Long Overdue Post about India

            Sorry this is so late.  India was less than two weeks ago, though it feels like it’s been years.  Time passes really strangely on this ship.  Everything goes by so fast, but then things that happened yesterday feel like months ago.  We’re currently in the Mekong River approaching Vietnam, and I’m just now writing about India.

            On March 6, we pulled into Chennai (formally, Madras), India for six days.  Pre-port was really intense.  They told us how crowded, dirty, poor, smelly, and simply how different India was from the United States, and virtually anywhere else we would be visiting on our voyage. I had no idea what to expect.  By the time we all passed through immigration, and the ship was cleared, we headed out.  Once I got off the pier, I instantly noticed the heat, which was hot, but not as bad as I was expecting, but also the incredible amount of traffic in the city.  There are cars on the roads, but there are a lot more auto-rickshaws (or tuck tucks), which are pretty much like fast golf carts that go on highways.  There are also a lot of people on motorcycles, and a lot of them, even the women who hold sleeping babies while they ride, are not wearing helmets.  There are lanes in the road, but they are not followed at all.  A driver told us that they are mainly formalities and there are no rules for driving.  There must be some informal rules though, or everyone would be dead by now. 

            Chennai is one of the largest cities in India, and is mainly a business city.  My friend, Steven’s dad happened to be in the city that day so he took us all out to lunch.  He had a SUV and driver, but there were too many of us so some of us followed in the tuck tucks.  That is what I always used because they are more fun.  Riding around them is like being in a game of MarioKart.  There are really no rules.  The driver just weaves in and out of other cars, going fast whenever they can get some empty space.  I constantly stuck my head outside the open car to see what was going on, and always felt like it was going to be cut off.  Those things are amazing and I want to bring one home and drive it back in the U.S.

            To show us around Chennai, we stopped at the fish market to walk around.  It was cool to see people out and about, but it was pretty similar to other markets I’ve been to in other countries.  We also stopped at a Catholic Church, where St. Thomas, the Apostle is buried.  There are only three churches like that in the world, Spain, Italy, and India.  We walked through the church’s exhibit and saw what were supposed to be his bones.  It was kind of touristy. 

            We then went to a really nice hotel for a feast of Indian food, which we ate with our hands.  I cannot explain how nice it is to not eat ship food once you get into port.  India was my favorite port, food wise, and it was kind of comforting to see other Americans again.  After eating way too much, we split into groups.   While one group took the SUV to take Steven’s father back and go shopping, the rest of us took the rickshaws back into town and went shopping.  At pre-port, they told us that the rickshaws are a good way to get around, but that you may end up “at the driver’s brothers shop first.”  This means that the driers will take you where you want to go, eventually, but they will usually first take you to some other store, where they get a kickback from whatever people purchase.  Emily, Cas, Stephen, Ross, and I went souvenir shopping, and had this exact experience.  Drivers stop and tell you to get out for a little while.  While the girls were shopping for dresses and saris, all of us guys were pretty bored and eventually each bought Indian shirts.  We went to the beach to walk around for a little while, and played a carnival game where you got to shoot a gun at balloons.  Stephen and I had to head back early for another activity so we had the driver take us back to the ship.  Our original deal was fifty rupees a person, but when we got back to the ship, our driver tried to make us each pay 500.  I was willing to pay up to seventy, but once he started to yell at us, I changed my mind.  I tried to just get out of the car once he started yelling, but I wasn’t sure what Stephen was going to do or if he was going to follow me so I got back in.  After a lot of arguing and yelling and him saying something about the cost of petrol, I needed up paying my fifty and Stephen paid 150. Fifty rupees is only about a dollar, and our driver did about ten dollars worth of work for us, but I don’t like it when drivers change their minds at the end.  He made the deal and should stick to it. Agreeing to pay more only encourages drivers to try and rip off more tourists in the future, which is not OK.  Also, he started yelling at us, which really turned us off to paying more. After we finally got back to the ship, it was immediately time to go to the Welcome Reception.  I didn’t even have time to go back on the ship before I headed off to a hotel where we were greeted by drummers, dancers, and women who put flowers around our necks. Once inside, we were welcomed by people from the universities in the area with speeches, food, dancing, and vendors.  It was pretty relaxing just to eat and talk with local Indians.  I even got a henna tattoo on my wrist.  I now know I wouldn’t like a real tattoo because by the second day, I was already sick of it on my hand.  Every time I looked down, I wondered why I was bleeding, but then remembered it was just ink.  Luckily, it’s gone.  It faded after about a week.

