I think one of the best ways I have heard the pacific crossing described is by my friend Julie on her blog. She asked have you ever tried to sleep on a roller coaster? We have had days, and nights, where we are rocking so hard that our drawers open and close by themselves, we have to be careful when going through a door because it moves on its own; and walking anywhere on the ship is a workout because at any given time you are suddenly climbing a mountain and the next instant racing down the other side. The pacific crossing is known for being the hardest leg of the voyage for several reasons.
1. The waves are usually the roughest here; in fact we went 600 miles out of our way to avoid a storm when leaving Japan.
2. It is our longest stretch at sea; we have 18 sea days between Japan and Costa Rica with only 1 day in Hawaii to get more fuel.
3. We are in our final stretch, only 4 more class days, which means only 2 more of each class before taking our finals.
Because of how fast we moved through Asia many of us were completely exhausted which means weakened immune systems so most of us are battling colds and we seem to just pass it back and forth, never getting 100% well. With just over 2 weeks left of the voyage we are at a bittersweet moment, ready to be home, see our families, and not live in a perpetual daylight savings time. But at the same time seeing our families’ means getting off the ship for the last time, it means our adventures are over.
One a brighter note since we were in Hawaii our phones all worked! I got to talk to everyone from my family so that was really nice, I feel like it has been forever since I have spoken to some of them. I made a Chick-fil-a date with my younger cousin; we shall belatedly celebrate his end of chemo since I had already left when he had his official party. I also got to talk to my 4 year old “boyfriend” who said “I miss you Kafwin, when you come home?” So I told him I would be home before Christmas. I think it was made even better by the fact that we were in Hawaii for thanksgiving so I got to talk to everyone that I normally spend the holiday with.
Hawaii was awesome; I went to a black sand beach as well as a lava rock beach. Of course on the black sand beach we made black sand castles with volcanoes in the background (I mean we gotta get in the spirit here). I admit I had fun telling people back at home that I was swimming in Hawaii and that the temperature was about 80 degrees. Just a note for all you upcoming travelers THE PACIFIC OCEAN IS FREEZING THIS TIME OF YEAR.
So right now we are just all working real hard to finish up school. I am down to one 6 page paper and 4 finals left, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Most of us are crazy excited for Christmas, like go find me the most excited child in the world and most of us can top that child in excitement. I don’t know why it is so exciting this year but my roommate and I have been cranking the Christmas music for a good 2 weeks now. It is funny when I get on facebook for a few minutes and see people back home complaining about Christmas merchandizing and music already started, it seems like such a foreign world right now for us. Although a few of us were talking about how we could smuggle a tree on board in Hawaii and set it up. Yeah don’t think that would have worked.
Oh the Pacific, we are really discovering just how big this ocean is. It takes 18 days for us to cross it. I can only imagine what and journey across the oceans used to be like, considering we have really good stabilizers so the rocking isn’t bad at all. Also we are a very fast ship, apparently fast enough to out sail pirates (which we didn’t see any of making our crossings quite boring). But the pacific can be quite frustrating, at least for us. One reason is the length, we felt like the majority of our class work was compacted into the last 2 ½ weeks; from research papers (ok so right now I am totally procrastinating that assignment) to tests, field papers and many classes without any breaks. We truly feel exhausted, especially since we don’t get weekends on this voyage, our “weekends” are ports which are anything but relaxing (one day in Hawaii does not mean relaxing, instead it means walking 10 miles because we are too cheap to pay for a taxi). So as we gently (or not so gently) rock our way across the pacific we have to make decisions between sleep, school, and social (have I mentioned that of the 18 days crossing 9 of them were 23 hour days because of changing time zones?) times; not always an easy decision but one that has to be made. Usually our meal times are when we get together and have our deep conversations over our pasta and potatoes (getting a wee bit tired of ship food) before finally going to write yet another paper or take a stab at our mountains of reading assignments. Some of us have started counting down to the end, to seeing the family and friends that will greet us in Fort Lauderdale. We are also looking forward to the giant welcome home party that the rest of the world calls Christmas. I mean seriously we couldn’t get home at a better time; all the get-togethers with family and friends welcoming us home and hey why not celebrate Christmas at the same time? Yes I promise I have learned that the world doesn’t revolve around me, but well I am still calling it a giant welcome home party. We are officially done classes and now we are all frantically studying for finals which are cruelly the day after Costa Rica (seriously do they think we are actually studying in port???). There really isn’t much to sea days, we go to classes, do homework, occasionally have a dance (the ambassadors/alumni ball was last night) but pretty much just mundane stuff. We have discovered that contrary to all the nature documentaries you can actually go almost 3 weeks out at sea and not see a single animal. Apparently the ocean is teeming with wildlife making dramatic leaps out of the water for no apparent reason. We stare out the windows hoping to catch a glimpse of anything but all we see are waves. A great joke to play on your friends is to yell our “Whale!” and they will all go and look hard and finally you say “oh sorry, I guess it was just a wave.”
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Japan!
