Friday, May 4, 2007
hmmmm
so...i havent had a nice random blog for you guys in a super long time....actually...i havent really posted any in a long time, but whatever. it's not 6 AM...as the typical college student i am seeing it from the 'i have not gone to bed side' rather than the 'dammit i have to wake up side.' I had some papers and stuff to do and going to bed would just be ridiculous at this point. PS the school here is a bit ridiculous. i take issue to the fact that i walk into the Hiroshima Peace Museum and the next day have to get onto the ship and worry about papers and tests and everything that i have to do, rather than be able to have the time to reflect on what i just saw and felt. apparently things weren't so strict academically when Pitt was running good ol' SAS. Oh well...i can't complain. I have officially been all the way around the world (well...almost anyway). I feel like i have a lot of new insights and views and feelings that i cant wait to share with people when i get home...if they want to listen. Some of it, you might not want to hear, some of it you will. All i can say is that this has been a CRAZY experience, and who knows what the next week and a half will bring. i have met some pretty amazing people...most of which you have heard about in my random blog stories, and whom you might meet in the future someday. we'll see how life turns out. this blog doesnt really have any significance i guess...just passing the time until breakfast...woohoo...45 more minutes! alright...spider is calling me name...can't wait to see all of you
Circle of Life
South Africa
Just a little heads up for you before I dive into my South African experience. For the next month, we will be in port most of the time, with breaks on the ship of about 3 or 4 days. This is going to make it extremely difficult for me to write my random ridiculous blogs, so I might just have to focus on my countries. I shall try my best to keep you entertained. Oh…and for those of you who keep hounding me for pictures: I have spent a ridiculous amount of money on internet minutes so far and I don’t want to anymore, so I’m not going to waste 20 minutes on a picture. When I say I have free internet, it means I am at a hotel or internet café and cannot load my pictures as I don’t have them. So please stop asking…I will give you the picture tour when I get home.
Ok…now that business is taken care of let’s dive into my future place of residence: South Africa. The night before pulling into Cape Town, Team Bauer and I attempted to sleep out on the deck, but really just ended up pulling an all nighter. We did, however, stay on the deck the whole time, despite rain and wind. Jack would be proud…we are the deck warriors. We got to see our first ever moon-set (you know like sunset, only moon set)…that was awesome. The sky was totally black and the moon was big and orange and it just slowly did its thing, going down the horizon. It was pretty neat. At 5: 26 the sun was supposed to rise, so we went up to the 7th deck at the front of the boat. I was surprised at the number of people up there already (hello, we are college students. The only time we see this part of the day is coming from the OTHER side). When I made my way through the people, I saw one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The sun hadn’t yet peaked over the horizon, but the base of the sky was bright orange. Silouhetted by the light was Table Mountain (among other mountains), a flat top mountain famous in Cape Town. Do you remember the beginning of the Lion King when the sun is coming up and there’s the ants crawling on the flat top tree and it’s all red and orange? Yah….it was like that…exactly how I had always imagined Africa would look like. It was absolutely beautiful. So we took tons of pictures and had a grand old time and then we anxiously awaited the time when we would be able to get off the ship.
(oh, as a side note…Desmond Tutu spoke to us about Apartheid in Global Studies the couple days before we pulled into port…that was pretty cool. It’s also pretty sweet when you see him walking down the hallway wearing his socks pulled up to his knees with his sandals…I love it. He might be the cutest old man on the planet)
When the time of debarkation finally came, me, captain, baby jesus, teron, eric, and…garret? I think that’s his name…anyway, we all decided to go to long street for some looking around and shopping. However, being the stubborn, poor college students that we are, we refused to take a taxi, and we found ourselves having to ask for directions about every 5 minutes, but it was awesome. It took us awhile to reach our destination A) because we didn’t know where we were going and B) because we were taking pictures of everything. Cape Town is a beautiful city and I’m not kidding when I say I want to go live there. Not only is the city beautiful…so are the MEN! If you read that little blip of a blog that I wrote while in Africa you know what I’m talking about…if not…ohhh man. I have never seen guys with such an amazing sense of fashion. Alright..it’s time for the elaboration:
Imagine…(first of all, if you know me at all, you know that I find black boys extremely attractive)…ok…so…imagine…all around you eye candy dressed in button down shirts (long sleeve), nice fitting jeans (none of that “I’m gonna let my ass hang out”), and amazing man shoes (which generally consist of leather square toed shoes) and a belt to match. Annnnnd I’m drooling just thinking about it again…oh baby. As I said…all American men…TAKE NOTES!
Upon reaching Long Street…we didn’t really know where to begin. As the name entails…it’s an extremely long street with shops, restaurants and bars galore. We just kind of did the wandering thing, found some cool shops, including a music store and a native market hidden between buildings. I had to resist the urge to buy about a million pairs of earrings…those markets are out to get me I tell ya. After a bit, the boys (as usual) got sick of shopping so they went into this place called the purple….something. I forget…anyway, it was a big purple bar. They sipped on some beers while us girls finished our shopping, then we met them and continued to wander. Baby Dan and I got some local coffee…that was good stuff ( sleeping on the deck = not sleeping). We saw some 25 year old ish guy with a zip up teddy bear back pack…it was amazing ( ps boys, this is not the fashion I speak of when I tell you to take notes…remember that). Anyway, after some more wandering, we went into this antique shop thing and run into none other than Team Bauer, Pretty Sarah…and a couple other people but I don’t remember who it was (the consequences of being a blog slacker). Anyway, Team Bauer came along with us, as the rest of the girls he was hanging out with had to get back to the ship for one reason or another. Hunger started to tap us on the shoulders, so we went to this restaurant called…ummm…yah I forgot that too. Clearly not important. Anyway…they were having a special of buy one drink and get a second one free…so I was double fisting some deliciousness and the food was great. After dinner we decided to make our way back to the ship, drop off our purchases and get ready for a night of fun on Long Street (hey…we’re college kids). We went back to the boat, made ourselves beautiful and then headed out for a night of dancing. On our day walk of Long Street we had found this awesome looking bar called Cool Runnings, so we decided to check that out. The inside was completely covered in Jamaican style murals. It was pretty sweet, to say the least. I had a couple shots, including my first ever Jag Bomb in honor of Micah (in the LEFT hand) and then started to shake it. I love dancing…if you don’t know this about me, then you probably don’t know me at all. Anyway I was wearing this really fun skirt and necklace that I had bought earlier in the day, and they rocked for dancing. By this time, I didn’t have any hair anymore, but I rocked it out anyway. In fact, the bartender behind the bar told me that Shinade (I don’t know how to spell that) O’ Conner had nothing on me. That made me feel better about being a baldy. I met a couple of cool South African boys that bought me drinks and then it was time to head out and go to sleep.
We stayed on the ship for lunch the next day ( free food is the best) and then decided that we wanted to check out this shopping area that our cab driver had told us about. We were under the impression that it was a huge local market thing, but it turned out to be a giant shopping mall. Our adventure on the way there was pretty…interesting. Yet another of my many near death experiences on this trip. It was raining outside, and the defrost didn’t work in the taxi. So the windows are fogging up because, yes it’s raining, but it’s HOT and humid. So we have foggy windows. THEN…by some unknown force, the windshield wipers stop working. Yep…all done…no more wipers and a foggy rainy windshield. Oh and did I mention that we were on the freeway?!? Heh…great experience. I wasn’t scared when the cab driver kept going…no way, not at all. By the grace of the good Lord in heaven we made it to the mall safe, but we were split up from the other cab that our friends were in, so it was me, baby dan, and Tiffany conquering the giant African mall alone. We searched the mall for the other half of our group ( Team Bauer and some other chicks) and wound up empty handed (this mall was GIGANTIC) so we decided to start some shopping. At first I was really disappointed that it was a big mall…think regular mall on steroids. It was definitely the biggest one I have ever been in. Anyway, I was bummed because I was looking for a bit more of a cultural experience than wandering around a mall, but then I realized something…not all of Africa consists of people who sit and make crafts to be sold on the streets. THIS was a cultural experience, because all the people who live in Cape Town came to shop here…most of the locals do this, and there were some cool things that we don’t have in America, so that made me feel better. The first store we went into was called Jay Jay’s and there was a live DJ in the back and this random guy walking around with a mic. Turns out he was in charge of going up to customers, giving them challenges, and if they did it they got a free piece of clothing from the store. It was pretty sweet. I wasn’t asked to do anything, but Baby Dan participated in the limbo and kicked some serious ass. I have never seen a boy get that low before…it was pretty awesome. I bought 5 tee shirts and a tank top thing for like 300 Rand, which turned out to be about 30 bucks…I love cheap prices. After wandering around for a bit more, we finally found Team Bauer, and he brought us back to the rest of his group. Everyone else wanted to leave to catch a rugby game, so me, Team Bauer, and Baby Dan were left to explore the gigantic mall. They had everything from Deisel, to Nike, to a little African market inside the mall. It was fun…I didn’t end up buying anything else, but it was a good time. Around 5 ish we decided to head back to the ship. Our taxi driver was really cool. He told us about his son who was going to college and I asked him about the Med schools in the area. According to him, they have very good medical programs in Cape Town, and tuition is only like three thousand dollars or something. My plan is to talk to my advisor, see what they think about Cape Town Med Schools, and then if they are good, I seriously want to go there. Then you all can come visit me…ok? Ok. The three of us were starving, so we wandered around the pier area (which reminded me of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Fran) and settled on a nice little place with outside seating overlooking the seal area. We ordered a delicious appetizer with some cheese and pita bread (my favorite was goat cheese…if you have never had it…stop reading, go to the store and indulge yourself…it I so good). We also got a round of Savannah Dry, a fantastically delicious cider (rather than beer). I’m not the biggest beer fan, so I was in heaven. It was sooooo good. It started to rain, so we went inside and ate our dinner in there. I had some calamari, chicken wings, and little hot dog things in a basket. Oh and spring rolls. It was very good, then I had some dessert while the boys indulged in Don Pedros, which basically are ice cream with either Kaluha or Whiskey at the bottom. Feeling full and slightly buzzed, we went back onto the ship to get ready to go out again for more dancing. That night was actually the night of the Long Street Festival, in which all of Long Street is blocked off and there are bands and dancing and such out in the street. Sort of like Carnival on a smaller scale. It seems that the party just follows SAS. While waiting in purser’s square to meet up with people, we ran into our friend Roberto, who had just found out that his ATM card had been compromised in Brazil and he ended up losing about 1300 dollars. THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS. We decided to postpone the going out until Roberto was done talking to his dad so we could show him a good time. It ended up being me, team bauer, baby dan and Roberto. We arrived at Long Street and wandered the different bars. I had my first Irish Car Bomb (1/2 pint Genus, a shot of Bailey’s and a shot of Jack and CHUG) in honor of team bauer and then we went to a couple other bars before ending up back at cool runnings. I rocked the party at Cool Runnings this night…them South Africans loooooove dancing with me for some reason. Oh man it was awesome. There was one point where I was in an Andrea sandwhich between two random African boys who didn’t know each other…haha. One’s name was Vinny and I don’t know the other guy’s name but he bought me a drink and proceeded to ask me if there was going to be anything else happening between us that night…haha yah I said NO real quick, thanked him for the drink and went on the search for team bauer. He had met some british boys who were cool and fun to dance with. I love dancing. So much. It was a great time. When it was time to go, Vinny found me again and gave me his phone number, hoping I would call him when I got back to Cape Town from my safari…riiight. That’s gonna happen. His number is now a part of my wall décor in my room. It makes for a good story. Anyway, we took off, as I had to be up the next morning for my SAS safari at 5. It turns out leaving early wasn’t necessary, as I ended up not sleeping at all that night, but oh well. I packed my stuff at around 5 that morning and met up with my safari group at 5 30 in the union. We got our packed breakfasts and lunches from the group leaders and then loaded into a bus headed for the airport. When I had first met up with the group I was feeling fine and dandy, but as the bus got closer and closer to the airport, the hangover started to completely take over my body. Headache + exhaustion + raspy voice from the bar smoke + sensitive eyes = hung over Andrea in South Africa. I wasn’t the only one suffering on the trip so that made me feel better…a little. I didn’t really mind…going out had been my choice and TOTALLY worth it, so it was all fine. I didn’t really know anyone on my safari besides Andrew, a guy from Berkley, and I knew of this girl Julie who actually goes to Wazzu. We bonded real quick…cougs have a tendency to do that (except for those lame ones on the boat who I say GO COUGS to and they just look at me like I have fungus on my forehead…lame o’s…SHOW SOME COUGAR PRIDE PEOPLE!)