India

October 23, 2009:

The morning we ported in Chennai, India was one of the first times I didn’t get up early to watch the boat pull in, and that may have been for the better. The industrial port in Chennai was not the cleanest, nor did it have the bluest skies. With a trip leaving at 2:30 I decided it was better to stay on the boat, rather than feeling rushed during my first few moments in India. After lunch on the boat I took a quick walk out on deck, curious about how the poor air quality would really feel while breathing. Next, last minute packing, and preparations for our trip!

When I finally got out to the busses, there was only space left on a converted trolley car. The novelty was fun, for about 3 minutes, at which point the ride started to become long and hot. As we drove through Chennai to the airport, I got my first glimpse of India. The streets were overrun with vehicles of every sort, driving with little regard for one other… with the exception of the horn. Drivers took care to use their horns, loudly and frequently, to convey a variety of emotions and expressions. After arriving at the airport we breezed through security, where they didn’t seem to care about liquids at all which was very bizarre. Soon enough we had boarded our plane and were on our way to Delhi, India.

From the Delhi airport we continued to Hotel Ashok where we would stay for the next night as well. The hotel was so entirely huge, and very nice. We were greeted by women who gave us necklaces made of natural beads (nuts or seeds) and marked our foreheads with the traditional red dot. We went to our rooms, which were so far from what I was expecting with the flat screen TV, wood floors and nice beds! Then we headed downstairs for dinner, our first meal in India. I was pleasantly surprised once again, the dinner buffet had so many different choices, and nearly everything was vegetarian. Although I did have to be careful about uncooked foods and ice/water, being a vegetarian was easier in India than in the United States since many Hindus are vegetarians. Throughout the trip, my favorite foods were paneer (a delicious cheese and flavorfully spiced sauce dish), doughnut-like fried dessert and the delicious bread naan. At dinner there was a five person band playing for us on a knee-high stage, but they played seated the entire time. After dinner we went to one of the hotel bars, but decided to go back to our room instead of going to the nightclub with some of the others from our trip.

October 24, 2009:

The next morning we were woken up at 4:15 for our busy day of travel. We convened in the lobby, boarded the busses and left for the train station. The train was one of the first times I really realized, “We’re in India.” People were asleep in large groups with lots of baggage all over the outdoor areas of the station. There were young children who were beggars, although this experience was not the worst we would have at a train station. Soon enough our train arrived and we boarded the Shatabdi Express for Agra.

Driving through Agra was much different than our drives earlier through Chennai and Delhi. Agra was much smaller, and the people were going about their lives right before our eyes. We saw the sacred cows doing as they pleased beside, and sometimes in, the road. There were many families walking around and small children that were so cute. Our first stop of the day was Fatehpur Sikri, a large expansive compound of built by Emperor Akbar as his capital. Red sandstone palaces filled the historical city that was constructed by Mughal emperor Akbar beginning in 1570. The surviving palace and mosque are a tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Fatehpur Sikri was abandoned in 1585. The reasons for this remain obscure; it is possible that water sources dried up.

Then we left for Agra where we had lunch at Hotel Mansingh hotel where we had another delicious meal of Indian food. After lunch we shopped in the lobby of the hotel. In one of the shops we found shirts that said “Welcome Semester at Sea” with a picture of the Taj Mahal, which was a necessary novelty purchase. We also popped into a fabulous scarf store where I purchased a few luxurious silk scarves.

Next we continued on to Agra Fort, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort, also known as Lal Qila, Fort Rouge and the Red Fort of Agra, has seventy foot tall walls. It is a walled city that surrounded the palace of great Mughal rulers. We were told it is the most important fort in India, and used to contain the largest state treasury and mint. The fort contained the halls and palaces of the Mughals and is at least as old as 1080 C.E. when it was first mentioned. One of the best parts of Agra Fort was the view of the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort’s sister monument only 2.5 km away, which we would be seeing next.

Next we went to the Taj Mahal! The 17th century mausoleum built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his Queen Mumtaz Mahal. It is known as the best example of Mughal architecture and is truly a grand building. It is also a UNESCO site and one of the man-made world wonders. To get to the main mausoleum we walked through the Great Gate, which was a beautiful structure on its own. The Taj Mahal is sandwiched between two buildings, the Taj Mahal Mosque and its identical twin, a guesthouse. Once we entered the gates, I was shocked at how many Indian people there visiting the Taj Mahal. There were tens of thousands of people, maybe more. After some pictures we walked to the stairs where we removed our shoes and attempted to climb the stairs while hundreds of Indian people attempted to do the same thing, pushing and shoving all the while. After we had reached the main staircase to the Taj, the “line” we were in got even less civilized. After some careful maneuvering, we reached the bottom of the stairs, but were separated as we merged into the crowd. A few steps up I felt someone’s hand on my back, thinking it was one of my friends, I reached behind to issue a reassuring grasp… but realized this was not a familiar hand, but a wrinkly one. Soon, the hand had migrated and was using my pants as a handle, as the old woman tried to get up the steep stairs with all of the other 1000 people on the staircase. Once we were up on the ground level of the Taj, we took a lap, admiring the views from every angle. I was soon approached by a group of middle school aged boys who wanted lots of pictures with me. They thought blonde hair was just about the strangest thing. Soon a grown man with his child also wanted a picture, shortly followed by a group of mid-20s men, at which point I had to break away from the paparazzi like situation. We decided that we didn’t have enough time to go inside the mausoleum, and spent our last Taj moments snapping pictures as the sun set in Agra, India.

We returned to Hotel Mansingh for dinner, where we experienced more of the customary short power-outages that occurred daily while we were in India. We left the hotel for our train. The train station in Agra was one of the worst situations I encountered in India, and maybe the moment where I was the most painfully aware of the poverty that exists in India. Got to train station, this is when the kids were so bad. Girls fought, men would start shining your shoes if you weren’t careful. At this point my patent leather shoes looked like they really needed it. At one point there were close to twenty beggars preying on our group, and it was one of the worst feelings trying to ignore them. Some of them had disabilities, which we learned were sometimes inflicted by the bosses of their gangs to encourage feelings of pity and money as a result. At one point, two of the young girls got into a fight. They were hitting and scratching, until one girl bit the top of her younger friend’s head, at which point the younger girl started crying. The tour guide and the train station security were soon there addressing the problem. Thankfully the train arrived not long after the fight. We got back on train and I did the traveling no-no, I plugged in my iPod. With earbuds in and a scarf wrapped around my head to close out the light, I finally fell asleep. Upon our return to Delhi we returned to Hotel Ashok and went to bed.

October 25, 2009:

The next morning we got to sleep in a bit longer, until 6:00AM and had breakfast at the hotel. We left the hotel with all of our bags for a tour of Delhi before our flight to Varanasi, the holiest city in all of India for the Hindus. On our tour we visited the Birla Temple, also called Laxminarayan Temple, which was built in 1622 in honor of the goddess of wealth Laxmi and also Vishnu, one of the three main gods of Hindu. I enjoyed looking at all of the shrines and paintings, and wandering around the bright yellow and red building. Next we went on a drive down the main strip of Delhi along Rajpath, meaning King’s Road, where we saw the War Memorial, Parliament House, Secretariat buildings and the official residence of the President of India. These grand buildings looked much like the large buildings you would see in any capital, another time where it was hard to remember that we were in India.

During our flight I looked out the window and saw an expansive mountain range. Curious, I asked the flight attendant who, like most Indians, spoke very good English. Then he told me that those were the Himalayas in Nepal, which is very close to where we were in India at the time. I thought that was so cool being able to see such a foreign faraway seeming place.
After we arrived in Varanasi we checked into Hotel Radisson Varanasi. Driving through Varanasi was much more along the lines of what I had expected of India, in contrast to the big city feel of Delhi. We had lunch in the hotel, more delicious Indian food, then had free time to get settled and nap if we wanted to. We decided to have cocktails in the lobby before heading out to a trip to the Indian Art Emporium where silk ties and scarves, rugs, woven wall hangings and customized clothes could be purchased. I picked out some of the most beautiful silk scarves.

Next we had a rickshaw through the main drag of Varanasi. Casey and I barely fit in the back of the rickshaw and easily doubled the weight of the poor Indian man who had to drag us around. Traffic was really crazy and at some points I just had to close my eyes. We took the rickshaw to the top of a large set of stairs that led down to the Ganges River, a holy river for the Hindus. We had arrived at the Dasaswamedh Ghat, a platform overlooking the Ganges just in time to see the Ganga Aarti, a simultaneous ritual performance by a number of priests on individual platforms and the lighting and release of small tea light set upon flowers into the Ganges. The priests light wicks and incense and perform a long ritual to express humility and gratitude to the gods.

After the ceremony was over we returned to the spot where we left our rickshaws. It was hard to differentiate between our rickshaw and the 100s of other male Indian rickshaw drivers, but eventually he found us! He was really a powerhouse of a rickshaw driver and we ended up passing nearly everyone and returning to the bus very quickly. Even though I’m not sure he spoke much English, I think Casey and I communicated well how good of a time we were having! Unfortunately one of the girls in our group got lost coming back from the ghat, and we were stuck in limbo wondering what had happened to her while we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally she called our guide from the hotel, her rickshaw driver had gotten lost and the only address she could find was that of the hotel. We then were able to return to the hotel where we had another nice Indian meal.

After dinner we appreciated the dance floor the hotel had set up for us, although we were hard pressed to find any new songs. We danced to a lot of Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. However, at 11:00PM the hotel insisted the music must stop, as well as the jumping up and down on the dance floor, as we were disturbing other guests. We headed upstairs for a small hotel get together, and eventually headed to bed in the wee hours of the morning.