Japan was….well expensive. Of all the countries we have been to, Japan is the only one where prices were equal if not higher than the US. Also you don’t bargain for prices in Japan. But other than watching my money fly away I loved Japan. It is a country based on honor, if someone drops something that item is put on a slightly higher place so when the person comes back to look for it they can see it more easily. I saw several wallets on ledges and was told that someone had put it there rather than leave it on the ground. Also people there are very polite, even though we couldn’t understand a word they said because hardly anyone speaks English. The first day I had a trip from Kobe to Hiroshima. I was really expecting a lot of anti-Americanism, especially after Vietnam. Vietnam would tell us that the war was in the past and to let it go, yet they teach that Americans were horrible, which is understandable but I have never experienced it to quite that level. But Hiroshima was different, it was a very peaceful place, and while they stated the facts I never felt like they blamed America for their suffering once. It was amazing. Another cool thing that day was we took the bullet train both ways! The whole day was just a really cool experience. The second day I had an FDP to Nara, the first capital of Japan. We saw a lot of temples and shrines, and deer. There is a park there that the deer come up to the people and you can feed and pet the deer even though they are wild. So I got my fill of petting deer and feeding them. To tell you how polite of a society Japan is, even the deer are polite (at first) they actually bow to you! We discovered this when one of the guys in our group bent over a little and the deer bowed back, we then spent several minutes bowing back and forth to the deer, most likely to the amusement of all the locals. But when you have food in your hand you better watch out, the deer get a little nippy when they want food. The third day I spent on the ship in transit from Kobe to Yokohama, it was a nice relaxing day with absolutely no plans, I got to sleep in for the first time this semester and literally all of us on the ship just had a bumming it kind of day, we were all quite happy with our decision. Day four Julie and I decided to go into Tokoyo, we went to a district called Harajuku which is where the young people apparently go. It was a lot of shopping and fashion, most of which we couldn’t afford (I mean t-shirts were $40) and we spent the day looking at stuff and moaning about the price. We took the subway into the city and back because taxi’s are crazy expensive in Japan, most everybody uses the subway and trains and I have to admit the subway map is just a little daunting. The last day I had another FDP (I have a class about Japan’s modern history, basically means I had very little free time in Japan) where we went to Kichojiji which is a place where you can still see some of the tranquility of “Old Japan” and see all the modernization of “New Japan”. Even when we were in these huge malls and department stores everything was very peaceful. We had lunch in a huge park that again was peaceful. Peace seemed to be my overall experience in Japan, everything was quiet, even when we were on the subway and you couldn’t fit another person on the car nobody spoke, everyone was silent. But it was nice and calm and I loved Japan.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
India, Malaysia, Vietnam and China
Wow India was so long ago but since we have been to India the rest has turned into about tornado speed. We had (have) 5 ports in a row with only 3 days in between to recover except this last one where we only have 2 days. Talk about exhaustion. We are about a day away from Japan before we start our really long crossing the Pacific leg of this voyage. But first I will give you the highlights of our last couple ports. When we were in Mauritius I met our Indian inter-port student Swathi, the next day was sea Olympics and Swathi and I got to hang out a bit and we got to know each other. The next two days I ended up spending in bed because my malaria medicine made me really sick. I finally made it out of bed in time to prepare for India. In India I flew from Chennai to Delhi where we were picked up by a bus and then taken to our hotel. Once we got there we got our rooms and most of us went to bed because it was after midnight and we had a long day ahead of us. The next morning we started off with trip to Rajghat which is where Gandhi and his wife were both cremated, this is a big deal in the Hindu religion. Then we went to the train station to catch our train to Agra, what we found instead was that all the trains for that time had been canceled for some reason so we had to call our bus back and took the bus all the way there. We did make it to Agra about 5pm and only because we skipped lunch. We went straight to the Taj Mahal We got there half an hour before they closed the gate and got to see it as the sun set. I have some amazing pictures there! Next we were taken to a marble factory where descendants of the actual workers who built the Taj Mahal now work, some of them were doing inlay work while we were there and watched. We were then given the opportunity to buy some stuff (ok we are all students why exactly do they think we have money for marble decorations??? Better yet where the heck are we supposed to pack marble stuff in our luggage?). We then went to a traditional Indian restaurant for dinner before heading to the train station to catch our overnight train. We were told that we were going to be in second class and have a car for just our group but things got messed up and we ended up in economy with a bunch of locals. So I used my backpack as a pillow and got the best night of sleep in port that I have gotten so far! A few people from our group complained that we weren’t in the car that we had paid for but I was fine. We made it to Varanasi and checked in to our hotel and got lunch. Then we went on a tour of the city and to a silk factory community where again we were given the opportunity to buy stuff after watching some people working (starting to see a theme in India?). It was really cool because the roads were so congested and small instead of taking a bus for the tour we took a bunch of rickshaws! That night we went to the Ganges River and watch a cremation ceremony (remember I said it was a big deal) and we got to take a boat ride by moonlight down the river a bit and saw the cremation site. The next morning we woke up really early so we could watch the sunrise over the Ganges again took a boat ride and got to see a lot of people doing the rituals at the Ganges. Then we went to the airport after lunch and flew back to Chennai. Our last day in India a couple of us went around Chennai and perfected our bargaining skills (ok maybe not perfected them but definitely practiced) before making our way back to the ship and saying goodbye to India.
Malaysia was our next port of call and a rather short one at that. With only 3 days between India and Malaysia we barely had time to recover, plus we lost time every single day. Then we only had 3 days to explore Malaysia. The first day I had an FDP where we walked around Georgetown Heritage Site and got to see pretty much every temple, mosque and church in the city. The next day I went to a tropical fruit farm and also a spice farm. It was really cool getting to try all these fruits that are exotic for us and also to see so many spices that I have only ever seen in spice containers at the grocery store. I got to see citronella growing and black pepper, cinnamon and vanilla. The last day I went to an orphanage in the city, we got to play games with the kids and color with them. I managed to go out with friends and have some fun quite a bit. One of the exciting parts for most of us was the fact that our ship couldn’t stay at he dock for the entire time so we had to tender. Tender means the ship goes and anchors in the harbor area and then we take the lifeboats back and forth from the ship to the shore. Just so everyone knows, my assigned lifeboat works well as it was used for the tendering.
After 3 more short days at sea we arrived at Vietnam. Mom and Tim actually flew to Vietnam to meet up with me and we had almost a week together. The first day we went to a tailor and got measured for having some clothes made. Tim got a suit, Mom got a couple of blouses and trousers, and I got a traditional Vietnamese dress. The next day we had to get up really early and go to the airport to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi where we then got on a bus to Ha Long Bay. We spent the night there and the next morning got on a boat to explore the Bay. The limestone cliffs are beautiful and except for the amazing number of other tourist boats it was rather peaceful. We then had the opportunity to stay on the boat or go and explore the cave, it was very similar to Luray Caverns and Tim and I had a good time going through there and mom enjoyed staying on the boat with several of the life-long learners. We then got back on the boat and had lunch on board. When we got back to land we got on the bus again and went back to Hanoi. That night we went to a water puppet theater show and even though we had no idea what they were saying or what was going on it was really cool. The next day after a city tour of Hanoi and a bit of free time to get lunch we went back to the airport and flew to Ho Chi Minh City. Day 5 we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Tim was the only one of the 3 of us that made it the whole way through the section of the tunnel that we were allowed to go through. It was a really interesting place but there was a lot of anti-American sediments, which is understandable but one second they tell you the war is in the past and they are very welcoming of Americans and the next you hear that they are teaching everyone how evil Americans are; a very interesting combination. We picked up mom and Tim’s clothes but my dress wasn’t ready. The last day I got my dress and wandered around the city with Rachael, it was a typical last day of hanging out near the ship and spending the last of our money.
