Namibia

Namibia definitely had its ups and downs. It’s a beautiful country and the people were really nice and welcoming. The first day I spent in Walvis Bay, the port city we arrived in. We all immediately felt the difference between Salvador and this port city. We had lunch at a nice place called Bonaroma and it was really good and the Namibian dollar went a long way. The second day I went to Swakopmund, a Germany town outside of Walvis Bay. It was a cute little town that reminded me of Solvang in Santa Barbara. We walked around and went into some little shops

The third day I went on a Seal & Dolphin Encounter with Semester at Sea and that was nice except it was FREEZING cold on the little boat we went on. We didn’t see any dolphins but we did get to see a seal very up close. It actually came on our boat! We had oysters, finger foods, and white wine on the boat so that was fancy. I tried an oyster but I tried chewing it and then spit out overboard. The fourth day I went on a hot air balloon ride! It was really nice and a cool experience to have.

But the fifth day is what ruined everything. I wasn’t going to go quad biking because I had already spent a lot of money on the hot air balloon ride but everyone I talked to told me that they did it and how much fun it was so I really wanted to try it. I met a group of people who was going to go this last day so we all went to this company on the way to Swakopmund. We went on the bikes and they quickly told us how to use them. They stupidly didn’t make us put on helmets and I don’t remember them even offering them. Anyway so about an hour into the biking, I hit a dip and flipped over and the bike fell on top of me. I quickly got up and seemed to be okay, just some chest pain and a headache from the impact. We ended our tour soon afterwards and they took me back to the ship in their company car. I felt okay and good enough to go back out into town to pick up a few things I needed. I got back to the ship and had bad neck pains. I visited the doctor and he said everything seemed to be okay and that the pain would be worse tomorrow. It’s now tomorrow, and yes, it is worse. But it seems to be more soreness than pain so I hope it goes away soon. I look back and know that I’m lucky to be alive. I learned my lesson to be extra careful and not to try to do everything.

Amazon in a Nutshell

So that I can move onto Namibia, I will quickly summarize the rest of my time in Brazil. I spent three amazing days at the Amazon River in Manaus. The only downside of the trip was the travel time-we met at 4:50 am on Monday, September 8th and arrived in Manaus around 1pm [8 hours]. Of course that includes getting everyone together, bus to the airport, flight (we transferred in Brasilia), and another bus to the riverboats. It was a similar situation the way back. When we got off the bus to get on the riverboat, there were 3 right next to each other and one had a banner that said “Welcome Semester at Sea.” It was really cute-there were these 2 dancers who greeted us by giving us a necklace and a hat. I’ve really gotten used to being greeted each time I go on a trip with Semester at Sea!

Anyway so we got on the riverboats and chose our hammocks where we were going to sleep on for 2 nights. They were surprisingly comfortable! Then our guides briefed on our activities for the 3 days and introduced the crew of the boat. There were like 2 or 3 captains (I think 2 of those people just hung out most of the time), the kitchen crew, and our guides. Then we had a snack that included fried plantains, fruit, little empanadas, and fruit juices.

So Day 1: After the mini-orientation, we arrived at the Meeting of the Waters, where the black waters of the Rio Negro meet the brown waters of the Solimoes to form the Amazon River proper. From here, you could see the division of the waters. Our guides explained why this happens and the different composition of the 2 types of waters. Umm I can’t exactly remember but I think I got it on video. Then we went to the Lake January region, where we saw giant Victoria Regia water lilies. They were so big and pretty. Then, we went with our guides by canoe to catch alligators with their bare hands! Okay imagine reading this in your itinerary. You picture like these two men going into the water, catching this huge alligator, getting on top of the alligator and fighting with it to keep it’s jaw shut! That’s what I thought at least. Well, not quite. It was really dark by this time and they told us that only one of the two canoes was going to be getting an alligator. So the other canoe had caught one and we are going up to it and we’re like, where is it? We get closer and it’s like this tiny little cayman (reptile similar to the alligator, a baby). It was a little bigger than a lizard. So that was a little disappointing but I did get to hold it and take a picture with it. Then we had dinner as we went up the Jacareubal region for our overnight location.