            The next day, I went on a three day long home stay to stay with local families in Chennai.  It was organized by the Rotary Club, which I realized before I got there, would mean that everyone would be petty rich and a lot better off than most people in India.  Michael and I met our host family, one man named Varun, who was probably in his sixties.  I later found out he was divorced (a big scandal in India), his children lived in the United States, and he worked in the glass industry.  He took us to his office, then out to lunch at a country club with his friend Varcia.  She was a doctor specializing in nutrition that has spent time in the US, and even spoke on the MV Explorer one year.  You had to wear collared shirts to get into the club and neither Michal nor I looked the part so Varun bought us each polo shirts with the club’s name on it.  After lunch, Varcia took us on a walk around the downtown section of Chennai.  This was more of what I expected from India.  It was absolutely packed and had so many smells I could not identify each one.  Varcia walked into oncoming traffic like it was no big deal, and we had no choice but to follow her.  At one point, I was walking in the street and had a car in front of me, an auto rickshaw behind me, a motorcycle on my right and a cow on my left.  I was boxed in, but still had to keep walking.  We saw some temples, and Michael was really into shopping so we did a lot of that.  At dusk, we headed to a hotel, where the Rotary Club put on a reception for us.  Everyone from the home stay was there, as well as people who were on a service project through the Rotary Club.  Dean Dan spoke, which was awesome, and then my professor, Jeffrey Kottler spoke, which was not awesome.  He spoke about nothing, but somehow tried to make himself sound so important.  It was a horrible surprise to find him there.  After a lot of speeches and dancing, we hung out, had dinner, and went back home.  Varun lived about an hour away from Chennai, in an apartment with three bedrooms, though he lived alone.  We all had our own rooms, but after we talked for a little while, I went straight to bed. 

            The next morning, we woke up, to some delicious chai tea.  I don’t even like tea, but there were so many fresh spices in it, plus it was basically all milk and sugar, it was amazing.  We went out to breakfast, and then SAS had a bus tour for us to Mahabalipuram (spelling, courtesy of Jack), an ancient site with rock carvings of Hindi history.  There was also a giant boulder called the Butterball.  People tried to sell us stuff, and some people still let themselves get suckered into buying their overpriced gifts.  We went to lunch, and then tried to go to Crocodile Park, but apparently that day, one of the employees died of natural causes so we couldn’t go.  We visited an art museum instead.  Varcia picked us up around five and dropped us off at Varun’s office.  Michael wanted to go shopping again, and Varun didn’t know anything else to do with us so he took us to some stores.  I think I was tired, dehydrated, and bored of shopping so I was in a pretty bad mood, which I think made my stomach start to hurt.  We finally finished and Varun took us out to dinner, which put me in a lot better of a mood.  The three of us had a good conversation about the caste system in India, which was not as overt as I had expected it to be.  Varun described it as a system that had worn out its utility.  However, he says it is no longer as difficult for people to have jobs or associate with other people who are outside their caste.  Young people are mostly against it and the system may only really be a problem in more rural or traditional areas of India.  He isn’t sure if it will ever die out though.  The caste system didn’t seem very different from our class system in the U.S. though. While India may have de jure segregation, we still have de facto segregation.  People still tend to stick with others from their class and look down on the people below them.  CEOs will stick together and look down on their employees, who will in turn stick together and not really associate with garbage men.  He tried to take us to a Bollywood movie, but the theater wasn’t showing one that night so we went back to his place, which was really nice, and I pretty much went straight to bed again. 

            The next morning, he took us back to the ship around 11 because I was supposed to meet people in the afternoon, and I hate bailing out on my plans.  Our hosts were allowed to go on a tour of the ship, but Varun didn’t have his passport, and therefore couldn’t get past the tough Indian security.  I don’t think he really wanted to go though.  After lunch, I traveled with a few friends to a zoo, which turned out to be an hour and a half away from the pier.  The zoo was the worst zoo I’ve ever seen.  There were only a couple of ducks and apparently some white tigers.  While some people went on a bike ride around the zoo, I hung out with Stephen and JD.  There were elephants to ride, but they never showed up.  After the zoo failure, we tried to visit a temple, but we got there too late and it was closed.  We just went to an amazing Indian dinner for really cheap and headed back to the ship.

            The next morning, I took a cooking class on Indian vegetarian cooking.  70% of India is vegetarian so a lot of the food is vegetarian.  Our host was an Indian chef who has written several cookbooks and has hosted several Indian cooking shows on Indian TV.  We watched her cook a lot of dishes, tried our hands at coking a few dishes, learned about some of the food customs in India as well as the medicinal purposes behind the foods, and finally ate a delicious Indian lunch.  After getting back to the ship in the afternoon, I went souvenir shopping with Kim for a few hours, went back to the ship for dinner, and finally went to a Bollywood movie late at night.  The movie was about an Indian man trying to play cricket.  As usual, I fell asleep for most of the movie, even though there was a lot of singing, dancing, great music in the background, and unique cinematography.   The movie didn’t start until 10:30 and I can never see a movie in the States without falling asleep anyways so I wasn’t surprised.  The parts I saw were really cool though. 

            Friday, we went to the mall in the morning because we had nothing else really to do.  We had to argue with the rickshaw drivers again, and Elizabeth, Kristin, Matt, and I went to an orphanage in the afternoon.  The Bala Mandir orphanage houses orphans and kids whose parents cannot take care of them.  It houses kids of all ages.  It was started in 1949 by disciples of Gandhi.  These freedom fighters talked to Gandhi while he was in jail.  They asked him what they should do and he suggested they start an orphanage.  We brought a bunch of toys for the kids and we just played with them for a couple of hours.  I tried to teach some of the kids Tick Tack Toe because it is pretty easy, but they didn’t really get it.  They got the concept I think, but every time I put an X in a spot, they would just put another X in a different spot in the grid.  Matt had been giving piggyback rides for a couple of hours and was out of breath so I tried to take over for him. Ultimately, I had one kid on my shoulders and one kid who climbed onto my chest.  I ran around with them for a while and they seemed to enjoy it.  I’m not the best with kids but apparently I can be around them for a little while at least.  We made a donation of the toys, toothbrushes, our spare rupees to the orphanage, took a group picture, and headed back to the ship just in time to not get dock time.

