physics – it’s a rounded rock that stands on a tip on the side of a hill and will not move no matter how many elephants try to move it. I also saw an ancient temple dug into a single rock formation and a temple that was once under water.
*Indian people are incredibly nice and hospitable.
*Yes it’s disgustingly dirty here because of pollution but you get used to it.
*Everything you eat is spicy, even breakfast. But it’s delicious.
*I’ll never again complain about traffic in the
*Everyone eats with their right hand, no utensils needed.
*Most people in Chennai are vegetarian and I don’t think I’ve ever had such good vegetarian food. And they eat all the time.
*Indians love Americans, especially school age kids! They all wave and smile and try to talk to you in English and ask you to take pictures of them.
*There are bright colors everywhere; they even have a festival called Holi where they splash people with colors.
*Chennai is huge!
*It’s disgustingly hot and humid here; I think it hit 100 degrees one day.
*Everything is incredibly cheap; it costs less than 3 US dollars for a full meal.
I’m sure there’s more but today is the day before we get to
Sunday, March 1, 2009
2/27 Mauritius & Sea Olympic Madness
We got here around 8am. Rhina and I had a hard time getting up because we stayed up late watching movies with some of our friends. Listened to our very talkative diplomats for our briefing then off we went. They let the SaS trips off first but we were still about a half hour late leaving. We all got on –there were 2 full coach buses and 3 mini buses –and took off for the opposite coast. Mauritius is beautiful; there’re mountains all around and green as far as the eye can see, most of which is sugar cane and palm trees. During the drive, our group leader went over the general itinerary and went over one very specific rule that apparently most students were unaware of –we had to abide by SaS drinking policy and were only allowed 2 drinks the entire day. Well naturally the rest of the one hour ride consisted of people bitching about that and how they were just going to leave and blah blah blah. It was ridiculous to listen to these people whine about how they were going to give up their $130 day trip just so they could spend more money to go get wasted. Well I think most people realized what a dumb idea that would be and stayed on the bus for the rest of the ride.
We got to the initial landing, all looked out to where l’Ile de Deux Cocos was and I think everyone at once said “wow”; it was breath-taking. The water is completely clear and differing shades of blue-green as you look out. The island that we were going to was small and you could see the surf breaking on either sides of it; on the island itself you could just make out a mid-size house and a bunch of tent-like structures. So we all boarded a bunch of boats that had windows on the bottom and they took us to the island. Once we dropped off our bags in one of the bungalows –and applied sunscreen –we made for the water. Perfect. The water was around 80*F and where we were was a lagoon so there was very little current.
We played in the water for a while and then decided to go for a walk to the other side of the island; the entire walk took about a half hour but we stopped and played on the igneous rocks that rim the outer side of the island so it’s really much smaller than that. We got back and were going to go snorkeling but they told us that lunch would be happening in about 20 minutes so we decided to wait; while we waited I got to lay out in a big hammock that was hanging between two big palm trees. So amazing.
Then came lunch. So good. They had fresh vegetables for salad and a bunch of cold salads, rice, pasta and barbequed shrimp kabobs, prawns, lamb chops, and chicken. Plus we were allowed 2 drinks with lunch; let me tell you that the rum they make on this island is amazing. It’s clear rum that they flavor with real fruit; so the coconut rum has chunks of real coconut floating around in the bottle, apples in the apple-spice, etc. I ordered coconut rum with Coke and a coconut ‘punch’which was delicious. Desert was an entire buffet of fresh fruit and caramelized bananas. I tried fresh passion fruit which was a really strange texture but good taste.
After lunch we went to play in the water until the boats came back to pick up more people for snorkeling. By this point in the day, most people were smashed because even though Brad had said that people wouldn’t be able to buy drinks, that proved to be wrong; most people had taken full advantage of the bottles of homemade rum they sold in the little bar. Needless to say it was entertaining to watch about 75 people stumble around and trip over their words and each other. Finally a boat came to take the last group snorkeling. We got to the reef and jumped in; I hadn’t been able to find flippers that fit me but I had the mask and snorkel so I didn’t care. We spent about a half hour just swimming around, looking for fish, diving for a closer look at certain corals and trying to touch the fish. It was so cool because the skippers would throw in pieces of bread and the fish would be all around you. The corals weren’t the kinds with lots of anemones and bright colors but it was still really neat to see the different little fish flitting about and see the corals themselves.
Eventually the skipper told us we had to head out and we all boarded the boat to go back to the island. We got there and Brad told us it was time to go so we changed, got our stuff and boarded the boat to go back to the main island. During the boat ride back to the mainland this one girl –who was completely gone –was almost completely in the lap of the equally drunk guy next to her; next to them there was a life-long couple who just kept pressing their lips together from laughing at some of the ridiculous things these 2 were saying. The best was when the girl referred to genealogy as geography. The bus ride back was completely out of control; there were like 4 bottles of rum just being passed around with a couple bottles of Coke for chasers. But everyone was already drunk so they just kept getting more and more rowdy; talking loudly and singing horribly and standing up in the back of the bus even though Brad kept asking them to sit. He knew trying to take the rum from them would be futile so he just told them to ‘put it away’, meaning he just didn’t want to see it. I had stupidly sat in the back of the bust but about 15 minutes into the ride I seized the opportunity to switch with someone further up. Brad was being harassed by one of the drunken girls that was trying to go to the back of the bus; whenever she would try to get up, he would grab her arm and pull her back to her seat but she thought it was a game so she would grab at him or tickle him. It was sad but hilarious. When we got to town Brad had the bus pull over to the waterfront part of the city so people who wanted to go out could without having to get a cab back. All of the drunk people plus a few of their sober friends got off; as they got off Brad reminded them that on-ship time was at 8 and at least 5 of them asked what time. So of course, being the nice people we are, the remaining people on the bus made bets on who or how many would actually get to the ship on time. The rest of us went back and got ready for Sea Olympics.
And what a show; it was probably the most out of control opening ceremony ever. At least 50% of the 700 or so students were drunk which worked in our favor because we had to be spirited and loud for our ‘seas’or hallways. The opening ceremony basically consisted of everyone rallying up and showing off their mascots, flags and cheers. Everyone was hilarious! People were screaming and stumbling and making complete idiots of themselves. I felt bad for the faculty, staff, life long learners and everyone’s kids who had to put up with a room full of drunken fools that wouldn’t shut up but I think they were just as highly entertained as those of us that were sober. I’m pretty sure the opening ceremony took about twice as long as it should have because Ben (the MC) couldn’t get people to quiet down long enough to get out more than a few words. My hall was no exception to the drunken stupor; almost everyone lost their voice before we even got to the stage for our cheer because everyone kept breaking out into pre-game chants. The rest of Olympics the following day was a series of games and competitive tournaments that I mostly slept through because it was the first time in forever that I could sleep in and I didn’t intend to compete in anything. I want to go back to Mauritius or its neighboring island, Reunion, someday and enjoy more of the sand, surf, sun and rum. Amazing. Now we’re on our way to India where I’m attending a welcome reception, going on a 3 day homestay and doing a service visit to a school. I can’t wait!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
2/17 - 2/22 South Africa
My first impression of Cape Town was that it was way too touristy. Our ship was docked in an area called the V&A Waterfront where 3 malls had been built and a bunch of expensive touristy restaurants were. I realized during this port that I was tired of doing the same things with the same people. Almost everyone on the ship just wants to drink and party their money away. It’s frustrating. And it seems that there’s no balance; SaS trips shield people from the realities of the countries we go to but they tell us that independent trips are too dangerous. So how are we supposed to experience anything real? Honestly the first impression of Cape Town was that it’s not the image we have of any part of Africa; it looks just like a metropolitan city anywhere except it’s surrounded by mountains. It’s a clean, beautiful city but it just wasn’t what I expected.