…sorry…mini vent session…anyway…all travels went well and we ended up at Kruger National Park. PS IT IS HOT IN AFRICA! I was wearing sweats for the plane ride and as soon as I got off I was sooooo warm. Anyway, we pulled up to our lodge and my jaw hit the ground…I have found the reason why Semester at Sea trips are so expensive….because they get you the nicest place you could possibly stay in and proceed to spoil you with food. The lodge was SO nice…as soon as we got out of the vans, we were offered cocktails on a tray (which were really just orange juice, but they called them cocktails). There were two pools, a nice lounge area, restaurants, and we our rooms were awesome too. I was assigned to room with Tiffany, a girl I had not yet met from California. It worked out nicely…They fed us and then we were scheduled for our first safari drive that afternoon. We piled into safari jeeps ( you know, with the three rows of seats with no sides on the car), loaded on the bug spray (MALARIA IS BAD!) and headed out. My driver’s name was Stu, and he was absolutely fascinated by the concept of Semester at Sea. He kept asking us tons of questions about it…it was funny. On that first drive we saw elephants, monkeys, rhinos, giraffe, water buffalo (the most dangerous animal in the bush), impala (those damn things are EVERYWHERE), and then there was a call that there was a leopard in a tree spotted, so we sped over there only to find that there was a huge amount of cars, and we had to be out of the park by 6, so we didn’t get a chance to spot it…what a tease man. I was bummed, but this was only the beginning. After a nice buffet BBQ dinner it was time for bed…I was utterly exhausted from no sleep the night before and the hangover and everything…I ended up going to sleep at like 9 30, while the rest of the SAS kids swam around in the pool and such. We got wake up calls at like 5, and had to be out and ready to go by 5 30 for our morning drive. Ouch. Totally worth it though…we had a day of driving, stopping for breakfast at this little shop inside the park. We saw a ton of animals that day, adding more elephants, rhinos, giraffe, and impala to the list and also throwing in a snake, some kudus, some other antelope like things that I don’t remember the name of, baboons. zebras and just about any other animal you can think of that is not a lion or a leopard. Damn. I just wanted to see Simba ok! That morning drive lasted about 6 ½ hours…that’s a long time to be in a jeep staring out at the bush. Oh…let me paint the picture…the bush/ savannah isn’t really the huge grass plain with a few trees that I had imagined. There are trees everywhere…and bushes…and its hard to spot animals sometimes as they are hidden by the foliage. So staring at that for 6 ½ hours, sometimes going awhile without seeing anything make you…lets say…a little bit sleepy and, lets say you start to do the head nod. I believe I described this phenomenon in an earlier blog. The weather was warm, the movement of the truck just right…YES I AM ADMITTING TO NAPPING WHILE ON AN AFRICAN SAFARI! Pretty much every drive we went on I ended up falling asleep at one point or another. I wasn’t the only person…everyone was caught snoozing. After the 6 ½ hour drive, we went back to the lodge for lunch and a nap, then were scheduled for a night drive. This, I was stoked for. WE HAD to see a lion on a night drive….RIGHT? WRONG! Rather than piling into a bunch of small jeeps, the whole group got in these two huge jeep things with spotlights. It was cool, except people are loud and we didn’t see a whole lot of animals….except we DID see a hyena chasing an impala…dinner time! Then some lame kid in the back of the jeep yelled KILL! And the hyena startled and ran away…GAH! Frustrating…oh well. I really did enjoy the night drive though…the sunset was beautiful and Julie and I had some good talking time. We came back, had a late dinner, and then crashed only to be woken up by another 5 30 wake up call. Ugh…pile into the jeeps, load on bug spray…we were becoming the masters of the safari routine. My driver this time was Heiny…a rather determined young man who was on a mission to find us some cats. During the course of the trip, we had come up with a number of strategies to lure cats our way, including singing songs from the Lion King, to promising Meow Mix, and we failed every time, so we figured we would leave it up to Heiny this time…turns out…it worked beautifully! We were on a mission…we didn’t stop long (if at all) for all of the other animals we had seen, and went to the cat grounds. We saw some LION….POOP! on the road, fresh lion poo…I never thought I would be so excited over some fecal matter in my entire life…but fresh poop means lion near by…right? YES! About a mile up the road, there they were…4 females lying on the side of the road…ohhh man I was in heaven. I can’t wait to show you all pictures. It was so awesome. After drooling for awhile, we decided to try and find a leopard…some kids had seen one the day before, but we still wanted to see them. There were a couple of calls over the walkie talkie informing us of leopard sightings, but each time we got to the place where they were, they had just left apparently. Bummer…but you know what? I saw my lion so it was ok. We stopped at the little shop for breakfast again and I got a couple things, then we finished the drive and went back to the lodge for lunch and a nap again. We had another night drive scheduled, but this time Julie and I managed to get into the one small jeep that they had, rather than the two huge ones. I was really excited about this…we were seeing our regular foray of animals when we got a radio call that there was a lion on the side of the road about two miles away. (oh…I totally forgot this part…our guide’s name was Tex…or something like that…anyway…he was this younger guy who was promising us cats, and, since we were on a cat hunt, he had to carry a big ol gun…it was sweet…I felt like a bush warrior…only without the nakedness, the paint, and the lip plates…). So we sped over to the place where the lion was and there was just one other jeep there. I looked to the right and saw him…the beautiful male lion just chilling, laying down, in the grass. The cameras started going like crazy, mine included. It was soooo amazing. I don’t really know how to describe it. The other jeep left, so we had him all to our selves. The pictures are awesome…ohhh man. I was in heaven basically…we left after awhile because we wanted to find the females that are always close by, but we didn’t find them. I didn’t really care…it was awesome either way. That night me, Julie, Andrew, Marlena (really cool chick from my psych class) and this other girl Sarah stayed up and played cards and talked for awhile before going to sleep. The next day we packed our stuff and got ready to go, then had an elephant experience thing scheduled. We were split up into two groups…I was in the second, meaning we had to wait a bit longer before going to see the elephants. When we got there it ended up being a place with two elephants in captivity. I really didn’t (and still don’t) know how to feel about it…we had just spent the past three days seeing elephants roaming free in the wild, and here they were, all kept in a big cage and tied up. They did tricks and everything…I really didn’t enjoy it at all…it made me sad for the elephants to be honest. Oh well…after the elephants, we did a bit of shopping at the stores and then headed out for the airport. To be honest, I was so excited to get back to Cape Town. The safari was great, but I am in love with Cape Town and wanted to spend much more time there…and well, Team Bauer and all my friends were also there. The flight went fine again, and we headed back to the ship. Team Bauer was nowhere to be found, and neither were any of my other close friends. It all worked out fine though because I did run into Amanda eventually, so me, Julie and Amanda decided to go grab some dinner. We went to this Mexican place (SO GOOD) and then went to long street for a bit of dancing. We hit up Cool Runnings, but it was pretty deserted…I think we forgot about the fact that it was a Wednesday, and well…people have to work in south Africa…they aren’t all traveling around the world on a ship. We also went back to the Irish pub for another car bomb, and then didn’t last that long, as I had to be up awake at 4 30 to be ready for cage diving the next day. Still no team bauer…I was a bit bummed, but just went to bed knowing I would see everyone in the morning. I woke up and went up to the computer lab for some fast internet access (its faster when everyone is passed out and not using it) and ran into Team Shadow (Anna…totally smashed), Captain, Baby Jesus, and Piano Man who informed me that “Kevin just staggered down to your room looking for you.” TEAM BAUER! I went down there and found him outside my door…not sober, but its all fine. They had ended up finding some local musicians who showed them the local side of Cape Town…yes I’m jealous. We gathered the cage diving group and piled into the tour guide vans. Kevin and I saw in the back with Matt (the Matt from Brazil). Kevin was so talkative and excited to show me everything he had done…I got the whole picture tour and found out he had gone to Cape Point, a township (basically the slums on crack), and the place where Nelson Mendela was kept prisoner during Apartheid. His stories were awesome…to be honest, I was kinda bummed that I missed out on everything. The safari was cool, but I really feel like the missed out on the culture of south Africa…to all of you who are thinking of doing semester at sea, I would put some serious thought into a safari…and if you do decide to do it…only go for a couple days…don’t use up all your time in Africa on it. Ok…anyway…the van ride was about two hours and I didn’t really sleep, as team bauer and I were telling our stories. We pulled up to this little house and found out that was where we were eating breakfast. Inside there were two tables, one already had people, and the other one was for us. We were served homemade pancakes, muffins and toast. Very good food…then we were briefed on the whole ‘you are about to go swimming with great white sharks’ thing…I was SO excited…hello…I was that kid that would lay on the floor, glued to the TV during shark week…this is like my dream come true here people. We jumped back into the van for a quick ride down to the dock and then boarded the boat. It was a double decker, and had its own bathrooms and such…not complaining at all. The people who were at the other table at breakfast joined us, and it turns out a couple of them were from the states and were in Africa for work…ROUGH LIFE! They had been there for a few weeks…lucky bums. Anyway…we sat up top and began our journey into the ocean to find sharks. The water was pretty rough and Dannie and I proclaimed the adventure EXTREME boating/cage diving…right… as if diving into the ocean with great whites isn’t extreme enough. The waves would splash us and it all was windy but I had a great time. I just love the ocean. It took us probably 45 minutes to reach the spot where we would be getting into the water. There were a few other boats around, but Baby Dan and I decided that we had the best chum so the sharks would come to US! The guides started to dump the chum and also threw a half of a head of some gigantic fish into the water. It took awhile, but eventually the sharks started to come. It was so cool…I love sharks. They scare me a lot, but I love them. Kevin decided to help out the chumming process by puking 9 times (too much alcohol + extreme motion sickness = the sharks are definitely coming to our boat because we have chum AND puke). The first shark that came grabbed the fish head and threw it up in the air then yanked it off the line…the guides were like..’yah, that wasn’t supposed to happen…’ just like the sharks aren’t supposed to be able to get into the cage and eat me?!?! Hmmmm a little scared at this point, but still very excited. They threw the cage in the water and suited some people up in wet suits, gave them snorkels and goggles and told them to get in. Um…ok. People had a hard time getting used to the snorkels at first, but after that everything was fine. We had about 3 or 4 sharks that were consistently coming back to our boat…they are shy apparently, so they would circle around the boat and not come close for awhile, and then they would decide that they DID want the fish head and go in for the kill. That was when the guides would throw the head right next to the cage so the shark would be right next to the people in the water. It was sweet. My turn didn’t come for awhile as there were a lot of people and I didn’t mind waiting. When it was finally my turn, me, Captain, and Baby Jesus suited up…or at least tried to. Haha wet suits are hard to get into and we were cracking up. Kevin also got ready to go. After posing for some great wet suit shots we got our weight belts strapped on and climbed into the cage. Thank the Lord Jesus for wetsuits. The water was very cold…my hands were hating life but it was ok. The water was really murky, so I couldn’t really see more than about a foot away from the cage. We hung out in the cage for about EVER, but the sharks seemed to not want to come around anymore. So we were just singing and being ridiculous in the cage. Dannie said I was the kind of person that would make everyone laugh so hard in the cage that we would all die…not from shark but from drowning from laughing too hard…this method of death threatened us, as we were all having a great time. Then finally the guides were yelling to go down and look, as there was a shark coming…nope. False alarm…no shark for you. After about ten minutes of this (going under water peering for a shark, and not seeing anything) we finally had a winner. The guides told us to go down and I was looking and not seeing anything, and then all of a sudden BOOM…great white shark in front of my face. It only lasted for a split second but it was so awesome anyway. After that I got tapped on the shoulder and was told to get out because other people still hadn’t gone. Bummer…I wanted to stay, but its ok. The boat had free water and snacks, so I grabbed a drink and then went up top to watch all the sharks in the water. Even though being in the cage was cool, I rather enjoyed being up top because you could see all of the sharks doing their thing, rather than just one splashing around. After everyone had gone, we pulled the cage out of the water and headed back for land. The ride back was good, but cold as we were all wet. Captain and I cuddled and then we were back on the boat. The adventure had been great. Once on land again, the vans took us back to the house where we were served lunch (home made spaghetti) and they tried to sell us the video of our experience…nah. I don’t think any of us bought one. After lunch, it was back to the van for the ride back to the ship. We ended up getting back at around 5 30 ish I think, and we decided we wanted to go out for one last dinner in South Africa. On-ship time was 9, so we took quick showers and got ready then me, team bauer, piano man, captain, and baby jesus left. Baby Jesus went on a post card search, so four of us went to this local cider brewing place and had the cider and ordered pizza. We were all pretty tired and I was so bummed about leaving Africa. I kid you not when I say I will be going back there for an extended period of time someday. When the pizza was gone we wandered around for a bit a bought some stuff in the shops on the pier. Then we found a gelato place….delicious. Some random guy asked me if I had cancer…I’m guessing this was due to the fact that I had just shaved my head. I laughed it off, but inwardly thought to myself…DO I SERIOUSLY LOOK LIKE A CANCER PATIENT?!?! We enjoyed the gelato (I had coffee and some caramel stuff) and then had to head back to the ship. I was not a happy camper. What made it even worse was that we had to fuel up and didn’t actually end up leaving port until about 4 the next day…what an evil tease. South Africa…right there at the end of my fingertips and I can’t get off the ship. Bleh. Watching Africa fade away as we sailed into the ocean was truly a sad moment…but I guess I just have to think of the times to be had when I go back.
Just a little heads up for you before I dive into my South African experience. For the next month, we will be in port most of the time, with breaks on the ship of about 3 or 4 days. This is going to make it extremely difficult for me to write my random ridiculous blogs, so I might just have to focus on my countries. I shall try my best to keep you entertained. Oh…and for those of you who keep hounding me for pictures: I have spent a ridiculous amount of money on internet minutes so far and I don’t want to anymore, so I’m not going to waste 20 minutes on a picture. When I say I have free internet, it means I am at a hotel or internet café and cannot load my pictures as I don’t have them. So please stop asking…I will give you the picture tour when I get home.
Ok…now that business is taken care of let’s dive into my future place of residence: South Africa. The night before pulling into Cape Town, Team Bauer and I attempted to sleep out on the deck, but really just ended up pulling an all nighter. We did, however, stay on the deck the whole time, despite rain and wind. Jack would be proud…we are the deck warriors. We got to see our first ever moon-set (you know like sunset, only moon set)…that was awesome. The sky was totally black and the moon was big and orange and it just slowly did its thing, going down the horizon. It was pretty neat. At 5: 26 the sun was supposed to rise, so we went up to the 7th deck at the front of the boat. I was surprised at the number of people up there already (hello, we are college students. The only time we see this part of the day is coming from the OTHER side). When I made my way through the people, I saw one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The sun hadn’t yet peaked over the horizon, but the base of the sky was bright orange. Silouhetted by the light was Table Mountain (among other mountains), a flat top mountain famous in Cape Town. Do you remember the beginning of the Lion King when the sun is coming up and there’s the ants crawling on the flat top tree and it’s all red and orange? Yah….it was like that…exactly how I had always imagined Africa would look like. It was absolutely beautiful. So we took tons of pictures and had a grand old time and then we anxiously awaited the time when we would be able to get off the ship.