October 26, 2009:

The next morning we had another 4:00AM wake up call, but this time it was to go see the Ganges River at sunrise. We left in the busses to the Ganges River where we boarded two boats and sailed up and down the river as the sun rose over the opposite river bank. During this time, many people were approaching the banks of the Ganges to do their morning bathing, light more of the floating votives and attend or perform cremation ceremonies. As the holiest Hindu site, to be cremated on the banks of, or floating down, the Ganges is of the highest significance. We learned that the poorer people who cannot afford the cremation ceremony sometimes just swim into the Ganges and let the river take them. We saw a few people swimming but I hope they were just enjoying their morning bath. Our guide warned us that we should not take pictures of that portion of the ride, and sure enough we passed a few cremations. We also saw part of dead body floating down the river, which was unpleasant and haunting. The Ganges is considered so holy that a vial of the river water is kept in every household and a trip to bathe in the Ganges is part of every devout Hindu’s life, they even drink a mixture of Ganges water, urine and lemon juice at the Hindu wedding ceremony for good health and wealth!

After we left the Ganges, we went back to the hotel for breakfast. Then we packed our stuff and boarded the busses for our tour of Varanasi. Known as “The Heart Beat of India” it is recognized as the oldest living city in the world at an age of over 2500 years. Then we drove to Sarnath, where the ruins lie of the city where the Buddha preached his first sermon. We visited the ancient monastery and a new Buddhist temple, as well as a museum with many of the artifacts excavated from the ruins of the ancient city.

We continued to the airport, where we were served lunch. Getting back to the boat in Chennai ended up being quite the ordeal, with our flight to Delhi delayed past the departure of our flight to Chennai. Luckily they held the plane, which makes since with 70+ passengers missing. We boarded the second plane finally and I had my last try at getting to a million dollars on the Who Wants to be a Millionaire game on the headset TV screen every airplane seat was outfitted with. That evening we returned to the boat and went to sleep, feeling overwhelmed from the long full days of traveling.

October 27, 2009:

The next morning was spent shopping. We got up and had an autorickshaw driver take us to Spencer’s market, where we could spend the rest of our Indian Rupies and pick up some Indian treasures. We shopped for a while but headed back to the ship after not too long. Riding in the autorickshaw was especially funny with four of us crammed into the backseat of an original Mini-sized vehicle.

India was an amazing place to visit, but a completely overwhelming experience. The intense poverty that I encountered, though only in glances, deeply saddened me. The infrastructure was poor and the traffic bad, but the underlying pace of India in the world’s economy is quick. India is quickly coming up to challenge other world powers, especially China for production and manufacturing. I found that throughout the time in India my opinion was everchanging. It was although the idea of India was elusive, and I wanted to pin India down, but then I would see it in a different way that would change my idea of the country. I loved India it its own way, and learned a lot about the world there. The things I saw in India, the Taj and Varanasi in particular, were so amazing to witness in person.

Stephanie@Sea

“I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad” -George Bernard Shaw

Sea Olympics

October 20, 2009: Sea Olympics

The morning of Sea Olympics, a competition between the various halls on the ship, I awoke to the glassiest water I have ever seen. Although we were moving at a normal pace it felt like we were sitting in a lake or something, a very bizarre sight. The day was filled with a variety of games and competitions. My hall, the Yellow Sea, somehow got assigned red as a color, but we were spirited despite the chromatic confusion. The night before, we met as a sea to divide up into the various games and events that would take place over the course of the day. Some of the events included spelling bee, volleyball, dodge ball, various board games, sweatshirt medley (swimming a lap in the pool while wearing a sweatshirt, wringing it out into a bucket after each lap and passing the sweatshirt to the next person—very funny!), human knot, lap sit, etc. Two of the events I was signed up for were cancelled, but I won my third event, Pictionary! Our sea ended up finishing second, just behind the Andaman Sea. The lucky winners will be the first to disembark in San Diego. While we didn’t win I got to meet a lot of new people. It seems like no matter how social you are on the boat, there are so many people that it may be impossible to meet them all!

Stephanie@Sea

South Africa

October 3, 2009:

The morning of our arrival to Cape Town, we got up early to watch Table Mountain appear on the horizon, not long after the sun had risen. We watched the boat steer carefully into our spot in the gorgeous port area of Cape Town. That day I had a FDP trip to two wineries in South Africa's reputed wine country. Before our FDP we decided to walk around the port area. We walked past beautiful hotels, a huge mall, lots of smaller shops, and a craft market before arriving at Mitchell's, a traditional style Scottish alehouse the faculty, staff and students alike frequented during our time in Cape Town. After local beers, Old Wobbly and Marzan Gold, and lunch, we headed back to the ship so as not to miss our trip to the wine country.

Once aboard the bus, we learned a lot about Cape Town and South Africa from our tour guide. Cape Town has been around since the 1400s when sailors were looking for a sea route east to Asia from Europe. In 1652 Cape Town was established as a halfway refreshment station, and a garden was built to help supply the Dutch East India Company with fresh fruit and vegetables to combat scurvy. A big part of our visit was the significance of the coming 2010 World Cup, the first ever in Africa. Lots of preparations and infrastructural improvements were in progress already to prepare for the massive amount of visitors that will be coming next summer. Before our arrival to South Africa we learned quite a bit about their political past, and some of the past and current struggles centered on race. Although the tour guide did not touch on this, I learned enough in my classes to be aware.

Our first stop on the FDP was Nelson's Creek Wine Estates, in the Paarl region of the wine region outside of Cape Town. We took a tour of the grounds, led by the general manager of the small winery, and learned about the history and production of wine, which was really interesting. Then we were seated at tables, which were thankfully shaded, amongst crates of wine complete with date stamps. While we continued to learn about wine production and management, as well as the marketing and sustainability of the winery, we were led through a proper wine tasting. We were also given delicious crackers and cheese, which I happily nibbled on. I had a lot of fun on what was my very first wine tasting.

Our next stop was Backsberg Wine Cellars, a larger winery, also in the Paarl region. We were led straight into the tasting room where we were seated at an incredibly long table situated between out of use gigantic oak barrels used to age the wine. We were lucky enough to have the CEO himself speak with us about the same operational and business areas that our trip had focused on at Nelson's Creek. A very animated man, who's job is to speak to visiting groups, led us through the wine tasting, which included an award winning (best in the world-1995) brandy and a port wine.

After we returned to the port, we changed and got ready for dinner. We headed to popular Long Street for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Nando's and then headed across the street to Zula, which had live music that evening. The music was an interesting mix of rock, reggae and later on, a DJ who favored mid-90s semi-hits. Perhaps the most noteworthy part of our night was the ride home, when we drove past a riot, where the police officers had used tear gas. The cab driver didn't know why they were rioting, but said it wasn't a normal occurrence.

October 4, 2009:

The next morning I woke up early. Although I had really wanted to go bungee jumping in South Africa, which has the world's tallest bridge bungee jump, I was unable to because of time restrictions. Instead, I decided to fill my second day with adrenalin from a different cause: sharks. We piled into the large van that had been sent for us and headed for Gansbaai, South Africa the Great White Shark capital of the world. Situated near two islands that are completely populated with delicious treats of African Penguins and Cape Fur Seals, the shark population is large enough to merit the title. The shark company we used was named Shark Diving Unlimited. The owner, Michael Rutzen, star of Discovery Channel's Sharkman, has done more free dives with Great White Sharks than any one else in the world. We arrived at the offices, set in a house, had a wonderful breakfast and waited for the boat to come to the dock. On our way out we saw another boat offshore watching an amazingly large animal breach out of the water, at first we thought it was a shark, and I was seriously rethinking the cage dive. When we zoomed in with our cameras we saw that it was a whale, and the skipper told us that it was a Southern Right Whale. Once we were on the boat we traveled out into the ocean a few miles and the fun began.

First they "chummed" the water, pouring fish blood and guts into the water. We drove in a circular direction honing in on the area where we would perform our cage dive. Soon there were big shadows lurking underneath the boat, sharks! As we approached the cage, which had been left out by the group that went in the early morning hours, we all put on wetsuits. We were given strict instructions on what to do and what not to do. When we say divers down, go down, your head cannot be above the water when there are sharks near the cage. Do not put any part of your body outside of the cage. Do not hold on to the outer rails of the cage. Do not splash. Do not make sudden movements. Stephen was the first from our group to go in, with four other people in our cage dive group but not from SAS. Soon enough it was my turn. I was outfitted with snorkel goggles and a weight belt and instructed to climb into the cage with Missy, Andrew, Andy, Nikola and Aly. Right when I got into the water there was a shark approaching and I had to go underwater. Between my weight belt and the over the head wetsuit, I was having a lot of trouble breathing and asked to be brought out as soon as the shark was done. For a second I wasn't sure if I could really go through with the shark dive.  I readjusted my wetsuit, and to give myself more breathing room I didn't zip it all the way up. Then I got right back in. The next 10 or so minutes were absolutely amazing. One of the crewmembers on the boat would throw out a large fish head (basketball sized), and tease the sharks to get the sharks to swim close to the cage. Andrew had an underwater camera, so I will always be able to remember what the experience was like. The sharks were amazingly big and very graceful. There were a few times in the cage when the shark swam right against the cage. Although the railing we held on to was about a foot inside the cage, I slowly peeled my hands off the bar and held them back… not wanting to get nibbled on! Being on the boat while others were diving was equally amazing. When you're in the water you don't see all of the sharks circling, only those that are fairly close to you. Also, the most amazing part of seeing the sharks from the boat was when they would breach, biting for the fish heads. There were a couple of times, thankfully not while I was in the cage, when a few of the sharks decided to take a nibble on the cage. How terrifying! After each of the three groups took two dives we headed back to shore. The whole time the skipper had been videotaping the sharks, and our group, and while we had lunch (including the best split pea soup I have ever had!) he compiled it onto a DVD. We all watched the video, and our group decided to buy one and split the cost since one of the boys knew how to burn DVDs. Then it was time to head back to Cape Town. We were all so exhausted from the constant adrenalin rush.

After we got back from shark diving, Missy and I went shopping. I bought a safari outfit and hat from South Africa's REI equivalent. Then we went to the craft market. Although we browsed nearly every stall, I only bought a few bracelets. Then we headed back to the boat to get ready for dinner.

Once everyone was ready for dinner, we headed out to pick a restaurant. We settled on a place in the Victor and Albert Waterfront mall area, called Cape Town Fish Market. We shared a few bottles of wine, a handful of us now considered ourselves connoisseurs after our wine tasting from the previous day, and wanted to try even more of the famous South African wines. The restaurant was a seafood place but also had a significant Asian flair. I had vegetarian sushi, edamame and an Asian noodle dish. After we left the restaurant we again headed to Mitchell's, where we saw one of our ship-board deans. Some of our friends even took shots with them! I think it's fair to say that would NEVER happen at any of our home universities. We didn't stay out too late since our safari was leaving the next morning!