Anyways, on the first day we went to the diplomatic briefing and waited around for the officials to exchange American dollars to African rand. Once we got off the ship, we walked around and found random things we needed; I got malaria prevention pills for really cheap, paid way too much for aloe, and Victoria and Lindsey signed up for shark diving. After that we found a taxi to take us to Long Street where the main tourist info center was and we could buy tickets for the rugby game that we had heard about. We got there and while we were waiting I bought a Coke at the café from a really nice man named Dave; he was telling me about places I should go and things I should be careful of. Something hit me right then that bothered me. Even though Dave’s the one who sold me the Coke, I noticed that his Caucasian superior was the one who ran the cash register; she wouldn’t even let him take my money. Even though Apartheid has been gone from South Africa for some time there’s still racism even though people claim there isn’t. We had interport lecturers (all 4 of them white and upper class) that said there was more equality in South Africa than in the U.S. but I think their perception of equality and some of ours are different. It wasn’t just Dave; there wasn’t a single white taxi driver, crafstman and I never saw a white person in the township I saw. South Africa’s population is 80% black yet the 20% of whites are the ones that are in control and are prospering. It’s sad that this is happening but even worst is that the white people of privilege here are ignorant to the things that are around them. Our interport student lecturer talked to one of my classes and when someone asked her a question about the townships and rural schooling, she had no idea. She’s lived here her entire life and has never been to a township or a rural school; it really upset me at first. But then I thought about how little of my own country I’ve seen so I guess I have no place to judge.
Anyways, after we left the information center, we just walked up Long street going into stores (that were really expensive) and checked the area out. Rhina and I got gelato and strolled through Green Market Square. Side note: I never realized how uncomfortable I get in small spaces until I walked through the marketplace in Morocco. Thus walking through the market square made me anxious because each cubicle is only like 3 feet from the other and there’re rows and rows of cubicles. I bought a small drum there and at some point an older man kind of awkwardly grabbed at Rhina and I; not in a perverse way but he just kind of draped his arm around us. It definitely freaked me out because I was already unnerved so I booked it out of there. We regrouped and found a taxi to take us back to the ship. The ride was hilarious. Our driver was younger and had a swanky CD player that played videos of the songs. As we were driving back, listening to music and stuck in traffic all of a sudden we all started laughing; the song playing was repeating “Barack Obama”. It turns out that there’s a group in Africa that loves Obama so much they wrote a song about how much they like him! We couldn’t stop laughing, especially when we saw the video that went with it. We asked the driver a bunch of questions about Obama and music in general and he obligingly answered.
We got back, ate dinner and changed for the SaS trip to the theater to see Freak Country. We met outside and loaded a very ghetto coach bus to drive to the University of Cape Town where one of the theaters was. We had some appetizers and drinks provided when we got there and met a former SaS professor who was a company director. The play itself was weird; it’s not that it was bad it just didn’t really do anything. It left most people confused as to why they had ended where they did. I think it was under-acted because I felt as if it could have been good and made sense if there had been more emotions. I talked to a couple people on the bus after and we talked about how discontent we were with SaS trips and the port cities in general; that things hadn’t lived up to what we had anticipated. I got off the bus really unhappy with things in general and was planning on going to bed regardless of what people were doing but everyone had already fallen asleep when I got back so it worked out.
Day two: Sooo much better. Maybe it’s because of the people I was with or what we did, but today was awesome. After breakfast we decided to go see about the City Sightseeing tour; it ended up being the best thing. Basically you buy one ticket and you get to go around Cape Town –which is huge –and stop at all the highlights. The best part is a different bus comes every 20-45 minutes depending on the stop and after you’ve looked around, you get back on to go to the next stop. The buses themselves are red double decker buses –like in England –and there’s an audio commentary while you drive around to all the different places.
The first place we got off was Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens; it’s a huge reserve where most of South Africa’s indigenous plants are present. We walked around for an hour or so and then had a delicious lunch at the restaurant on the grounds. I had a spicy egg dish; not African but it was still really good. I also had the world’s most amazing real hot chocolate; sooo thick and creamy. For 3 people, lunch was only $20! So we got back on the bus and got off at the next stop which was…
World of Birds &Monkey Jungle. It’s an animal reserve/ sanctuary set up so that you actually walk through the cages where all the birds are; they’re not very skiddish so you can get really close. And the second part is similar only there’s a small fence around the pens of the penguins, meerkats, ostrich, etc. and cages around the monkeys. After that was…
The Imizamo Yethu township. A township here is basically a huge area of poor people living in shacks and really cruddy conditions. We had a guided walking tour just through the main street of the township. The first house was one of the shacks and he showed us this woman living with her husband and 3 children in a horribly hot cramped and dirty shack; it only had one room. They had electricity and appliances and such but everything was dirty and old and there was no running water. For some odd reason her children found my ear piercings amusing. After that we walked up further and saw a shabeen which is a bar type of area for people to hang out; they serve liquor to those who are 18 and older and they have a jukebox and a pool table up on beer boxes and crates. It’s also a sort of shanty shack. We also saw the water pump and porter potties where people walk up to 10 meters to come to. There were women there doing their laundry in a basket. After that our guide told us about a giant housing project that the Irish had started a few years earlier. They had come and built 500 houses in just a few days and they have a goal of building 10,000 houses in Cape Town before 2012. We went in to see one of these houses and comparatively, it’s much better than the shacks. The houses are solid and clean and they all have electricity and running water. After that house we walked past a small convenience store build shack style and run by a Somali family; our guide said that there’s been a great influx of Somali people in the townships in the past couple of years. The last stop in the township was the community and health center that the Irish also built during their project. Inside there were people selling homemade goods; the most impressive of these were the t-bag art. These women dry used tea bags, take out the leaves and decorate the bags to make beautiful things with and the leaves to make paper. I bought myself a small t-bag purse; I couldn’t help it. After that we went back to the bus and…
Just rode around on the bus for an hour; it took us along the back side of Table Mountain where some of the beaches and rich communities are. The views were breath-taking. There are 10-story buildings built right on the beaches but the road was cut into the mountain above that so you can still see everything. Cape Town also has a development rule that above a certain line on the mountain, you can’t build up; they want to preserve the image of the mountain. However, rich people don’t like being told they can’t build on the rich side of the mountain so the houses overlooking the road and beach are incredibly cramped together because of all the people that keep building in the tiny spaces. So on our drive we saw Houts Bay and Camps Bay and their beaches and a bunch of baking people on the beaches before we made it back toward the waterfront where the ship is.
