Brazil

On Sunday, January 23, the Explorer docked in Manaus, a city of about 2 million in the state of Amazonus. Sunday was pretty great. I spent the day walking around the city with a friend. Everything was closed because it was Sunday so we visited the Opera House, went to the marketplace, and went out to lunch. We tried to go to the fish market near the water, but we couldn't find it; I think it was closed for the day when we got there in the afternoon. I'm not too bummed about that though; I heard mixed things on the market and going to Pike's Place in Seattle should be close enough, just less exotic. Brazil in January is pretty horrible in terms of weather so I bought a drink from a street vendor called a guarana (I don't know how it is actually spelled) made of the guarana berry, which is really popular in Brazil, mixed with nuts. It kind of tasted like a peanut butter smoothie. We were walking back to the pier to by some post cards when we found a whole lot of SASers in an open air bar so we hung out with hem before returning back to the ship for the afternoon.

My friend Nick bought me a birthday cake for my birthday which we had during dinner. It was sort of an odd mix of some people he knew and invited combined with people I knew. I told a bunch of people about it, but it's kind of hard to make plans on the ship so I was worried people would forget and to show, but a good number of people came for ice cream cake. That night, one of the interport lecturers from Manaus took at least a hundred and fifty SASers downtown to samba demonstration. Apparently they rehearse this dance every Sunday for weeks in preparation for Carnival. SAS had a whole bar to itself and an entire block was shut down for the show. Everyone hung out for an hour and then the show started. The MC announced to the crowd that we were here and everyone was really excited that we took the time to not only go to Brazil, but also to go to Manaus, which is way harder to get to than Salvador or Rio. The dancers were incredible, doing crazy moves nonstop for an hour, and the drummers were just as good. Everyone danced in the streets and I got a chance to talk to some Brazilians who spoke a little English. They were really friendly and when someone said it was my birthday, they all sang me happy birthday in English and Portuguese. I had never seen a giant dance party in the streets before. It was pretty surreal and so much fun.

On Monday, I went on a service FDP (and the first ever multi day FDP) for one of my classes to the Tupana village, located 400 miles further inland than Manaus. Apparently it's supposed to be one of the most remote places in the world, but I don't know how true that is. There were 22 of us in total going with another group who were just doing jungle exploration. After leaving the ship, we took a two hour boat ride, where we saw The Meeting of the Rivers, and a four hour bus ride to get to the village. The roads in Amazonus aren't so great. Not only are a lot of them unpaved, but the government seems to start projects and never finish them, so there are a whole lot of bridges that aren't finished so we had to get out of the bus while the bus went up a hill, so we didn't all slide off, and we would also have to get out and get on a barge with eh bus whenever we crossed a river. After finally arriving in the village, we were greeted with lunch and we immediately got to work (although we first played a little futbol with some kids. They were really good, and playing in the Brazilian sun in the height of the afternoon didn't make us any better.).

Our work entailed painting, putting up wood planks on the sides of the porch, and helping to restore a bridge for the only school in the village. Painting took up most of our time. It was hard because we didn't have a lot of supplies. For example, there were 22 of us, but we probably only had ten paint brushes and rollers so a lot of us couldn't work, making us less efficient than we could have been. The supplies we did have weren't that great either. To paint the inside walls of the school, we used some water based white paint so it didn't coat very well and you could still see pretty much everything that was on the walls before we arrived. Even with multiple coats, the walls didn't look much better. We also didn't have any drop cloths so the floors don't look very great right now, and we didn't have time to fix them. Minus the floors, the outside looks pretty nice though. We painted the outside a nice yellow color, the doors, windows, and railings green, and the outside rails around the porch a bright yellow. It sounds like a weird cool combination, and the school does kind of remind me of a playhouse now, but those colors are in the Brazilian flag, and on the kids' uniforms. Some people also got up on the roof and redid the sign for the school, repainting all the letters.

I helped carry a whole lot of wood for the bridge when we started the bridge on the last day and helped disassemble the old bridge. This was way different from other construction projects I've helped out with in the States. The wood was stacked by the water, so we had a five minute walk to get it and even though all the nails were worn out and rusted through, we still kept them because the school would use them later. Redoing the school was fun because it is nice and fulfilling to see progress being made on a project, but to be honest, the service wasn't as great as I was hoping it would be. The faculty at the school took so much time to host us, and the construction workers who were there also took time to work with us and get us involved. The government doesn't really take care of the Tupana village, but they don't have a shortage of skilled workers who are more than capable of building a school. We came in and tried to help, but we weren't the greatest of workers. No one is a construction or painting pro so we just did the best we could. Where we could have helped was in getting the funds for projects the government couldn't help with. I couldn't help but think that the money we spent to get the village could have been better used by donating good supplies and hiring a group of good and reputable construction workers. That way the school would probably have been done better and Brazilian workers would have gotten paid. Also, they could have done so much more for the village. They initially asked us to build them a hospital or dig them a well, which would have been impossible for group, especially in only four days. A professional team would not have had that problem. On the other hand, this village had never met any foreigners before so it is nice to build those bonds and let people know that other countries and people really do care about them.