We only had 2 days at sea between Vietnam and China and by this time we were all thoroughly exhausted and not recovering our sleep. I seriously want to call Hong Kong the Land of malls and escalators; I don’t think I was able to go 15 feet without another escalator coming into sight. Also when Julie and I finally made it out of the mall that we docked at (yeah we docked at a mall, got the best parking spot possible because we couldn’t get out of “port” without going through the mall) we decided to try and find something else to see Hong Kong because we were only there really one day and ended up in another mall. Hong Kong is known as the vertical city but I think Land of the Escalator sounds so much more fun, either way they are both the truth. The next day I met up with the group I was traveling with and we headed to the airport. We flew to Beijing and were able to explore a little bit, most of us ate dinner and went to bed. I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 on the plane (fitting right? I was in China after all and it was either that or Mulan) and enjoyed a traditional Chinese dinner that night. The next day we got on the bus and drove about 2 hours north to the Great Wall! We hiked up to the Wall and then hiked about 5 km on the Wall. It was a lot of fun and the only down side was I randomly got altitude sickness but I powered through it and will never forget my experience. That night we bundled up in all our clothes, gloves, hats and grabbed tents, sleeping bags and mats and after our filling dinner hiked back up the Wall and set up camp. Yep I slept on the Great Wall, not many other people in my group got to say that because while I was asleep we ended up being kicked off the Wall in the middle of the night and had to move camp down to the base of the wall. I will end that story there because it is rather complicated and possibly more fun for me to tell in person :P The next morning we went back to Beijing and had lunch there. After lunch we went to Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City, at this point our guides were shocked that we ran into other SASers….again. Every day we ran into people from the ship and our guides couldn’t understand how in a country as big as China we would randomly meet up so often. That night we took an overnight train to Shanghai where our ship had moved to during our adventure. This train was a completely different experience from India; we had cabins on the train and only 4 people to a cabin. Each bed had a TV at the end of it and we could lock our cabin door. Everything about it was so much nicer then the India train. We then had a day and a half to explore Shanghai and that is what I did, with no particular plan I just wandered around the city, for me it wasn’t too exciting because it was just another city and I don’t think anything could top my previous China experience.
We had, yet again, 2 days at sea between China and Japan. Currently I am on the ship as we transit from one Japanese port to the other. We started in Kobe and are now sailing to Yokohama. The reason I chose to transit on the ship is because of how expensive it is to do anything in Japan. It is the only country that rivals the US in prices, and in some instances may be more expensive then the US. So many of us are taking the ship and enjoying a relaxing day of nothing. Also of my group of friends that are transiting almost all of us are battling colds right now, I think we are all run-down and exhausted and that is why this cold is going around. I certainly enjoyed sleeping in this morning and now it is just a lot of chill out time and homework catch up time. I will give you a Japan post after our two days in Yokohama.
Malaysia was our next port of call and a rather short one at that. With only 3 days between India and Malaysia we barely had time to recover, plus we lost time every single day. Then we only had 3 days to explore Malaysia. The first day I had an FDP where we walked around Georgetown Heritage Site and got to see pretty much every temple, mosque and church in the city. The next day I went to a tropical fruit farm and also a spice farm. It was really cool getting to try all these fruits that are exotic for us and also to see so many spices that I have only ever seen in spice containers at the grocery store. I got to see citronella growing and black pepper, cinnamon and vanilla. The last day I went to an orphanage in the city, we got to play games with the kids and color with them. I managed to go out with friends and have some fun quite a bit. One of the exciting parts for most of us was the fact that our ship couldn’t stay at he dock for the entire time so we had to tender. Tender means the ship goes and anchors in the harbor area and then we take the lifeboats back and forth from the ship to the shore. Just so everyone knows, my assigned lifeboat works well as it was used for the tendering.
After 3 more short days at sea we arrived at Vietnam. Mom and Tim actually flew to Vietnam to meet up with me and we had almost a week together. The first day we went to a tailor and got measured for having some clothes made. Tim got a suit, Mom got a couple of blouses and trousers, and I got a traditional Vietnamese dress. The next day we had to get up really early and go to the airport to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi where we then got on a bus to Ha Long Bay. We spent the night there and the next morning got on a boat to explore the Bay. The limestone cliffs are beautiful and except for the amazing number of other tourist boats it was rather peaceful. We then had the opportunity to stay on the boat or go and explore the cave, it was very similar to Luray Caverns and Tim and I had a good time going through there and mom enjoyed staying on the boat with several of the life-long learners. We then got back on the boat and had lunch on board. When we got back to land we got on the bus again and went back to Hanoi. That night we went to a water puppet theater show and even though we had no idea what they were saying or what was going on it was really cool. The next day after a city tour of Hanoi and a bit of free time to get lunch we went back to the airport and flew to Ho Chi Minh City. Day 5 we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Tim was the only one of the 3 of us that made it the whole way through the section of the tunnel that we were allowed to go through. It was a really interesting place but there was a lot of anti-American sediments, which is understandable but one second they tell you the war is in the past and they are very welcoming of Americans and the next you hear that they are teaching everyone how evil Americans are; a very interesting combination. We picked up mom and Tim’s clothes but my dress wasn’t ready. The last day I got my dress and wandered around the city with Rachael, it was a typical last day of hanging out near the ship and spending the last of our money.
We only had 2 days at sea between Vietnam and China and by this time we were all thoroughly exhausted and not recovering our sleep. I seriously want to call Hong Kong the Land of malls and escalators; I don’t think I was able to go 15 feet without another escalator coming into sight. Also when Julie and I finally made it out of the mall that we docked at (yeah we docked at a mall, got the best parking spot possible because we couldn’t get out of “port” without going through the mall) we decided to try and find something else to see Hong Kong because we were only there really one day and ended up in another mall. Hong Kong is known as the vertical city but I think Land of the Escalator sounds so much more fun, either way they are both the truth. The next day I met up with the group I was traveling with and we headed to the airport. We flew to Beijing and were able to explore a little bit, most of us ate dinner and went to bed. I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 on the plane (fitting right? I was in China after all and it was either that or Mulan) and enjoyed a traditional Chinese dinner that night. The next day we got on the bus and drove about 2 hours north to the Great Wall! We hiked up to the Wall and then hiked about 5 km on the Wall. It was a lot of fun and the only down side was I randomly got altitude sickness but I powered through it and will never forget my experience. That night we bundled up in all our clothes, gloves, hats and grabbed tents, sleeping bags and mats and after our filling dinner hiked back up the Wall and set up camp. Yep I slept on the Great Wall, not many other people in my group got to say that because while I was asleep we ended up being kicked off the Wall in the middle of the night and had to move camp down to the base of the wall. I will end that story there because it is rather complicated and possibly more fun for me to tell in person :P The next morning we went back to Beijing and had lunch there. After lunch we went to Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City, at this point our guides were shocked that we ran into other SASers….again. Every day we ran into people from the ship and our guides couldn’t understand how in a country as big as China we would randomly meet up so often. That night we took an overnight train to Shanghai where our ship had moved to during our adventure. This train was a completely different experience from India; we had cabins on the train and only 4 people to a cabin. Each bed had a TV at the end of it and we could lock our cabin door. Everything about it was so much nicer then the India train. We then had a day and a half to explore Shanghai and that is what I did, with no particular plan I just wandered around the city, for me it wasn’t too exciting because it was just another city and I don’t think anything could top my previous China experience.