We ate dinner and just decided to walk around the waterfront to see if there was anywhere to dance later on. Rhina, Maggie and I made some phone calls –I got to talk to everyone at home! We then went walking through the mall and I finally found a decent-sized bottle of sunscreen with more than 30 SPF –it’s kids sunblock but I’ll take what I can get. We walked up to the cinema at the top of the mall and discovered there was a gay pride film festival going on. We had just missed the showing but there was a reception going on and 2 women saw the group of us walk in and immediately shouted “lesbians?!”, really excitedly and Maggie and I played along and shouted lesbian back to the dismay of Rhina and D. lol They told us to grab a drink and mingle but we decided to pass cause we had missed the movie and D kind of gets uncomfortable around gay men so we didn’t want to leave him out. We finally decided that none of really felt like going out or spending money on drinks so we went back to the ship and played dominoes for an hour or so before calling it a night.
Day three: We woke up early and went to breakfast. I went off to the post office to send out some post cards and a small package. After the post office, D, Rhina and I went off to the City Sightseeing bus stop to get on the red line bus which follows a different route than the one we were on the day before. In general, the first hour of the tour was really boring; it mainly did a few circles around the central part of the city where a lot of the shopping happens. We eventually got to the cable car station to get to the top of Table Mountain. There was a huge line but it went relatively fast so it wasn’t bad. The cable car is pretty sweet; it rotates while it goes up. At the top station the height is about 1200 meters above sea level. Rhina D and I walked around a bit and took some pictures. The view was muggy but amazing; I took a ridiculous amount of pictures. During out little walk, D and Rhina found out how petrified I am of bees when a giant bumble bee came near me and I panicked and started crying. After about a half hour, we went back down and caught the sightseeing bus to Camps Bay to have lunch. We ate at a restaurant recommended to us by the sightseeing company. I had a sushi combo, a crab cake plate and sticky toffee pudding with a local hard cider; all of it was amazing.
After lunch we got back on the sightseeing bus and headed back to the ship. We took a nap and got up to grab something small to eat to hold us over and headed out for the rugby game. We took a big taxi with some other people to get to the stadium; the traffic was crazy and our driver was cruising through traffic, fitting in tiny places you wouldn’t think a vehicle that size could fit. Once we got to the stadium we found our seats just in time for the game to begin. In case you’re wondering why we decided to go to a rugby game, rugby is huge here in South Africa; it’s what baseball and football are to Americans. Apparently, Morgan Freeman was there because they showed him in one of the private boxes. Craaazy cool. Anyways, the game was awesome; the home team won by 3 against the Australians. After the game some of us stayed behind because Victoria wanted to try and get an autograph –and maybe an invite to the after party –but no such luck.
So we got outside and found that people from our group were still waiting for taxis. Someone had called the man who had dropped us off earlier and when he came we somehow fit 13 people into the mid-size SUV. It was uncomfortable but quite hilarious. We spent a few minutes trying to decide where we were getting dropped off before people decided to go to Long street where all the clubs are. I got out at the club with them only to try and find an ATM to take out money so I could pay a taxi to take me back to the waterfront. We waited 10 minutes before we finally got in this club called Chrome and I immediately found an ATM inside, took money out and left the club; I was getting more and more irritated the longer I stayed with the big group because I didn’t have a lot of money left and the last thing I wanted to spend it on was booze. Also I had no desire to dance that night; I just wasn’t feeling that great. So I left and found a taxi on the corner and took it back to the waterfront; the driver was really nice and talked to me in French when I told him I was from Canada. The taxi drivers always ask where you’re from and I’ve learned that saying your Canadian in foreign countries is much better than saying your American; they’re not as likely to try and rip you off. So I got to the waterfront and tried to make a phone call but I couldn’t get my phone card to work so I just walked back to the ship. I got to my room, called Meredith with what I had left of my ship-based calling card and went to bed. I didn’t even hear Rhina come in at 2am.
Day four: Today was completely chill. Rhina, D and I all slept in until lunch. We ate and went out to find a few souvenirs at the craft market right on the edge of the waterfront. On the way there we stopped at the media store and I bought Hercules; yes the Disney cartoon. It was only $7 and it’s one of my favorites. We mostly spent the day window shopping. Rhina got her hair braided and I found knitting needles and yarn! I’m super excited to knit again. After the craft market we headed towards one of the malls intent on finding Melissa’s; it’s a small café with the world’s yummiest hot chocolate made with Nutella.
However, we got distracted on the way there because there was a children’s dance competition going on in the amphitheatre outside of the mall. We stayed and watched most of it; some of the kids were amazing! There were 8 year old boys who could pop-n-lock like nobody’s business. Crazy. The only downside of the performance was that one of the girls had a wardrobe malfunction and ended up flashing half the audience; common sense would have told her to NOT come out on stage in a bikini top that barely covered her nipples. Also, at one point of the 45 minute performance this older creepy guy started hitting on me; he asked me where I was from and if he could have my number because he liked me. Creeper. I immediately went to D and Rhina’s sides and squished between them. I never know how to react when I’m hit on by perfect strangers so I generally ignore them and run away but this one was just more awkward than normal because he had been standing next to me for a couple minutes beforehand and even when he was talking to me I wasn’t looking at him because I didn’t want to encourage him. It was weird.
Anyways, after the show we went in and had hot chocolate at Melissa’s. Amazing. Naturally after having said delicious hot chocolate we went to the grocery store right next to Melissa’s to buy stuff to make hot chocolate while on the ship; I’ve been paying $2 for one on the ship so buying the stuff separate is a much cheaper option. Once we had gotten a few snacks, we went back to the ship to eat dinner. After dinner we went back out to try and find free wi-fi because we had seen some students sitting on the edge of the hotel property right near the ship and internet on the ship is very expensive to buy. We tried near the hotel but Rhina couldn’t get a signal so we went to the information center to find out where else there was wi-fi in the waterfront area. We ended up going to a café nearby but it also wouldn’t work so we finally gave up. On the way back to the ship, Rhina stopped to buy a book she had wanted. The rest of the night consisted of Rhina, D, Victoria, Mike and I watching Hercules and Wedding Crashers and calling it an early night.
Day five: Today was much the same as yesterday. We slept in until lunch and then went out last-minute souvenir shopping. I bought more yarn and found something for mama, dad and keshia. Afterwards we just came back to the ship so we could get started on our homework. I got 2 of my 8 art entries done and will probably spend the next 2 days working on them; the entries take me forever but it’s going to be so worth it when I bring it home.