We bought an indestructible soccer ball for the kids, which they really loved. We also played with the kids and many of the girls bonded with their own special kid. For some reason, our teacher was dead set on trying to teach English and didn't really want the kids to teach us Portuguese. I didn't really like that so I'm glad the English lessons didn't really take off. We also did a bunch of fun things in the river. We walked around the village and climbed up to this really rickety old bridge to swim in the River Negro (part of the River Tupana, which is part of the Amazon...so we swam in the Amazon). Our guide also took us on a boat ride around the river near our lodge and caymen (like a crocodile) spotting in the dead of night. It was really cool to be out there even if we didn't catch any caymen. I also saw an acai tree and learned that the berry I love so much in my smoothies is actually hard as a rock and would break my teeth if I tried to eat it. Apparently it's cooked and pureed before we eat it. I also tried a whitey (spelling) fruit and a Brazilian plumb. The food wasn't my favorite; I did try cassava root and apparently I ate horse meat. Our lodge was a fifteen minute boat ride away from the village and once we were done for the day, we swam in the river, went kayaking (I saw a dolphin) and hung out in the lodge. The lodge had a monkey who lived there and was really destructive. He got into everyone's stuff. We all slept in hammocks around a tree in a giant tree house. Everyone in the village was really excited we were here and went out of their way to be friendly. Our tour guides, Nigel and Simon, were really cool and Ricardo, one of the teachers was really eager to learn English, be friends with us, and play guitar and sing with us. Today (1/27), when we went back to say goodbye, the school looked great, and the principal was genuinely pleased with our work. We're getting so much attention in the ports we visit, it's kind of like being a rock star.

All in all it was a good service trip even if I now have to wash all my clothes in the sink.

Final note: Britney, the videographer came with us and now she and I are tight. She takes pictures and records interviews and other sounds for the trip to make slideshows for the SAS website. It's on the homepage under the SAS blog link. I should be in it so check that out in the next few days.

Manaus

Me in front of the ship.

Everyone in the streets for samba

Brazilian flag on our boat going another 400 miles up the Amazon

Meeting of the waters on the Amazon River.

Where we slept during our service trip

People hard at work.

Russ, Elizabeth, Candace, and I at the end.  

My 21st

Today I had the best birthday present ever. Since our lives are quite stressful at sea, classes were canceled for a reading day. I was pretty caught up on all my readings so I took the day off to relax and celebrate. I, along with half the ship, hung out on the pool deck, catching some rays in the Amazon sun. When I told my friend it was my birthday, the pool deck sang me happy birthday. I also spent a good portion of the day laying on a beach chair reading The Girl Who Played With Fire. I have a little burn and a wicked watch tan. My RA put a card with some M&Ms on my bed and my friend made me a happy birthday card. Nick, someone I met last week in Dominica, asked me if I had a cake for my birthday, and when I told him no, he bought me a cake for tomorrow night! It was really nice and very exciting.

At our pre-port meeting for Brazil (something we do before every port, just to get some more info on the country, like safety, trips, health, etc..), we got a video greeting from former Archbishop Desmond Tutu! He sailed with SAS last fall, and wished us all good luck on our voyage, saying we would have fun, learn more than we could ever think is possible, and this voyage can really change your life. It was really unexpected and absolutely amazing. Never in my life did I ever imagine that someone as legendary and important in history as the Archbishop would ever speak to me, let alone wish me all the luck in the world. It didn't even matter that he was on video.

Tomorrow, we'll dock in Manaus, and stay there until Thursday.

All in all, a very successful 21st!

Happy birthday magnet on my door from my RA.

One Week In

Hello everyone.

I've only been here a week, but it feels like forever; I guess because we do so much each day.  Food has been pretty good this week, the gym is weird because I'm not used to it and there's a layer of saltwater over all the weight machines outside, and it was laundry day for my cabin (3113) yesterday.  It doesn't sound exciting, but it kind of was.

When I look out my window now, I can see the Amazon river!  This river is way bigger than I ever imagined, but you can actually see land on both sides of the ship if you look hard enough.  There are deposits in the river of mud and other solid debris, and apparently the largest one is the size of Switzerland.  We're the first SAS voyage to ever travel along the Amazon, which is pretty amazing. 