We had, yet again, 2 days at sea between China and Japan. Currently I am on the ship as we transit from one Japanese port to the other. We started in Kobe and are now sailing to Yokohama. The reason I chose to transit on the ship is because of how expensive it is to do anything in Japan. It is the only country that rivals the US in prices, and in some instances may be more expensive then the US. So many of us are taking the ship and enjoying a relaxing day of nothing. Also of my group of friends that are transiting almost all of us are battling colds right now, I think we are all run-down and exhausted and that is why this cold is going around. I certainly enjoyed sleeping in this morning and now it is just a lot of chill out time and homework catch up time. I will give you a Japan post after our two days in Yokohama.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
A picture preview of my time so far!
<-- Landscape in Malaysia from the Floating Mosque
<-- This is rather self explanatory, I went to the Taj Mahal
<-- Mauritius, Land of the pretty water! I got to swim in the Indian Ocean here! (be jealous!!!)
<-- FIFA World Cup Stadium, sadly I couldn't go in because it was under renovations but I did lots of other cool things in South Africa.
Monkeys in Ghana! They live side by side with humans in this one village.
The Hassan II Mosque in Morocco, my very first adventure with SAS!
I will try and get some posts on here soon, I now have 3 countries to update about....yikes so much to write.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Lions, Springboc, and Sharks Oh My!!!! South Africa!
Quick note: We are now actually in Mauritius, or rather the harbor, we aren’t allowed off the ship until morning because of the past drinking behaviors of SAS students. It is quite unfortunate that they have forced Mauritius to shorten our stay because of past SASers drinking need. That being said we actually arrived early (we weren’t supposed to get here until tomorrow) because someone on the ship has a non life threatening medical emergency and we got here so they could go to the hospital (that person has been off pretty much since we got here several hours ago). So now we get to look longingly at this lovely island for the rest of the night before experiencing it for one short day (which has been extended now since customs did our paperwork tonight so we are allowed off starting at 0600 instead of shortly after 0800!!!). Thank you Mauritius Customs!!!!! More about Mauritius, Sea Days, and Sea Olympics soon!
Ok so South Africa was one of the best places I have ever been! I did so much there, and I learned a lot during my time in Africa in general. During our orientation meetings way back when (was it really only a month ago?) one of the people said something to the effect that the unfamiliar will become familiar and the previously familiar will become unfamiliar. I am still processing Africa but I felt that concept in South Africa. It was strange, everything was backwards; spring in September and cars driving on the opposite side of the road. Our first two ports we were in working ports, as in we had to go through a maze of containers to find our way to the city. We happily discovered that the city was literally on the water, no buses needed; no 20 minute walk to get out of the port. Instead we were greeted by a hotel and a mall just yards away from our ship. How could we possibly still be in Africa? Where is the poverty? This is not the Africa we learn about in school. We watched our arrival to Cape Town and were greeted by a sunrise over a developed city; there was even a ferris wheel right down the street. We could see the FIFA world cup soccer stadium, also within walking distance. Another difference was set prices, we have joked about how when we get back to America we would miss our bartering, we enjoy seeing if we can get a better deal than our fellow voyagers; well we were met with set prices and people looking at you like you were crazy when you said that price was way too expensive. We have only been away from home for a month, give or take, and already things that are home-like are strange to us. What will being back in America be like? So many questions have come out of Africa, we have had 3 very different experiences, 3 different views of Africa, and how do we meld that into what we know of Africa? If we have experienced such different things what is the rest of Africa like? Which countries resemble each other? Which are different? How will we ever figure out the answers to these and many other questions that arise daily now? South Africa had much in common with America, shopping, ease of access to everything, KFC (but to be fair I have actually seen KFC in each country except Canada), McDonalds. Yet at the same time we were in Africa, there were ostriches and baboons crossing the streets instead of deer and rabbits (that’s when you know you are actually in Africa). We were in a different hemisphere, time zone, world yet it felt normal, familiar, and comfortable.
So now onto what I actually did in South Africa. The first day we woke up early and watched our arrival into Cape Town. We have some amazing pictures of the sun rising over the mountains and of our first view of Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was once held prisoner) and table mountain with its lovely cloud tablecloth as the locals call it. Then we went and got breakfast and laughed at the fact that apparently our captain wanted to give us 360 degree picture opportunities because we had to do a few donuts in the harbor waiting for the pilot boat to lead us in (not sure why we didn’t just pull up to a stop like all the rest of the ships were, so we went in circles and rocked like crazy because we kept going over our own waves). Finally the pilot boat came out and we went into port, now the long process started – customs. South Africa’s policy is to meet face to face with each of us so as you can imagine, it took a while to get through that process as we were called up by seas (how we are divided, basically by floor) to get our passport, meet the customs official, have them stamp the passport. None of us could get off the ship until everyone had cleared customs, so even though our sea was called second we still had to wait for a long time. Eventually we got off the ship and were set free to explore Cape Town. The first thing we did was walk to the soccer stadium. We were very disappointed to find out that it is under renovations (seriously what is there to renovate????? it is like brand new!) and we couldn’t go inside, so I have 7 billion pictures of the outside. We then went to a nice little outdoor café and got some lunch, I had a Hawaiian wrap which was ham, pineapple, cheese, and mayo (that was the description, not sure why they included mayo….) anyway it was pretty good. We didn’t do much the rest of the day, just walked around the waterfront and discovered the mall and went to the bank and exchanged money.