All in all, Cape Town was pretty great. I only wish I had been able to see more than just stores outside of the waterfront. We were really limited to what we could do since we would’ve had to leave the waterfront every time we wanted to do anything not touristy and even outside of the waterfront area, most things were shopping oriented. Since my friends and I decided we didn’t want to waste all our money shopping or boozing, there really wasn’t a whole lot for us to do. Add in that Cape Town is HUGE and very commercial, I think most people didn’t get out of South Africa what they were hoping to. I know I didn’t but I don’t know how I could have; I would’ve had to have left Cape Town and gone out into places that Semester at Sea deems unsafe. It’s sad but so far on this trip I feel like I’m walking through a zoo version of each country; we see things but through bars. Especially before this port, the SaS staff tried to kind of scare us I feel to keep us from being too adventurous. They say it’s for our safety but I feel like you can’t really experience something if you don’t put yourself out of your comfort zone, and thus far SaS is like bubble wrap; the opportunities they’re giving us by landing in certain ports or arranging certain trips is keeping us in a comfort zone. Yet at the same time, they’re telling us to try and do things of substance. It’s hard to explain all of this but I feel the need to try and explain some of what my friends and I are feeling. Anyways, we’re off to Mauritius where we’ll land for only about 12 hours and then India for 5 days. We’re expected to have rough seas the entire way to Mauritius (which is 4 days away) so wish me luck; I had my sea legs but I think 5 days on land might have reversed the process. We’ll see. Much love all!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
2/14 - 2/16 Namibia
We arrived in Walvis Bay, Namibia on time at 8am but had to wait for them to process all of our passports and we went to our first diplomatic briefing. During the briefing we were told a little about Namibia and some useful tips on how to stay safe. After the briefing we still hadn’t been cleared so most people went out to listen to the girls’choir that had come out to welcome us. They were down off the gangway but they had amazing voices that carried up to the decks. The girls were from a primary school in the area and they sang beautifully. After about an hour they cleared us to leave if we didn’t need our passports; D, Rhina and I decided that we would take the chance traveling without them because we weren’t going too far.
So I got in line to leave while Rhina went back to get her other passport so she’d have an ID with her. Well while I was waiting in line Tanmoy saw me and asked where Rhina was; I was ready because Rhina had told me that he wanted to come with us, but we didn’t want him with us. So I told him that she had gone to her room to get something but that we were peacing out right after. He insisted that he was coming with us; I told him that it was just Rhina D and I because we didn’t want to be bogged down by people and he still kept saying that he was coming with us, so I gave up arguing and I figured I would let Rhina and D handle him. They got in line behind me and I whispered to Rhina what had happened; she got irritated but she thought she could leave him behind once we got off the ship. No such luck. At that point if he didn’t get that he wasn’t welcome in our group, he would deal with the repercussions; Rhina doesn’t front with anyone so she let him know non-verbally that he wasn’t welcome during the entire 2 days he was with us. Sucks for him; I have no sympathy because he's an arrogant, chauvinistic male who likes to argue.
Anyways, so we walked to town to catch a taxi. Thankfully this time it was only about a 10 minute walk in wonderful warmth; it was sunny and about 80 degrees the entire time we were in Namibia. First impressions of Walvis Bay were good; no one looked at us with contempt and the city itself is clean and welcoming. We very quickly hailed a taxi and negotiated for the man to bring all 4 of us to Swakopmund for 100 Namibian dollars ($10 USD). We got in and took off. The drive was amazing; I’ve never been in a desert so it really struck me. I’m in southern Africa, thousands of miles from home; I’m really doing this. You’re probably thinking it’s weird that it took me until now to actually get my head around that but it was just the enormity of driving 110 km through a landscape that borders the ocean to the left and mountainous sand dunes for as far as the eye can see on the right. It was dazzling. No one really talked during the 20 minute drive, we just soaked it all in. We got to Swakopmund and were dropped off on the main road.
Rhina had brought a map and a copy of the guidebook that told us of hotels and hostels. We went to an ATM first and then went in search of a hotel or hostel to drop off our bags before we went frolicking. We found one right off the main street that had a bar and restaurant attached with dorm-style beds for $110 Namibian. Coincidentally, there was an adventure company also attached to the hotel. Side note: one of Namibia’s largest industries is tourisms so they offer a variety of desert adventures and sports. So we went in and met Angelique, the receptionist, and talked to her for a while. We told her what we wanted to do, found out prices and times and were able to book camel riding for that afternoon and dune boarding for the next morning. After that we walked around a little, looking at shops and eventually decided to get lunch at a German pub/restaurant. Side note: for those of you that don’t know, Namibia used to be a German colony so the German culture is very much still a big part of Namibian culture; the country’s only been independent since 1990. So we sat down and all ordered something we’d never had before; Rhina and I ordered beer, snails, bratwurst and steak madame all to share. Soooo good. All of it. I can’t wait to upload my food pictures once I get home; I’ve had some amazing food in every country.
After lunch we went back to the hotel to catch our cab to the camel farm; it was about 10 minutes outside of town. As we pulled in, we saw 4 camels getting ready to go for a walk; I got sooooo excited cause I can’t remember being that close to camels ever. While we waited for the 2 people to come back from their little walk, the woman who owned the farm put scarves on our heads and told us a little about her and the farm; she showed us her tortoises and let me hold the baby one. When the camels came back, she introduced us to them and we mounted them just like you would a horse. I named mine Consuello cause I couldn’t remember what his actual name was; he kept nibbling on D’s pants. It was a lot of fun; really similar to riding a giant horse. Its fur was rough; it felt like straw more than fur. It was only a 15 minute trek but it was still fun; the entire thing, including taxi, cost us $200 Namibian.
When we got back, we decided to go up to the bar above the hotel to play pool and have a drink. We got bore so we decided to walk around for a while before dinner; everything was closed except the supermarket so we walked down to the beach. I picked shell pieces and pretty rocks and played in the sand. We came back and decided to go to the restaurant a few buildings down from our hotel. It was a pizzeria but they had lots of other food. I tried baked muscles and fresh oysters, ordered Swakup pizza (which had ham, salami, mushrooms and cheese) because it was the cheapest thing but I got to try Rhina’s Oryx burger; we were told that Namibians love wild game and Oryx is one of the most popular. Everything was delicious as usual. After dinner we went up to the bar to dance off dinner. Or so we thought. People here don’t really dance; it might’ve been because the DJ was kind of crappy and kept playing American music but we eventually decided to start the dancing with a bunch of other SaS students that had made their way to the bar. People were getting drunk quick; the big thing here are shooters and they were all $10 Namibian ($1!!) and there were tons of them. Yummm. Me, Rhina and D were exhausted though so we didn’t drink that much; we had like 5 or 6 shooters in a couple hours and finally decided that we wanted to crash so we’d be rested for our sand boarding the next morning. We were all really thirsty but we were too lazy to go down the street to buy bottled water so I bought soda to quench my thirst and Rhina and D drank the nasty tap water; we were told not to but when you’re thirsty you don’t care. So we finally pass out around midnight or so.