(oh, as a side note…Desmond Tutu spoke to us about Apartheid in Global Studies the couple days before we pulled into port…that was pretty cool. It’s also pretty sweet when you see him walking down the hallway wearing his socks pulled up to his knees with his sandals…I love it. He might be the cutest old man on the planet)
When the time of debarkation finally came, me, captain, baby jesus, teron, eric, and…garret? I think that’s his name…anyway, we all decided to go to long street for some looking around and shopping. However, being the stubborn, poor college students that we are, we refused to take a taxi, and we found ourselves having to ask for directions about every 5 minutes, but it was awesome. It took us awhile to reach our destination A) because we didn’t know where we were going and B) because we were taking pictures of everything. Cape Town is a beautiful city and I’m not kidding when I say I want to go live there. Not only is the city beautiful…so are the MEN! If you read that little blip of a blog that I wrote while in Africa you know what I’m talking about…if not…ohhh man. I have never seen guys with such an amazing sense of fashion. Alright..it’s time for the elaboration:
Imagine…(first of all, if you know me at all, you know that I find black boys extremely attractive)…ok…so…imagine…all around you eye candy dressed in button down shirts (long sleeve), nice fitting jeans (none of that “I’m gonna let my ass hang out”), and amazing man shoes (which generally consist of leather square toed shoes) and a belt to match. Annnnnd I’m drooling just thinking about it again…oh baby. As I said…all American men…TAKE NOTES!
Upon reaching Long Street…we didn’t really know where to begin. As the name entails…it’s an extremely long street with shops, restaurants and bars galore. We just kind of did the wandering thing, found some cool shops, including a music store and a native market hidden between buildings. I had to resist the urge to buy about a million pairs of earrings…those markets are out to get me I tell ya. After a bit, the boys (as usual) got sick of shopping so they went into this place called the purple….something. I forget…anyway, it was a big purple bar. They sipped on some beers while us girls finished our shopping, then we met them and continued to wander. Baby Dan and I got some local coffee…that was good stuff ( sleeping on the deck = not sleeping). We saw some 25 year old ish guy with a zip up teddy bear back pack…it was amazing ( ps boys, this is not the fashion I speak of when I tell you to take notes…remember that). Anyway, after some more wandering, we went into this antique shop thing and run into none other than Team Bauer, Pretty Sarah…and a couple other people but I don’t remember who it was (the consequences of being a blog slacker). Anyway, Team Bauer came along with us, as the rest of the girls he was hanging out with had to get back to the ship for one reason or another. Hunger started to tap us on the shoulders, so we went to this restaurant called…ummm…yah I forgot that too. Clearly not important. Anyway…they were having a special of buy one drink and get a second one free…so I was double fisting some deliciousness and the food was great. After dinner we decided to make our way back to the ship, drop off our purchases and get ready for a night of fun on Long Street (hey…we’re college kids). We went back to the boat, made ourselves beautiful and then headed out for a night of dancing. On our day walk of Long Street we had found this awesome looking bar called Cool Runnings, so we decided to check that out. The inside was completely covered in Jamaican style murals. It was pretty sweet, to say the least. I had a couple shots, including my first ever Jag Bomb in honor of Micah (in the LEFT hand) and then started to shake it. I love dancing…if you don’t know this about me, then you probably don’t know me at all. Anyway I was wearing this really fun skirt and necklace that I had bought earlier in the day, and they rocked for dancing. By this time, I didn’t have any hair anymore, but I rocked it out anyway. In fact, the bartender behind the bar told me that Shinade (I don’t know how to spell that) O’ Conner had nothing on me. That made me feel better about being a baldy. I met a couple of cool South African boys that bought me drinks and then it was time to head out and go to sleep.
We stayed on the ship for lunch the next day ( free food is the best) and then decided that we wanted to check out this shopping area that our cab driver had told us about. We were under the impression that it was a huge local market thing, but it turned out to be a giant shopping mall. Our adventure on the way there was pretty…interesting. Yet another of my many near death experiences on this trip. It was raining outside, and the defrost didn’t work in the taxi. So the windows are fogging up because, yes it’s raining, but it’s HOT and humid. So we have foggy windows. THEN…by some unknown force, the windshield wipers stop working. Yep…all done…no more wipers and a foggy rainy windshield. Oh and did I mention that we were on the freeway?!? Heh…great experience. I wasn’t scared when the cab driver kept going…no way, not at all. By the grace of the good Lord in heaven we made it to the mall safe, but we were split up from the other cab that our friends were in, so it was me, baby dan, and Tiffany conquering the giant African mall alone. We searched the mall for the other half of our group ( Team Bauer and some other chicks) and wound up empty handed (this mall was GIGANTIC) so we decided to start some shopping. At first I was really disappointed that it was a big mall…think regular mall on steroids. It was definitely the biggest one I have ever been in. Anyway, I was bummed because I was looking for a bit more of a cultural experience than wandering around a mall, but then I realized something…not all of Africa consists of people who sit and make crafts to be sold on the streets. THIS was a cultural experience, because all the people who live in Cape Town came to shop here…most of the locals do this, and there were some cool things that we don’t have in America, so that made me feel better. The first store we went into was called Jay Jay’s and there was a live DJ in the back and this random guy walking around with a mic. Turns out he was in charge of going up to customers, giving them challenges, and if they did it they got a free piece of clothing from the store. It was pretty sweet. I wasn’t asked to do anything, but Baby Dan participated in the limbo and kicked some serious ass. I have never seen a boy get that low before…it was pretty awesome. I bought 5 tee shirts and a tank top thing for like 300 Rand, which turned out to be about 30 bucks…I love cheap prices. After wandering around for a bit more, we finally found Team Bauer, and he brought us back to the rest of his group. Everyone else wanted to leave to catch a rugby game, so me, Team Bauer, and Baby Dan were left to explore the gigantic mall. They had everything from Deisel, to Nike, to a little African market inside the mall. It was fun…I didn’t end up buying anything else, but it was a good time. Around 5 ish we decided to head back to the ship. Our taxi driver was really cool. He told us about his son who was going to college and I asked him about the Med schools in the area. According to him, they have very good medical programs in Cape Town, and tuition is only like three thousand dollars or something. My plan is to talk to my advisor, see what they think about Cape Town Med Schools, and then if they are good, I seriously want to go there. Then you all can come visit me…ok? Ok. The three of us were starving, so we wandered around the pier area (which reminded me of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Fran) and settled on a nice little place with outside seating overlooking the seal area. We ordered a delicious appetizer with some cheese and pita bread (my favorite was goat cheese…if you have never had it…stop reading, go to the store and indulge yourself…it I so good). We also got a round of Savannah Dry, a fantastically delicious cider (rather than beer). I’m not the biggest beer fan, so I was in heaven. It was sooooo good. It started to rain, so we went inside and ate our dinner in there. I had some calamari, chicken wings, and little hot dog things in a basket. Oh and spring rolls. It was very good, then I had some dessert while the boys indulged in Don Pedros, which basically are ice cream with either Kaluha or Whiskey at the bottom. Feeling full and slightly buzzed, we went back onto the ship to get ready to go out again for more dancing. That night was actually the night of the Long Street Festival, in which all of Long Street is blocked off and there are bands and dancing and such out in the street. Sort of like Carnival on a smaller scale. It seems that the party just follows SAS. While waiting in purser’s square to meet up with people, we ran into our friend Roberto, who had just found out that his ATM card had been compromised in Brazil and he ended up losing about 1300 dollars. THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS. We decided to postpone the going out until Roberto was done talking to his dad so we could show him a good time. It ended up being me, team bauer, baby dan and Roberto. We arrived at Long Street and wandered the different bars. I had my first Irish Car Bomb (1/2 pint Genus, a shot of Bailey’s and a shot of Jack and CHUG) in honor of team bauer and then we went to a couple other bars before ending up back at cool runnings. I rocked the party at Cool Runnings this night…them South Africans loooooove dancing with me for some reason. Oh man it was awesome. There was one point where I was in an Andrea sandwhich between two random African boys who didn’t know each other…haha. One’s name was Vinny and I don’t know the other guy’s name but he bought me a drink and proceeded to ask me if there was going to be anything else happening between us that night…haha yah I said NO real quick, thanked him for the drink and went on the search for team bauer. He had met some british boys who were cool and fun to dance with. I love dancing. So much. It was a great time. When it was time to go, Vinny found me again and gave me his phone number, hoping I would call him when I got back to Cape Town from my safari…riiight. That’s gonna happen. His number is now a part of my wall décor in my room. It makes for a good story. Anyway, we took off, as I had to be up the next morning for my SAS safari at 5. It turns out leaving early wasn’t necessary, as I ended up not sleeping at all that night, but oh well. I packed my stuff at around 5 that morning and met up with my safari group at 5 30 in the union. We got our packed breakfasts and lunches from the group leaders and then loaded into a bus headed for the airport. When I had first met up with the group I was feeling fine and dandy, but as the bus got closer and closer to the airport, the hangover started to completely take over my body. Headache + exhaustion + raspy voice from the bar smoke + sensitive eyes = hung over Andrea in South Africa. I wasn’t the only one suffering on the trip so that made me feel better…a little. I didn’t really mind…going out had been my choice and TOTALLY worth it, so it was all fine. I didn’t really know anyone on my safari besides Andrew, a guy from Berkley, and I knew of this girl Julie who actually goes to Wazzu. We bonded real quick…cougs have a tendency to do that (except for those lame ones on the boat who I say GO COUGS to and they just look at me like I have fungus on my forehead…lame o’s…SHOW SOME COUGAR PRIDE PEOPLE!)…sorry…mini vent session…anyway…all travels went well and we ended up at Kruger National Park. PS IT IS HOT IN AFRICA! I was wearing sweats for the plane ride and as soon as I got off I was sooooo warm. Anyway, we pulled up to our lodge and my jaw hit the ground…I have found the reason why Semester at Sea trips are so expensive….because they get you the nicest place you could possibly stay in and proceed to spoil you with food. The lodge was SO nice…as soon as we got out of the vans, we were offered cocktails on a tray (which were really just orange juice, but they called them cocktails). There were two pools, a nice lounge area, restaurants, and we our rooms were awesome too. I was assigned to room with Tiffany, a girl I had not yet met from California. It worked out nicely…They fed us and then we were scheduled for our first safari drive that afternoon. We piled into safari jeeps ( you know, with the three rows of seats with no sides on the car), loaded on the bug spray (MALARIA IS BAD!) and headed out. My driver’s name was Stu, and he was absolutely fascinated by the concept of Semester at Sea. He kept asking us tons of questions about it…it was funny. On that first drive we saw elephants, monkeys, rhinos, giraffe, water buffalo (the most dangerous animal in the bush), impala (those damn things are EVERYWHERE), and then there was a call that there was a leopard in a tree spotted, so we sped over there only to find that there was a huge amount of cars, and we had to be out of the park by 6, so we didn’t get a chance to spot it…what a tease man. I was bummed, but this was only the beginning. After a nice buffet BBQ dinner it was time for bed…I was utterly exhausted from no sleep the night before and the hangover and everything…I ended up going to sleep at like 9 30, while the rest of the SAS kids swam around in the pool and such. We got wake up calls at like 5, and had to be out and ready to go by 5 30 for our morning drive. Ouch. Totally worth it though…we had a day of driving, stopping for breakfast at this little shop inside the park. We saw a ton of animals that day, adding more elephants, rhinos, giraffe, and impala to the list and also throwing in a snake, some kudus, some other antelope like things that I don’t remember the name of, baboons. zebras and just about any other animal you can think of that is not a lion or a leopard. Damn. I just wanted to see Simba ok! That morning drive lasted about 6 ½ hours…that’s a long time to be in a jeep staring out at the bush. Oh…let me paint the picture…the bush/ savannah isn’t really the huge grass plain with a few trees that I had imagined. There are trees everywhere…and bushes…and its hard to spot animals sometimes as they are hidden by the foliage. So staring at that for 6 ½ hours, sometimes going awhile without seeing anything make you…lets say…a little bit sleepy and, lets say you start to do the head nod. I believe I described this phenomenon in an earlier blog. The weather was warm, the movement of the truck just right…YES I AM ADMITTING TO NAPPING WHILE ON AN AFRICAN SAFARI! Pretty much every drive we went on I ended up falling asleep at one point or another. I wasn’t the only person…everyone was caught snoozing. After the 6 ½ hour drive, we went back to the lodge for lunch and a nap, then were scheduled for a night drive. This, I was stoked for. WE HAD to see a lion on a night drive….RIGHT? WRONG! Rather than piling into a bunch of small jeeps, the whole group got in these two huge jeep things with spotlights. It was cool, except people are loud and we didn’t see a whole lot of animals….except we DID see a hyena chasing an impala…dinner time! Then some lame kid in the back of the jeep yelled KILL! And the hyena startled and ran away…GAH! Frustrating…oh well. I really did enjoy the night drive though…the sunset was beautiful and Julie and I had some good talking time. We came back, had a late dinner, and then crashed only to be woken up by another 5 30 wake up call. Ugh…pile into the jeeps, load on bug spray…we were becoming the masters of the safari routine. My driver this time was Heiny…a rather determined young man who was on a mission to find us some cats. During the course of the trip, we had come up with a number of strategies to lure cats our way, including singing songs from the Lion King, to promising Meow Mix, and we failed every time, so we figured we would leave it up to Heiny this time…turns out…it worked beautifully! We were on a mission…we didn’t stop long (if at all) for all of the other animals we had seen, and went to the cat grounds. We saw some LION….POOP! on the road, fresh lion poo…I never thought I would be so excited over some fecal matter in my entire life…but fresh poop means lion near by…right? YES! About a mile up the road, there they were…4 females lying on the side of the road…ohhh man I was in heaven. I can’t wait to show you all pictures. It was so awesome. After drooling for awhile, we decided to try and find a leopard…some kids had seen one the day before, but we still wanted to see them. There were a couple of calls over the walkie talkie informing us of leopard sightings, but each time we got to the place where they were, they had just left apparently. Bummer…but you know what? I saw my lion so it was ok. We stopped at the little shop for breakfast again and I got a couple things, then we finished the drive and went back to the lodge for lunch and a nap again. We had another night drive scheduled, but this time Julie and I managed to get into the one small jeep that they had, rather than the two huge ones. I was really excited about this…we were seeing our regular foray of animals when we got a radio call that there was a lion on the side of the road about two miles away. (oh…I totally forgot this part…our guide’s name was Tex…or something like that…anyway…he was this younger guy who was promising us cats, and, since we were on a cat hunt, he had to carry a big ol gun…it was sweet…I felt like a bush warrior…only without the nakedness, the paint, and the lip plates…). So we sped over to the place where the lion was and there was just one other jeep there. I looked to the right and saw him…the beautiful male lion just chilling, laying down, in the grass. The cameras started going like crazy, mine included. It was soooo amazing. I don’t really know how to describe it. The other jeep left, so we had him all to our selves. The pictures are awesome…ohhh man. I was in heaven basically…we left after awhile because we wanted to find the females that are always close by, but we didn’t find them. I didn’t really care…it was awesome either way. That night me, Julie, Andrew, Marlena (really cool chick from my psych class) and this other girl Sarah stayed up and played cards and talked for awhile before going to sleep. The next day we packed our stuff and got ready to go, then had an elephant experience thing scheduled. We were split up into two groups…I was in the second, meaning we had to wait a bit longer before going to see the elephants. When we got there it ended up being a place with two elephants in captivity. I really didn’t (and still don’t) know how to feel about it…we had just spent the past three days seeing elephants roaming free in the wild, and here they were, all kept in a big cage and tied up. They did tricks and everything…I really didn’t enjoy it at all…it made me sad for the elephants to be honest. Oh well…after the elephants, we did a bit of shopping at the stores and then headed out for the airport. To be honest, I was so excited to get back to Cape Town. The safari was great, but I am in love with Cape Town and wanted to spend much more time there…and well, Team Bauer and all my friends were also there. The flight went fine again, and we headed back to the ship. Team Bauer was nowhere to be found, and neither were any of my other close friends. It all worked out fine though because I did run into Amanda eventually, so