October 5, 2009:

The next morning our safari group met near the gangway on the ship, before departing for the airport. The airport, like other pieces of infrastructure is undergoing serious renovation in preparation for World Cup 2010. We walked through security without any worries, and the water bottles we had forgotten to empty weren't even noticed. We waited at our gate before boarding a large bus that drove us out to the tarmac where our plane was waiting. The plane was also a new experience for me, with two propellers on each side. Once we departed Cape Town we had a two-and-a-half hour flight to Kruger Mpumalanga airport. Upon arrival our safari dreams started to come true. The airport was exactly what I could have imagined. It had a traditional straw type roof and looked like a large lodge.

We met our driver, whom we convinced to stop for food and beverages before heading to the lodge we were staying at. Everything was fine, until we got pulled over at a checkpoint, and our driver discovered he had an outstanding ticket. One of the boys agreed to pay for the ticket, and the driver said he would pick us up and pay him back, which he did. After the period of excitement, we continued driving and driving along the two-lane road. Our first animal sighting was the large pack of goats that our driver drove aggressively towards, honking and almost hitting them. On the plane we had all read the airline magazine which had an interesting article, curiously un-cited, that said there is a growing trend in America to eat roadkill. One of the boys referenced the article, saying if we had actually hit the goats we could have had dinner! In the small towns we passed through there were lots of very skinny cows in addition to more goats.

Once we were within the park, we continued driving on a two lane road to our lodge. Most of us dozed off, exhausted from the previous days of adventure in Cape Town. All of the sudden we were awoken by a sudden change of direction as our driver whipped the vehicle around. He instructed us all to be quiet and pointed out a watering hole flush against the fence. Just over the fence were two rhinos and a hippo laying on its side in the water. We were so excited! Our first safari animals! Once we turned off the road we continued on a dirt road. Just on the way to meet our guide we saw a giraffe, zebras and kudu (an antelope relative). Once we met our guide, we said goodbye to our driver who would meet us on the last day of our safari. We transferred all of our luggage into one of the vehicles, that Kylie was driving back to the lodge, and we climbed into the safari vehicle with Mark, who would be our guide for all of our safaris. Our vehicle drove on sometimes very rough dirt roads through the savannah woodland. We saw lots of birds and game. At the airport I had purchased a fold out bird guide, at my mom's recommendation, so I had a lot of fun identifying the birds.

After a while we pulled over and Mark asked if any of us wanted a beer or soda. Then he unloaded our afternoon snack of vegetables, sausages and dip on the hood of the vehicle. It was at this point that we realized how much better this would be then going on a Semester at Sea organized trip. We continued on our game drive, getting to know Mark along the way. It was clear at the beginning that he didn't understand our sarcastic sense of humor, but soon he adjusted and knew that we weren't being stupid Americans.  As we were heading back to the lodge, we crossed a riverbed and there was an elephant right there, although it ran away we were very close to it for a few moments. It was all by itself which made me sad, but Mark said in dry season the elephants sometimes spread out a bit more to find water. He said that the elephant had probably been digging in the riverbed sand to try to reach water. Poor thirsty elephant!

Once we arrived at Drifter's Game Lodge, we were greeted, signed the register, and shown to our rooms. Alex, a new friend on the boat who goes to University of Miami, and I shared a room. Off the wooden deck, where two chairs sat looking out into the savannah, was a tent/building structure. First we had to undo the monkey lock on the screen door, evidently the monkeys learned how to unzip the screens and had wrecked havoc in the past. Once inside we were amazed at how nice it was. The floors were carpeted, and the beds looked huge compared to our small mattresses on the boat. Although the structure was some sort of permanent tent, we had lots of screened "windows" and the entire entry was screened so we could look out. The best part was the bathroom, which was beautifully tiled and huge compared to the ship bathrooms and had a shower that was open to the outdoors! We were instructed not to leave any toiletries in the bathroom, so as not to lure the monkeys into the bathroom. After not too long the dinner drum played and we wandered back to the lodge.

Once we were all back to the lodge we were led to the dining area, which was across the driveway from the main lodge. The dining tables were set up in a semi circle with the chairs on the outside facing the fire in the middle of the large circular dining area which was fenced in with a tall grass fence and covered with sand. We were seated and served. This would be the beginning of the delicious NON-SHIP food we enjoyed on our safari! The first course a butternut squash soup with cream, served with amazing home made bread. Next was a green apple sorbet served as a palette cleanser. The rest of the group had warthog step over beans that we were told were Nelson Mandela's favorite! I was served a creamy vegetable dish over the same beans. I was so thankful that they had been able to accommodate me. During dinner we heard hyenas in the distance, although we never saw them. Also during dinner, Missy had leaned too far back in her chair and tipped backwards. This was just the beginning of us loosening up the staff at Drifter's. For dessert we were served a "cooked sister", a fried dough dessert similar to a doughnut, with ice cream.  After dinner they invited us to scoot in around the fire, and we enjoyed tea and coffee and some good conversation.

October 6, 2009:

The next morning we were awoken at 5:00AM by a kudu horn blowing, summoning us to breakfast. We had a prompt breakfast of cereal, delicious bran muffins, soda bread, mango and mixed tropical punch juices, tea and coffee. It is so funny to see how the simple things make the biggest difference in my day, like a good breakfast. Food on the ship is really not good. We departed Drifter's for our second game drive as the sun rose. We had been driving for a while, having seen giraffes and zebras, as well as kudu and antelope. All of the sudden Andrew yells at Mark to stop. We look to the right and there is leopard perched on a car-sized rock, about 25 feet from our vehicle. The leopard looked at us as we looked at it. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life, it was such a beautiful and powerful animal and SO close to us. The leopard climbed down the back of the rock, and then came around, even closer to our vehicle. For a few seconds I was a little scared of what was going to happen. Then the leopard crossed the road behind us and ran off into the savannah. We tried to track it to see it again, to no avail. We continued to drive around for a while, and heard report of a fresh lion kill of a baby giraffe, which we would pursue in the evening. On our way back to the lodge we saw a mommy and baby rhino crossing the road. The mommy was so protective of the cute little baby. It was really sweet to see, especially since they crossed only about 10 feet in front of the vehicle.

After we returned we were served brunch, the entire spread from earlier, as well as a delicious fresh fruit salad and our choice of eggs, bacon, sausage and grilled tomato. After brunch, some of our group headed off for naps, while the rest of us headed to the pool for the afternoon. The pool at Drifter's was made to look like it was all rock, and was really cool. There were tables and lounge chairs around the pool area. We had a great time getting some sun and getting to know one another. The funniest part of the afternoon was probably how we decided to chill our drinks. We had a few bottles of South African wine that simply would not fit in the cooler, so we used the very cold pool to help! Eventually it got hot enough that I jumped in to join the bottles for a bob in the cold water. At about 3:45PM we were told to get ready for tea and our evening game drive.

We changed and headed back to the main lodge where we were served cinnamon and mixed berry crepes and two different types of quiche. After a quick snack we loaded into the vehicle. One of the boys, Andrew, had napped most of the afternoon and then tried to play catch up with the rest of us, ended up passing out for the evening night drive, which was definitely our best game drive of the trip. Earlier in the day Andrew had been our best spotter, with the lucky spotting (pun intended) of the leopard. On our way to see the dead baby giraffe, we drove past another piece of the park that was fenced. Laying next to the fence was a lion and lioness… and two cubs! We sat there and watched them for a few minutes, which was really cool. Not long after the lion sighting, we pulled over for snack: vegetable eggrolls and chicken wings with drink of choice. While enjoying a ice cold Coke and watching the sunset, I got up the courage to ask Mark a question. I was prepared for a no, but when I explained to Mark that I knew how to drive a stick and that I would really like to drive the vehicle, if that was OK, he surprisingly agreed. After snack, everyone climbed back in the vehicle, and off we went. He didn't let me drive very far, and it wasn't anything that needed higher gear four wheel drive, but I would have been prepared I'm sure. How many people can say they've driven a safari vehicle in South Africa, not many I'm sure. We continued on towards the giraffe kill, and although it was too far off the road to really be seen, we saw some jackals eating it. All of the sudden they ran away and when I happened to look back over my shoulder I saw one of the lion cubs running across the road behind us! There was no fence between the lions and us this time! On our long drive back to the lodge, I spotted the most rare of all of the animals we saw on our safari, an aardvark. It was so scared of us bumping into trees and getting stuck in bushes trying to get away from us. At this point Mark started to wonder if we weren't going to actually end up seeing the Battle of Kruger, the infamous video clip of the lions and alligators fighting over a water buffalo, which the boys had jokingly requested since we first met Mark. "With your goodluck, we just might," Mark joked back. After the aardvark we spotted a few waterbuffalo, rounding out our big five! On the way back to the lodge we stopped in a river bed, and did a little stargazing. The stars were so bright and easy to see because there was no light pollution in the middle of the park. The Milky Way was very visible as Jupiter.

After returning, we quickly were called to dinner. The non-vegetarians were served ostrich pate with tomatoes on half of a fresh biscuit, while I was served a biscuit with delicious mustard cream cheese. Next came the palette cleanser of the evening, a delicious pomegranate sorbet. For our main courses we were served beef mince meat, cooked in the style of local Malay people, curry style over rice and brinjal (eggplant) rolls with delicious cheese filling served with vegetables and rice. We again had tea around the fire, this time inviting Kylie to join us. As the youngest member of the staff, she was only 20 years old, Kylie identified more with us than with the staffers. She told us how fun we had been, but how rare it was to have a young group, and that we were definitely the youngest she had seen.