Day Two: We woke up around 8:30 and lazied a bit before getting dressed. I ate cold pizza for breakfast and put on sunscreen before leaving; I knew the sun was going to be as hard and hot as the day before. So we get down to the adventure office and meet two other guys that are going with us; they’re on vacation from South Africa. Talk them up a bit while we go out to the dunes.
We get there and there are 4 other vehicles, almost all full with SaS students; typical. So we get snowboard boots, helmets and boards; for those sledding, they get a helmet, gloves and elbow pads. The first thing we do is just strap in to make sure the boards and boots are a good fit. Then we start walking. Pure hell. The dune is huge and we have to walk to the top. The sand is soft so it’s always slipping and moving. The guides had warned us that the first trek is the worst. I ended up at the end of the line and was ok with it; it took about 20 minutes to reach the top. Finally get to the top as the instructor is explaining how things are going to work. First thing we do is wax our boards; they have to be waxed each time you go down. They throw on a glob of wax, you rub it in with your hands, throw sand on it and rub the sand off; wax on, wax off. Then we line up at the top of the ridge and strap on our boards, waiting and watching as our instructor shows us how to go down the dune slowly. It’s similar to snowboarding but so much easier and less painful. We start by going down facing the dune and not away from it; it’s safer that way. I made it down relatively quick AND without injury. It was so much fun! I couldn’t wait to do it again.
However, I started climbing back up and saw D and Rhina; both of them were super nauseous and faint. Side note: those shooters the night before were deadly…there were 36 mixed shooters, all with different types of hard alcohol and Rhina and D had 6 different ones. Mixing liqueurs is never a good plan, and drinking unfiltered Namibian water after that is probably also not the best thing. So I sat with them for a while until they felt a little better, had some water and we went back up. We got to the top and they told us we could try dune sledding before our last run –almost everyone else had already gone down the dune twice so we were behind a run. For the sledding you lie face down on a thin, waxed, wooden board and pull the front up and slide down. It was crazy! They measured our speed and I hit 63 km! It’s like sledding but without the ice flying at your face and the cold lungs. So we walk back up and they tell us to get ready for our last run; we re-wax our boards, get in place and go down. I actually slid half the dune going straight down instead of side to side. Yay! Once we reach the bottom we head back to the trucks. I took off my boots because they were full of sand and made walking a pain in the bum. Get to the trucks, hand in our gear; there’s stuff for sandwiches and coolers full of soda and beer which everyone digs into. Load back up after lunch and head back to the hotel.
We knew we would have to wait until 6 for the dvd to be done so we decide to get changed and head to the beach. We stopped at the supermarket –the only store open –and bought water. Got to the beach and Rhina and I immediately jumped in; we had sand everywhere still from the morning. The water felt great; it’s about 70 degrees. I got out pretty quick though because the bottom is all little pebbles and I realized –as the waves carried those pebbles to the shore –that I had burnt the back of my legs at the dunes. I slathered myself in another coat of sunscreen once I got out of the water and laid out to dry. We kept watches because a local had already tried to walk off with Rhina’s sneakers and men had approached us, asking for money. We’re a very cautious group. We stayed about an hour and then decided to head back to shower before the dvd showing. We stopped to get ice cream. Yummy. Got back and we all showered; I was the last one and when I came out Rhina said the receptionist had asked us to leave. It was around 5:30 so I wasn’t surprised; they hadn’t given us a check out time but we knew we had been pushing our luck. Anyways, we head up to the dvd showing and ask the video guy if we can just get a copy of the dvd before the viewing and head out. He says yes so we grab our copies and find a taxi to bring us back; we wanted to get back to the ship before dinner ended at 7:30 and it was already 6:15 by the time we left. Anyways, we make it back to the ship and go straight to dinner. We ate, then napped, played dominoes (which I now rock at!) and crashed; Rhina, D and I had SaS trips the next morning.
Day 3: We woke up and had breakfast at 7:45. I went to the gangway, met the Seal and Dolphin Encounter group and boarded the shuttles. We got to the Mola Mola boat tour site and at the gate there was a group of Himba women selling bracelets; I bought one for a gift because they were beautifully made and asked the woman that I bought it from if I could take a picture of her and her son. Side note: we’ve learned about the people of the Himba tribe in class and the reason I asked to take a picture is because they cover their skin in red ochre; it turns their skin red and is interesting to see. There were also pelicans walking around the parking lot. Once we met our guide, we broke off into groups of 10 and boarded our ship. Our skipper’s name was Nico; a man originally from South Africa with a sweet accent. Even before we took off from the dock, a seal jumped onto the ship! Nico introduced us to him and said his name was Humphrey. He just wobbled right onto the bench where everyone had been sitting and made himself at home. Nico fed him fish that he kept in a bucket near the front; he told us we could pet him and of course we all did and took plenty of pictures. It took a few minutes to get him off; Nico had to keep throwing fish into the water for him to go ‘fetch’. We finally took off and Nico told us a little about the harbor and the seal colonies. We saw gulls, more pelicans and as soon as he slowed down –plop! –another seal jumped on. He was much bigger than Humphrey; Nico told us his name was Robbie and was one of the older seals around. We played with him a little and eventually kicked him off to go a little further into the bay. Nico showed us where one of the oyster farms were and explained how one of the ships has been jailed there for 3 years for dumping fish guts in the bay; fish guts deteriorate, create ocean pollution and don’t allow for other fish to grow.
Nico took us closer to the big seal colonies on the point and we went chasing after a bottlenose dolphin that we had seen from a distance. We also saw a mola mola –or sunfish –and were able to get relatively close to it. At one point, Nico also made the pelicans start flying after us right next to and above the ship; so cool. It seemed that every time we slowed down a seal would jump on the ship; the last one that came on –and the cutest –was Google. He was Nico’s favorite; he immediately butted Nico with his head, looking for fish. He also liked to hop up and hug him whenever Nico waved a fish. It turns out that Google is one of Robbie’s sons. After we got him off the ship –it took 3 tries –Nico sped off and we headed back towards the pier. Halfway there, Nico stopped the ship and took out drinks and snacks; there was Coke, beer and water as well as champagne and he had fresh oysters and a tray of snacks. Everything was yummy as usual. We went back and were greeted by Humphrey once again when we got close to the pier and once we debarked from the boat we boarded the shuttles and went back to the ship.