Day 2 I was supposed to go great white shark cage diving but found out at 6:30 am that it was canceled because of the currents so instead I got back on the ship got some breakfast and went to Tymitz Square (on the ship) and met up with a life long learner that wanted to do the Hop on Hop off Tour bus around Cape Town, which is a double decker bus that goes all around and you plug your headphones into the bus and you can pick from 16 languages (can you tell they recently had a worldwide event in their town). I got off at Table Mountain and she stayed on the bus, and I took the cable way up to the top of Table Mountain. It was really cool, and the floor of the cable way rotated so you got a 360 view of your ride up. Once up there I discovered that I could see my home from the top of the mountain! There is such a sense of comfort seeing the ship, it represents safety and familiarity. There were a ton of SASers up on Table Mountain which was funny because I kept running into people I knew. I then went back down and got back on the bus and eventually made it back to the waterfront. I had bought a combo ticket that combined the bus, cable way and the aquarium (which I went to later) which was a really good deal price wise.
Day 3 was yet another early day but it was totally worth it. I went on a safari and we saw 4 of the “Big Five” (which for those of you who aren’t up to date with their African wildlife they are elephant, water buffalo, rhinoceros, lion, and leopard) the only one we didn’t see was the water buffalo, which our game driver told us is not uncommon. So along with those 4 we also saw: black wildebeest, blue wildebeest, hippos, ostrich, zebras, cheetahs, wild boars, crocodiles (apparently I have been to Florida too much, they didn’t excite me, also we saw them last), springbok, and elands (which are the largest type of antelope). All in all I would say it was a very successful day. It was really funny because when we got to the game reserve we were offered a “welcome drink” of either champagne (they called it wine) or sparkling grape juice. Most of us went for the grape juice since it was like 9 am and none of us had eaten breakfast yet. Later on in the middle of our safari we took a break to stretch our legs and have a drink. We got some good laughs about being in the middle of this game park drinking champagne out of actual glasses watching the elephants and the wildebeest walk by.
Day 4 I again had to be off the ship really early (are you starting to notice this theme in ports?) and we got into the buses to go on a half day cape tour where we went along the coast all the way to Cape of Good Hope which is the most South-Western point in Africa, we walked up the cliff and got some pictures of the Atlantic ocean and where (way off in the distance) the Indian ocean joined it. We then went off to Boulder Beach which is naturally inhabited by penguins (so does it seem like this voyage is turning into a wildlife trip? Camels in Morocco, monkeys in Ghana, incredibly long list in South Africa and I promise it gets longer yet); on the way to the beach we had to stop because there were a bunch of baboons in the street. We had planned this trip independently of SAS (everything I did in South Africa was “independent” and it was the best decision I have made so far, I saved hundreds of dollars doing this independent of SAS) and we talked our driver into making a detour to Cape Point Winery for some wine tasting; it was really funny watching everyone’s reactions to the driver agreeing so readily.
Day 5 was my ocean wildlife day. I went shark cage diving! We saw 7 great white sharks and also a pod of great right whales who are breeding and migrating through this area right now. But I actually got in a cage and was inches away from a great white shark! We had a 2 hour bus ride from Cape Town to Gansbaai (which for you shark week fanatics should recognize as one of the places where many specials are filmed) and then we were given breakfast (we left the ship at 5:30 am) and were briefed about safety and logistics of our day. We then got back on the bus and went 2 kilometers down the road to where we would get on the boat. As we were going to the dive place we had to stop for a few whales to pass by, you know one of those no big deal kind of moments. Then the moment of truth, we were at the dive site, the cage was in the water, they called us into the cabin and one of the guys determined what size wet suit we needed in about a 2 second glance and then we were all wrestling into our wetsuits while trying to stay onship because the waves were huge. It is never really a good thing when you are standing on the deck and have to look up to see the top of the wave. But once we were all zipped in one of the guys slapped a mask on our face, another strapped a weight belt on and we were ushered to the side of the boat and told to hop in the cage. As I was getting into the cage a 12 foot great white swam inches away from the front of the cage. We were in the cage, 8 at a time, and we waited, and waited, until the spotter yelled Down! Down! Down! So we took a deep breath and went under water and there right in front of us was a shark, about 15 feet long going for Gladys the seal dummy. Finally we got out of the cage and they pulled our masks off and our weight belts, asked us how it was and directed us to a cooler filled with water (cause there is never enough water when you are on a boat right? Well at least the water in the boat was for drinking and didn’t have more salt than anything else in it). At one point when we were in the cage a huge wave came and rocked the boat and we were all unexpectedly under water (that would be how I know about the salt content of the water) so we all swallowed more salt water than can be good for us, and later (much later) realized that we probably got a good amount of chum in those unexpected drinks. Not surprisingly with how big the waves were (and possibly the amount of chum and salt in our stomachs) many of us got seasick, me included, and therefore spent more time looking at the nearby mountain trying to keep from vomiting. Which was to no avail as many of us, me still included, ended up aiding in the chumming process (well it made the sharks happy at least). When we got back (finally) to shore our skipper told us that he had never been out with clients when the swells were that large (finally felt better about getting seasick) and that he was canceling all other tours for the day and for the next day. We found out later that we were the only company that even went out that day. I bought the video that they made of the day (should I submit it to shark week?) because the water had very low visibility so it was hard to take pictures.
Day 6, can you believe we still had one more day after the sharks? I went to the two oceans aquarium which was cool to see things from the Indian ocean and the Atlantic, they also showed a lot of wildlife where the two oceans meet. The aquarium is really close to the port and we all just kind of hung out at the waterfront, using up the last of our rand, buying snacks for the upcoming sea days and eating one last lunch off the ship. Then what is yet another highlight of this voyage occurred at on-ship time. We got to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and he gave us a short lecture. I was surprised at his sense of humor, I highly recommend trying to hear him speak if you ever get the chance. He has sailed on SAS twice before and one of the first things he said was it was nice to be back home but who the heck were all these people that were in his home. He also made a point of mentioning it is a ship not boat, one of the first lessons that they give to each new SASer. I don’t think there are words to describe Desmond Tutu. I sat in the union for almost 2 hours before he was supposed to speak to ensure a front row seat, so that was pretty exciting! And then he had to get off the ship, we had to eat dinner, and shortly we were leaving what had fast become the favorite port for many of us.
If any of you are still reading (I promise I am almost done), congratulations you made it through 6 packed days in South Africa. There is so much that I haven’t been able to process yet, let alone verbalize. My next port is now 6 days away and we are only there for one day. I will try and add some sea days descriptions in there so you can find out about life on the ship. We also have our sea Olympics the day after Mauritius, so there is stuff coming up, I will not drop off the face of the earth even though it may be a while until my next post. Until then, I shall reflect upon Africa as a whole and see if I come up with any answers.