October 7, 2009:

The last day of our safari we were awoken early for breakfast, and quickly left for our last game drive. Before we even left our camp, we saw a giraffe. Mark was giving us lots of attitude the last morning, making the drive even more fun. The giraffe walked into the river bed bordering our camp, and Mark directed us to pursue on foot. With the giraffe in the distance we took pictures. The last of our group to have his personal picture with the giraffe, Mario, had also decided to video a few moments with the giraffe. As he slowly backed up to get even closer to the giraffe without scaring it off, Mark all of the sudden lunged, as if the giraffe was coming at Mario. Mario jumped about three feet off the ground and then turned around, scaring off the giraffe, but realizing that Mark had played his first practical joke! We all laughed and laughed! After we got back into the car, someone asked Mark to do his best giraffe impression, expecting to hear a giraffe call. Instead, Mark lengthened his neck, looked around slowly and imitated the slow, long-legged movements of the giraffe. Again we all laughed and laughed. Mark had finally caught on to our sense of humor, and stopped thinking that we were just acting like stupid Americans. On our drive back to the lodge we saw a bunch of monkeys playing in the trees, which was really cool. They were so acrobatic and playful, hanging upside down and swinging from branch to branch.

Upon our return we had a quick brunch and packed our gear into the other safari vehicle. Saying goodbye was sad, I didn't want to leave. They encouraged us to come back, and if I ever take another safari, I will. Drifter's was the perfect amount of rustic Africa, and luxury hotel. The food was amazing, the beds were so comfortable and the people were so nice! We took a different vehicle, the one the other four safari-goers had been using, that had a seat on the hood of the car. Mario asked if he could ride up there, and the other game driver, Drew, obliged. At some points Drew accelerated to have a little bit of fun, at which point Mario would look back at us wide-eyed. We arrived at the transfer point where our driver met us. Sure enough he had gotten Andrew's money. We proceded to Kruger Mpumalanga airport. Although our flight was delayed, we were given a bit more time to grab lunch (grilled cheese with tomato on wheat bread and a strawberry milkshake YUM!) and buy postcards! We arrived back to Cape Town and the ship safely, but exhausted and a little dusty!

On our safari we saw: bush baby, zebra, leopard, giraffe, lion, rhino, aardvark, wildebeest, kudu, impala, bushbuck, elephant, african wildcat, civet, mongoose, african buffalo (water buffalo) and warthog

We saw the following birds: brown hooded kingfisher, southern yellow billed hornbill (like Zazoo from The Lion King), red billed hornbill, helmeted guinea fowl (which we saw everywhere… pigeon of the savannah, stupid), saddle billed stork, grey heron, cattle egret, black collared barbet, white crested helmet shrike, red billed oxpecker, red billed buffalo weaver, red billed quelea, blue waxbill, cape turtle dove, grey go-away bird, brown snake eagle, hooded vulture, coqui francolin

That evening I went to dinner with Cat, Andy and Stephen at City Grill on the waterfront. The boys hadn't yet had their fill of authentic South African meat, so they had a skewer of warthog, kudu, alligator, etc. I had a vegetarian platter with stuffed mushrooms, mashed sweet potatoes, creamed spinach, vegetable and cheese philo dough roll up. We sat on the patio overlooking the water and Cat and I wrapped ourselves in provided animal skin print blankets. We were directly overlooking a particular ship in the harbor that was made to look like a pirate ship, and had people dressed as pirates operating the bar inside of the pirate ship. I noticed that one of the pirates standing outside, holding a cannon, was a boy from our own ship. We had a great time trying to answer why he was dressed as a pirate and where he got the pirate costume.

From there we went to Mitchell's to enjoy our last night in South Africa. We were all getting sad, and thinking about how we didn't want to leave! Then we decided we needed to try out the pirate ship, but didn't even want to stay for a drink once inside. We did snap a few pictures, but left promptly to return to Mitchell's. We stayed for a while longer, before returning to the boat, completely exhausted!

October 8, 2009:

The next morning a group of us ventured off the boat for one more delicious breakfast. Missy had heard of a place from a friend that was in the nearby mall, that was really delicious. I had a breakfast burrito and delicious hot chocolate, and everyone's meals looked so good! The rest of the group wanted to hang around and use internet, uploading pictures or talking to people from home. I decided I was absolutely not going to waste another final day in port on the internet like I did in Ghana. Since we had arrived in South Africa I had wanted to go to Table Mountain, and after talking to the hospitality desk that was on the ship daily, I decided that I could go alone safely. I ventured back to my room to change into appropriate walking shoes and warmer clothes and left the ship. On my way down the gangway I ran into a friend from USD, Zack, who was headed off the boat. He was going to meet a girlfriend of another USD SASer who I had met earlier that week, and they were planning to head to Table Mountain! Perfect! Zack tried to go on a tour to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned) at the last minute but Kate, who is English, but traveling around the world and meeting our boat in a few places, still wanted to go to Table Mountain. We met her travel partner, Imogen, and then headed out to find a taxi. We had a great time talking in the cab, got to the bottom of the cable car, bought our tickets and waited in line. While we were in line I got a text message from Zack saying his tour was cancelled and he was coming to meet us with another friend Zack. The Zack's found us at the top of Table Mountain and we walked around taking pictures. My memory card was still full from the safari, but I got a few good shots, and will take more from Zack before the trip is over. We shared a pizza and champagne in the restaurant that sits on the top of Table Mountain, which was fun, but then it grew time to head back to the ship.

After we arrived back at the waterfront we stopped at Mitchell's. Everyone was there enjoying there last moments in South Africa, and feeling very reluctant to leave. We had a few drinks, signed the American flag that was hanging on the ceiling, danced to some American hits played the jukebox a friend from school was controlling, and… bought a Mitchell's jacket. Down the right sleeve, large letters advertise "drinking arm". Although very silly, it will always remind me of the good times we had in South Africa! Eventually we really did have to head back to the ship and got there with only 15 minutes or so to spare.

South Africa was amazing. The cultural understanding we gained before arriving was so valuable to appreciating the changes that are occurring in South Africa. When the World Cup is going on this summer I will be pleasantly reminiscing about all the great times I had while in Cape Town, visiting the wine country, shark diving and on safari in Kruger.

Stephanie@Sea

Mauritius

After a stressful seven days of midterm exams, papers and projects, the thought of a beach and a short weekend of relaxing couldn’t have sounded more appealing. What I had underestimated, or perhaps been too swamped with schoolwork to think of, is how beautiful a little island in the Indian Ocean called Mauritius could possibly be. Before we arrived in Port Louis, Mauritius, we were introduced to a quote by Mark Twain, "You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius," and could not have seemed more fitting after the first sight of the clear water and white sand beaches.

October 15, 2009:

Upon arriving in Port Louis we disembarked with our bags, ready for a weekend in the popular beach area of Flic en Flac. We boarded a water taxi with a group of other SASers and approached the main waterfront area. The water was the clearest I have ever seen, and some of the cutest and most colorful small boats decorated with strands of lights were tethered to the railing or anchored in the water. After arriving to the other side of the waterfront we walked through a building of shops, stopped for some fresh squeezed juice (pineapple-orange-mango and kiwi), and then into Le Craft Market for a look at some Mauritian souvenirs. Sarongs, purses and hats woven out of straw, towels and Indian saris were plentiful. And, most noteworthy, it was easy to find one of everything decorated with the dodo bird. Famous for… well I’m not really sure what the dodo is famous for… but it was a Mauritian native, before the meter-tall bird was hunted to extinction.

Before heading to our villa in Flic en Flac, we camped out at the Keg & Marlin restaurant and bar while we waited for Andrew, who had decided he was going to skip his trip for some more beach time with the group. While we waited for Andrew to come back from the boat, we were encouraged by the waitress to try the local rum, which is made from the plentiful cane sugar on the island. Over our tropical drinks, Funky Fusions, Hawaiian Blue Jays, and local beer Phoenix for the boys, we were able to sell Andrew’s ticket to another SAS student! Once Andrew returned, we got in a cab that our friend Danny had pre-negotiated the price of, and drove to our villa in Flic en Flac. Although we ran into some traffic leaving Port Louis, I never tire of looking out the window when there is something to sea other than open ocean.

Upon our arrival to our villa in Flic en Flac we quickly dropped our stuff off and walked about 10 minutes along the BEAUTIFUL beach into town. We ate lunch at a restaurant called Black Steer, where we continued to enjoy the very appropriate tropical drinks. One, called the Mauritian Pearl, had a scoop of ice cream on top of a mix of rum and delicious local fruit juices. Life was tough in Mauritius. Then we ordered lunch, most of our group had burgers, but I had mozzarella marinara (long strips of cheese with light breading), garlic cheese bread and a Greek salad.  It was nice to have lettuce that wasn’t just clear iceberg, and a little variety in general. We went next door to the grocery store to do some shopping, and got a little carried away, before realizing that we had to carry all of our groceries home. The store gave us cardboard boxes, and we set out on our way to our villa to begin the Mauritian festivities.

We went back to our villa, and grabbed our beach stuff. Then we headed to the beach to play some volleyball. I had a great time diving for the ball nearly every time, to varying degrees of success. Two of our friends had to head back to the beach, as they had trips to go on the next day.

When we returned to the house, Andrew whipped up the guacamole he had promised and the group played some games. After what served as our dinner, we showered and got out of our beachy clothes.

We soon learned that Thursday is a quiet night around Flic en Flac. Our first stop was Mafiozza, an outdoor bar next to the restaurant where we had lunch. Although not all of us bought drinks, they were happy to have us there. We spent a good amount of time talking to a young schoolteacher named Wesley. He quoted The Lion King when describing life in Mauritius, “Akuna Matata,” and already we couldn’t have agreed more. We joked around with him but also learned a lot about Mauritius. He told us that to drive around the entire island takes only 6 hours! He also told us that this was not his first experience with a group of Americans, although we were his preferred of his two encounters. He had been working at a resort when George Bush came to Mauritius, with a group of Americans who drank like pigs. I learned that the name Mauritius, or L’ile Maurice, came from the name of the Dutch governor at the time.

As the group moved to nearby Kenzie Bar, we found more good conversation and good times. The girls instantly gravitated to the musician, equipped with a harmonica and guitar singing Bob Marley songs. We had a nice sing-a-long, and livened up the place a bit. Soon a young man came up to us and asked if we were American (Was it that obvious…? hahah), who was a Tulane student and knew a girl who I went to high school with. What a small world! We ran into some other SAS students, some of whom I hadn’t met yet.