Rhina, D and I had made plans to meet and walk into town to find a post office. So after a quick lunch we made for town, found the post office and probably spent the better part of an hour between the post office and phone center, trying to get things done. Rhina bought a phone card from the post office that wouldn’t work even though the women in the post office kept telling her it did and I couldn’t send something because the post office didn’t carry envelopes. Next we went to the supermarket and bought a few snacks to hold us over until South Africa because we all hate paying $1 or more for a chocolate bar or what is usually a $ .50 bag of chips. By this point –and actually even before we left –we were exhausted from the past two days so we decided to walk back to the ship and just stop real quickly at the street vendors right outside the port. I bought a pretty necklace and earrings made out of wood and another bracelet from the Himba women for myself. Then back to the ship to nurse all my sunburns. I’m probably going to look absolutely ridiculous by the time I get back because as of right now I have burns on the back of my calves, my forehead (it’s swollen), one ear, my neck and two layers of burn on my shoulders and chest; I’m burning in patches. And no one chastise me because I’ve been putting sunscreen on religiously since we got to warm weather; apparently it’s just not strong enough this close to the equator. So the minute I step foot off the ship tomorrow in Cape Town, I’m going to find sunscreen with an SPF of at least 60. We’re in South Africa for 5 days and the only thing I have planned thus far is to go see a play, get to the top of Table Mountain, see a rugby game (the sport is huge here) and spend a day on the beach slathered in sunscreen. The rest is up to the spirit of adventure.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
2/9 Ship Life Adventures
So from Morocco to Namibia is 8 days at sea. However, the trip was a little broken up by two things; on the third day we made port in Dakar, Senegal for bunkering (fueling) and experienced some of the warmest weather since we left the Bahamas. It looked like almost everyone had made their way to the back decks to enjoy the sunshine and warmth –the average temperate temperature here in February is 81 degrees and it was almost that while we were there. I got my first sunburn even though I was only out for about 2 hours altogether. Well worth experiencing warmth and sunshine. Sight-wise there wasn’t much to see; we weren’t allowed to get off the ship but from the decks we could see the fuel-holding tanks and what looked like a very industrial city sky line. In the distance, you could make out Gorée Island, which is said to have been a place where the slave-trade boarded it’s hostages. We spent about 6 hours fueling and then took off again
The other exciting thing that happened was we had what is called Neptune Day. This paragraph is what the administration sent us to tell a little about it.
“Crossing the Line, or Neptune Day, is an initiation rite celebrated in many navies. It commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the equator. The rite was intended originally as a test of new shipmates by seasoned sailors. The tradition dates back to the 16th century, and in the old days, the ship heaved to (that is, it set its sails so as to remain stationary) and the pollywogs were hoisted on the mainyard and dunked into the ocean 40 feet below; afterwards, shaving and other forms of blood letting took place. “
The captain (a funny British man) also sent all student the following e-mail to pre-face the day of festivities.
“SUBPOENA to all POLLYWOGS,
You are hereby requested to appear before the ROYAL COURT OF THE REALM OF NEPTUNE, in the DISTRICT OF EQUATORIUS, because it has been brought to the attention of HIS HIGHNESS, NEPTUNE REX through his trusty SHELLBACKS, that the good ship M/V EXPLORER is about to cross the equator and enter those waters accompanied by passengers who have not acknowledged the sovereignty of the RULER OF THE DEEP.
THEREFORE be it known to all Slimy Pollywogs that The Royal, King NEPTUNE REX, Supreme Ruler of all citizens of the deep, will, with his Secretary and Royal Court, meet in full session on board the offending ship M.V. EXPLORER on the 9th day of February, A.D. 2009 at 0900 on Deck 7 aft, to hear your defense.
Regards,
-King Neptune and His Royal Court”
So we were woken up at 7:30 by the crew marching through the halls, all dressed in togas and tin foil helmets, banging on drums and chanting something. After breakfast, we all met on deck 7…all 800 or so people. It was re-stupid. No one could see but thankfully they used microphone so we could at least hear. The crew escorted “Neptune”and his queen up to deck 7 –Neptune was actually our captain painted green and wearing a hula skirt and a crown. lol The rest of the faculty, staff and life-long learners were all dressed up too. Next the “voice”, or our Dean of Student Affairs, announced what was to happen for all of us to pay our respects to King Neptune. We had to have green gunk poured over us, kiss a big fish, kiss the King’s ring and shave our heads. It was all optional but it was hilarious. I was one of the first to get gunked and kiss the fish. Then I waited in line for about an hour to get my head shaved; there were a lot of guys and a few girls doing it but they only had 3 shavers going and then 2 women just cutting hair. Our last count was 11 bald girls and 83 in all, I believe. A lot of the guys were doing it because it was a free hair cut; girls did it for different reasons.
There were quite a few girls who cut their long hair to donate or shaved their heads for the thrill of it, just to say they did. My reasons were different than the first time I cut my hair short; in eighth grade it was all about being different (yet copying P!nk) and getting attention. It was almost glamorous for me. When I shaved my head this time it was for different reasons. It was to test myself and to prove a point. Statistically I have a high chance of getting some sort of cancer at a young age; that doesn’t scare me because I know that I’ll be strong enough to fight it. But it means that I will lose my hair someday and when that day comes I don’t want the first thing that crosses my mind to be “oh no I’m going to lose my hair”. I am not that woman. The second reason sort of goes along with that, especially after hearing so many of the girls on this ship tell me why they won’t shave their heads; I don’t want to be that woman, that person, who allows something as trivial as hair to define them. My hair does not define me as a woman or a person; my actions and my words and my soul do. There’s a song by India.Arie that describes it best and these are some of the lyrics:
“I am not my hair, I am not this skin, I am not your expectations;
I am not my hair, I am not this skin, I am the soul that lives within.
Does the way I wear my hair make me a better person?
Does the way I wear my hair make me a better friend?
Does the way I wear my hair determine my integrity?
I’m expressing my creativity
Breast cancer and chemo-therapy took away her crown and glory
She promised God if she was to survive she would enjoy everyday of her life
On national television her diamond eyes are sparkling
Bald headed like a full moon shining, singing out to the whole wide world”
So shaving my head was more symbolic for me –I needed to test the strength of my character. So I may not be as aesthetically pleasing as I was when I boarded this ship but I actually feel more confident and stronger (as cheesy as that sounds) and that’s what’s important to me.