For the most part, everyone seemed to enjoy Dominica.  Other things that were apparently fun to do were to go snorkeling at Champaign Reef, visit the black sand beaches, and tour the hot springs.  There was a marketplace, which I heard mixed things about.  I think you had to go at the right time, and go to the right one.  There were two markets; one for food and one for gifts.  We arrived in Roseau on Sunday so things were pretty dead since everyone was in church and the city shuts down that day.

Classes are still going well.  Our food and culture professor told us about her graduate research work in Slovakia, which was interesting, though I'm not sure what it really has to do with anything since she barely talked about food and mostly talked about the country's economic history.  That class should be a good amount of writing, but not too terrible.  We've already read an article on coffee farmers, the basic notional  needs for humans, and how humans have evolved to eat the way we do.  We've also read about how our environments shape our diets.

For stress management, we've been talking about what stress does to the body, and we split into groups to talk about what stresses us out an how we deal with it.  In Altruism, we're talking about oppression, and eventually I need to write a paper about a time I've been oppressed.  People really bare their souls in that class.  One girl talked about how she used to be homeless and one guy talked about how his family used to be rich and then lost everything and were living below the poverty line.  Our professor told us his life story and it was really intense.  People were crying because it was so emotional.  I'm not used to it in a normal classroom.

Yesterday in Global Studies, Professor Kottler spoke to us about his work in Nepal helping girls of the lowest cast receive an education, preventing them from being sold as sex slaves.  I seriously can't escape Kottler.  I see him on A day for Stress Management and on B day for Altruism.  To see him in Global Studies was kind of surprising.  He's a really good speaker, who has lead this exciting life and published over 80 books, one of which is being made into a movie soon.  He's been working to provide scholarships to girls so they can attend school (children need to pay for school after third grade, costing around $75 USD/year).  He started the foundation when he traveled to Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries, and one of only two countries to use a cast system, to help his student do a research on why Nepal has the highest rate of death among pregnant women.  His goal is to inspire girls to become doctors so women will come to them for medical care because many women would rather die than go to a male doctor and feel violated by the procedures.  Everyone seemed really moved by his talk.  People were talking about doing service even after GS ended, so their interest really seemed real.  It was pretty great to see people really get excited by a cause.

Internet is really slow here (I've been sending all my blog posts to Dad so he can quickly update them) so the best way to contact me would be through my SAS e-mail, which is way faster and free to use.  I haven't checked my UVA e-mail or G-mail accounts in a while so this is the best way to contact me if you want (and you all should).

I'll update again after Brazil.

Alex

aigeralnick@semesteratsea.net 

Dominica

The MV Explorer docked on Roseau, Dominica (pronounced like DominICA to separate it from the Dominican Republic) yesterday, giving us two days on the island.  This island is so beautiful; it's so lush and seems really unspoiled by tourism, unlike some other countries. 

After getting off the ship, me and some people I'd just met from the ship walked around the city.  We found a taxi driver/tourguide who offered to give us a ride around for only $15 a person.  We drove all around, taking in the scenery of Dominica and learning a little about the island.  A former British colony, Dominica is mostly Roman Catholic, and very friendly.  The kids go to school from 8-1 starting at 2 1/2 years old.  Dominicans are friendly, tolerant, and seem to be very environmentally conscious.  Our driver, Stewart, did a good job of keeping us informed and telling jokes to keep us entertained.  He drove us to Trafalgar (sp?) Falls at Trafalgar Park.  It was only a seven minute hike to the Falls, though Dominican trails are a lot less paved/marked/maintained than American hiking trails.  Once we reached the falls, we tried to get up closer, which is what everyone else was doing.  It was a pretty challenging climb up all these rock scrambles.  The rocks were really slippery.  Going up is always OK, but getting down is so much harder; it's pretty miserable.  After getting down, and only slipping a couple times, we made it out of the falls.  We drove around for a little while longer, I got to take a picture of me holding a boa from a guy on the side of the road for only a dollar, we drove through the Botanical Gardens and our guide dropped us off near the ship for lunch.

Later that day, I went to the D-Smart Organic Farm for my Food and Culture class (for SAS classes, 20% of your grade is based on what you do in ports.   Classes involve a mix of independent activities related to your class and structured activities lead by your teacher).  I was pretty interesting to see how much work really went into growing the food.  Our tour guide quit her banking job last year because she was more passionate about agriculture (Dominica's number one source of income) and now she works on the farm with her family.  The chickens and pigs have room to live and they have found uses for the plants beyond just food.  We got a little tour of the medicinal uses for the plants, like high blood pressure, intestinal issues, and cuts.  The farm has a deal with Subway to sell them organic eggs and lettuce.  I helped her and her family plant some peppers and she let us sample some fruits.  She had a whole bunch of fruit juices, fruits, vegetables, and homemade fruit rums (big fan of the banana and passionfruit flavors) for us to try.  While her husband made us a salad, she showed us a homemade drum made of goat skin used to help tell stories.  The fruits I tried were so fresh and juicy.  It's going to make fruits and vegetables harder to eat at home.  Later that night, everyone went out to a couple of bars really close to the pier.