Ok so South Africa was one of the best places I have ever been! I did so much there, and I learned a lot during my time in Africa in general. During our orientation meetings way back when (was it really only a month ago?) one of the people said something to the effect that the unfamiliar will become familiar and the previously familiar will become unfamiliar. I am still processing Africa but I felt that concept in South Africa. It was strange, everything was backwards; spring in September and cars driving on the opposite side of the road. Our first two ports we were in working ports, as in we had to go through a maze of containers to find our way to the city. We happily discovered that the city was literally on the water, no buses needed; no 20 minute walk to get out of the port. Instead we were greeted by a hotel and a mall just yards away from our ship. How could we possibly still be in Africa? Where is the poverty? This is not the Africa we learn about in school. We watched our arrival to Cape Town and were greeted by a sunrise over a developed city; there was even a ferris wheel right down the street. We could see the FIFA world cup soccer stadium, also within walking distance. Another difference was set prices, we have joked about how when we get back to America we would miss our bartering, we enjoy seeing if we can get a better deal than our fellow voyagers; well we were met with set prices and people looking at you like you were crazy when you said that price was way too expensive. We have only been away from home for a month, give or take, and already things that are home-like are strange to us. What will being back in America be like? So many questions have come out of Africa, we have had 3 very different experiences, 3 different views of Africa, and how do we meld that into what we know of Africa? If we have experienced such different things what is the rest of Africa like? Which countries resemble each other? Which are different? How will we ever figure out the answers to these and many other questions that arise daily now? South Africa had much in common with America, shopping, ease of access to everything, KFC (but to be fair I have actually seen KFC in each country except Canada), McDonalds. Yet at the same time we were in Africa, there were ostriches and baboons crossing the streets instead of deer and rabbits (that’s when you know you are actually in Africa). We were in a different hemisphere, time zone, world yet it felt normal, familiar, and comfortable.
So now onto what I actually did in South Africa. The first day we woke up early and watched our arrival into Cape Town. We have some amazing pictures of the sun rising over the mountains and of our first view of Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was once held prisoner) and table mountain with its lovely cloud tablecloth as the locals call it. Then we went and got breakfast and laughed at the fact that apparently our captain wanted to give us 360 degree picture opportunities because we had to do a few donuts in the harbor waiting for the pilot boat to lead us in (not sure why we didn’t just pull up to a stop like all the rest of the ships were, so we went in circles and rocked like crazy because we kept going over our own waves). Finally the pilot boat came out and we went into port, now the long process started – customs. South Africa’s policy is to meet face to face with each of us so as you can imagine, it took a while to get through that process as we were called up by seas (how we are divided, basically by floor) to get our passport, meet the customs official, have them stamp the passport. None of us could get off the ship until everyone had cleared customs, so even though our sea was called second we still had to wait for a long time. Eventually we got off the ship and were set free to explore Cape Town. The first thing we did was walk to the soccer stadium. We were very disappointed to find out that it is under renovations (seriously what is there to renovate????? it is like brand new!) and we couldn’t go inside, so I have 7 billion pictures of the outside. We then went to a nice little outdoor café and got some lunch, I had a Hawaiian wrap which was ham, pineapple, cheese, and mayo (that was the description, not sure why they included mayo….) anyway it was pretty good. We didn’t do much the rest of the day, just walked around the waterfront and discovered the mall and went to the bank and exchanged money.
Day 2 I was supposed to go great white shark cage diving but found out at 6:30 am that it was canceled because of the currents so instead I got back on the ship got some breakfast and went to Tymitz Square (on the ship) and met up with a life long learner that wanted to do the Hop on Hop off Tour bus around Cape Town, which is a double decker bus that goes all around and you plug your headphones into the bus and you can pick from 16 languages (can you tell they recently had a worldwide event in their town). I got off at Table Mountain and she stayed on the bus, and I took the cable way up to the top of Table Mountain. It was really cool, and the floor of the cable way rotated so you got a 360 view of your ride up. Once up there I discovered that I could see my home from the top of the mountain! There is such a sense of comfort seeing the ship, it represents safety and familiarity. There were a ton of SASers up on Table Mountain which was funny because I kept running into people I knew. I then went back down and got back on the bus and eventually made it back to the waterfront. I had bought a combo ticket that combined the bus, cable way and the aquarium (which I went to later) which was a really good deal price wise.
Day 3 was yet another early day but it was totally worth it. I went on a safari and we saw 4 of the “Big Five” (which for those of you who aren’t up to date with their African wildlife they are elephant, water buffalo, rhinoceros, lion, and leopard) the only one we didn’t see was the water buffalo, which our game driver told us is not uncommon. So along with those 4 we also saw: black wildebeest, blue wildebeest, hippos, ostrich, zebras, cheetahs, wild boars, crocodiles (apparently I have been to Florida too much, they didn’t excite me, also we saw them last), springbok, and elands (which are the largest type of antelope). All in all I would say it was a very successful day. It was really funny because when we got to the game reserve we were offered a “welcome drink” of either champagne (they called it wine) or sparkling grape juice. Most of us went for the grape juice since it was like 9 am and none of us had eaten breakfast yet. Later on in the middle of our safari we took a break to stretch our legs and have a drink. We got some good laughs about being in the middle of this game park drinking champagne out of actual glasses watching the elephants and the wildebeest walk by.
Day 4 I again had to be off the ship really early (are you starting to notice this theme in ports?) and we got into the buses to go on a half day cape tour where we went along the coast all the way to Cape of Good Hope which is the most South-Western point in Africa, we walked up the cliff and got some pictures of the Atlantic ocean and where (way off in the distance) the Indian ocean joined it. We then went off to Boulder Beach which is naturally inhabited by penguins (so does it seem like this voyage is turning into a wildlife trip? Camels in Morocco, monkeys in Ghana, incredibly long list in South Africa and I promise it gets longer yet); on the way to the beach we had to stop because there were a bunch of baboons in the street. We had planned this trip independently of SAS (everything I did in South Africa was “independent” and it was the best decision I have made so far, I saved hundreds of dollars doing this independent of SAS) and we talked our driver into making a detour to Cape Point Winery for some wine tasting; it was really funny watching everyone’s reactions to the driver agreeing so readily.