me, Julie and Amanda decided to go grab some dinner. We went to this Mexican place (SO GOOD) and then went to long street for a bit of dancing. We hit up Cool Runnings, but it was pretty deserted…I think we forgot about the fact that it was a Wednesday, and well…people have to work in south Africa…they aren’t all traveling around the world on a ship. We also went back to the Irish pub for another car bomb, and then didn’t last that long, as I had to be up awake at 4 30 to be ready for cage diving the next day. Still no team bauer…I was a bit bummed, but just went to bed knowing I would see everyone in the morning. I woke up and went up to the computer lab for some fast internet access (its faster when everyone is passed out and not using it) and ran into Team Shadow (Anna…totally smashed), Captain, Baby Jesus, and Piano Man who informed me that “Kevin just staggered down to your room looking for you.” TEAM BAUER! I went down there and found him outside my door…not sober, but its all fine. They had ended up finding some local musicians who showed them the local side of Cape Town…yes I’m jealous. We gathered the cage diving group and piled into the tour guide vans. Kevin and I saw in the back with Matt (the Matt from Brazil). Kevin was so talkative and excited to show me everything he had done…I got the whole picture tour and found out he had gone to Cape Point, a township (basically the slums on crack), and the place where Nelson Mendela was kept prisoner during Apartheid. His stories were awesome…to be honest, I was kinda bummed that I missed out on everything. The safari was cool, but I really feel like the missed out on the culture of south Africa…to all of you who are thinking of doing semester at sea, I would put some serious thought into a safari…and if you do decide to do it…only go for a couple days…don’t use up all your time in Africa on it. Ok…anyway…the van ride was about two hours and I didn’t really sleep, as team bauer and I were telling our stories. We pulled up to this little house and found out that was where we were eating breakfast. Inside there were two tables, one already had people, and the other one was for us. We were served homemade pancakes, muffins and toast. Very good food…then we were briefed on the whole ‘you are about to go swimming with great white sharks’ thing…I was SO excited…hello…I was that kid that would lay on the floor, glued to the TV during shark week…this is like my dream come true here people. We jumped back into the van for a quick ride down to the dock and then boarded the boat. It was a double decker, and had its own bathrooms and such…not complaining at all. The people who were at the other table at breakfast joined us, and it turns out a couple of them were from the states and were in Africa for work…ROUGH LIFE! They had been there for a few weeks…lucky bums. Anyway…we sat up top and began our journey into the ocean to find sharks. The water was pretty rough and Dannie and I proclaimed the adventure EXTREME boating/cage diving…right… as if diving into the ocean with great whites isn’t extreme enough. The waves would splash us and it all was windy but I had a great time. I just love the ocean. It took us probably 45 minutes to reach the spot where we would be getting into the water. There were a few other boats around, but Baby Dan and I decided that we had the best chum so the sharks would come to US! The guides started to dump the chum and also threw a half of a head of some gigantic fish into the water. It took awhile, but eventually the sharks started to come. It was so cool…I love sharks. They scare me a lot, but I love them. Kevin decided to help out the chumming process by puking 9 times (too much alcohol + extreme motion sickness = the sharks are definitely coming to our boat because we have chum AND puke). The first shark that came grabbed the fish head and threw it up in the air then yanked it off the line…the guides were like..’yah, that wasn’t supposed to happen…’ just like the sharks aren’t supposed to be able to get into the cage and eat me?!?! Hmmmm a little scared at this point, but still very excited. They threw the cage in the water and suited some people up in wet suits, gave them snorkels and goggles and told them to get in. Um…ok. People had a hard time getting used to the snorkels at first, but after that everything was fine. We had about 3 or 4 sharks that were consistently coming back to our boat…they are shy apparently, so they would circle around the boat and not come close for awhile, and then they would decide that they DID want the fish head and go in for the kill. That was when the guides would throw the head right next to the cage so the shark would be right next to the people in the water. It was sweet. My turn didn’t come for awhile as there were a lot of people and I didn’t mind waiting. When it was finally my turn, me, Captain, and Baby Jesus suited up…or at least tried to. Haha wet suits are hard to get into and we were cracking up. Kevin also got ready to go. After posing for some great wet suit shots we got our weight belts strapped on and climbed into the cage. Thank the Lord Jesus for wetsuits. The water was very cold…my hands were hating life but it was ok. The water was really murky, so I couldn’t really see more than about a foot away from the cage. We hung out in the cage for about EVER, but the sharks seemed to not want to come around anymore. So we were just singing and being ridiculous in the cage. Dannie said I was the kind of person that would make everyone laugh so hard in the cage that we would all die…not from shark but from drowning from laughing too hard…this method of death threatened us, as we were all having a great time. Then finally the guides were yelling to go down and look, as there was a shark coming…nope. False alarm…no shark for you. After about ten minutes of this (going under water peering for a shark, and not seeing anything) we finally had a winner. The guides told us to go down and I was looking and not seeing anything, and then all of a sudden BOOM…great white shark in front of my face. It only lasted for a split second but it was so awesome anyway. After that I got tapped on the shoulder and was told to get out because other people still hadn’t gone. Bummer…I wanted to stay, but its ok. The boat had free water and snacks, so I grabbed a drink and then went up top to watch all the sharks in the water. Even though being in the cage was cool, I rather enjoyed being up top because you could see all of the sharks doing their thing, rather than just one splashing around. After everyone had gone, we pulled the cage out of the water and headed back for land. The ride back was good, but cold as we were all wet. Captain and I cuddled and then we were back on the boat. The adventure had been great. Once on land again, the vans took us back to the house where we were served lunch (home made spaghetti) and they tried to sell us the video of our experience…nah. I don’t think any of us bought one. After lunch, it was back to the van for the ride back to the ship. We ended up getting back at around 5 30 ish I think, and we decided we wanted to go out for one last dinner in South Africa. On-ship time was 9, so we took quick showers and got ready then me, team bauer, piano man, captain, and baby jesus left. Baby Jesus went on a post card search, so four of us went to this local cider brewing place and had the cider and ordered pizza. We were all pretty tired and I was so bummed about leaving Africa. I kid you not when I say I will be going back there for an extended period of time someday. When the pizza was gone we wandered around for a bit a bought some stuff in the shops on the pier. Then we found a gelato place….delicious. Some random guy asked me if I had cancer…I’m guessing this was due to the fact that I had just shaved my head. I laughed it off, but inwardly thought to myself…DO I SERIOUSLY LOOK LIKE A CANCER PATIENT?!?! We enjoyed the gelato (I had coffee and some caramel stuff) and then had to head back to the ship. I was not a happy camper. What made it even worse was that we had to fuel up and didn’t actually end up leaving port until about 4 the next day…what an evil tease. South Africa…right there at the end of my fingertips and I can’t get off the ship. Bleh. Watching Africa fade away as we sailed into the ocean was truly a sad moment…but I guess I just have to think of the times to be had when I go back.
Monday, April 9, 2007
NAM
hello hello
i'm in vietnam...it's awesome. sorry about the lack of updates...i am currently writing my india and south africa blogs and will post them shortly. just wanted to let you all know that i'm still alive...and i get to DO my hair now...well...if you count spraying some mousse in your hand and rubbing it around on your head doing your hair...yessssss. hope all is well at home
i'm in vietnam...it's awesome. sorry about the lack of updates...i am currently writing my india and south africa blogs and will post them shortly. just wanted to let you all know that i'm still alive...and i get to DO my hair now...well...if you count spraying some mousse in your hand and rubbing it around on your head doing your hair...yessssss. hope all is well at home
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Brazil
Ok…here’s the rest of Brazil…I am going to try and get all caught up here so…bear with all the reading:
Day Two in Lencois:
The group of 24 was split in two, so that things would go by faster and easier on each of the trips we were doing. My group was Dave, Bennett, Tiffany, Tina, Brenna, Team Bauer, Matt, Alex, Kim, Roberto, and Liz. Our agenda for the day: hike from the hotel to the Chapada Diamantia caves and go bungee jumping. WOOHOO! Ok. So I was stoked. The 6 AM wake up call wasn’t my favorite thing but hey…it was totally worth it. We were greeted in the lobby by a fantastic little breakfast which included the best mango I have ever put in my mouth, fresh made cakes, meat, breakfast potatoes etc. it was delicious. After breakfast we headed out on our trek…the rain clouds were looming and decided to open up on us from the get go. It started off as a sprinkle and then as the day went on, eventually ended up in an all out down pour. I loved it…walking through the vegetation of lencois in the pouring down rain…it doesn’t get much better. The hike took about an hour. We stopped along the way to check out this cute little water fall thing, and then proceeded on up to the cave. Before we got to the opening we checked out the awesome view ( I promise I will show you all pictures later), and headed down to the mouth. On the way, Tina took a bad fall and ended up bleeding everywhere. But she took it like a champ and continued on…I was proud. Now she has this ridiculously awesome scar. Anyway, we got to the opening of the cave and I got really excited…I don’t know if you know this but spelunking just happens to be one of my favorite past times…I am ONE HELL OF A SPELUNKER! Haha…so we had to go down into the cave and then waited for a bit for people to catch their breath and get flashlights if they wanted them (not for me…no way…I was going in Jack style). We hiked down into the earth for about an hour maybe…one part included dangerously scaling a cliff while hanging one by my fingernails…ok im lying. We did have to go down one by one at a certain area though…that was pretty risky…yah…it was steep. When we were done with the dangerous scaling of the walls, we took a break at the bottom and began to hear the sound of rushing water. Dan, our amazing tour guide got really exited and told us that we would be able to swim…whhaaaat?!? Swim? In a CAVE?? Sign me up baby! Deep deep down further into the cave we went until we came across the rushing water. It was awesome. We all stripped down to our bathing suits and hopped in. The water felt amazing, as we had been hiking for a very long time (ps Brazil is HOT). We goofed around for a bit, and then Daniel called us over to all sit in a circle. If you forgot from the last blog, he is the awesome hippy, we are one with the earth, guy. We all sat down and he had us scoot so that we were all touching and then he told us to all hold hands. He then told us that he was going to turn off the lights, and we should all sit and trying and think of something that we didn’t want anymore…something that we wanted the water to just wash away. He also told us to keep our eyes open…so they turned the lights off and its amazing how dark it is in caves….yah…no light. It was truly a moving experience…sitting there, eyes open in complete darkness, bonding with my peers and feeling like one with nature. Then Daniel told us that we were going to make the sound of the universe, to realize that we are all nature…we are one and the same. So we made the ommmmmm sound a few times…I was deeply touched by that moment. Then we had a splash war in the dark and that was fun. We swam around for a bit longer and then proceeded to get out clothes back on and climb on out of the cave. Now…climbing in this cave was no easy task. First of all….my tennis shoes were sopping due to the downpour and then the walking in the cave water. Second, rocks are loose and jagged…yah...i have many a cave battle wound…I would appreciate it if you would call me the cave warrior from now on. The end of the cave ended up being this gigantic opening, the top of which we were informed, we would be bungee jumping off of…excuse me? No bridge? Just the top of a cave/cliff? Sweet…I might die today. We sat down in the opening and had our lunches…my final lunch in my end as I was going to die. It was some chicken thing, but it was orange and had corn and raisins and such…I thought it was delicious…and it was my last meal ever so I had to savor it. After lunch we climbed up to the top of the cliff…quite a hard climb actually. Some people decided to go rapelling…I thought screw that. I have done that before and we are bungee jumping here people! So we went to the edge of the cliff and discovered that the bungee cord was actually held up by bolts put in the rocks…uhhhhh? Ok…so now this is called the cliff of impending doom. Our buddy Matt was up first because he was the biggest guy (Bennett…the 6’4 huge, amazingly attractive, german guy was peeing). Matt was adorable and scared. I was trying to be the positive counselor only I don’t know how I managed because I was pretty scared myself. The routine was, you jump, the guy rappels down to get you, then rappels you down to the ground and then runs back up the cliff of impending doom to get the next person ready. Matt jumped and his fall was totally silent…loved it. Then Bennett went…its funny. He was the biggest most masculine looking guy there (in terms of muscles) and he was TERRIFIED. He almost didn’t do it…disappointing. After they went, the guide turned around and said ok…who wants to go next? Ok so there goes the whole they pick for you thing…I immediately raised my hand. I was READY. Bring it on cliff of impending doom! I’ll take you! (this is what we call pumping ourselves up before death). So they started putting on all the harnesses and stuff…then team bauer came up. I was thankful for that…at least I got to say my last goodbye right? Haha ok I’m being ridiculous now…I wasn’t that scared…a little bit but not TOO bad. Anyway…they strapped me up and then it was time to slide down my butt to the edge of the cliff. Oh geez. I slid down and I had to stand on this little rock jutting out from the side of the cliff, and the bungee guy was holding me. No more time to think now kids. Arms out, get ready to swan dive. The guy let go of my harness, I got the 3-2-1 countdown (I actually almost jumped on 2…I WAS READY MAN!) and I dove…the thing about this doom cliff is that you cant really see the ground where you are going to be falling until you JUMP OFF OF IT. I jumped…saw how far I was actually going to be falling…and screamed like a 5 year old girl. Most of you who know me know, that I AM NOT A SCREAMER…apparently I am deep down. I fell, I snapped back up…I feel again…ahhhh! It was AMAZING! I loved it…so much. For anyone who hasn’t bungee jumped…you must. And I DIDN’T DIE! Yesssss. Swaying back and forth I felt like I was on top of the world…only upside down. The bungee guy rappelled down and got me upright then got be down to the ground. He told me it was a BEAUTIFUL jump over and over…yah that’s right. I am the bungee champ! I walked over to my friends at the bottom, still on a ridiculous high and I just laid down and pondered life for awhile. Then team bauer came hurling over the cliff…atta babe. We all sat and waited for everyone to go…unfortunately it began to pour again so 4 of the people didn’t get to go (they ended up going on the last day). We hung out under the overhang of the cliff, hoping the rain would stop but it didn’t. I decided to go rappelling…why not. It was better than sitting around so I went…I was soaked to the bone, but it was fun. Eventually we all figured the rain wasn’t going to stop so we started to head out. The walk back was fun. I had a nice conversation with Daniel about Brazil and his family and such. I seriously love that guy. We got back to the hotel and Daniel informed us that we were going to Palmieras, a small town about an hour away, for their carnival celebration. We were soaked, filthy and smelled like goats and we had an hour before dinner. Ready go. I hung my wet clothes out the window, took a quick shower and was ready in no time. We walked down to dinner along the side of this little creek and went to this place for a big slab of steak. Mmmmm. Team Bauer and I split an order, and so did Kim and Brenna, then we all kinda shared. It was very good. I tried the local drink…Capeiras (I totally just butchered that)…it was lime and sugar and alcohol….soooo strong! I think there were mint leaves in there too. It wasn’t my favorite, but what can you do. After dinner we all piled into vans and headed to Palmieras. Kikio attempted to teach me and Brenna portugese…yah I don’t remember any of it. Oops. Then I told him I was in love with his laugh. The end. We got to Palmieras and immediately heard music. We made our way over to the square and saw a huge stage with a chick and two very non-masculine guys dancing around in cut off jean shorts and we found beer and started dancing right away. PS I like Brazilian beer…and I don’t like beer. But everything I tried in Brazil was actually very tasty. We danced around for a bit and then the big bus with the band started to move, so we followed it to the next block and found another big ol’ stage. While we were following the bus, I got tapped on the shoulder and some random guy handed me a beer…thank you boobs. I took it and his friend tried to started dancing on me, but the guy was a little bit of a creeper so Kevin came and saved me and told the guy to dance with Monica…thanks team bauer…you rock. So there we were in the middle of this big square thing dancing the night away…it was awesome. Brenna and I took a break from dancing for a minute and we paused to talk and some random brazilian in an orange shirt grabbed me and shoved his tongue down my throat…WHOA! Uncalled for! It’s carnival…to be expected I guess, but WHOA! Yah I shoved him off in a heartbeat…anyway… we danced all night…it was fun…really fun actually. You all know how much I love me some dancing. As the night came to a close we gathered the group together and headed back into the vans (not before team bauer and kikio performed a lovely copiera reenactment) and passed out for the drive…we were exhausted.