            India was cool because I had a pretty good, non touristy experience.  I spent a good amount of time in Chennai and was always busy.  I also got to know Ajay and Ashoke (I’m not sure of the spelling), the two interport students form India.  My friends and I hung out with them pretty much all week and really got to know them.  They really liked the ship and were sad to leave.  Ashoke said he was going to fly to San Diego to see us when we’re finished, which would be awesome.  India was also pretty tiring.  There are so many people and you constantly have to argue and yell with the drivers.  The traffic is horrible, and the whole port was amazing, but pretty stressful.  I want to go back to every port we’ve visited so far, but I really want to go to North India and see all the sites there, like the Taj.  Next time I go back, I’m giving myself a long time, so I don’t have to rush and I can really take in everything the country has to offer.  Plus, the food was amazing.  This port is my favorite, food wise.

Mystery Port

Hey readers.  My apologies for not updating in a while.  I know I need to write about India and Neptune Day, but things have just been really busy.  They were both fun, but India was kind of exhausting so I think that is the reason I haven't written about it yet.  I'll write about hose two events tomorrow,  hopeuflly.  I also have to tell you guys about Singapore, which we're gang to for the day tomorrow.

 

I trust that you all, who have better access to news, know about the situation in Japan.  With the 8.9 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant that is now leaking radiation 200 miles north of Tokyo, ISE has decided we aren't going to Japan anymore.  I only know bits and pieces of the story because internet is so sparse on the ship, but I know it's bad.  The plant started to shake two days ago and people already have signs of radiation poisoning.  It's a bummer not to go, but it's probably for the best.  Japan is a place I can go back to in the future.  I'd be more likely to return there than some of the other ports we are now considering going to.  Plus, I'd rather go to Japan when it's safer and the country is ask at full strength so I can more fully enjoy the country and all it has to offer.

 

Dean Dan made the announcement today in Global Studies.  He is probably the only one on the ship who knows how to talk to a crowd and turn a bad situation into a positive, using just his words.  We should have a new port in a couple of days, once ISE works out all the logistical issues.  Right now, our potential new countries are: Taiwan, South Korea, or the Philippines (where most of our crew is from).  Any of them would be cool, especially South Korea.  The other options were to spend more time in China or Hawaii, which I hope is not the case.  This is the first time in my life where I have no idea where I'll be in three weeks.  It's really exciting actually.  It's a real adventure.  

 

The only thing bad is that now my itinerary shirt, with all the flags from our voyage on it, is now wrong.  My friend and I were joking that this is just a marketing ploy by SAS to get us all to buy more shirts.

Mauritius

Sorry this port entry is so short everyone. We were only in Mauritius for a day and I really didn’t do too much. Next stop is Asia and the rest of my entries should be pretty substantial and more than make up for this weak entry.

This week, I attended a world premier movie. Last Thursday, one of my professors, Jeffrey Kottler screened Dear Mr. Gacey, a movie based on one of his books. It was produced by the same producer who did Monster, and is based on a true story. A kid in one of Kottler’s classes a couple of years ago tried to get into the heads of serial killers and get them to confess their secrets. He developed relationships with seven of them at the same time by posing as people they would have been interested in, had they not been in prison. The movie focused on his relationship with John Gacey, the Clown Killer. There were no famous people in it, and the movie was OK at best. I may be a harsh critic because I don’t like Kottler, but other people seemed to share my reaction. It is cool that it was a true story and I was at the world premier though.

Today (2/27), we arrived in Mauritius, probably the most random place I have ever been. It’s a really small island southeast of Africa, past Madagascar and near Reunion. Because of the actions of the previous voyage (literally drinking the country dry, trashing some hotel rooms, and basically causing havoc…according to rumor), we only spent the day here. Also according to rumor, the Mauritian government has asked us not to come back, and because the itineraries were already in place, the government worked out a deal with ISE to only stay a day, and we’re the last voyage to go. I spent the day on a catamaran, sailing around the island and snorkeling over coral reefs. We took a bus through the capital city, Port Louis on our way to the catamaran. It’s a nice city, a little small and everything was closed on Sunday, but the locals were preparing for a Hindu festival for the God Shivah (spelling) so on our drive, we passed several people in white carrying elaborately decorated shrines. It was pretty cool. Also, their festival is coming up, and everything will be closed for four days so it’s probably good we only spent a day there. The city is kind of like a combination of Hawaii, Africa, and India (from what I hear). We passed a bunch of buildings and shops, some big, some small, some sugarcane fields, all while viewing the extinct volcanoes that are all round.