So after the ceremony most people just chilled on the decks to bake –it was wonderfully warm. The second best part of the day was dinner. Sidenote: the food on the ship isn’t the best –most people subsist on PB&J and fruit. It’s not that it’s bad, it just it all tastes the same –kind of like Aramark. Anyways, dinner was amazing. All you can eat burgers, hot dogs, bbq ribs, corn on the cob, ice cream &fresh fruit. When they make you pay $2 for a burger at Deck 7 you appreciate it when they’re included in dinner instead. The rest of the day was pretty chill. The only problem people are having now is finding clean clothes. Whoever told me that I had packed too much *coughMomcough* was lying; everyone here brought like twice the clothes I did and now I’m screwed (along with many others) because laundry takes like 5 days to process and I’m out of clothes! So I’ve been wearing my skirt for like 3 days because I have nothing else. I just wash it in my shower every other day. Just another ship life lesson/adventure. We have 3 days until Namibia; I’ll be writing when I get back on ship February 16th. Thanks for reading! Lovess!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Morocco 2/2 - 2/5: The Bipolar Port
So we got to Morocco about 12 hours late because the seas were too rough for us to fuel in Gibraltar so we had to wait until the water calmed down. We got here at night but they couldn’t let us off the ship until someone had come to check all of our passports so we stayed on the ship until morning. We ate breakfast early, hunted down our passports and were one of the first groups off the ship which is good cause my friends had to catch the train. Well I got off the ship with them and started walking with them thinking I would just wander around Casablanca alone because they were all going to Marrakech but I had an SaS trip that night so I couldn’t. Well I ended up turning around because the smarter part of me –and my friends –said that I couldn’t walk around Casablanca alone because we had been told in Logistical Pre-Port that women shouldn’t walk around alone…it wasn’t safe. So I went back and walked around the ship looking for people I knew to walk around with. Couldn’t find anyone. At this point I’m starting to get pissed and sad because I’m in a different country but because I’m a woman I can’t walk around alone so I’m stuck on the ship. BS right? So I end up writing a few emails and sketching an entry for my art journal. I thought I was going to be stuck on the ship for the entire day so I thought I would go see if anyone had donated any day trip tickets. I end up finding Candace and a few other people I know getting ready to leave so I jump in with them. Yay group to walk with.
Wrong. There’re like 12 people…doing anything with 12 people in a group is useless. First off, we walk to the main port gate…a mile away from the ship. Ridiculous. The entire time we’re walking, there are men cat calling and beeping at us and hounding us to get a taxi. We finally get to the beginning of the city and we have to stop for most people to get money at the bank…that took a half hour. Oh and sidenote: the driving here is insane –there are lines on the roads and speed limits but nobody pays any attention to either. Crazy. Anyways we get walking again…every other person stops to look at something or take a picture. Eventually when someone says they’re hungry, we split up. I end up with 3 other girls; Zoe is one of the professor’s daughters and then there was Laura and Phoebe. I didn’t much care who I was with. So the 4 of us go into a “French”café that serves French, Italian and American food because it was that or KFC. Better than nothing right? So we order pasta and pizza and chat a little. The food wasn’t amazing but it was cheap so it’s all good. We finish and head for the Medina, which is the market place where we were told to go to experience the Souks. Side note: everything I had seen and smelt until this point was dirty and raunchy so I didn’t really know what to expect. I was already uncomfortable because it felt like every man that saw us looked at us like we were dirty or made crude faces and gestures. So we walk into the Medina and it’s a bunch of little booths squished together…the ground is either cobblestones or dirt…it smells like sewage and food. We start walking through. I apparently was one of the few that listened during pre port cause I knew not to make eye contact with anyone, especially vendors; Phoebe either didn’t know or ignored that little tidbit of information. She was smiling at the men and looking at everything; I think she got ripped off every time she bought something and she bought quite a few things. She didn’t bargain with them –which is how the souks work –and she just kept taking pictures and being a right out blundering, ignorant American twit. I wanted to smack her. So all the while we’re wandering, Zoe and I are getting more and more uncomfortable; there are almost NO women here and the paths that the booths are on get closer and closer. Eventually Zoe and I look at each other –after Phoebe buys yet another thing and touches one of the salesmen on the arm –and we’re like we need to get out of here. Except there are no signs pointing the way out and we don’t have a map. The Medina is huge and confusing. I decide to follow an arrow I see because it looks like a way out. Phoebe says “aw but that way looks boring”; there were less people and no stores. Zoe and I start walking. We eventually come to a more populated street but it’s still not on our map so I look around and notice the Hassan Mosque…it’s the biggest thing in the city. I tell them we should head that way cause we can get to the ship from there. We walk for a while, and eventually get to the Mosque, take some pictures and head in the direction of the port. It was a longgg walk so when we get close, we decide to stop to get something sweet to eat; the café only had croissants so we order Moroccan tea. Amazing. It’s green tea with Saharan mint and sugar. We finish that –while watching Drowning Mona in English –and head toward the ship. Finally get there. Enough time for me to freshen up for dinner with a Moroccan family. Needless to say I hadn’t been impressed at all yet so I didn’t really know what to expect.
We all met in the Union to break up into groups and get our family assignment. I ended up in a group with 6 people that I didn’t know with a with a host woman named Mounia. First off, I should preface this by saying that the families hosting SaS students are parents of children that attend a private “American”school in Casablanca called George Washington Academy. So when we got off the ship with our host, we had to meet her friend at the main gate because her car only fit 4. We met Sofia and drove towards the nicer part of Casablanca to the Hotel Suisse –1 of 2 Hotels that the family owns. And we’re talking marble and fountains and valet parking –incredible. So we sat and had Moroccan tea while we chatted and got to know one another. Sofia has 2 children and Mounia has 5 and they’ve both lived in Morocco all their lives. Everyone in their family speaks 3 languages; Arabic, French and English. Even the 9 year old little girl we met speaks all three languages fluently.
So we went to their apartment –which is a big open suite-like place –and met their extended family as well their neighbors. Everyone was soooo nice; they all greeted us with a kiss on each cheek. When we first sat down in their living/dining area we were introduced to everyone and were asked a bunch of questions while we sampled traditional Moroccan pastries. Saad –the husband –told us that Moroccans generally had an insatiable sweet tooth. After talking for a while we started dinner which began with these yummy fried wonton things and a bunch of salads and salsas that we ate with traditional round bread, baked fresh. After that, one of the servants brings out this dish that looks like an upside-down funnel –the funnel part comes off and inside there were mini chicken meatballs with eggs all baked in a sauce that reminded me a little of taco meat. After that they brought out the largest bowl of couscous I’ve ever seen in my life and we ate it like they usually eat all their food –right out of the bowl. The couscous itself wasn’t the delicious part; they had baked squash, zucchini, cabbage, onions and beef and put it on top and then served it with these two sauces; one was a pepper sauce that was the salty component and the other was this sweet mixture of caramelized raisins and onions. To die for. But oh it wasn’t done. After they cleared the couscous, they brought out a giant bowl of fresh fruit, a pan of flan and a brownie cake. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had.
After dinner we sat down to talk some more and look at the yearbooks of the kids; we also were all pleased –and surprised –to find out that they all have Facebook! So we all added each other as friends so we could keep in contact. Mounia also showed us her and Saad’s wedding pictures and they told us how they met; they’re a beautiful couple. The pictures were amazing; a traditional Moroccan wedding is 7 days long and there’s a different dress for each day. I couldn’t believe how extravagant everything was. It was around midnight when we all realized it was long past our return time. Mounia gave us all hand-crafted cloths as gifts and gave us all her phone number and contact info, inviting us to call her and Sofia the next day if we wanted to go shopping and meet for lunch. I wasn’t able to but a few of the others did and they spent the entire day with them, getting hennaed, shopping, hanging out, etc. So before we left we said our goodbyes and took tons of pictures with the family and we all took cookies with us to smuggle back onto the ship; they don’t let you bring anything that isn’t sealed but we all got past security no problem. Yay. So after we got back, I found Candace to see what time we were leaving in the morning because we had made plans to meet some of our friends in Marrakech. Finally bed.