Day Three Lencois:
After an extremely long night of partying at carnival, our 5 30 wake up call….what’s the word…SUCKED! We were sore from dancing and hiking, but our adventures were calling so we painfully and slowly dragged ourselves out of bed. Agenda for the day: hike 4.5 miles up a mountain to see one of the tallest waterfalls in the world, Smoke Falls. WOOHOO! No room for a hangover here kids…we’re goin’ on a hike! Breakfast was delicious again (3 cups of coffee and yummy mango later)…we headed to the vans to drive to the mountain. I had a good talk with Liz…that was fun. I like getting to know new people. Anyway…as we approached the mountain people kept saying things like “oh my gosh , we’re climbing THAT! Uggghhh” …so I refused to look out the window. I was stoked for the hike and didn’t want anything to get in the way of that…when I say mountain…I mean mountain here people. We signed our lives away to the park, lathered up on the sunscreen, and started up the mountain. The first hour was very strenuous…yes I was sweating, breathing hard and I definitely felt the burn. I rocked it out to the first checkpoint though, and got to wait for about 20 minutes for the rest of the group to catch up. From there, Kevin and I rocked it out Team Bauer style and kicked that mountains behind (only to be said like Bill Cosby in “Himself”)…we actually lost the group and got to sit and wait for everyone to catch up again. be in awe of our mountain climbing skills, because, basically…we are studs. (Yes I just said studs). I ate my lunch while we waited…banana, mozzarella, and raisins…it sounds gross but it might be my new favorite thing. I strongly recommend that you all try it. When everyone else caught up, we continued and had to wade thigh deep in this pool thing. IT ROCKED! I am a woman of the wilderness…then it started raining and we were soaked…again. The rest of the hike was pretty mild…we were walking through puddles and such…that was fun. It took about forever, but eventually Me, Dave, Kevin, Tina, Bennett, and Alex could hear the sound of the rushing water. We still couldn’t see the actual falls, but we had to cross through the river using a rope as leverage. We posed for a nice photo op, and then continued on up to top. The funny thing is, when we got to the top, we still couldn’t see the waterfall. All I could see were people crowded around the cliff edge…hmmm ok. So we get up there and (enter random side story here: The first night we were in lencois we decided to go check out the town. There was a culture fair going on and that was cool but I wasn’t in the mood to buy things so me, brenna, and team bauer wondered around and found a place for a cold beer where we could sit outside. So we sat down and were obsessing over this huge frog that was hopping around, when one of the locals came over and joined us. His name was Valdimar. Well…it turns out that Valdimar fell in love with me and wanted me to meet up with him so he could teach me the Lambada…I totally would have done it, but we were at Carnival so…oh well. Anyway…He was head over heels and then we had to go…sad day for Valdimar)…ok…back to waterfall: We got to the top and there was Valdimar…what the heck?!? Random! We were like an hour outside of Lencois and up a mountain…anyway…it was a cool small world experience, so we chatted for a bit, but then I wanted to see the waterfall. Apparently, the only way to do that was to belly crawl to the edge of the cliff, and stick your head over. Cliff of impending doom number two. I crawled out and stuck my head over (some random brazilian was holding my feet….right…that’s gonna help if I go hurling over the edge of the tallest waterfall in the world). I lean over and I was looking down on the waterfall…it was beautiful. I have awesome pictures for you all. I was officially on top of the tallest waterfall in the world. YES! It was so worth the 4.5 mile hike up the mountain. After we were all done drooling over the waterfall (and the 40 year old guy in nothing but a speedo) we started to head down due to impending rain. On the way down the mountain I had a really great talk with Daniel about globalization and super powers taking things away from native peoples. It was really interesting…that guy is so smart. We also talked about his family a bit more and I found out that his 10 month old was in school. A little early if you ask me, but he was all about it. I could sit and talk to Daniel all day. The way down the mountain wasn’t too great on the ol’ ACL, but oh well…I rocked it out anyway. At one point we passed this girl who had hurt her ankle and one of the locals but her on his shoulders and hiked down the mountain like that the whole rest of the way. I was definitely impressed. Once at the bottom, brenna and I found a hose and washed all the mud and gunk off of us. Valdimar found me again (he had previously been talking to his friends about kissing a certain American girl...) RIGHT! Not gonna happen buddy! Anyway he found me and I managed to get out with his email address only…props to me for working that situation. We climbed into the vans, exhausted after hiking 9 miles and headed back to Lencois. The next event was the Peace group that we hung out with the first night was coming to the hotel to teach us some dances, and the hotel people were making us home made pizza. Hanging out with the Brazilians was so awesome. We had a couple of improv singing things, and they showed us some dancing. To trade off we decided to teach them the hokey pokey…I made friends with one of the little boys (he was probably about 7) and he became my dancing buddy. It was so fantastic. We had another sit down conversation, on why we wanted to go to Brazil, and why we chose to do Semester at Sea. A lot of people ended up in tears…it was so awesome hearing what they thought about us. They said that we gave them hope for Americans, as we wanted to learn about the world and spread the idea that we are all one global community. It was really just fantastic. We got a great group photo, and then went down for pizza…it was delicious. The locals hung out with us and we tried to communicate, but the language barrier was a bit rough. We just laughed it off and had a good time anyway. Some of the people decided to go out and party that night, but I decided to just go to bed. I was wiped and the next morning was going to be another early one. Goodnight to another great day in Lencois.
Day Four:
The original plan was to go to the Enchanted Pool, was is this really awesome deep blue pool thing, but because of the rain, the water was going to be black and it was really far away, so there really wasn’t a point in going. The guides made some adjustments and took us to a smaller waterfall/river. We saw monkeys. That was awesome. To cross the river we walked on this bridge that consisted of rope and two tree trunks. It was awesome. We hiked for a bit and then came to the waterfall. It wasn’t huge like the other one, but it was beautiful none-the-less. There were talks of jumping off, but the guides said it was too dangerous. Dang. I really wanted to do it. We went back to the lodge place (where we got out of the vans) and some of the people decided to swim and jump off rocks. I wasn’t feeling it…I didn’t want to deal with a wet suit in the car and I have jumped off plenty of rocks…so I was the picture chick. I decided that this is the one and only time I wont be adventurous…something came over me. Be disappointed if you will. Anyway, I got some cool pictures, it started pouring again, and we got back in the vans. We had one more thing to do before meeting up with the bus and the rest of the group: Climb to the best view point of Chapada Diamantia. The road up to this trail was so bumpy and out of control, but I loved it. We got up to the trail and only 5 of us wanted to go…lame-o’s…why would you stay in the van??!? We are in BRAZIL! I don’t care how tired you are!!!! Ok…that’s my mini-vent. Anyway, the 5 of us that wanted to do it got out and started up. The hike up way only about 20 minutes. We got to the top, my camera battery died, and we saw an amazing view of the park. We hung out there for a bit, our guides told us the traditional stories, and then we had to climb down so we could meet the bus. It was a good ending to Lencois. When we loaded the bus back up, I ended up sitting with Dave and we slept for a bit. Then…we decided, that since we were going to the biggest party in the world very shortly, that we had to pre-funk for it. So, Bennett told the bus driver to stop and he ran in and got whiskey and coke. OOOOHHH man that was a fun bus ride. We were taking shots and then we started singing songs and rocking out…it was so much fun. Definitely a bonding experience. When we got back to Salvador we were informed that we had approximately 5 minutes to get on the boat, change for carnival and get back on the bus. SWEET! Ok…ready goà get off bus; wait in line and take picture of Kevin and Bennett being ridiculous; get searched; run to room; put on 150 dollar tee-shirt for bloco; put on jeans; put money in shoes; throw hair in ponytail; shave armpits; put on makeup; spray perfume to cancel out smell of goat; and sprint back to bus. Yah I was one of the first ones out there…props to chicks who know how to get ready baby! Haha…anyway…we found a beer vendor and bought a couple for the bus, then hopped on and left for downtown Salvador. We got there and found our bloco, which is a trio electrico (a giant bus with a band playing on it) and a bunch of people in the same shirts. All the blocos are roped off, and you dance the streets of Salvador for six miles. Oh man…I was excited. We had a while before the parade was going to start so we all hung out and got drinks. Then we got a bottle of pee thrown on us…then I got burned by a cigarette. That was AWESOME. So it didn’t start off too great, but once the music started we didn’t even care. We started dancing and having fun…I loved it. We were all hanging out and having the best time…everyone was dancing with each other. We were jammed into our bloco…there were so many people. SAS had told the girls to be careful about the boys, so at first we were watchful…then we found out that we were in the gay bloco! SWEET! Hahaha Kevin got groped and kissed more than I did…it was so funny. I got my fair share of blue and white beads but that was by CHOICE…Carnival is like Mardi Gras on crack…you do what you gotta do for beads man. MOM, DAD: DON’T WORRY MY CLOTHES DID NOT COME OFF! Haha…anyway we danced the night away. Tiffany was a genius and brought a wrap on her head so when we had to pee, we left the bloco, squatted on the sidewalk behind the sarong and went right there…it was so liberating. The dancing and festivities lasted for 8 hours…it was euphoric. The bonding between the group was awesome…some people decided to leave early, but Me, Team Bauer, Tina, Dave, and Shelly made it the whole six miles. For the total time in Brazil we hiked/danced over 20 miles. GREAT EXERCISE! It rocked. At the end of the parade, we found a taxi back to the ship and went and passed out after attending the biggest, craziest party in the world.