At the bar, I met a Mauritian man named Andre. We had the type of conversation I like to have at least once in every port. We talked about politics, America, Mauritius, the differences between them, life on a small island, and many other things. Soon it was time to leave, and we headed back to our villa for some well-deserved rest!

October 16, 2009:

The next morning we had a pre-set goal to work towards: waking up early enough to grab one of the covered beach villas, for some shade! We headed to the beach, and were lucky enough to find the last one unoccupied. We had mimosas and alternated periods of lying in the sand and wading in the clear Indian Ocean. We spotted our friend Andrew, on his way back from scuba diving, with two friends from SAS who he had gone scuba diving with that morning. They had just gone grocery shopping for BBQ stuff for the afternoon and invited us over. They left and we gathered our stuff. On our second grocery-shopping trip we got veggie burgers and some extra barbeque supplies. Casey and I couldn’t resist buying matching dodo bird tank tops, and I bought goggles and a snorkel, although I never ended up using them in the water. We had a really nice barbeque at their villa, which was also beautiful. The veggie burgers were about half a centimeter thick, but with a stack of pineapple, zucchini, squash, I didn’t mind one bit. Cat and I decided to go snorkel, but were distracted by the rest of the group playing volleyball. I decided to join in, and on one of the first volleys, dove for a ball. I soon realized the difference in the course and coral littered sand on the new court, compared to the soft sand from the day before’s court, and was soon bleeding from five spots on my left shin and knee. Although I washed my leg off in the salt water,  I was done in the water for the day, and never ended up snorkeling. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Thomas and Bradley’s villa, and then headed home with plans of reuniting before going out for the night.

We wandered home along the beach to shower and get ready for the “big night” that we were promised by the locals. Casey, Cat, Stephen and I were ready, and decided to go to dinner at Chez Pepe, an Italian restaurant on our corner, while we waited for the slowpokes to get ready. I had gnocchi gorgonzola which was absolutely amazing. The other three tried another local beer, blue marlin, while I had a punch maison (house punch). After Andrew and Missy came to meet us, we walked back to the other villa. Before going out we celebrated the birthdays of Missy and Brian with cake and fun games. Two of the boys even did a choreographed dance that they had put together at some point.

We headed to Shout, which we heard was the happening spot in Flic en Flac that evening. We found quite a few SAS people on the way there, but none of us were interested in paying the cover charge for Shout. Instead we went to Shotz a bar in the same complex of Shout (there was also an upstairs bar named Shooters). There were so many SAS people all looking to have a good time that we practically took over the outside patios and turned one into a huge dance party. There were lots of locals there as well and everyone seemed to have a great time.

October 17, 2009:

The next morning we packed up our stuff and said goodbye to our villa. We went to the beach really quickly to take a few pictures, documenting our time on the beautiful island beaches. We went to brunch at Black Steer and to the grocery store again for snacks. We loaded into cabs and headed back to Port Louis feeling sad that we had to leave.

Once we were back in the port area, we walked to the shops we had seen the first day, only to discover they were closed for the Hindu holiday Dwali. We stopped at the Keg and Marlin again to talk to some of our friends about their time in Mauritius before heading to a row of shops closest to the ship, which we had heard were open. We were in luck, spending the rest of my Mauritian rupees, I got postcards, knick-knacks and pearl earrings for $7.50 USD! We decided to find a place to have lunch and enjoy our last moments in Mauritius. We found Beer and Spice, which had an amazing patio where we enjoyed a few pizzas. The owner was very nice and made a special drink for me because I had a princess smile, the drink was beautifully layered, and delicious! A few of the other girls ordered the same drink because it was so good. Soon after our meal was over, we decided to head back to the ship, not wanting dock time in India, our next stop. We took another water taxi back to the ship. This one was pretty scary, with loose footboards, and periods of time when the engine would shut off. I was very glad to be back on land, though not glad to be getting back onto the ship.

Our visit to Mauritius was short and sweet. I loved the island mentality, and adopted it wholeheartedly for the duration of our stay. The Mauritian people were very nice, and I hadn’t felt so un-hassled since Spain (although South Africa wasn’t bad either).  After a relaxing time in Mauritius, I am gearing up for what is reportedly, the most intense culture shock of any Semester at Sea trip: India.

Stephanie@Sea

Neptune Day

September 26, 2009: Neptune Day

Our first day at sea after Ghana was Neptune Day. On Neptune Day various festivities and traditions take place as the pollywogs (those who have never crossed the equator by ship) onboard are put forth in mock-trial before King Neptune and his royal court. That morning we were told to come up to the 7th deck aft, where the pool had been dyed a strange color, there were dead fish to kiss, and people were shaving their heads, “making their case” as pollywogs. The festivities went on for a while, and soon enough there were lots of near-bald guys AND girls! There were an alarming number of girls who shaved their head, something I didn’t consider for even one moment. A few people got mohawks, and one girl shaved just half of her head… which should be interesting in a few months. This was a no-class day, but it wasn’t nice enough to enjoy the ecuatorial sun out on deck.
During the stretch to South Africa, I was lucky to see LOTS and LOTS of dolphins, including one pod of 100s maybe 1000s of petite dolphins, a few whales and even some seals.

Stephanie@Sea

Ghana

September 22, 2009

After our arrival in Tema, Ghana, we disembarked and progressed through another fairly industrial port, with cranes and other large hauling equipment buzzing around. As we drove outside of the port, I got my first glance at Ghana. Although Tema is a large port and the main site of import/export activities in Ghana, it is a relatively small city of around 200,000. Interestingly enough, Tema is the closest land to the geographical position of 0° latitude, 0° longitude, thus deemed “the center of the world”. Lots of people were walking in the streets, most of the men dressed very well and most of the women were balancing something on their heads, whether they were selling goods or simply transporting their belongings. We also saw animals died strange colors, like a chicken died pink. The streets, both in Tema and Accra, were lined with booths and peddlers, selling anything and everything imaginable. One noteworthy category of curio was the wide range of items with President Obama’s face. President Obama visited Ghana in July 2009, and since then the Obama-mania has not stopped. I saw countless cars flying US flags, complete with Obama’s face. There were also American flag t-shirts with his face in the center of them and traditional African print dresses with a repeating pattern of Obama’s face. Our tour driver told us that some small children recognize Obama as the president of Ghana, and he is more well known than the current president of Ghana John Atta Mills. The Ghanaians’ love for Obama is a good representation of the attitude that we encountered as Americans traveling in Ghana. The mutual language of English made communication so much easier, and allowed us to form bonds with some of the people we met in Ghana.

Our first day was spent on a City Orientation tour of Accra through Semester at Sea. Although we were ported in Tema, Ghana, the capital of Ghana, Accra was only a bus ride away (30 minutes without traffic, but up to 1:45 in the thick of afternoon traffic). Once aboard the coach bus we drove towards Accra, our first stop: The University of Ghana-Legon. This is the largest, with over 30,000 students, as well as the oldest university in Ghana and the most prestigious university in West Africa.  Of the many students we saw walking around, I counted 24 that were white. The grounds were very beautiful, and we were able to walk around for about half an hour after we saw the campus by bus. We were wandering around a big pond area where there were lily pads, big pretty flowers and cute little frogs. We also peeked in the bookstore. It was interesting to see a bookstore that sold only books, unlike the USD bookstore that sells paper made of elephant poop, thousands of greeting cards, magazines, candy, energy drinks and a whole range of school apparel. After we came out of the bookstore we found a pair of lizards hanging out on the front steps. As I focused my camera, I saw a blur of lizard coming at me. My girlfriends told me that the lizard was about a foot from running up my leg before I ran away.
After visiting the University we drove to have lunch. On the way to lunch we drove by the Presidential Palace Golden Jubilee House and the luxurious political guesthouse, still under construction. We ate at a beautiful resort in Accra, where I was luckily able to find vegetarian fare. I had fried plantains, jollof rice and French fries, which they called potato chips. The people at the hotel were very friendly, and invited us to come back if we had any extra time. I went to exchange currency in the hair salon and met the first of many Franks that I would encounter while in Ghana. He was very nice and taught me the traditional Ghanaian handshake, which ends by snapping off of the other person’s hand.

After finishing up lunch we went to visit the Kwame Nkrumah memorial and mausoleum. Kwame Nkrumah was a key person in the fight for the independence of Ghana, then known as Gold Coast, from Britain. Nkrumah was also elected the first president of the new republican Ghana. We took pictures, learned about Kwame Nkrumah and visited the small museum filled with pictures and personal artifacts.
After getting back on the bus we drove past the Independence Black Star Square and the large podium and surrounding amphitheatre built for President Clinton’s visit to Ghana in 1998. Next we went to the Arts Centre, a large market focused on textiles, jewelry, masks, mirrors, drums and artwork. We were only given a small amount of time, so I only browsed, but I was quickly familiarized with the type of conversational exchange I would encounter the rest of the time in Ghana. “Old friend, how are you? Come inside, looking is for free, no charge. Why don’t I show you some of my beautiful dresses, very nice for you and your sisters? And this, this outfit very nice for your father and brothers…” and so on. While it was comical, and SO much nicer than the rude exchanges with the Moroccan shopkeepers, bargaining was still exhausting.

After leaving the market, we moved onwards to the W.E.B. Du Bois museum and mausoleum. We there learned about the author who was a Pan-African activist and author. Instead of returning to the ship during afternoon traffic, a group of ten of us decided to get off in Osu, the heart of restaurants, shopping and nightlife in Accra. Casey and I wanted to look around at the shops a little bit, and two of the boys were appointed chaperones. We each bought a dress before the boys got to exasperated. Then we headed back to the area where the Ship-Accra shuttle was dropping people off every hour or so. We waited at the Penta hotel bar across the street, where students, faculty and staff alike were enjoying the local Ghanaian brews and the company of the group on the outside patio, after a healthy application of DEET, of course. As we sat on the patio, quite a few young Ghanaian guys came up to us, and while they did introduce themselves and seemed curious about us, they mostly just wanted us to buy bracelets, artwork, key-chains or other small.