Marrakech: I woke up at 5 to finish packing and get ready. We were supposed to meet at 5:30 but people were late so we didn’t end up leaving until 6; we had to catch the train at 6:50 and like I said before, it’s a mile just to the main gate. So in the dark of the morning and in the most disgusting humidity I’ve felt in a while, we started speed walking like our lives depended on it. We would have been willing to pay a petite taxi but there were none at that hour so we booked it to the main gate. Found a taxi as soon as we saw one and took it to the station; we got to the station 10 minutes before the train left. So I was the only one who hadn’t bought a ticket the day before so I bought a first class ticket (cause that’s what the rest of the group had done) for 125 durham (roughly $12USD) and boarded the train. I took my jacket off and was disgusted…I was drenched in sweat but it would have been completely inappropriate for me to change so I just dealt with it. I figured if I didn’t smell I was fine. Settled into my comfy seat and got ready for the 3+ hour ride. I was in a comfy seat in a cabin that had 6 seats; there were 2 businessmen in the cabin with me and 2 other people boarded at other stops. I apparently was exhausted because I fell asleep hard for over an hour of the trip…I never sleep on trains or anything. Woke up, had a Coke and got to Marrakech around 10:30.
I came to find out, however, that we didn’t actually know what we were doing; we hadn’t made any concrete plans to meet anyone at a specific time or place. This was fine except we spent the next hour sitting in a McDonalds figuring that out. I ate the pastries that I got from my host family because I refused to eat American food in a different country. So eventually we called our friends and found out what hotel they were at and went about getting a taxi there. It was a crazy ride to the Medina. Get there and climb up to the hotel (it was on top of a restaurant/ café place) and find our friends waiting there for us. Except they’re getting ready; they were supposed to stay another night so we would all be there together but they didn’t have a very good time the day; they got harassed, pick-pocketed and watched some horrible things happen. So their new plan was to just go to a Hammam close by and then take a train back. I really didn’t care about being in Marrakech because it’s all shopping and bargaining and I had only really come to meet up with my friends so I decide to go with them rather than stay the night. We found a few Hammams and checked them out; eventually we found Riad Isis in a back alley and all agreed it was the nicest and cheapest.
One of the best experiences I’ve had so far; for less than $30 (300 durhams) I got a “bath”which included a wash of black eucalyptus soap, a body scrub, my hair washed, a clay rub and a half hour oiled massage. The bath happened in a sauna-like room with this heated tile seat and the woman rinsed us off using a children’s bucket. During the massage they dimmed the lights and had soft music playing. It was amazing and completely revitalizing; it was worth 7 hours spent on a train, that’s how good it was. We did all this in pairs so Rhina and I went together and we’re both shy so we kept our underwear and bra on; the woman made fun of us. Everyone came out eventually and we all looked like lazy, sated cats. A few of the girls got waxing done too cause it was so cheap. Once we were all back together, we realized we had missed the intended 3pm train but we knew there was another one at 5pm so we headed back toward the center of town. Stopped to get some postcards and exchange money and we finagled a taxi driver to bring us all (there were 7 of us) back to the train station in 2 taxis for 10 durhams each. Every time you want to take a taxi, you have to negotiate prices with them before you get in or they rip you off. Anyways, get to the station about a half hour before the train leaves and I realize that I haven’t eaten all day and neither has anyone else; it’s 4:30. Unfortunately, there’s only McDonalds and KFC so I cave in. I was so hungry I barely tasted the food. I had a Big Mac with deluxe potatoes (wedges) and a diet Coke. So good. Oh and I got curry sauce to dip my potatoes in…sooo yummy. I wish the U.S. had some.
So we bought 2nd class tickets this time and squished into a cabin with a woman we didn’t know; poor lady. We were ridiculous the entire time, dancing and singing and being obnoxiously loud. I sang for the first time since I’ve been on the ship and found out that a bunch of my friends have producers as uncles; can we say connections? lol It was a fun trip back. I scribbled some notes on what I had seen and done so I could write this entry when I got back to ship. So we got off at what we thought was our stop and realized too late that it was the wrong one; Casablanca, just the wrong station. It took 10 aggressive taxi drivers laughing in our faces to realize something was wrong; we offered them 10 durhams and they all laughed or scoffed and went away. So we went inside and found out we had gotten off a stop too early (or late, no one really cleared that up) so we caught the next train coming through to the right station. Argued with a taxi driver who wouldn’t bring us to the ship for 10 durhams and eventually just walked away until the man came after us and said he would to bring us just to the main port in 1 big taxi; 7 people plus the driver in one car. We get to the gate and walk back; I slipped and fell off a curb and scraped my knee but we eventually got there. We hung out for a few hours and then I crashed; it was a long friggin day.
Woke up the next morning for breakfast and we all decided to go back to bed and meet at lunch, ready to leave. Slept for a few more hours, got up and ready, ate lunch and headed out to find Rick’s Café (for those who don’t know, it’s from the movie Casablanca); the only thing was that it was raining and really humid. Yuck. Had to take 3 petite taxis there because we couldn’t convince anyone to take more than 3 people and they overcharged us. Got there to find out that they weren’t letting anyone else in because it was almost closing time for them; at this point, I was grumpy because we had just wasted money and time doing nothing when all I had wanted to do was go buy a few things in the shops along the road to the Medina. So we decide to walk back towards that area of town. Well I don’t know how it happened again, but we had a complainer that managed to stick herself to our group. All she did was whine about how the rain had ruined her moccasins (who wears moccasins in the rain?) and that she was pissed and blah blah blah. Eventually we got to the center of town and left her with other people so we could go frollick in peace. I bought a bronze tea-pot (for decoration only) and a few scarves and a jilaba tunic (the traditional garb they wear here to cover themselves from head to toe…only mine was a short-sleeved shirt). Found a taxi willing to bring a few of us back to the ship and agreed on a decent price; except we freaked out halfway there because we didn’t think we had enough money. lol Someone found an extra coin and we were fine. Waited a half hour to board back onto the ship (everyone gets back from big SaS trips around 4 the day we leave) and went to start messing with my hair; we knew that a few days after we left Morocco we would be crossing the equator so I wanted to do fun things before I shaved my head for the traditional ceremony. First, I bleached it with bleach I had bought in Spain and I bleached a few strands of Rhina’s hair. Then we cut and buzzed the sides and back of my hair with my friend Thomas’clippers. Next Rhina died her streaks blue with color she had brought with her…she said I could us it if I wanted so I put a few streaks in. Except when I rinsed it out, it turned most of my hair this funky sea green color; good thing I didn’t really care. Eventually I cut what hair there was left so that I could mohawk it; it looked awesome. And then after watching the ship leave and a dance party in the Union, we all went to bed; we're at sea for 8 days before reaching Namibia.