Day 5 was my ocean wildlife day. I went shark cage diving! We saw 7 great white sharks and also a pod of great right whales who are breeding and migrating through this area right now. But I actually got in a cage and was inches away from a great white shark! We had a 2 hour bus ride from Cape Town to Gansbaai (which for you shark week fanatics should recognize as one of the places where many specials are filmed) and then we were given breakfast (we left the ship at 5:30 am) and were briefed about safety and logistics of our day. We then got back on the bus and went 2 kilometers down the road to where we would get on the boat. As we were going to the dive place we had to stop for a few whales to pass by, you know one of those no big deal kind of moments. Then the moment of truth, we were at the dive site, the cage was in the water, they called us into the cabin and one of the guys determined what size wet suit we needed in about a 2 second glance and then we were all wrestling into our wetsuits while trying to stay onship because the waves were huge. It is never really a good thing when you are standing on the deck and have to look up to see the top of the wave. But once we were all zipped in one of the guys slapped a mask on our face, another strapped a weight belt on and we were ushered to the side of the boat and told to hop in the cage. As I was getting into the cage a 12 foot great white swam inches away from the front of the cage. We were in the cage, 8 at a time, and we waited, and waited, until the spotter yelled Down! Down! Down! So we took a deep breath and went under water and there right in front of us was a shark, about 15 feet long going for Gladys the seal dummy. Finally we got out of the cage and they pulled our masks off and our weight belts, asked us how it was and directed us to a cooler filled with water (cause there is never enough water when you are on a boat right? Well at least the water in the boat was for drinking and didn’t have more salt than anything else in it). At one point when we were in the cage a huge wave came and rocked the boat and we were all unexpectedly under water (that would be how I know about the salt content of the water) so we all swallowed more salt water than can be good for us, and later (much later) realized that we probably got a good amount of chum in those unexpected drinks. Not surprisingly with how big the waves were (and possibly the amount of chum and salt in our stomachs) many of us got seasick, me included, and therefore spent more time looking at the nearby mountain trying to keep from vomiting. Which was to no avail as many of us, me still included, ended up aiding in the chumming process (well it made the sharks happy at least). When we got back (finally) to shore our skipper told us that he had never been out with clients when the swells were that large (finally felt better about getting seasick) and that he was canceling all other tours for the day and for the next day. We found out later that we were the only company that even went out that day. I bought the video that they made of the day (should I submit it to shark week?) because the water had very low visibility so it was hard to take pictures.
Day 6, can you believe we still had one more day after the sharks? I went to the two oceans aquarium which was cool to see things from the Indian ocean and the Atlantic, they also showed a lot of wildlife where the two oceans meet. The aquarium is really close to the port and we all just kind of hung out at the waterfront, using up the last of our rand, buying snacks for the upcoming sea days and eating one last lunch off the ship. Then what is yet another highlight of this voyage occurred at on-ship time. We got to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and he gave us a short lecture. I was surprised at his sense of humor, I highly recommend trying to hear him speak if you ever get the chance. He has sailed on SAS twice before and one of the first things he said was it was nice to be back home but who the heck were all these people that were in his home. He also made a point of mentioning it is a ship not boat, one of the first lessons that they give to each new SASer. I don’t think there are words to describe Desmond Tutu. I sat in the union for almost 2 hours before he was supposed to speak to ensure a front row seat, so that was pretty exciting! And then he had to get off the ship, we had to eat dinner, and shortly we were leaving what had fast become the favorite port for many of us.
If any of you are still reading (I promise I am almost done), congratulations you made it through 6 packed days in South Africa. There is so much that I haven’t been able to process yet, let alone verbalize. My next port is now 6 days away and we are only there for one day. I will try and add some sea days descriptions in there so you can find out about life on the ship. We also have our sea Olympics the day after Mauritius, so there is stuff coming up, I will not drop off the face of the earth even though it may be a while until my next post. Until then, I shall reflect upon Africa as a whole and see if I come up with any answers.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Neptune Day (Day 23)
Today was Neptune Day, where we crossed the equator! As part of the festivities we had to have “fish guts” dumped on our heads and then jump in the pool. When you got out you had to kiss a fish pay your respects to Queen Minerva and kiss King Neptune’s ring. Once you did that you were no longer a scallywag but now a clamback. For people who wanted to pay the ultimate homage they could shave their heads. I DID NOT SHAVE MY HEAD! But many girls did. We then had a pretty cool dance party up on the pool deck which is now slimy and pretty darn gross. King Neptune was actually Captain Jeremy! It was a lot of fun and I have some pretty good pictures. And just think all this went down before 10 am! Oh yeah we were woken by the lovely crew who walked the halls playing instruments of some kind (mostly drums) and banging on our doors. So much for sleeping in on our first no class day. We are all still trying to catch up on sleep from the last 4 days in Ghana. So now we are supposed to buckle down and study (yeah right); but they actually have this listed as a study day on the calendar. We shall see how the rest of the day goes.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Ghana!
There was supposed to be another post just before we got to Ghana but my internet wasn't working so here is my Ghana post. Sea days aren't really that exciting anyway, rather boring and routine.
Ghana. There is so much to say about Ghana; on the one hand the official language is English so communication is relatively easy, as in English is taught in school and most people can speak and understand it along with their local language. On the other hand I am sure SAS just tripled the nations’ economy in less than 4 days. We definitely got extremely ripped off at points and it was much harder to barter here in Ghana than Morocco. The poverty is astounding here and you really feel bad for many of these people. But Ghanaian’s are the most friendly people you will ever find (if they don’t befriend you just to get your money for their product), but in generally they truly make an effort to get to know you no matter how short of a time you will get to spend with them. There is a very good chance when I get home I will have quite a few friend requests on facebook and at this rate they will all be from Ghana. We haven’t even left Ghana yet (we leave in a few hours) and I already want to come back because there is so much that I didn’t get the chance to see. The first day I got a very expensive (they guy we were with is terrible at bartering and we have banned him from bartering in the future, at least where our money is concerned) tour of Tema our port city. I still can’t tell you how to get out of this port. It is so much busier than the port in Casablanca, I am positive that I never entered or exited this port the same way twice. In morocco I had no problems with walking to the port gate with friends, it was really easy to find and not that bad of a walk; but here is a whole other story, short version: I have no clue where the port gate is.
On the second day I did Habitat for Humanity through SAS, I was looking forward to helping build houses and work alongside some local Ghanaians. Again things didn’t go quite as planned and my group ended up working solo filling in a foundation hole with “dirt” there were more rocks and roots than dirt. Let’s put it this way, we had to pickaxe the ground and it still took 3 people shoveling 20 minutes to fill one wheelbarrow. Not a fast process. We found out later that some of the other groups had locals with them who would always take over so those SASers ended up playing with the village children the whole time (yeah kind of wish I was in that group). But at least we got some work done and made a difference. The Habitat people were so grateful that a group of college students would leave their luxurious cruise ship and come move dirt around with bowls (I am not kidding, we had large bowls and had to search for the wheelbarrow) in the rather hot Ghanaian countryside.