After a while, the group was hungry and we started walking down to the area where the restaurants were along Oxford Street/Cantonments Road, led by some of our new Ghanaian friends to a chop bar, the Ghanaian equivalent of a café serving strictly Ghanaian food. As we walked on of the girls who joined into our group at the Penta hotel had an absolute fit, complaining that she should EVER have to eat “their” food, when she would much rather eat, “our” food. In the essence of staying as a group, the majority of us stayed and ordered pizzas at a nicer fast food place. We were already famished upon arrival, but what we were unaware of was that that evening was a Tuesday, when the unspoken special is two pizzas for the price of one. Our worries of why our orders were taking so long were subdued, or serenaded away perhaps, by a Rasta man singing Bob Marley tunes near the outdoor bar of the patio we sat down on. On the patio, during our long wait, we met a few new friends. First there was James from NYU, who was taking a year abroad in Ghana. He decided to buy all of us the largest beers I have ever seen, which he delivered straight from the bar in plastic crates. Then there was Marvin Gaye, a Ghanaian who took a particular liking to Casey, and to having his picture taken. He gave Casey a Bob Marley pin, and a promise to pick her up at the ship the next day. My personal favorite was Marco-no-last-name. Marco and I spent a lot of time talking, about politics and school and how many languages he spoke (somewhere in the teens). At one point he decided to braid my hair… weird, I know. One thing that situation is very indicative of, is the good-nature of the Ghanaian people and my genuine desire to avoid offending them at all costs. Besides, at that point the amount of sunscreen, bug spray and sweat in my hair from the day of walking in the humid equatorial heat hardly left my hair anywhere near clean. Although I was not given any gifts or promises of private tours, Marco did encourage us to check out the beach Reggae concert the following evening at Labadi Beach, between Tema and Accra. I had a nice time talking to them, immersing myself in their culture for a few hours. Just before we left I went to the wash room (Ghanaians had NO idea what bathroom or restroom meant) and waved to a few little kids playing on the indoor playground. On my way back out to the patio I went over to talk to three of the kids, all of whom were born in the U.S. They were very cute and invited me to play with them, so I slid down the slide, told them how nice it was to meet them, and that I had to go.

Our group was clearly exhausted and ready to head back to the ship. We walked back to the gas station where the shuttle busses were, and luckily ran into one just as it was leaving. The way back was a stuffed ride, and I took a lap seat. It was so nice to enjoy the ride home and be happy with the Ghanaian experience, feel welcome in the culture, and genuinely look forward to the next morning.

September 23, 2009

The next morning, however, came a little too early. Because of the great distance we were traveling the next day on our visit to the Wli Waterfalls and to a village with Mona monkies, we had to be up at 6:00AM and leave by 7:00AM. With a paltry breakfast in my stomach, and my dissatisfaction appeased by a backpack full of snacks, we disembarked the MV Explorer and loaded onto three coach busses and a short bus. We elected to be on the short bus and Cat, Missy, Casey and I piled into the large back seat of the bus. The bus held a nice intimate group of 23 without the use of seats that folded down into the isle. Later I was thankful to have been on the short bus instead of the regular size coach bus as we continued onto dirt roads complete with car sized pot holes. Throughout the day the door on our bus kept opening, which made the bumpy roads all the more exciting. My only reservation of choosing the short bus was missing out on the stylish shag rug dashboard I saw in one bus that was following us.

The tone of the day was set with a round of applause for our Ghanaian driver
Driver and guide applauded upon entering the bus, a gesture they appreciated. Soon portable iPod speakers came out, and the driver and guide requested Akon, a popular U.S. artist who has roots in Senegal. Interspersed between periods of sing-a-long music, our guide gave us some background history on the area we were traveling to, as well as the history of Ghana in general.

The Volta region we visited was very close to the border of Togo. It had a completely different look than Tema or Accra. The Volta region was very lush, with lots of tropical looking plants, and significant bodies of water. On our way to visit the Mona Monkeys in the village of Tafi Atome and the Wli waterfall, we drove through lots of small villages, which made the long day of driving much more interesting. There was lots of outdoor activity in the small villages we passed through: laundry, school children in class, outdoor church-type assemblies held on porches, minding the children, and plenty of people taking a mid-day rest. In Morocco there were cats and kittens everywhere, but Ghana was overrun by goats. Everywhere I looked there was a goat. Chickens and cows were also normal roadside sightings, in the Volta region, but also in the cities. As we neared the village we debated whether the monkeys were of the poop-throwing sort, or whether they were nice snuggly monkeys.

When we pulled into the small village of Tafi Atome, we were greeted by school children running across the lawn to welcome us. We were all happy to get off the bus, sick of sitting after the 3 hour drive. We wandered around, talked with the children and took pictures before splitting into three groups for a forest walk, village tour and monkey time. My group first visited the village. In the village we were invited in to some of the village dwellings. We also saw lots of young children playing and helping their mommies. In one of the buildings, we saw a few boys weaving Kente cloth, the traditional Ghanaian fabric. As we continued on our tour we visited the school building where the high school age students were in class. We were lucky to get a demonstration from the school’s drummer boy, who serves as the bell system for breaks, lunch, and other time announcements. He played a few of his drumming sections for us, which I took a video of. Then we walked through the pineapple plantation, which was a strange experience. I had never really thought of what type of plant pineapples grow on, but was surprised by the small spikey plant that fruits one of my favorite fruits. We stopped at another school building, where younger children were sitting on benches and standing outside. Some of the younger children were scared of us and started crying. The braver ones extended their hands for high fives and handshakes, and even those that were bawling were absolutely adorable. Then we entered into the forest, where we heard more about the history of Ghana. Our guide told us about Ghana’s reputation as a very peaceful country, and one rich with natural resources. We saw some huge centipedes on our walk through the forest. Upon our return to the center of the village we were given mini bananas to feed the monkeys with. We were instructed to hold the banana up near a tree branch. Soon enough the monkeys were scampering down the branches, whereupon they would reach out to the banana, pull back the peel, and take a big bite. This was good for a few pictures, but the experience was fairly short lived, and once the bananas were gone, the monkeys didn’t want much to do with us. We were then served lunch, weird sandwiches made on the boat and brought with us. I opted instead for a coke and some crackers from the small store the village had. Then I went to play with the children on the large lawn in front of the school building. They were all so sweet, and it was easy to communicate with them since they all spoke English.

After we departed the village we drove for more than an hour to the Agumatsa Forest Reserve. We split into smaller groups of 15-20 and started walking into the forest. Our guide stopped and pulled down a cocoa plant, and we tasted the fruit from a pod of the cacao tree, avoiding the bitter cocoa beans that after, processed, is used to make chocolate. 40% of the world’s cocoa beans come from Ghana, second only to neighboring Cote d’Ivoire. As we progressed into the reserve, we crossed the same river eleven times before reaching the waterfall. The Wli waterfall is the tallest in Ghana and West Africa. Up above the waterfall the sky was filled with bats, that roost in the rock surrounding the waterfall. Swimming at the bottom of the waterfall was a lot less leisurely than I had expected, in reality the water felt like sandpaper and the spray was fairly abusive. Nonetheless, we waded in. I stopped when I couldn’t touch any longer, but some of the taller boys waded all the way underneath the waterfall only to be knocked under by the force of the water. We hiked out of the forest and spent a short amount of time shopping in the village shops, before boarding the bus for the grueling 5 hour bus ride back to the port in Tema.

Originally Casey and I had planned to go to a concert in Labadi Beach, but were too exhausted upon our late return to the ship.

September 24, 2009

The next morning, we returned to Osu for some shopping. I bought a Ghanaian soccer jersey, t-shirt, bracelets and another dress. One of the boys we were with, Danny, was an excellent bargainer and I benefitted from his talent. Other popular items were drums, men’s tunics, soccer balls and canvas artwork. After a morning of bargaining, we stopped at an outdoor bar, which soon became an attraction for young Ghanaian men peddling their wares. Albert, who we met the first night, soon came and sat with us. As we enjoyed drinks, we talked with the various visitors, who calmed down after we made it clear we didn’t want to buy what they were selling. Soon more and more of their friends joined us, happy to be in the shade of the bar’s patio. I complimented a newcomer’s shirt from across the table and he came to sit by me. Soon Elvis and I were deep in conversation and before I knew it, I had purchased his animal/geometric print tunic for 12.50 Cedi (all the money I had left) and 2 granola bars. I tried the tunic on for the first time today, after I received it back from the laundering service, and am still very pleased with my purchase. After a while Albert asked if we wanted to go to the chop bar he had suggested the first night. Albert, Elvis, Joe (an aspiring R&B) singer and Frank led us to a delicious restaurant a few blocks off of the main street in Osu. I had more fried plantains and Jollof rice for lunch. Before heading back to the boat I wanted to visit one last shop, called Global Mamas, a micro lending non-profit focused on female entrepreneurship and financial independence for Ghanaian women. On my way to exchange more currency I ran into a boy wearing a Portland Trail Blazers hat! After visiting Global Mamas, and making a few purchases, Casey and I went with our friend Danny to the Accra Mall in search of a camera. He had lost his during our time in Spain, but had no luck in Morocco or Ghana finding one. There were lots of stores I didn’t recognize, some selling traditional African gear, others sold very American looking clothes, and some were familiar brands: Puma, Nike and even an unfinished Apple store. Our cab driver back to the ship was the largest, funniest Ghanaian man I met in the whole time I was there. He had a wonderful jolly laugh, hairy cheeks and was quite the talker. He was drove the official Ghanaian way, that is maximum acceleration on open expanses of freeway. At one point I snuck a peak at the speedometer, which read 120 km/h (74.5 mph). The cab, like all of them that I saw, was a tiny little sub-compact car. He was fascinated with our voyage, and asked if he could join us. He talked to us about politics, and President Obama . Casey and I had a great time reading the gossip section of the local newspaper, which was fun since CNN and the New York Times tend to be a little dry.