Last Day in Brazil:
The last day of Brazil, we slept in until lunch. We were out so late the night before that I don’t feel bad. Team Bauer and I met up with Dani and Jordi and decided to check out the little market close to the port. We walked, found a bank for an ATM and found the market. It was cool…there were a ton of little vendors shoved into this huge building and it was overcrowded, but I got some fun things anyway. It was good to see Captain and baby jesus again….i had missed them. After shopping we went back to the ship and got ready for the ultimate goal of going to brazil: the brazilian steakhouse. For those of you who have never experienced this…I am truly sorry. Fully preparing myself, I put on my stretchy goucho pants and we left the boat around 5 30. Baby Dan and Piano Man joined the group as well. We shoved ourselves into a cab and went to the restaurant. Team Bauer was salivating the minute we walked in the door. We had to wait for a bit for a table, but it was all fine because they brought us delicious cheeseball things…if you know me, you know that’s my heaven, so I was excited already. When we sat down, we saw the grand buffet and were told to go there first then wait. The host handed up a metal thing with a green side that said ‘yes meat’ and a red side that said ‘no meat.’ Ok…so this is how it works: you go to the buffet and get the stuff that looks good, then people come around to your table and serve you all your meat from a sword thing. They just cut you off a piece. They brought sirloin, fillet mignoin, ribeye, flank, ribs, chicken hearts, Cornish hens, ribs of cows, lamb, salmon…pretty much just about any thing you can think of. They also brought delicious sides like fried bananas, cheeseballs, rice/shrimp dishes…oh my gosh I was in heaven. I ate myself pregnant that night. SOOOOO good…I want to go back and I am drooling just thinking about it right now. Team Bauer was the winner of the evening…he is a bottomless pit I tell you. I took a strong second…yes I out ate the rest of the boys…would you expect anything less? Then captain and I split quite possibly the best dessert in the world. It was this chocolate…thing. I don’t even know how to explain it so I am giving up. During the course of the meal, baby jesus realized she lost her phone, so when we were done we got to go on an adventure through Salvador trying to track down the cab driver that drove us to the restaurant. We found him and he didn’t have the phone. Dang. So got back on the ship, hardly able to move due to extreme fullness, and became depressed because we were leaving. Pulling away from Brazil was definitely sad, but I was also looking forward to Africa.
I learned so much about myself and the world in Brazil. I don’t know if I mentioned this already, but my friend referred to it as a spiritual orgasm, and I definitely agree with him. It was awesome…I cant wait to sit and talk about it with each of you who read this. For now… I am going to go prepare for an exam. I hope you enjoyed living vicariously through me in Brazil
Day Two in Lencois:
The group of 24 was split in two, so that things would go by faster and easier on each of the trips we were doing. My group was Dave, Bennett, Tiffany, Tina, Brenna, Team Bauer, Matt, Alex, Kim, Roberto, and Liz. Our agenda for the day: hike from the hotel to the Chapada Diamantia caves and go bungee jumping. WOOHOO! Ok. So I was stoked. The 6 AM wake up call wasn’t my favorite thing but hey…it was totally worth it. We were greeted in the lobby by a fantastic little breakfast which included the best mango I have ever put in my mouth, fresh made cakes, meat, breakfast potatoes etc. it was delicious. After breakfast we headed out on our trek…the rain clouds were looming and decided to open up on us from the get go. It started off as a sprinkle and then as the day went on, eventually ended up in an all out down pour. I loved it…walking through the vegetation of lencois in the pouring down rain…it doesn’t get much better. The hike took about an hour. We stopped along the way to check out this cute little water fall thing, and then proceeded on up to the cave. Before we got to the opening we checked out the awesome view ( I promise I will show you all pictures later), and headed down to the mouth. On the way, Tina took a bad fall and ended up bleeding everywhere. But she took it like a champ and continued on…I was proud. Now she has this ridiculously awesome scar. Anyway, we got to the opening of the cave and I got really excited…I don’t know if you know this but spelunking just happens to be one of my favorite past times…I am ONE HELL OF A SPELUNKER! Haha…so we had to go down into the cave and then waited for a bit for people to catch their breath and get flashlights if they wanted them (not for me…no way…I was going in Jack style). We hiked down into the earth for about an hour maybe…one part included dangerously scaling a cliff while hanging one by my fingernails…ok im lying. We did have to go down one by one at a certain area though…that was pretty risky…yah…it was steep. When we were done with the dangerous scaling of the walls, we took a break at the bottom and began to hear the sound of rushing water. Dan, our amazing tour guide got really exited and told us that we would be able to swim…whhaaaat?!? Swim? In a CAVE?? Sign me up baby! Deep deep down further into the cave we went until we came across the rushing water. It was awesome. We all stripped down to our bathing suits and hopped in. The water felt amazing, as we had been hiking for a very long time (ps Brazil is HOT). We goofed around for a bit, and then Daniel called us over to all sit in a circle. If you forgot from the last blog, he is the awesome hippy, we are one with the earth, guy. We all sat down and he had us scoot so that we were all touching and then he told us to all hold hands. He then told us that he was going to turn off the lights, and we should all sit and trying and think of something that we didn’t want anymore…something that we wanted the water to just wash away. He also told us to keep our eyes open…so they turned the lights off and its amazing how dark it is in caves….yah…no light. It was truly a moving experience…sitting there, eyes open in complete darkness, bonding with my peers and feeling like one with nature. Then Daniel told us that we were going to make the sound of the universe, to realize that we are all nature…we are one and the same. So we made the ommmmmm sound a few times…I was deeply touched by that moment. Then we had a splash war in the dark and that was fun. We swam around for a bit longer and then proceeded to get out clothes back on and climb on out of the cave. Now…climbing in this cave was no easy task. First of all….my tennis shoes were sopping due to the downpour and then the walking in the cave water. Second, rocks are loose and jagged…yah...i have many a cave battle wound…I would appreciate it if you would call me the cave warrior from now on. The end of the cave ended up being this gigantic opening, the top of which we were informed, we would be bungee jumping off of…excuse me? No bridge? Just the top of a cave/cliff? Sweet…I might die today. We sat down in the opening and had our lunches…my final lunch in my end as I was going to die. It was some chicken thing, but it was orange and had corn and raisins and such…I thought it was delicious…and it was my last meal ever so I had to savor it. After lunch we climbed up to the top of the cliff…quite a hard climb actually. Some people decided to go rapelling…I thought screw that. I have done that before and we are bungee jumping here people! So we went to the edge of the cliff and discovered that the bungee cord was actually held up by bolts put in the rocks…uhhhhh? Ok…so now this is called the cliff of impending doom. Our buddy Matt was up first because he was the biggest guy (Bennett…the 6’4 huge, amazingly attractive, german guy was peeing). Matt was adorable and scared. I was trying to be the positive counselor only I don’t know how I managed because I was pretty scared myself. The routine was, you jump, the guy rappels down to get you, then rappels you down to the ground and then runs back up the cliff of impending doom to get the next person ready. Matt jumped and his fall was totally silent…loved it. Then Bennett went…its funny. He was the biggest most masculine looking guy there (in terms of muscles) and he was TERRIFIED. He almost didn’t do it…disappointing. After they went, the guide turned around and said ok…who wants to go next? Ok so there goes the whole they pick for you thing…I immediately raised my hand. I was READY. Bring it on cliff of impending doom! I’ll take you! (this is what we call pumping ourselves up before death). So they started putting on all the harnesses and stuff…then team bauer came up. I was thankful for that…at least I got to say my last goodbye right? Haha ok I’m being ridiculous now…I wasn’t that scared…a little bit but not TOO bad. Anyway…they strapped me up and then it was time to slide down my butt to the edge of the cliff. Oh geez. I slid down and I had to stand on this little rock jutting out from the side of the cliff, and the bungee guy was holding me. No more time to think now kids. Arms out, get ready to swan dive. The guy let go of my harness, I got the 3-2-1 countdown (I actually almost jumped on 2…I WAS READY MAN!) and I dove…the thing about this doom cliff is that you cant really see the ground where you are going to be falling until you JUMP OFF OF IT. I jumped…saw how far I was actually going to be falling…and screamed like a 5 year old girl. Most of you who know me know, that I AM NOT A SCREAMER…apparently I am deep down. I fell, I snapped back up…I feel again…ahhhh! It was AMAZING! I loved it…so much. For anyone who hasn’t bungee jumped…you must. And I DIDN’T DIE! Yesssss. Swaying back and forth I felt like I was on top of the world…only upside down. The bungee guy rappelled down and got me upright then got be down to the ground. He told me it was a BEAUTIFUL jump over and over…yah that’s right. I am the bungee champ! I walked over to my friends at the bottom, still on a ridiculous high and I just laid down and pondered life for awhile. Then team bauer came hurling over the cliff…atta babe. We all sat and waited for everyone to go…unfortunately it began to pour again so 4 of the people didn’t get to go (they ended up going on the last day). We hung out under the overhang of the cliff, hoping the rain would stop but it didn’t. I decided to go rappelling…why not. It was better than sitting around so I went…I was soaked to the bone, but it was fun. Eventually we all figured the rain wasn’t going to stop so we started to head out. The walk back was fun. I had a nice conversation with Daniel about Brazil and his family and such. I seriously love that guy. We got back to the hotel and Daniel informed us that we were going to Palmieras, a small town about an hour away, for their carnival celebration. We were soaked, filthy and smelled like goats and we had an hour before dinner. Ready go. I hung my wet clothes out the window, took a quick shower and was ready in no time. We walked down to dinner along the side of this little creek and went to this place for a big slab of steak. Mmmmm. Team Bauer and I split an order, and so did Kim and Brenna, then we all kinda shared. It was very good. I tried the local drink…Capeiras (I totally just butchered that)…it was lime and sugar and alcohol….soooo strong! I think there were mint leaves in there too. It wasn’t my favorite, but what can you do. After dinner we all piled into vans and headed to Palmieras. Kikio attempted to teach me and Brenna portugese…yah I don’t remember any of it. Oops. Then I told him I was in love with his laugh. The end. We got to Palmieras and immediately heard music. We made our way over to the square and saw a huge stage with a chick and two very non-masculine guys dancing around in cut off jean shorts and we found beer and started dancing right away. PS I like Brazilian beer…and I don’t like beer. But everything I tried in Brazil was actually very tasty. We danced around for a bit and then the big bus with the band started to move, so we followed it to the next block and found another big ol’ stage. While we were following the bus, I got tapped on the shoulder and some random guy handed me a beer…thank you boobs. I took it and his friend tried to started dancing on me, but the guy was a little bit of a creeper so Kevin came and saved me and told the guy to dance with Monica…thanks team bauer…you rock. So there we were in the middle of this big square thing dancing the night away…it was awesome. Brenna and I took a break from dancing for a minute and we paused to talk and some random brazilian in an orange shirt grabbed me and shoved his tongue down my throat…WHOA! Uncalled for! It’s carnival…to be expected I guess, but WHOA! Yah I shoved him off in a heartbeat…anyway… we danced all night…it was fun…really fun actually. You all know how much I love me some dancing. As the night came to a close we gathered the group together and headed back into the vans (not before team bauer and kikio performed a lovely copiera reenactment) and passed out for the drive…we were exhausted.
Day Three Lencois:
After an extremely long night of partying at carnival, our 5 30 wake up call….what’s the word…SUCKED! We were sore from dancing and hiking, but our adventures were calling so we painfully and slowly dragged ourselves out of bed. Agenda for the day: hike 4.5 miles up a mountain to see one of the tallest waterfalls in the world, Smoke Falls. WOOHOO! No room for a hangover here kids…we’re goin’ on a hike! Breakfast was delicious again (3 cups of coffee and yummy mango later)…we headed to the vans to drive to the mountain. I had a good talk with Liz…that was fun. I like getting to know new people. Anyway…as we approached the mountain people kept saying things like “oh my gosh , we’re climbing THAT! Uggghhh” …so I refused to look out the window. I was stoked for the hike and didn’t want anything to get in the way of that…when I say mountain…I mean mountain here people. We signed our lives away to the park, lathered up on the sunscreen, and started up the mountain. The first hour was very strenuous…yes I was sweating, breathing hard and I definitely felt the burn. I rocked it out to the first checkpoint though, and got to wait for about 20 minutes for the rest of the group to catch up. From there, Kevin and I rocked it out Team Bauer style and kicked that mountains behind (only to be said like Bill Cosby in “Himself”)…we actually lost the group and got to sit and wait for everyone to catch up again. be in awe of our mountain climbing skills, because, basically…we are studs. (Yes I just said studs). I ate my lunch while we waited…banana, mozzarella, and raisins…it sounds gross but it might be my new favorite thing. I strongly recommend that you all try it. When everyone else caught up, we continued and had to wade thigh deep in this pool thing. IT ROCKED! I am a woman of the wilderness…then it started raining and we were soaked…again. The rest of the hike was pretty mild…we were walking through puddles and such…that was fun. It took about forever, but eventually Me, Dave, Kevin, Tina, Bennett, and Alex could hear the sound of the rushing water. We still couldn’t see the actual falls, but we had to cross through the river using a rope as leverage. We posed for a nice photo op, and then continued on up to top. The funny thing is, when we got to the top, we still couldn’t see the waterfall. All I could see were people crowded around the cliff edge…hmmm ok. So we get up there and (enter random side story here: The first night we were in lencois we decided to go check out the town. There was a culture fair going on and that was cool but I wasn’t in the mood to buy things so me, brenna, and team bauer wondered around and found a place for a cold beer where we could sit outside. So we sat down and were obsessing over this huge frog that was hopping around, when one of the locals came over and joined us. His name was Valdimar. Well…it turns out that Valdimar fell in love with me and wanted me to meet up with him so he could teach me the Lambada…I totally would have done it, but we were at Carnival so…oh well. Anyway…He was head over heels and then we had to go…sad day for Valdimar)…ok…back to waterfall: We got to the top and there was Valdimar…what the heck?!? Random! We were like an hour outside of Lencois and up a mountain…anyway…it was a cool small world experience, so we chatted for a bit, but then I wanted to see the waterfall. Apparently, the only way to do that was to belly crawl to the edge of the cliff, and stick your head over. Cliff of impending doom number two. I crawled out and stuck my head over (some random brazilian was holding my feet….right…that’s gonna help if I go hurling over the edge of the tallest waterfall in the world). I lean over and I was looking down on the waterfall…it was beautiful. I have awesome pictures for you all. I was officially on top of the tallest waterfall in the world. YES! It was so worth the 4.5 mile hike up the mountain. After we were all done drooling over the waterfall (and the 40 year old guy in nothing but a speedo) we started to head down due to impending rain. On the way down the mountain I had a really great talk with Daniel about globalization and super powers taking things away from native peoples. It was really interesting…that guy is so smart. We also talked about his family a bit more and I found out that his 10 month old was in school. A little early if you ask me, but he was all about it. I could sit and talk to Daniel all day. The way down the mountain wasn’t too great on the ol’ ACL, but oh well…I rocked it out anyway. At one point we passed this girl who had hurt her ankle and one of the locals but her on his shoulders and hiked down the mountain like that the whole rest of the way. I was definitely impressed. Once at the bottom, brenna and I found a hose and washed all the mud and gunk off of us. Valdimar found me again (he had previously been talking to his friends about kissing a certain American girl...) RIGHT! Not gonna happen buddy! Anyway he found me and I managed to get out with his email address only…props to me for working that situation. We climbed into the vans, exhausted after hiking 9 miles and headed back to Lencois. The next event was the Peace group that we hung out with the first night was coming to the hotel to teach us some dances, and the hotel people were making us home made pizza. Hanging out with the Brazilians was so awesome. We had a couple of improv singing things, and they showed us some dancing. To trade off we decided to teach them the hokey pokey…I made friends with one of the little boys (he was probably about 7) and he became my dancing buddy. It was so fantastic. We had another sit down conversation, on why we wanted to go to Brazil, and why we chose to do Semester at Sea. A lot of people ended up in tears…it was so awesome hearing what they thought about us. They said that we gave them hope for Americans, as we wanted to learn about the world and spread the idea that we are all one global community. It was really just fantastic. We got a great group photo, and then went down for pizza…it was delicious. The locals hung out with us and we tried to communicate, but the language barrier was a bit rough. We just laughed it off and had a good time anyway. Some of the people decided to go out and party that night, but I decided to just go to bed. I was wiped and the next morning was going to be another early one. Goodnight to another great day in Lencois.