On the third day I did another SAS sponsored trip to the Mona Monkey village and the Wli Waterfall. Both were really beautiful places. We went to the waterfall first and had a short hike through the forest to get to the actual waterfall. Our guide picked from a ripe coco plant and let us try some; it didn’t taste anything like chocolate. We also saw pineapple plants, banana plants, and citrus trees (the leaves smelled like lemon). A lot of people went swimming at the base of the falls but I didn’t because we had been warned about fresh water parasites (the pictures they showed us kept more than half of us from swimming). We hiked back to the buses hoping our lunches had finally showed up (they went to a different place then we did) and I bought a yard of fabric and a hand carved elephant in the little village that was there. We were happy to find out our lunches had arrived so we ate lunch on the buses while we were parked there. The children were begging a lot so most of us gave them some of our lunches, we didn’t know if the apples were safe or if they had been washed with local water so most of us gave the kids our apples. I was surprised at how the children weren’t very grateful for what we gave them but they didn’t look starving at all, I saw a lot of food there, women were trying to sell us food while we ate lunch. But at least we didn’t waste any of our food. We then went to the monkey village where monkeys and humans co-exist in peace. The guides took us into the woods with bananas and those of us who were braver got to feed the monkeys. It was really cool watching the monkey get on peoples arms and eat the banana that they held in their hand. It was amazing how gentle they were and if you watched the people were almost able to communicate with them and call the smaller ones closer so they could get some bananas too. When we were getting back on the buses some people still had some food left from lunch so they gave it to the kids at this village. Such a contrast to the children at the first village; these kids shared everything with all the other kids and kept thanking us for what little we had left to give them. It was a much nicer image to recall but I am so glad to have experienced both.
Day 4 started very early (before 6am) and I checked my email to see if there was any last minute stuff from our tour guide. Sadly there was; the guide said there had been a bad accident on the road between port and where we were going and that the traffic was going to be horrible. He didn’t want to risk us being late back to the ship so he refunded all of our money and got us a taxi at a fantastic price to Accra. When I come back to Ghana (not if) I will totally contact him and try to set something up because I still really want to see the slave castle’s and Kakum national park. So we went into Accra and went to the market and got a few things. Then I came back to the ship and have had a fairly relaxing day back on the ship.
Ghana. There is so much to say about Ghana; on the one hand the official language is English so communication is relatively easy, as in English is taught in school and most people can speak and understand it along with their local language. On the other hand I am sure SAS just tripled the nations’ economy in less than 4 days. We definitely got extremely ripped off at points and it was much harder to barter here in Ghana than Morocco. The poverty is astounding here and you really feel bad for many of these people. But Ghanaian’s are the most friendly people you will ever find (if they don’t befriend you just to get your money for their product), but in generally they truly make an effort to get to know you no matter how short of a time you will get to spend with them. There is a very good chance when I get home I will have quite a few friend requests on facebook and at this rate they will all be from Ghana. We haven’t even left Ghana yet (we leave in a few hours) and I already want to come back because there is so much that I didn’t get the chance to see. The first day I got a very expensive (they guy we were with is terrible at bartering and we have banned him from bartering in the future, at least where our money is concerned) tour of Tema our port city. I still can’t tell you how to get out of this port. It is so much busier than the port in Casablanca, I am positive that I never entered or exited this port the same way twice. In morocco I had no problems with walking to the port gate with friends, it was really easy to find and not that bad of a walk; but here is a whole other story, short version: I have no clue where the port gate is.
On the second day I did Habitat for Humanity through SAS, I was looking forward to helping build houses and work alongside some local Ghanaians. Again things didn’t go quite as planned and my group ended up working solo filling in a foundation hole with “dirt” there were more rocks and roots than dirt. Let’s put it this way, we had to pickaxe the ground and it still took 3 people shoveling 20 minutes to fill one wheelbarrow. Not a fast process. We found out later that some of the other groups had locals with them who would always take over so those SASers ended up playing with the village children the whole time (yeah kind of wish I was in that group). But at least we got some work done and made a difference. The Habitat people were so grateful that a group of college students would leave their luxurious cruise ship and come move dirt around with bowls (I am not kidding, we had large bowls and had to search for the wheelbarrow) in the rather hot Ghanaian countryside.
On the third day I did another SAS sponsored trip to the Mona Monkey village and the Wli Waterfall. Both were really beautiful places. We went to the waterfall first and had a short hike through the forest to get to the actual waterfall. Our guide picked from a ripe coco plant and let us try some; it didn’t taste anything like chocolate. We also saw pineapple plants, banana plants, and citrus trees (the leaves smelled like lemon). A lot of people went swimming at the base of the falls but I didn’t because we had been warned about fresh water parasites (the pictures they showed us kept more than half of us from swimming). We hiked back to the buses hoping our lunches had finally showed up (they went to a different place then we did) and I bought a yard of fabric and a hand carved elephant in the little village that was there. We were happy to find out our lunches had arrived so we ate lunch on the buses while we were parked there. The children were begging a lot so most of us gave them some of our lunches, we didn’t know if the apples were safe or if they had been washed with local water so most of us gave the kids our apples. I was surprised at how the children weren’t very grateful for what we gave them but they didn’t look starving at all, I saw a lot of food there, women were trying to sell us food while we ate lunch. But at least we didn’t waste any of our food. We then went to the monkey village where monkeys and humans co-exist in peace. The guides took us into the woods with bananas and those of us who were braver got to feed the monkeys. It was really cool watching the monkey get on peoples arms and eat the banana that they held in their hand. It was amazing how gentle they were and if you watched the people were almost able to communicate with them and call the smaller ones closer so they could get some bananas too. When we were getting back on the buses some people still had some food left from lunch so they gave it to the kids at this village. Such a contrast to the children at the first village; these kids shared everything with all the other kids and kept thanking us for what little we had left to give them. It was a much nicer image to recall but I am so glad to have experienced both.
Day 4 started very early (before 6am) and I checked my email to see if there was any last minute stuff from our tour guide. Sadly there was; the guide said there had been a bad accident on the road between port and where we were going and that the traffic was going to be horrible. He didn’t want to risk us being late back to the ship so he refunded all of our money and got us a taxi at a fantastic price to Accra. When I come back to Ghana (not if) I will totally contact him and try to set something up because I still really want to see the slave castle’s and Kakum national park. So we went into Accra and went to the market and got a few things. Then I came back to the ship and have had a fairly relaxing day back on the ship.
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