This morning, I hiked up to Middleham Falls, the largest waterfall in Dominica.  The trip was only four miles round trip, but was really hard.  It poured the whole time, making the rocks really slippery.  Plus, there were branches, holes in the ground, and logs everywhere.  It was more of a strenuous hike than I expected,  but it was still really great even if the water was too rough for swimming.  My friend sold me his spot for a 4x4 jeep ride around Dominica for real cheap, which made for a great afternoon.  We got to see all the sights of Roseau, and the more natural landmarks of Dominica.  We stopped off at Tutu Gorge, where part of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was filmed.  I learned more about Dominica: only sixty percent of the country is inhabited, and a good portion of the uninhabited land is protected by the government and UNESCO.  Showing how environmentally conscious Dominica is, their litter laws are a &2000 USD ($5000 EC) fine and a month in jail, yet driving drunk is not illegal   Their roads are really windy and they don't use stop lights, but their record for fatal accidents in a single year is only 10.  There's also a section of Roseau called Charlottesville, named when One of the Kings of England gave a piece of land to his wife, Queen Charlotte as a birthday present.

One of the things that I really like about this trip is how open everyone is.  It's really easy to talk to someone new on the ship on your trip, in class, in the dining room, or anywhere.  It's the same if that person is a student, faculty or staff member or a life long learner.  Everyone really just wants to make friends.  One of the LLLs even offered me a free trip ticket.  In my Stress Management class, people went around and said what back home is stressing them out, and in my Altruism class, people went around and talked about what groups they identified with.  I was very impressed how open everyone was in front of a room full of people who are essentially strangers.   I really like openness of the community, and it is something you don't see back at home.   

Until Brazil... 

Downtown Roseau

Me at Trafalgar Falls

Me with a python a guy had on the side the road.

Panoramic view of Roseau

Roseau from the ship

First Few Days on Ship

Hello everyone,

I arrived on the MV Explorer on Wednesday and we'll be in our first port, Dominica, tomorrow morning.  This ship is really nice and I haven't gotten too lost yet.  I'm also glad I haven't been seasick yet.  Some people are really not doing well but I seemed to have my "sealegs" on the first day.

For the first two days we had orientation which was pretty boring, but now classes have started and they are really interesting.  In food and Culture, we spent the first class talking about foods we like and don't like.  Our readings were about how humans evolved to be able to eat what we do and about the vitamins we need to stay healthy.  For our field component, pretty much anything counts.  I'm going to an organic farm tomorrow in Dominica and we can take cooking classes in some of the ports we visit. 

Global studies should be interesting, though we have a group project already.  The professor seems nice and we had someone come in today and talk about maps.  For Altruism and Social Justice we basically just outlined the course, but I'm going to the Amazon for four days to help build schools for a village, and we will be talking about some really great stuff like poverty, racism, oppression, and how to help.

Stress management won't be stressful at all.  We'll be talking about things like reliance, how to strengthen relationships, and different ways to overcome stress, like deep breathing and meditation.  Apparently we're ending each class with Thai Chi.  Our professor is the same guy who teaches Altruism and he's kind of a hippie, but he's really cool.  He'd do well at HB.

My roommate and I get along fine and I've met so many people already.  It's a little weird right now because I I don't have plans for a lot of countries yet and I'm not sure if I know people well enough to plan stuff out with them.  Everyone says not to sweat it.  No one really has their friends yet and you'll get to know a lot of people when you start your trips in the countries and it's pretty easy to just jump on an independent trip if you don't have plans yet. 

I'll update again after Dominica.

First Post

Hello everyone,

Thanks for taking the time to read about my voyage around the world with Semester at Sea.  I am really excited for these next few months and I wanted to be able to post everything that’s happening, rather than waiting until I get home, and risking me forgetting something good.  I’ll be at sea from January 12-April 24.  We start out in the Bahamas and sail to Dominica, up the Amazon River, into Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Japan, and Hawaii, ending in San Diego.  I’ve got some cool stuff planned for ports, including a service visit to a village in Brazil, a homestay in India, sleeping out on the Great Wall, and visiting Mt. Fuji.  I’m taking four classes while at sea:  Global Studies, Altruism and Social Justice, Food and Culture, and Stress Management and Prevention.

I’ll do my best to update often and be as descriptive as possible without being two long winded.  Please ignore any spelling and grammar errors, post comments about what you want (or don’t want) to read.  I can’t wait to start this trip.  I am very grateful for this adventure and want to thank everyone who has supported and helped me get epic opportunity.  Thanks for reading guys.  Enjoy!