I went on the catamaran cruise with Semester at Sea so we were probably the only sober catamaran on the island that day. We sailed around and stopped over some coral reefs, about fifteen feet underwater. After snorkeling around for forty five minutes or so, we were treated to a BBQ lunch, probably the best food I have had on an SAS trip, and sailed to another spot, where the water was only a six feet deep, but had a strong undertow. Some people went to the beach, where the water was too shallow to swim, but me and some other people chose to hang out by the boat where we could swim in the water and jump off the boat into the ocean. People from the beach joined us an hour or so later and we spent another hour or so listening to music, jumping into the ocean, trying to pull ourselves back on the boat without using the ladder, and hanging out before heading back to the ship.

All in all, a good day, but I can’t help but feel like I didn’t do as much as I could have in the country. We were only there for a day and a lot was closed, but I had hoped to explore the city. It was still a great though. I didn’t step on a sea urchin, something we were warned about several times, I got to snorkel and have a great lunch, I got to sail, something I have missed, and I got to do all this in a beautiful place. This place is one of the most beautiful places I have been. I felt like I was living in one of my desktop backgrounds with beautiful skies, beaches, and oceans. I also got to meet some new people. I really like how on SAS trips, you get to meet new people, rather than stick with your same group of friends. I am glad I got to visit the country, but I’m not sure how much else there really is to do there.

Next stop, a place where there should be plenty to do, India!

Festival for the Hindu God of Destruction, Shiva

Volcano

Pictures from the catamaran

South Africa

          Cape Town did not disappoint at all. Things started off rough when we were supposed to arrive in the V&A Harbor on the 17^th, but were delayed the whole day due to wind.  The winds were so bad, the pilot couldn’t take our ship in.  Everyone was really upset because the whole ship was really, really excited to go to Cape Town because there is just so much to do in South Africa.  We saw the city in the distance since that morning, but just never made it.  No one could say when the winds would die down enough to make it safe for us to go in, but as the day wore on, I started to lose hope.  It was kind of like a snow day:  no one had any plans, we had to make it up as we went along, we had no idea how long we’d be stuck form, we watched a lot of movies, and we ate a lot of food.  I watched The Hangover and The Karate Kid, and maybe some other movies too.  Everyone was also just so sick of each other, and so angry to be stuck on the ship, people were starting to lose their patience with everyone else.  Uno and Scattergories got pretty heated.  If we hadn’t gotten off the ship the next day, things would have gotten ugly on board.  At least lunch was good and they had an open mic night at the Union. 

          The winds finally died down enough Friday morning for the pilot to declare it was safe enough to take us in the harbor.  We finally docked and cleared immigration by 1:00pm, giving us a good amount of time in Cape Town.  My Habitat trip (along with several SAS trips) was canceled due to the time delays so I had the whole day free.  My trip was through SAS so I should get a refund; a lot of people booked safaris and such independently with plane tickets, and those people were just out of luck.  I spent the first day exploring the city with some friends.  Cape Town is a lot like Sydney; it’s right on the water, there is so much to do, it’s beautiful, quay is pronounced “key”, and all the locals have sweet accents.  There is a multitude of shops, street performers, restaurants, and even Robben Island all within walking distance of the ship.  We walked around, rode the Wheel of Excellence (a giant Ferris wheel with great views of the city), and I bought a new camera from the mall.  My new Sony Cybershot isn’t as nice as my old Cannon, but at least I finally have a camera again.  Now that I’m getting used to it, I like it more.  We checked out the grocery store, and Steven, Ross, and I all went out to dinner before heading back to the ship.  We went out to Longstreet that night, which is really just a downtown strip with a lot of bars and restaurants around.  Our first stop was just a small pub, then we went to Crowbar, which was apparently a “gangster’s bar” as described by one of the patrons (who also told us that our group was the first white people to be in the bar, and he advised us all to stick together so we weren’t mugged), and finally we just went to Fez, a club to just hang out and chill.  We took a taxi home, but on the way, we passed a couple of drunk British people probably coming from the U2 concert who were walking in the road.  I think they were trying to hail a cab, but when our driver didn’t stop, one of the guys put his hand out to hit the car and ended up smashing the mirror.  The mirror was completely smashed and our driver got out to get their information, and there was a screaming match between them because the British people wouldn’t take responsibility for it.  When other people got involved they tried to say how the cab driver hit them with his mirror, and then they brought up race saying how people are coming into this country and taking over (weird for white Europeans to say to our black cab driver in Africa).  We just sat there, not sure what to do, but we figured it was best to stay in the car and stick up for our driver if the police ever came.  The argument didn’t ever get too violent, but after ten minutes the driver seemed to just give up and took us home.  It was pretty bad.

          The next day, we got up early to hike Table Mountain.  I had a homestay at 2 so I was in a bit of a time crunch, but my friends, who are awesome, worked with me and we just went earlier.  Table Mountain is best in the morning anyway because it isn’t as hot and the winds haven’t picked up as much, and sometimes the top of the mountain and the cable cars are closed due to winds.  The mountain is really steep and the trail is pretty much all rocks.  It’s definitely doable; the hike is supposed to take 2-3 hours, but my group finished it in a little less than two hours.  We had amazing views of the city the whole time, and the last bit of the hike is above the cloud cover.  I would just look out and be amazed that we climbed that much in such a short period of time.  We got to the top and took pictures of the city (the clouds are crazy because a lot of the time they are just over Table Mountain and would just blow around so sometimes they would cover up our views of the city, and two minutes later, it would be clear).  After eating at the cafe, me and this girl Erin, who joined our hike and also went on my homestay left the others and frantically headed back down to the ship.  We had less than an hour to take the cable cars down and get a cab back home, but somehow we made it with fifteen minutes to spare and we both made it to the homestay.