Day Four:
The original plan was to go to the Enchanted Pool, was is this really awesome deep blue pool thing, but because of the rain, the water was going to be black and it was really far away, so there really wasn’t a point in going. The guides made some adjustments and took us to a smaller waterfall/river. We saw monkeys. That was awesome. To cross the river we walked on this bridge that consisted of rope and two tree trunks. It was awesome. We hiked for a bit and then came to the waterfall. It wasn’t huge like the other one, but it was beautiful none-the-less. There were talks of jumping off, but the guides said it was too dangerous. Dang. I really wanted to do it. We went back to the lodge place (where we got out of the vans) and some of the people decided to swim and jump off rocks. I wasn’t feeling it…I didn’t want to deal with a wet suit in the car and I have jumped off plenty of rocks…so I was the picture chick. I decided that this is the one and only time I wont be adventurous…something came over me. Be disappointed if you will. Anyway, I got some cool pictures, it started pouring again, and we got back in the vans. We had one more thing to do before meeting up with the bus and the rest of the group: Climb to the best view point of Chapada Diamantia. The road up to this trail was so bumpy and out of control, but I loved it. We got up to the trail and only 5 of us wanted to go…lame-o’s…why would you stay in the van??!? We are in BRAZIL! I don’t care how tired you are!!!! Ok…that’s my mini-vent. Anyway, the 5 of us that wanted to do it got out and started up. The hike up way only about 20 minutes. We got to the top, my camera battery died, and we saw an amazing view of the park. We hung out there for a bit, our guides told us the traditional stories, and then we had to climb down so we could meet the bus. It was a good ending to Lencois. When we loaded the bus back up, I ended up sitting with Dave and we slept for a bit. Then…we decided, that since we were going to the biggest party in the world very shortly, that we had to pre-funk for it. So, Bennett told the bus driver to stop and he ran in and got whiskey and coke. OOOOHHH man that was a fun bus ride. We were taking shots and then we started singing songs and rocking out…it was so much fun. Definitely a bonding experience. When we got back to Salvador we were informed that we had approximately 5 minutes to get on the boat, change for carnival and get back on the bus. SWEET! Ok…ready goà get off bus; wait in line and take picture of Kevin and Bennett being ridiculous; get searched; run to room; put on 150 dollar tee-shirt for bloco; put on jeans; put money in shoes; throw hair in ponytail; shave armpits; put on makeup; spray perfume to cancel out smell of goat; and sprint back to bus. Yah I was one of the first ones out there…props to chicks who know how to get ready baby! Haha…anyway…we found a beer vendor and bought a couple for the bus, then hopped on and left for downtown Salvador. We got there and found our bloco, which is a trio electrico (a giant bus with a band playing on it) and a bunch of people in the same shirts. All the blocos are roped off, and you dance the streets of Salvador for six miles. Oh man…I was excited. We had a while before the parade was going to start so we all hung out and got drinks. Then we got a bottle of pee thrown on us…then I got burned by a cigarette. That was AWESOME. So it didn’t start off too great, but once the music started we didn’t even care. We started dancing and having fun…I loved it. We were all hanging out and having the best time…everyone was dancing with each other. We were jammed into our bloco…there were so many people. SAS had told the girls to be careful about the boys, so at first we were watchful…then we found out that we were in the gay bloco! SWEET! Hahaha Kevin got groped and kissed more than I did…it was so funny. I got my fair share of blue and white beads but that was by CHOICE…Carnival is like Mardi Gras on crack…you do what you gotta do for beads man. MOM, DAD: DON’T WORRY MY CLOTHES DID NOT COME OFF! Haha…anyway we danced the night away. Tiffany was a genius and brought a wrap on her head so when we had to pee, we left the bloco, squatted on the sidewalk behind the sarong and went right there…it was so liberating. The dancing and festivities lasted for 8 hours…it was euphoric. The bonding between the group was awesome…some people decided to leave early, but Me, Team Bauer, Tina, Dave, and Shelly made it the whole six miles. For the total time in Brazil we hiked/danced over 20 miles. GREAT EXERCISE! It rocked. At the end of the parade, we found a taxi back to the ship and went and passed out after attending the biggest, craziest party in the world.
Last Day in Brazil:
The last day of Brazil, we slept in until lunch. We were out so late the night before that I don’t feel bad. Team Bauer and I met up with Dani and Jordi and decided to check out the little market close to the port. We walked, found a bank for an ATM and found the market. It was cool…there were a ton of little vendors shoved into this huge building and it was overcrowded, but I got some fun things anyway. It was good to see Captain and baby jesus again….i had missed them. After shopping we went back to the ship and got ready for the ultimate goal of going to brazil: the brazilian steakhouse. For those of you who have never experienced this…I am truly sorry. Fully preparing myself, I put on my stretchy goucho pants and we left the boat around 5 30. Baby Dan and Piano Man joined the group as well. We shoved ourselves into a cab and went to the restaurant. Team Bauer was salivating the minute we walked in the door. We had to wait for a bit for a table, but it was all fine because they brought us delicious cheeseball things…if you know me, you know that’s my heaven, so I was excited already. When we sat down, we saw the grand buffet and were told to go there first then wait. The host handed up a metal thing with a green side that said ‘yes meat’ and a red side that said ‘no meat.’ Ok…so this is how it works: you go to the buffet and get the stuff that looks good, then people come around to your table and serve you all your meat from a sword thing. They just cut you off a piece. They brought sirloin, fillet mignoin, ribeye, flank, ribs, chicken hearts, Cornish hens, ribs of cows, lamb, salmon…pretty much just about any thing you can think of. They also brought delicious sides like fried bananas, cheeseballs, rice/shrimp dishes…oh my gosh I was in heaven. I ate myself pregnant that night. SOOOOO good…I want to go back and I am drooling just thinking about it right now. Team Bauer was the winner of the evening…he is a bottomless pit I tell you. I took a strong second…yes I out ate the rest of the boys…would you expect anything less? Then captain and I split quite possibly the best dessert in the world. It was this chocolate…thing. I don’t even know how to explain it so I am giving up. During the course of the meal, baby jesus realized she lost her phone, so when we were done we got to go on an adventure through Salvador trying to track down the cab driver that drove us to the restaurant. We found him and he didn’t have the phone. Dang. So got back on the ship, hardly able to move due to extreme fullness, and became depressed because we were leaving. Pulling away from Brazil was definitely sad, but I was also looking forward to Africa.
I learned so much about myself and the world in Brazil. I don’t know if I mentioned this already, but my friend referred to it as a spiritual orgasm, and I definitely agree with him. It was awesome…I cant wait to sit and talk about it with each of you who read this. For now… I am going to go prepare for an exam. I hope you enjoyed living vicariously through me in Brazil
Saturday, March 10, 2007
ATTENTION!
New Fashion Trend
At muster drill today, Baby Jesus and myself officially decided that we have come up with the newest fashion trend…its got many uses and AND! It’s comfortable…what is this new wonder-piece-of-clothing you ask? The bright orange life jackets that we sport at muster. Now…some of you may be laughing at this statement, but I kid you not. I am going to revolutionize that fashion world, one life jacket at a time. Here’s a little visual:
The lifejacket has two rectangular pieces connected at the bottom that then separate (where they are connected by Velcro) and then go up to form a circle for head insertion. The piece that lies behind your neck is like a travel pillow in shape and size. The jacket comes fully equipped with a whistle and a flashing light that is activated when touched by salt water. There is also a strap that wraps around the waist to hold the jacket in place. Now…this jacket has many purposes, not to mention…it is HOTT! First of all, the jacket acts as a duel travel pillow. You have the back cushion thing that wraps all the way around your shoulders if you feel like leaning your head backwards or to the side. If the urge to lean your head forward comes upon you, no need to fear because the rectangular pieces at the front form a nice little ledge that you can very comfortably rest your head on and….as college students so often say…PASS OUT. I know you are sitting there in your chair completely amazed right now…but try to contain yourself…it gets better. Since we will be using these as travel pillows, we will be wearing them on planes. Have you ever actually thought to yourself that if the plane actually crashed in water, and you had to yank your chair off to use the life jacket under your seat, you wouldn’t know how to yank? Is there a certain yanking technique? What if the chair doesn’t come off? AND THEN once you get the chair off, you have to blow the life jacket up! WELL…if those thoughts have ever crossed your mind, then this new trend is the thing for you. It totally eliminates any possible worry, stress or anxiety about the plane life jacket problem…so far we have a travel pillow plus an automatic life jacket in the instance that your plane crashes. It also provides extra padding if you are hit by a car, bus, train or sumo wrestler, and if you ever go hunting…you sure as hell aren’t getting shot. Since it is obvious that this jacket must be worn at all times, it will have to be fashionable…CHECK! Need to impress a boy? Follow these 3 easy steps:
1) Raise hands to top of rectangles
2) Give said boy your best seductive face and a wink
3) Yank rectangles apart and thrust chest forward….AUTOMATIC CLEAVAGE!
You also have the whistle in case you need to direct traffic, and a flashing light in the instance that you decide that you need to have a disco dance party…automatic strobe light (in this case, you need to carry around some salt and some water, but hey…a disco party is TOTALLY WORTH IT).
Are we all in agreement that this jacket is going to change the world?!?! Can I get a hoo rah?? Baby Jesus and I decided to steal ours and Semester at Sea that we lost them…’what? I don’t know where it went…yes…I lost my gigantic life jacket in my tiny room…what are you talking about? I LOST IT!’ that’s our argument right there…then we will bring them back to the states, manufacture them and make our millions. Just hope and pray that you are one of the lucky ones that gets your hands on this fashion miracle.
At muster drill today, Baby Jesus and myself officially decided that we have come up with the newest fashion trend…its got many uses and AND! It’s comfortable…what is this new wonder-piece-of-clothing you ask? The bright orange life jackets that we sport at muster. Now…some of you may be laughing at this statement, but I kid you not. I am going to revolutionize that fashion world, one life jacket at a time. Here’s a little visual:
The lifejacket has two rectangular pieces connected at the bottom that then separate (where they are connected by Velcro) and then go up to form a circle for head insertion. The piece that lies behind your neck is like a travel pillow in shape and size. The jacket comes fully equipped with a whistle and a flashing light that is activated when touched by salt water. There is also a strap that wraps around the waist to hold the jacket in place. Now…this jacket has many purposes, not to mention…it is HOTT! First of all, the jacket acts as a duel travel pillow. You have the back cushion thing that wraps all the way around your shoulders if you feel like leaning your head backwards or to the side. If the urge to lean your head forward comes upon you, no need to fear because the rectangular pieces at the front form a nice little ledge that you can very comfortably rest your head on and….as college students so often say…PASS OUT. I know you are sitting there in your chair completely amazed right now…but try to contain yourself…it gets better. Since we will be using these as travel pillows, we will be wearing them on planes. Have you ever actually thought to yourself that if the plane actually crashed in water, and you had to yank your chair off to use the life jacket under your seat, you wouldn’t know how to yank? Is there a certain yanking technique? What if the chair doesn’t come off? AND THEN once you get the chair off, you have to blow the life jacket up! WELL…if those thoughts have ever crossed your mind, then this new trend is the thing for you. It totally eliminates any possible worry, stress or anxiety about the plane life jacket problem…so far we have a travel pillow plus an automatic life jacket in the instance that your plane crashes. It also provides extra padding if you are hit by a car, bus, train or sumo wrestler, and if you ever go hunting…you sure as hell aren’t getting shot. Since it is obvious that this jacket must be worn at all times, it will have to be fashionable…CHECK! Need to impress a boy? Follow these 3 easy steps:
1) Raise hands to top of rectangles
2) Give said boy your best seductive face and a wink
3) Yank rectangles apart and thrust chest forward….AUTOMATIC CLEAVAGE!
You also have the whistle in case you need to direct traffic, and a flashing light in the instance that you decide that you need to have a disco dance party…automatic strobe light (in this case, you need to carry around some salt and some water, but hey…a disco party is TOTALLY WORTH IT).