After dinner and showers we headed back out to Accra with about half of the boat. We first went to the Venus Café, and then to a 7-story restaurant/bar/club named Citizen Kafi that was bright purple with pink windows and looked like one of the beach front properties in Mission Beach on some sort of psychedelic drug. From the fourth floor of Citizen Kafi, we were already taller than all of the surrounding buildings. In the neighboring blocks there was welding going on even though it was approaching midnight. We had a great time our last night in Accra. Because there were so many people in our group, we were given a ride back to the port in an open-air military security vehicle.

September 25, 2009

I spent my final day in Ghana in Accra. We first went to lunch at a big American-style restaurant called Frankie’s, where I had half the most delicious pizza and split an ice cream sundae with a few girls from Oregon :). We spent the rest of the afternoon doing a little more shopping and uploading pictures at an internet café. I’ve noticed a pattern that the last day in port I’m usually too exhausted and too worried of missing on-ship time to venture off the boat. I had fun using the last of my Ghanaian cedi, including buying a drum keychain for 5 pesewa (5 hundredths of a cedi) roughly equal to 3.5 cents in USD. It was nice to use the internet, and I did a little research for our next two destinations Cape Town, South Africa and Flic en Flac, Mauritius.

We took the shuttle bus back to the ship. The shuttle leaving at 4:00 was guaranteed on-ship time. But we were out of money and shopped out, so we hurried for the 3:00 bus. The bus came from the opposite direction than usual and was already filled with people heading back to the boat. Not wanting to wait in the humid outside, and already completely out of currency, we decided to pile on and stand. What followed was an hour and forty five minutes of bumper to bumper traffic back to the boat, the prime example of Ghanaian traffic flow problems. This gave me a lot of time to enjoy looking out the window, an activity I have yet to grow tired of in my travels abroad. Frequently I bring a long a travel book thinking I will read up, but never open it until we are searching for a restaurant, shop or street to head towards.

On my way back to the boat, as well as other trips, I tried to take notes so I could remember my thoughts and the sights I saw.
-In Ghana, instead of our plastic traffic cones, I saw large rocks used for traffic cones
-There were a lot of unfinished structures. Buildings built a few floors up, but without walls, windows, doors or sometimes even roofs. After asking our tour guide I found out the reason. Building is expensive and takes years (5-10 or more) to finish a building. In Ghana what little mortgage industry or credit there was before the economic downturn has dwindled even more. Those who want to build must save from income to gain capital. Some have help from relatives outside of Ghana.
-Everyone drove like a maniac.
-In terms of transportation, there were city buses and taxis, and a Ghanaian specialty, the tro-tro. Tro-tros were large vans, most similar to a 18-passenger van, with multiple bench seats. Tro-tros operate along a route, like a bus, but are extremely economical. They pick up riders on the side of freeways. They will always take in more passengers, even if it means removing the seats and strapping them to the top of the tro-tro. Riding in a tro-tro was an adventure I wanted to seek out but ran out of time and enthusiasm. One friend rode in a tro-tro, crammed with about 30 Ghanaians. It cost him 50 pesewas (35 cents).
-In Ghana, the day of the week you were born on gives you a name, particular to your sex. My Ghanaian name (Tuesday) was Abena. There is a typical print of Kente cloth that corresponds with each name.
-Ghana is a very religious place. With Christianity as the most prominent religion, I saw a lot of references. Some of the signs I noticed:
Amen Electrical Works
God the Provider’s Shop
God is the Best Barber
Thank you Jesus Salon
Jesus and Sons Electrical
-All of the taxis in Ghana had this particular type of window sticker. Some had similar religious phrases, other had more philosophical phrases. My favorite: “Before Before”.

Ghana was truly an amazing place. I thought the scenery was beautiful, the people were wonderful and the entire experience was fulfilling more so than the other stops have been. I would go back to Ghana, as I was encouraged to do by many of the friendly Ghanaian people.

Day after tomorrow--South Africa! How exciting!!

Until then,

Stephanie@Sea

View of the Hassan II Mosque and the green laser pointing to Mecca from the ship. Casablanca, Morocco.

A view of the beaches and Atlantic Ocean from Rabat, Morocco.

Palais Royal, Rabat, Morocco.

A beautiful walkway within the ancient Kasbah des Oudaias, Rabat, Morocco.

Casey and me with a royal guard at the Mohammed V Mausoleum, Rabat, Morocco.

Unfinished Mosque, Rabat, Morocco.

Me posing with a guard at the Unfinished Mosque/Mohammed V Mausoleum. Rabat, Morocco.

Adorable little girls at the SOS Children's Village, an orphanage outside of Casablanca.

Kitty and man in market, Casablanca, Morocco.

The main entrance at Palais Royal, Casablanca, Morocco.

The entrance for women at the Palais Royal, Casablanca, Morocco.

Another photo of Mahakma du Pacha, Casablanca.

Casey and me inside Mahakma du Pacha. Casablanca, Morocco.

Inside Mahakma du Pacha, an old government building in Casablanca.

Just me outside the Hassan II Mosque. Casablanca, Morocco.

Charlie, Casey and me outside of the mosque. Casablanca, Morocco.

Casey and I inside the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco.

The Hassan II Mosque from a distance.

Our first sighting of Africa, from the Straight of Gibraltar.

A fuel ship refueling us in the Straight of Gibraltar.

One of the wind turbines I visited at the Iberdrola wind farm I visited for my Operations Management class.

Casey, Missy and I at our favorite restaurant in Cadiz! Best mini baguette sandwhiches ever!

Casey and I at the Palacio Real in Madrid!

Me at the Retiro Park in Madrid, Spain!

The very crowded nightclub, Joy, where we spent our first night in Madrid!

All of the Theta's in Madrid!!!

Watching the sun rise in Cadiz, Spain before disembarking for the first time!

My cabin

All the parents waving from shore as we sail into the Atlantic

Boarding the MV Explorer in Halifax

My mommy and I in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Casablanca, Morocco

Arriving to Morocco lacked the novelty and excitement that our arrival to Spain had. Little did I know that was just the smallest of the differences between my time in Morocco, and the wonderful experience I had in Spain.

Between Spain and Morocco we had Morocco Day on the boat. Both sections of Global Studies met together for a guest lecture on gender relations in the Islamic world, and also touched on veiling. We also had logistical and cultural pre-port meetings, which touch on everything from what to eat to current risk of infectious diseases, dangers off the boat to areas of particular interest in the port area.

September 10:

The morning of our arrival in Casablanca, I was lucky to get first access off the boat, as a participant in the Casablanca City Orientation tour, leaving immediately. As we walked down the gangway into the humid, smoggy, overcast, smelly and rainy port, it was clear foreshadowing of how different this visit would be from warm, dry and clean Spain. My roommate Casey and I, and approximately 80 other SAS participants, spent the day on two busses touring Casablanca. Our coach bus, drove the mile from the ship to the port gates and we were off. First we drove to Place Mohammed V, a large plaza that serves as the center of Casablanca, familiarly referred to as Caza. Neighboring the plaza were one of eight city halls within Caza, a post office, the Moroccan equivalent of the IRS, the French Embassy, and a fire station. As soon as our bus pulled up, a group of strangely, but colorfully, dressed men approached us, encouraging us to ring one of their bells. Our tour guide has warned us of potential activities where Moroccans would insist we then owed them money. Our next stop was the Cathedral de Sacre Coeur, the only church open for religious practice in Casablanca, and possibly in Morocco. The religious breakdown of Morocco was 98.7% Muslim and the rest Christian and Jewish. The cathedral had absolutely beautiful stained glass windows, and, like the rest of Casablanca, gorgeous hibiscus flowers. The next building we visited was an old government building called Mahakma du Pacha, near the royal palace, or Palais Royal. This building had absolutely beautiful tile work, called zellij, and carved cedarwood ceilings. From there we walked two blocks to the palace, where we were graciously allowed to take pictures of the grandiose main entryway and the special entrance for women. From the Palace we visited the great Hassan II Mosque. Finished in 1993, the mosque has a retractable roof and electrically heated floors. We were given the last tour of the day, before noon prayer. We saw the enormous main prayer room, and the hammam, or wash rooms visited before each of the five times, located beneath the prayer room. The Hassan II Mosque holds 25,000 people and an additional 80,000 on the paved area surrounding the mosque. There are two areas suspended above the regular floor for the women mosque-goers to pray, separated from the men. The minaret of the mosque is over 200 meters tall, by far the tallest structure in Morocco, and the tallest minaret in the world. At night a green laser points towards Mecca, so all Muslims know which direction to face for their prayers. My guidebook told me that St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome could fit inside the Hassan II Mosque! The mosque is reported to have cost $750,000,000 USD. After the Mosque we drove past the beaches of Casablanca, but decided as a bus not to get off into the drizzly & humid weather.  Our last stop was at a set-price store and a market specializing in spices, seafood and produce. There I saw swordfish, an in-person slaughter of what I think was a cow, about 100 cats/kittens, and some turtles that were being sold “as pets”. Overall, I took a ridiculous amount of pictures that first day, which serves as a statement to how novel and different everything seemed. The store we visited gave us a good idea of what to look out for during the rest of our time in Morocco. After our tour was completed we returned to the boat, where I started the routine of washing the Caza off of me after every off-ship outing.

That evening I went out for drinks and dessert with a group of friends at Rick’s Café, famous from the movie Casablanca. This was perhaps a 20-minute walk from the port’s gates. A group of 12 or so of us went to enjoy what we assumed to be a restaurant likely to be open during Ramadan. The restaurant was very nice but the language barrier was evident, and the service was very different than in the US. Walking along the streets was fairly scary, even with a large group that included boys. At one point a small minivan-esque vehicle pulled up beside us on the busy street, opened the sliding door and slowed to a stop a little too close for comfort. The largest danger I experienced in Caza was crossing the streets, the rule of the road is the big car prevails and everyone else gets out of the way. I noticed that by staying in step with any Moroccans that were crossing the street I was nearly certain I would not be road kill.