            We stayed in a township, where blacks were segregated to during Apartheid.  I think SAS put us in a wealthier township because it was way nicer than I expected.  We arrived in the township and played with the children while we wanted for our “moms” to pick us up.  I stayed with another guy from Semester at Sea with a woman, her husband, and their five children.  Their house was nice; they had electricity, running water, a kitchen, nice couches, and a TV.  I don’t know what I was expecting when I arrived at the township (maybe something like the favellas of Brazil) but I was pleasantly surprised.  Our mom owned a takeout place in the Township.  It was an old storage unit she converted into a food stand so we tried some of her food and then met her husband who owned a barber ship.  It didn’t sound like any of those businesses were very successful so I’m not sure how they can afford such a nice house.  Our father took us to Zoli’s, a market in the township, here a soda company was offering prizes if people got up and danced, and he then showed us the memorials for the Gugulethu Seven and Amy Beihl.  We played soccer with the kids and then hung out at home eating dinner with our family and watching TV.  Apparently their favorite shows are Oprah Winfrey and The Biggest Loser.  It was a very relaxing night (though I did get locked in the bathroom because it didn’t have a doorknob).

          The next morning we left the township and got back to the ship by 10:30.  I went out with Russ and Elizabeth to visit the Aquarium (nothing special, aside from seeing some penguins), do some more exploring around Cape Town, and walk along the beach.  Ports can be pretty exhausting since you want to see/do/experience everything so it’s nice to have a day just to casually walk around without having plans.  We had lunch on the waterfront and walked Clifton Beach (a beach with no wind) and finally returned to the ship for dinner.  We went to look for Internet, which didn’t really work.  There was a restaurant that had Wi-Fi, but their network was down so we just sat there, listened to music, ordered some food, and tried to connect to some other networks.  It was not very successful, but still fun.  

          I had an early night that night because I woke up at 4:45am the next morning to go cage diving.  I was supposed to do it on the first day, but that didn’t work out so I was worried I wouldn’t make it.  One of my friends was going and she invited me, which worked out better because I wouldn’t have made it otherwise, especially since we missed that first day.  We drove for two hours outside of Cape Town where we ate breakfast and learned a little about Great White Sharks, who are not aggressive towards humans at all and are actually in danger because of humans.  One of the biggest problems is shark fin soup, where the fin is removed, but the shark is tossed back into the water, where it usually just dies.  We boarded a catamaran and drove for a few minutes on incredibly choppy, though incredibly fun water to get to Shark Alley, where the sharks often hang out.  They chummed the water and poured fish oil in the water to attract sharks, so it was kind of weird to swim in it.  Here were people on our boat on holiday from all over who were seasick/hangover so they ended up throwing up in the ocean, which again I dove in.  We were fitted with wetsuits, boots, and masks, and board the cage in groups of seven.  Everyone in the group gets into one giant cage, and just dives down when they tell you to in order to see a shark.  The chum helps attract sharks, and the guides also throw black bouys on lines in the water to look like seals.  The water was only 56 degrees Fahrenheit, but it was so worth it.  I saw three sharks and our group as a whole saw seven.  I looked down into the water and I saw a shark look right at me and open his mouth.  The whole experience felt very natural because they weren’t making the sharks grab onto a piece of meat and thrash around just for a good show.  We saw sharks as they really are, which may not be exciting at times for some people because they just swam around, but I loved every minute of it.  When we weren’t in the water, you could still see sharks from the top of the boat.  On our way back, we drove to Geyser Rock, to see an island that was covered with 50,000 cape fur seals.  You couldn’t see land because there were just so many seals.  The island smelled like the zoo, but it was so cool.  After we were back on land and ready to go, our driver took us to a village where we could go shopping and took us to KFC, which is way better than it is in the states and apparently provides scholarships for South African students to go to college, so it’s really popular with the locals.  I talked to our driver on the way home and had a relaxing night talking to people on the ship and writing post cards.  I needed a little time to myself just to relax.