Are we all in agreement that this jacket is going to change the world?!?! Can I get a hoo rah?? Baby Jesus and I decided to steal ours and Semester at Sea that we lost them…’what? I don’t know where it went…yes…I lost my gigantic life jacket in my tiny room…what are you talking about? I LOST IT!’ that’s our argument right there…then we will bring them back to the states, manufacture them and make our millions. Just hope and pray that you are one of the lucky ones that gets your hands on this fashion miracle.
Friday, March 9, 2007
i am a GENIUS!
I have come to the conclusion that every shower on this ship needs to be equipped with an OH JESUS handle. You may not be familiar with this terminology, but you all know what i'm talking about. Similar to the OH JESUS handle in an automobile (you know...the one you grab when you think you are going to die, or be slammed against the window in a painful manner), the shower OH JESUS handle would serve many purposes:
purpose number one: helllooo we are on a moving ship! as the trip goes on, the water gets worse and its hard to sit up straight, let alone shower (just TRY shaving your legs people). So...when the impending doom of being thrown face first out of the shower and into the toilet presents itself, the OH JESUS handle would save your life.
purpose number two: more room for hanging laundry! which i have become much better at thanks so much...no thanks to semester at sea though! no seminars were held! haha
purpose number three: let me set the mood here:
there you are, just finished with your nice warm shower and you are enjoying the steam in the bathroom. you didn't turn the lights on in your room because you are in rocky's energy class and you think you are doing the world a favor by saving some electricity, so its a cave in there, but light in the bathroom. you open the shower curtain and...OH JESUS! there's my steward standing RIGHT there because he thought i was gone! ahhhh! To prevent yourself from death or serious injury, just grab on to the handy dandy OH JESUS handle, and life will go on ..even though your steward saw you naked...its ok. (ok that didnt ACTUALLY happen to me, but i came close...just roll with me)
those are my thoughts of the morning...that is all.
purpose number one: helllooo we are on a moving ship! as the trip goes on, the water gets worse and its hard to sit up straight, let alone shower (just TRY shaving your legs people). So...when the impending doom of being thrown face first out of the shower and into the toilet presents itself, the OH JESUS handle would save your life.
purpose number two: more room for hanging laundry! which i have become much better at thanks so much...no thanks to semester at sea though! no seminars were held! haha
purpose number three: let me set the mood here:
there you are, just finished with your nice warm shower and you are enjoying the steam in the bathroom. you didn't turn the lights on in your room because you are in rocky's energy class and you think you are doing the world a favor by saving some electricity, so its a cave in there, but light in the bathroom. you open the shower curtain and...OH JESUS! there's my steward standing RIGHT there because he thought i was gone! ahhhh! To prevent yourself from death or serious injury, just grab on to the handy dandy OH JESUS handle, and life will go on ..even though your steward saw you naked...its ok. (ok that didnt ACTUALLY happen to me, but i came close...just roll with me)
those are my thoughts of the morning...that is all.
FINALLY
Brazil: Day One
Alright. I am fully aware of the fact that I am an utter failure in keeping up with my blog posts. I would apologize profusely, but really, I’m not THAT sorry…I like to keep you guys on your toes ya know? That’s actually my lame excuse for not being on top of things, but hey…it’s all fine. Anyway…after observing how Team Bauer’s gigantic Brazil blog went over I have decided to write mine in increments. One blog per day in Brazil. This is officially the first one…I know you have been waiting so no need to fear, this is it for real…
Day One:
The new tradition is sleeping out on the deck the night before every port. That way, you can wake up at 4 30 when the crew has to clean the decks, and then stay awake and watch the sunrise over the city. I continued the tradition (naturally…would you expect anything else?) and it was good up until the crew decided to not inform us that they were cleaning the decks and we got full on water in the face as a wake up call. That was awesome. Ok…I’m being a little dramatic here…it was actually just a splash of sprinkles…but STILL…at 4 30 in the morning after nearly no sleep a little sprinkle can seem like the entire ocean is falling on you. Needless to say, we woke up and watched the sunrise. It was cool…I will have pictures later for you kids to salivate over. We went through the usual port routine (sunrise, breakfast, somebody special from country comes to talk to us, customs on the ship (stamp passport!), and then sit until we can get off). As soon as we got off the boat, we had a mission. Mission: Find tour guide Daniel and get on bus. Not so hard right? Well…not really, but we did have a few distractions. The second we got off there was a small drumming band thing there to greet us. We also all got bracelets and coconuts. It was pretty fantastic. My favorite was watching Roberto get his groove on with the bracelet ladies…(he is from Puerto Rico…and he knows how to shake it!)…once we had gathered everyone (which took kind of a while) we hopped on the nice air conditioned bus to leave for Lencois, which was about 6 hours away. Team Bauer and I sat at the front of the bus, right behind Daniel, our tour guide. This turned out to be the best place on the whole bus, as we talked to Daniel the whole way there. He is quite possibly one of the coolest people on earth. To put him in a nutshell, which I don’t particularly enjoy doing, but I will for your sake, you could call him a hippy-buddhist-vegetarian- tour guide. HE ROCKS. He has this view on life that we are all one global community (which is so true) and that we all need to be one with each other and with the earth. It was awesome just listening to him…he did most of the talking, which I really enjoyed. Aside from Daniel, the bus also offered a quick tour of Salvador and the Brazilian countryside. In Salvador, the only thing I could really see were the favellas. Talk about poverty…people living in poverty in America have it great compared to the favellas. They are teeny tiny houses stacked on top of each other with multiple families crammed into each house. I really don’t think that words can do the place justice…think of the worst poverty you have ever seen…and then multiply it by 100…then maybe you will have some sort of visual of these places. The police won’t go into the favellas to protect anyone, as they are too dangerous. The crime rate in the favellas actually isn’t that bad, as the people leave to go into the city to steal from people who actually have things. However, murder and other things are out of control…it’s truly a sad situation. When we got out of the city, we got a nice taste of the Brazilian country side. Well…when I wasn’t staring at the road fearing for my life that is. We were on this little two lane “highway” that led us into the heart of Brazil. There were horses tethered on the side of the road randomly…and people with coconut stands…it was nuts. Then…our driver would pass people up a hill when you couldn’t see anything….this was me:
Dear Baby Jesus,
Please don’t let our bus crash and explode into flames. Thanks
Love
Andrea
I’m still alive…thank you baby god. For lunch we stopped at this buffet, where you weigh you plate to pay for the food. I don’t know how I feel about that…I don’t think it gives you the right price…meat and rice vary substantially in cost, but oh well. It was only like 4 bucks or something, so I guess I can’t complain. Back on the bus I tried my best to read my book for history…yah that lasted about one paragraph…then I passed out. I woke up about 10 minutes before pulling into Lencois. The vegetation had certainly changed…there were a ton of trees and such outside…it was beautiful. Lencois was a cute little town with cobblestone streets everywhere. I loved it. As soon as we pulled in, we picked up Kikio, our other guide. Kikio was AWESOME! He had the most contagious laugh I have ever heard…and he laughed often. It was fantastic…whenever I have a negative thought, one thought of Kikio’s laugh and I get a smile on my face. Anyway, we picked him up and then drove up to our hotel, which ended up being a sort of house, turned hotel. It was cute…we got home made breakfast every morning with the most delicious mango you have ever put into your mouth. I feel as though I will not be able to eat mango in the States ever again…oh well…it was TOTALLY worth it. So we got to the hotel, dropped out stuff off and immediately turned around and went to a welcoming thing that a local NGO (non-government organization) was holding for us. The second we walked up, we were greeted by “MAMA AFRICA”…an amazing song that will forever remain in my heart. They were all singing and dancing…it was fantastic. We danced for a bit, and then we went into a room, took our shoes off, and they taught us some songs and dances. One of the dances included us crawling under the legs of everyone in the room…it reminded me of kindergarten or something, but I loved it. After the fun and dancing around we all sat in a circle and Daniel translated for us. The locals asked us about why we wanted to go to Brazil, and what we thought about it so far. It turned out to be a great conversation about how we are all one people, and we shouldn’t let country boundaries divide us. It was very moving…just seeing us all sitting there together, so different, yet so much the same. I feel like I am not giving my experience justice…it was just a beautiful thing. We ended up talking for about an hour ish, and it really could have continued, but we had to wake up early so we all circled up in two different circles and started to sway back and forth while this little tiny woman sang an amazingly beautiful song (which turned out to be the African national anthem…yes we were in brazil, but don’t forget about the African roots in brazil). It was beautiful…I absolutely loved it. Little did I know that is was just a taste of the amazing few days to come.
Alright. I am fully aware of the fact that I am an utter failure in keeping up with my blog posts. I would apologize profusely, but really, I’m not THAT sorry…I like to keep you guys on your toes ya know? That’s actually my lame excuse for not being on top of things, but hey…it’s all fine. Anyway…after observing how Team Bauer’s gigantic Brazil blog went over I have decided to write mine in increments. One blog per day in Brazil. This is officially the first one…I know you have been waiting so no need to fear, this is it for real…
Day One:
The new tradition is sleeping out on the deck the night before every port. That way, you can wake up at 4 30 when the crew has to clean the decks, and then stay awake and watch the sunrise over the city. I continued the tradition (naturally…would you expect anything else?) and it was good up until the crew decided to not inform us that they were cleaning the decks and we got full on water in the face as a wake up call. That was awesome. Ok…I’m being a little dramatic here…it was actually just a splash of sprinkles…but STILL…at 4 30 in the morning after nearly no sleep a little sprinkle can seem like the entire ocean is falling on you. Needless to say, we woke up and watched the sunrise. It was cool…I will have pictures later for you kids to salivate over. We went through the usual port routine (sunrise, breakfast, somebody special from country comes to talk to us, customs on the ship (stamp passport!), and then sit until we can get off). As soon as we got off the boat, we had a mission. Mission: Find tour guide Daniel and get on bus. Not so hard right? Well…not really, but we did have a few distractions. The second we got off there was a small drumming band thing there to greet us. We also all got bracelets and coconuts. It was pretty fantastic. My favorite was watching Roberto get his groove on with the bracelet ladies…(he is from Puerto Rico…and he knows how to shake it!)…once we had gathered everyone (which took kind of a while) we hopped on the nice air conditioned bus to leave for Lencois, which was about 6 hours away. Team Bauer and I sat at the front of the bus, right behind Daniel, our tour guide. This turned out to be the best place on the whole bus, as we talked to Daniel the whole way there. He is quite possibly one of the coolest people on earth. To put him in a nutshell, which I don’t particularly enjoy doing, but I will for your sake, you could call him a hippy-buddhist-vegetarian- tour guide. HE ROCKS. He has this view on life that we are all one global community (which is so true) and that we all need to be one with each other and with the earth. It was awesome just listening to him…he did most of the talking, which I really enjoyed. Aside from Daniel, the bus also offered a quick tour of Salvador and the Brazilian countryside. In Salvador, the only thing I could really see were the favellas. Talk about poverty…people living in poverty in America have it great compared to the favellas. They are teeny tiny houses stacked on top of each other with multiple families crammed into each house. I really don’t think that words can do the place justice…think of the worst poverty you have ever seen…and then multiply it by 100…then maybe you will have some sort of visual of these places. The police won’t go into the favellas to protect anyone, as they are too dangerous. The crime rate in the favellas actually isn’t that bad, as the people leave to go into the city to steal from people who actually have things. However, murder and other things are out of control…it’s truly a sad situation. When we got out of the city, we got a nice taste of the Brazilian country side. Well…when I wasn’t staring at the road fearing for my life that is. We were on this little two lane “highway” that led us into the heart of Brazil. There were horses tethered on the side of the road randomly…and people with coconut stands…it was nuts. Then…our driver would pass people up a hill when you couldn’t see anything….this was me:
Dear Baby Jesus,
Please don’t let our bus crash and explode into flames. Thanks
Love
Andrea
I’m still alive…thank you baby god. For lunch we stopped at this buffet, where you weigh you plate to pay for the food. I don’t know how I feel about that…I don’t think it gives you the right price…meat and rice vary substantially in cost, but oh well. It was only like 4 bucks or something, so I guess I can’t complain. Back on the bus I tried my best to read my book for history…yah that lasted about one paragraph…then I passed out. I woke up about 10 minutes before pulling into Lencois. The vegetation had certainly changed…there were a ton of trees and such outside…it was beautiful. Lencois was a cute little town with cobblestone streets everywhere. I loved it. As soon as we pulled in, we picked up Kikio, our other guide. Kikio was AWESOME! He had the most contagious laugh I have ever heard…and he laughed often. It was fantastic…whenever I have a negative thought, one thought of Kikio’s laugh and I get a smile on my face. Anyway, we picked him up and then drove up to our hotel, which ended up being a sort of house, turned hotel. It was cute…we got home made breakfast every morning with the most delicious mango you have ever put into your mouth. I feel as though I will not be able to eat mango in the States ever again…oh well…it was TOTALLY worth it. So we got to the hotel, dropped out stuff off and immediately turned around and went to a welcoming thing that a local NGO (non-government organization) was holding for us. The second we walked up, we were greeted by “MAMA AFRICA”…an amazing song that will forever remain in my heart. They were all singing and dancing…it was fantastic. We danced for a bit, and then we went into a room, took our shoes off, and they taught us some songs and dances. One of the dances included us crawling under the legs of everyone in the room…it reminded me of kindergarten or something, but I loved it. After the fun and dancing around we all sat in a circle and Daniel translated for us. The locals asked us about why we wanted to go to Brazil, and what we thought about it so far. It turned out to be a great conversation about how we are all one people, and we shouldn’t let country boundaries divide us. It was very moving…just seeing us all sitting there together, so different, yet so much the same. I feel like I am not giving my experience justice…it was just a beautiful thing. We ended up talking for about an hour ish, and it really could have continued, but we had to wake up early so we all circled up in two different circles and started to sway back and forth while this little tiny woman sang an amazingly beautiful song (which turned out to be the African national anthem…yes we were in brazil, but don’t forget about the African roots in brazil). It was beautiful…I absolutely loved it. Little did I know that is was just a taste of the amazing few days to come.
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