September 11:

The second morning in port Casey and I tried to “crash” a trip we had not signed up for, and were successful. We drove in two large passenger vans/small busses to The George Washington Academy, and then to the SOS Children’s Village, both outside of Caza. The George Washington Academy, is a French-American-Arabic private school that seemed very Americanized, of the flags flying in the cafeteria, the US flag was one of them, and the number of Anglo-Saxon, sub-Saharan African, and Asian children was noticeable. We arrived during their lunch hour and Casey, Missy and I sat with three Arabic girls, two of which had dual citizenship (Switzerland and the United States). They all spoke flawless English and were very interested in what we are doing with Semester at Sea and what our lives are like at home. One of the girls, Malik, was even nice enough to write a few rudimentary phrases out in Arabic. After they returned to classes, we were given a tour of the school, which was very modern. The most unique part of the property was it’s location, overlooking the King’s summer palace (one of many I presume).  In usual circumstances no one is allowed to build in the area immediately surrounding or overlooking the King’s property. To be clear, we could see the foliage of the palm trees a mile or so in the distance, which is hardly peeking over the hedge into the royal backyard. My favorite part of the tour was seeing the cute little kindergarteners playing on the play-structures outside and realizing the similarities you could draw to any American recess. Of the whole visit, my favorite part was meeting the girls at lunch and talking to them.

From the Academy we drove back into the rural and sometimes slum-like surroundings and  drove to the SOS Children’s Village, an orphanage. When we arrived at the orphanage all of the children were at school so we were first given an introduction and tour of the property. The children are grouped into family-structure dwellings where a single woman serves as the parental figure. The household we visited was led by a “mother” that looked around 25. The house was very nice, and we were told that nine children lived there, split between four bedrooms each of which looked just like any typical child’s room would in the US. The living room and kitchen were very nice and looked over a large common area.  We also saw the computer room (compliments of Dell), music room (compliments of McDonald’s) and arts & crafts room (compliments of Coca Cola). The grounds were beautiful and it’s clear that these sponsorships help make that possible.

After not too long the students started arriving from their day at school. The first to arrive was a group of little girls, maybe 6 or 7. As soon as they greeted the director of the Village, who I observed serving as a father-type figure to many of them, they came over to a group of the SAS students and greeted us with the sweetest kisses on the cheek I have ever had. Soon they ran off to their houses, and we unfortunately didn’t see them again. More and more children arrived home and soon their were simultaneous play-doh sessions, soccer games and hackey-sack circles including the SAS students and the residents of the Children’s Village. They were all very sweet and what I presumed to be very fortunate children. Earlier in our voyage, a film was shown focusing on the homeless child population in Morocco, and the terrible things they endure (glue-sniffing, selling single cigarettes to eat, sleeping in very unfavorable locations). It is clear to me that these children are very lucky; with a safe place to call home, education, a family (albeit non-biological) and means available for higher education to be paid for, the children I met each has a future much brighter than the film portrayed for orphans. Unfortunately our visit came to an end, and we had to head back to Caza and the stinky port.

After showers and dinner onboard, a group of us ventured off the boat to a nearby hookah bar. There we enjoyed the most delicious mint tea, a specialty of Morocco (green tea brewed with fresh mint leaves and LOTS of sugar, poured emphatically from high above the glass to increase oxygenation and served in the most beautiful silver teapots). Shisha, as hookah is called in Morocco, not to be confused with hashish, as one student did, seemed like a culturally appropriate thing to do. Because we were there during Ramadan it was much more difficult to get a feel for the culture, as people are hungry and cranky during the day, and eating and celebrating with their families at night. The walk back to the boat was fun, as always, passing by dozens of semi-trucks in queue or resting for the night, a handful of German Shephards restrained to some extent by their owners and the no-longer-novel fish head

September 12:

Before our trip to Rabat, Casey and I ventured off the boat to find an internet café for some good ‘ol facebook time! We were told by other kids from the boat that there were lots of internet cafes in the medina (market). However, we neglected to think about our timing, due to mid-morning prayer most of the souks were closed and thus the internet cafés were too. While walking into the medina, a shop owner came up and asked us what we were looking for. He then led us all around the market, past plenty of dark allies and into parts of the medina I surely could not have navigated out of. Surprisingly enough (and thankfully) did not ask for money, claimed that we owed him money or threaten what he would do if we did not give him money. I’ve heard some pretty ridiculous stories post-Morocco about kids getting monkeys or snakes thrown on them and then hounded for money, or having henna gypsies grab a passing arm and start sketching a design with the henna paste and then demanding payment! We were not able to find an open internet café in the medina, but decided to walk around a little bit, before long we found another internet café. Although seemingly open the owner told us to come back at 11:00, presumably because of Ramadan/prayer-time. While we waited for 11:00 to roll around we crossed the street and discovered Restaurant des Fleurs, where we stopped for a famed Moroccan pastry and more mint tea. We went back to the internet café and spent 45 minutes or so there. On our way back to the boat we grabbed some post cards to send home!
When we got back to the boat we immediately had to turn around and get on the busses going to Rabat. Rabat is the capital of Morocco, and the political capital from what I gathered. The bus ride there was around an hour and a half, and the same on the way back. We spent close to three hours in Rabat, touring the city and visiting some notable sights.

Our first stop in Rabat was the Palace and the Andalusian Gardens. We were to approach the palace to about 50 feet to take pictures. The palace, built in the 17th century, was very pretty, but King Mohammed VI wasn’t there. We learned later that he was traveling that very day from Marrakesh to Rabat! 

After leaving the palace we drove past Chellah, a really spectacular Moroccan ruins. The citadel was built in 1154, and was one of the last port cities to sever links with the Roman Empire.  The ruins are still in seemingly good condition, but time didn’t allow us to stop.

Next we visited the Mohamed V Mausoleum and Hassan Mosque, also known as the Unfinished Mosque. When we got off the bus we were immediately approached by gypsies wanting to henna our arms but I stopped only to take pictures with the mounted guards and their horses. The saddest thing about this stop was the TEENY tiny kitten who was crawling around the entrance, clearly separated from her littermates and mommy. There were kittens and cats everywhere in Morocco, but I only saw two stray dogs. The mosque was designed to be a centerpiece of the new capital, after victory of the Spanish, but was abandoned in 1199 after the death of the designer. The un-topped tower looks over hundreds of crumbling pillars that would have held the roof, had the project progressed. Sharing the same property, were the mosque and mausoleum of Mohammed V. The grandfather, father and uncle of the current king are all buried there. Inside there was a pathway around the edges of the upper room, looking down into the chamber where a man sat on a sheepskin mat reading from the Koran to the deceased.

Our next stop, Kasbah des Oudaias, was my favorite part of the Rabat trip. We entered the kasbah through a small doorway down the steps from the Bab Oudaia which our guide said was the most beautiful in the Moorish world. We turned into the gardens where the past rulers used to let their polygamous wives recreate. Inside the kasbah were absolutely beautiful blue and white painted walkways with the most ornate doors and windows, which were clearly very old.

We got back on the bus and drove past miles and miles of beaches before getting on the highway to Casablanca. There were so many young boys fishing in the ocean, and we even saw some with surfboards. It was nice to return to the boat and get some rest. Being in a country where you are on edge and hyper-reactive to any sudden changes was really exhausting.

September 13:

The next day Casey and I rounded up some of our friends and enlisted some male shopping chaperones. We went to the souks in Old Medina, walked around for quite a bit before settling into the shops we liked the best. $1US=8 dirhams, and most of the Moroccan specialties I purchases were between 80-160dh, making this a quite economical shopping trip. Rugs and carpets, camel leather goods, silver tea pots, hammered metal platters, ceramics of any shape and size in traditional Moroccan patterns and colors, Moroccan style tunics and loose pants, and knockoffs, oh were there knockoffs. I mean really, who buys a Louis Vuitton basketball….? And I’m pretty sure Gucci does not make tissue boxes… It was pretty comical though. One girl I was shopping with bought the most beautiful painting evocative of the famous Afghan woman with the piercing eyes from a past National Geographic cover. I had to pace myself, we still have so many countries in the horizon. The last item on our shopping agenda: stamps to mail postcards from Spain and Morocco. While peering into the window of the small shop, I saw the man pick up a sheet of stamps and, while they were upside down, I give myself no relief for how stupid my comment was, “Is that Barack Obama?” Luckily the response was just laughter, but it was a definite cultural oopsie! 

That night we tried to go out for traditional Moroccan food, but the restaurant we went to was closed. Since we were already heading to a jazz concert at Rick’s Café, we decided to eat dinner there before returning safely to the boat.

September 14:

The following morning I had an FDP to visit the Coca Cola plant. The plant smelled like a carwash mixed with a sweet syrupy smell. We saw the water filtration systems, the simple syrup vats and the containers of secret formula flavoring marked CORROSIVE, how nice… At the plant they cleaned and inspected the glass bottles still widely used in Morocco, produced the plastic in house, filled, labeled and packaged the bottles. We were given lots of Coke products and offered a plastic plug that is the bottle before it is blown up and shaped. They served us lunch, my very first meal where I could legitimately not eat anything given to me. Hopefully there won’t be too many more! I was really glad to think of the 30 lbs. of food sitting under my bed back on the MV Explorer, although I neglected to bring any along to the Coca Cola plant.

During Ramadan, the Muslim population does not eat or drink during daylight hours, putting a serious cramp on our tourist style. While it was really interesting to experience the culture during such a special time, it made it all the more difficult for us to experience Morocco.

The buildings I saw while in Caza were the prettiest I saw during the entirety of my time in Morocco, with the exception of the historical buildings in Rabat. The French influence on Morocco was evident, between the patisseries and any old buildings that hadn’t yet collapsed from neglect and dilapidation. Most of the city was filthy, with smoggy grime on all of the once-white buildings. Our location in the port meant there was never a shortage of fish heads and guts from the morning’s catch. The smell of Caza may have irreparably permeated everything I wore off the boat.

As we departed, many of the boys clad in traditional Moroccan outfits and the girls with new henna tattoos, some people with significantly more experience with Camels, each of us all the more wordly and well-traveled, and all of us keenly aware of how easy it has been in the past to take advantage of the simple things: clean water, near-certain safety walking on a city street, the ability to communicate with those around you or even cars stopping at red lights. What a rewarding, exhausting and culturally shocking few days in Casablanca, Morocco.

Stephanie@Sea

"To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted." - Bill Bryson