          For my final day in Cape Town, I went for a run with Elizabeth, and then headed out to Robben Island with Russ.  Robben Island was a prison for political prisoners in South Africa from the sixties until 1991.  Nelson Mandela served 18 of his 27 year sentence on Robben Island.  We toured the prison and the island, but I was sort of disappointed.  We got a tour of the prison from an ex prisoner, which was impressive because I don’t think I would be able to give tours in a place that was such a horrific portion of my life, but we didn’t learn much about the history of the jail or about Nelson Mandela and Apartheid.  There were so many tour groups that the whole thing felt really rushed.  I think the island has just become too touristy.  The ferry back to Cape Town left later than we planned, so we didn’t have time to eat a real lunch before our next visit, so our last meal in Cape Town wasn’t South African, but McDonald’s.  It was also a lot nicer/better than the McDonald’s we have at home though.  Then we went to Cape Town Stadium, where the World Cup was and where the U2 concert was just a few days ago.  I tried to get tickets to the concert, but it didn’t work out so I was glad to finally get into the stadium.  We toured the whole stadium, everything from the bleachers to the VIP boxes to the media room to the locker rooms (that last part was kind of weird).  I like when the World Cup or Olympics goes to somewhat more developing countries, like South Africa or Brazil because it gives these countries chances to improve and show the world how amazing they are.  Plus, it pours so much money into these countries, which a good thing.  People were really worried that South Africa wouldn’t be able to handle the World Cup, but their stadium was really nice and it proved that they are a strong country.  After the stadium tour, we just went souvenir shipping to spend our last rand and headed back to the ship.  I was really worried about that day in Cape Town because we had so much we wanted to do, but no firm plans to do any of it.  Russ and I tried to get tickets for Robben Island a few days ago, but all the tickets for Tuesday were sold out, but luckily we arrived early and there were cancelations for the early ferry.  We wanted to visit the stadium, but tours had just opened up that day because they were cleaning up after the U2 concert, and we weren’t sure how crowded they would be or how much the tours would cost.  It ended up being a really great day because everything worked out, and it was taco night on the ship, which was incredible.  I then spent most of the night hanging out with people and not studying for my stress management test the next day.  I’ve read all the chapters so I don’t think it will be bad, plus I hate my professor and find both of the classes I’m in with him boring and a waste of my time because we don’t learn.  What kind of teacher schedules a midterm the day we get back from port?

          Life is pretty great on ship, I really can’t complain.  I will be back in Cape Town for sure one day.  There was just so much I didn’t get to do, like visiting the winelands, rappelling down Table Mountain, and hiking Lion’s Head, just to name a few.  It’s by far the most livable place we’ve been to so far, though it’s got a lot of work to do before I move here.  I love the city, but there is just so much inequality among the races and socioeconomic groups.  Their health care system needs work, and the government doesn’t support the people.  Plus, there’s major conflict between the ANC and the Democratic Alliance, all vying for control of South Africa.  I think this country will become very strong in the future though, and I will be back for sure. 

Four days until Mauritius...

Table Mountain

Base of Table Mountain

From the top of Table Mountain

Penguins

V&A Waterfront (where we docked)

Geyser Rock full of Cape Fur Seals

Robben Islan

World Cup Stadium

The Senase Project

Hey there everyone.  The voyagers I traveled to the Senase village with in Ghana were real serious about the hospital project (the project I wrote about in my last post).  We had a meeting last night about the project, and most of our group showed up.  Everyone who did was really stoked for the project too.  Casey and Tyler are in talks with the Senase Project, people from the Fall 2010 Voyage who originally started the group to build a school in the village.  They redid their whole framework to incorporate the hospital project.  There's still a lot to do before things really get going, but it's really happening.  Everyone wants to have fundraisers in their communities and schools to raise money, and there are some other, bigger, jobs too.  There's essentially three tiers:  Casey and Tyler who are really devoted to the cause, a second tier of people who want to get more involved, though they have less responsibility, and a third tier of people who aren't a part of the organization officially, but still want to fundraise and help out.  I want to get more involved, and I have become more excited about this project than I originally thought I would be, so I said I would be a part of the second tier, working on their finances.  I'm not really doing finances, per se, but I would more just log in donations and keep a spreadsheet of checks and how much money the project has raised.  I'm pretty organized so it should work out.  This project is still in the development stages so I have no idea what will actually happen with it, but I'm excited. 

Other than that, we'll be in Cape Town on Thursday.  I have plans to work with Habitat for Humanity, visit Table Mountain, Robben Island, and go shark cage diving.  I can't wait!

I learned yesterday that Americans alone spend $1.5 billion dollars on chocolate on Valentine's Day.  Ghana produces 70% of the world's cacao and Hershey's chocolate still uses child labor.  We had a letter writing campaign last week, also started by Casey, sending letters to CEO David West, urging him to go fair trade. 

                                                         

1.5 BILLION dollars on Valentines Day alone...

Ghana

            Greetings from Africa!  First, I would like to say that I plan on making several FaceBook albums for the different ports on the voyage once I get home.  Internet is so slow on the ship, and our megabyte usage is limited, so I cannot post them or send them out.  Also, I won’t make an album for Ghana since my camera is gone.  I don’t know whether it was lost or stolen (I’ve sort of been going with stolen because it sounds better and isn’t my fault this way).  I can get pictures from the friends I was traveling with, but it would be weird to repost their pictures on an album.  I could have easily held on to my camera in Charlottesville, but it is the price I pay for traveling, and now I have an excuse to buy a new camera in Cape Town, and a good travel battle story to tell. The real downside is that now I have to take another bridge tour to retake the pictures I lost from my last tour and the crew and captain will all think I’m weird.

            Anyways, we arrived in Takoradi, Ghana, on Sunday.  The first day, I went with some friends to explore the city.  Once we go off the gangway, we were all accosted by merchants.  They are really aggressive; they ask you for your name because they want to be your friend, and then they make you a bracelet with your name on it.  It is really tacky and they tried to charge me 30 cedi for one.  Even when they would have sold me one for 5, I still wouldn’t buy it.  They just put the bracelets on your wrist and act really confused when you tell them that you won’t buy it.  Some people got scammed pretty hard and paid 20 cedi for two bracelets.  I refused and just wanted to leave, and actually get in the city.  The merchants told me I was bankrupting their business by not buying a bracelet and that I didn’t want them to survive (though if the businesses were in danger, they shouldn’t waste time and resources on people who clearly don’t want bracelets.  They didn’t like it when I told them this.).  People gave them money to leave them alone, but I didn’t want to encourage them.  There are several bracelets with my name on them floating around the city and I eventually got one for free, though the merchant to me I owed him a “gift from my heart.”  He said he would be waiting for me at the pier the next day, but I left at 5:00am the next day so I don’t know if he was really there.  I actually really like the merchants; they keep you on your toes.

            The port went on for a while and passed through a cacao plant, which doesn’t smell as nice as one might think, but once we finally got through, we just walked around the city.  Takoradi is not as big as Accra, and not a lot was open because it was Sunday, and Ghana is pretty religious, but we walked around the marketplace where we saw, and smelled, a lot of fish and pigs’ feet.  We also saw women carrying everything on their heads from water to souvenirs, very impressive, and went out to lunch at Captain Hook’s.  The city is pretty poor and rundown, but most people we met were really nice.  A group of SAS kids came into the restaurant as we were leaving with Cynthia, a Ghanaian girl they met at a bar.  I think they introduced her to us to ditch her.  She was really drunk and loud.  She tried to take us to the beach, but took us on a really indirect path and kept shouting at people to invite them to come with us.  She kept hitting on all the guys in our group, telling us all about how she didn’t believe in marriage, gave up her baby in Japan, and asking us to run away with her.  We finally ditched her at the beach, and just hung out there for a while, making friends with Ghanaians who turned out to be merchants trying to sell us bracelets again (I told you they are sneaky).  After getting back to the ship at dinner time, we walked to the cybercafé for cheap internet.  A taxi driver tried to rip us off and internet was really weird after not using it for a month.  I checked my Virginia e-mail and had so many messages.  It really made me happy to not be at school right now.  All those e-mails just get overwhelming and I tend to get too bogged down with the Internet.  Being without Internet is really refreshing.

            They streamed the Super bowl in the Union and then at 4:30am I went out to meet a group of people to go on a village with Can Do, a tour company that works with Semester at Sea a lot.  We traveled to the Elmina Castle, one of the slave dungeons in Ghana, where thousands of slaves were housed before being sent off across the ocean.  It was really moving to be there and have a private tour of the castle.  It is a really nice place so it is hard to imagine it being used for something so horrible and seeing the castle made the whole issue of slavery seem much more real than it ever did before.  We next drove a few more hours to Kumasi, a town in Ghana where we ate lunch and went shopping.  The Ghanaian government didn’t allow SAS to bring back drums from Ghana so a bunch of people ordered drums and had they shipped back to the States.  They are probably three feet high, and they are all hand made with beautiful carvings and paintings.  I thought about buying one, but decided against it.  They were somewhat expensive, but also I am not musical in any way so a drum would probably just sit in my room collecting dust and taking up space.  It seemed almost disrespectful to take a drum, something someone worked so hard on, and ultimately never use it.  I didn’t want to turn out like the girl I saw put her bottle of Sprite on top of the drum.  By 9pm, we finally got to the Senase Village, Fred’s village.  Fred was our tour guide and owner of the company.  He was really great, and it was weird that he is only 19.  We were greeted by all the kids in the village who were so excited to see us and play with people’s cameras. They loved to have their pictures taken.  After being greeted, we ate dinner and went to our host families’ houses to sleep.

            The next day, we ate breakfast, some sort of maize, water, condensed milk, and sugar, which tasted a lot like grits, a nice change from the fish stew from dinner.  We were officially welcomed into the village by the elders where we introduced ourselves to all the elders in twee, one of the hundreds of languages spoken in Ghana, and they welcomed us in return and told us the history of the village.  We spent the next couple of hours visiting the village’s farm, which was huge and run by one woman in her sixties.  When I think of Arica, I always think of desert conditions, like the Sahara or Egypt.  I did not expect to see so many trees and such lush vegetation.  We then spent a couple of hours at the schools in the village.  There were hundreds of children at the school I went to, and they all stood outside the school to greet us.  All the kids swarmed us, grabbing at us, trying to get us to take their pictures, holding our hands and following us, and some of them asked us for money and other gifts.  I had one picture of me on my camera  with probably fifteen kids, which was a really good picture, and a classic Semester a Sea shot, but sadly I don’t think I’ll ever see that picture again.  One of our guides brought us to a bar where the kids weren’t allowed so we could hide for a while and rest up.  After finally making our way away from the kids, we were greeted by our dance instructor who taught us a traditional dance we would be performing for the entire village the next day. I cannot keep a beat for my life so I wasn’t on the drum, which meant I had to dance.  Both jobs were hard though; our teacher was a typical dance instructor who wanted everything to be perfect and got mad at us when we messed up, which happened a lot.  The drummers got yelled at as much as we did so it was fair.  The routine was only about three minutes long, and our instructor kept shortening it to make it easier on the dancers and drummers, but we practiced for over an hour...more than enough for me.  We returned to Fred’s house for dinner and afterwards, we drove to a bar outside the village.  Everyone was really tired and probably would have preferred to just go to sleep.  People just sat around the table and a good number fell asleep at the bar; I was close.  We were also the only ones there. 

            The next morning, we went back to the school for a little while to talk to the kids and try to teach them something.  I went with the group that went to the junior high.  We tried to teach them their times tables, but they were on the quadratic formula.  English is Ghana’s national language, but I don’t know how many kids speak it at home, and I don’t think they learn English until they are in school, so communication was still tricky.  They sang us their national anthem, but we couldn’t remember ours.  They asked us about Obama (Ghana loves him).  They name things like sports and games after him.  I even tried Obama biscuits, which were like shortbread cookies with less flavor.  The kids also asked the girls if they were married and had children, and sang us one of their nursery rhymes, which was about STDs.  Later that morning, we were all given traditional Ghanaian outfits, made out of kenti (spelling?) cloth to perform the dance.  The guys were given shorts and the girls wore given skirts and shirts that were essentially just bras.  The elders greeted us again and we performed our dance for the village.  It was pretty horrible, everyone was out of sync and people forgot moves, but it was all in good fun.  Hopefully someone has a video.  We finally said goodbye to the kids and made the long drive home.  We left at noon, but somehow we didn’t get back to the ship until midnight.  After not showering and using squat toilets for the past three days, we were all pretty excited to get back, but there was no water on the ship.  Ghana can’t provide enough water for all five days so the Explorer didn’t have water for a few hours each day in Ghana.  This was a cruel twist of fate, but it just made the next morning’s shower all the better. 

            The next morning, I went to Nzuelo, a village on stilts.  We drove for two hours on the bus, and then took an hour canoe ride through a river to get to the village.  It’s really awesome.  The village is really just a giant dock, but four hundred and fifty people live there.  The kids have an elementary school, but take an hour canoe ride to go to secondary school.  We learned the history of the village, and just went back for lunch.  I would have liked to explore the village more, but it was raining, and I don’t think there is much else to see there.  I helped paddle on the way back and after lunch we went to a fort on the beach and took a tour where we learned about the soldiers that lived there and traditional Ghanaian healing methods.  We finally got back to the ship less than an hour before on ship time, but there was a market thirty feet away from the ship so everyone did some last minute shopping before heading back inside.

            Now it is Friday, and we are back in school.  At 12:05, the captain announced that we were crossing the Equator and Prime Meridian at the same time.  This put us at 0 degrees longitude and 0 degrees latitude, which is really awesome.  This makes everyone on the voyage Emerald Shellbacks or Royal Diamond Shellbacks, an honor among sailors.

            I lost a camera and a pair of socks, and have never been dirtier in my life (I blew my nose when I got back on the ship and it was black with all the dirt and ash in my nose.  The village burns everything from brush to trash.), but Ghana was so much fun.  Senase is not a tourist attraction so the whole experience felt so real and authentic.  Some people were really nice and some people were really aggressive (kids kept hitting us up for money and gifts like my watch) and some places we went were beautiful and some places were not.  I felt like I experienced so much in only five days.  I even got to help bail someone out of jail (while we were waiting to leave for the village at five in the morning, a police officer came up to us and told us that he had one of us in jail.  Apparently an SAS kid who I sort of know had been mugged and arrested.  I don’t know the full story and trouble seem to follow him though).

            If you Google the Senase village, you’ll find an NGO for the village.  I believe it is called the Senase Project or Foundation or something.  It was started by SASers who went to the village last year with Can Do.  They are just starting out and are still getting approved for NGO status, but they are working to help build schools in the village.  The girl who got this trip rolling on FaceBook, and Tyler, one of the guys on the trip whose friend went on the trip last year, are working to help he is just helping out with it now build a hospital in Senase.  I think Tyler’s friend is the one who started the hospital project and he’s just getting involved now.  Either way, our group is going to try and help out as much as possible with the NGO.  They need about $30,000 USD to get the hospital started, and hopefully the Ghanaian government can support them from there.  I think our group is really going to try and make this happen; people were excited about the idea and it will be a great excuse to stay in touch and to come back to Ghana one day.  Right now, the closest hospital is a forty five minute walk away from the village.  The hospital serves both Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire so even if people make it to the hospital; they have to wait up to days before being seen for even serious injuries.  Plus, people may get bitten by snakes or something on the way and die before even making it to the hospital.  Hopefully, this NGO will take off and the thirty of us that went on the rip can do something.  I am impressed how passionate so many people are on the ship; it gets me excited about causes I would not imagine myself getting involved in back at home. 

Next stop:  one of the ports I am most excited for...CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

I don't have any pictures of my own so this is the only picture I'm going to post.  But this is all of us in Senase.

Slideshow

Slideshow Link: Tupana Village, Amazonas, Brazil