Day 2: We got up early for breakfast. The hammock was really comfortable this night, I think because everyone was really tired. The hammocks were on the second level of the riverboat and there was only a small tarp covering us so I awoke to the bright sunlight. We went on a jungle trek and it was SUPER HOT. I was sweating the whole time, like soaked. It was humid which added to it. Our guides showed us some of the cool things in the Amazon like a water cane that people used to drink water from. It was pretty cool-they chopped off this thick branch and water came out of it. There were other plants also used for medicinal purposes. They also showed us “survival techniques.” One of them included what to do in case you are in a plane crash in the Amazon. Apparently, there was one of those some years ago and people died of the cold. So they showed us how to make a fire using: batteries (common item on a plane?), steel wool (from the kitchen?), and a piece of paper. So you’re supposed to put the batteries together from end to end and then rub the steel wool at the ends to create a spark. Then when you have a spark, you throw in the piece of paper to make the bigger fire. Well, we stood there for a good half an hour while our guides, Ronaldo and Mathias, tried to create the fire. The batteries were too weak and it didn’t work. It was so funny because they would argue in Portuguese and I could pick some of it up. Then, at the end of the trek, we stopped at a small waterfall where we got in the water so that was refreshing. We returned to the riverboats.

After lunch, we visited a village called the Terra Preta (the Black Land). We walked around and observed their lifestyle. It was really amazing to see this community with the bare minimum and they looked happy and content. In their view, they had everything they needed. We interacted with the children and they were so intrigued with us. One of my friends, Jasmine, bought stickers and they wouldn’t stop following her! They were really cute-they played with our cameras and we took some pictures with them.

We left and then we had a cookout at a white-sand beach. The riverboat arrived at the beach and then the kitchen crew got off to prepare. We went with our guides to wander around in a canoe for more than an hour. After about an hour, people were getting antsy and hungry and started rushing Ronaldo. I was having a good time getting to know the people around me and I felt bad that other people were giving him a hard time about getting us back. Again, here I noticed the time situation and how we were all rushing. So finally, our guide gave in and took us back to the beach. When we arrived, they gave HIM a hard time because things weren’t ready yet. I noticed that they weren’t done setting up because they had some fireworks that they probably wanted to set off when we were arriving at the shore but they set them off until after we had already gotten off the canoe. When we got back, it was really, really nice. They had the fireworks, the chairs set up in a circle with a string of lights all around them, and music. They had the food set up on some long table with a delicious chocolate cake and flan at the dessert section. Everything looked SO good. We waited for the other boats and then formed a line for the food. It was pretty late by now and everyone was understandably hungry. The food was indeed delicious-especially some breaded catfish and the chocolate cake! Then, the guides started some games for everyone. We played musical chairs, tug of war, and this one game that I had never played but was really fun. There were two people who spun their head around a stick for a while and then raced to get a water bottle to take it to the opposite side. Sounds simple but it was hilarious because after people spun in circles, they usually fell or ran the wrong way. My friend Estefania and I tried it and indeed, we both fell down. After all this fun and games, we returned to the boat and called it a night.

Day 3: I’ll try to make this one short because this is already two pages long. We went piranha fishing! I caught one! Just kidding. But someone in our canoe did catch one and I took a picture with it as if I caught it. Then we visited another village that wasn’t as exciting as the one the day before but it was still nice to observe their lifestyle. This one was a little more developed. Then we went swimming in the Amazon!! It was really cool and the water was really, really warm. After dinner, ,we went to a lodge where we met up with all the other Amazon groups from SAS and we had a big celebration to end our time at the Amazon. It was so amazing. We watched performances by a group who did dances based on the “Legends and Rituals of the Amazon.” They had really detailed costumes and it was really nice. After they performed, they honored the guides, and then the students danced along with the performers. After the celebration was over, around midnight, we went back to the riverboat to pack up and go to the airport and arrived to Salvador the next day around 1pm.

Overall, the Amazon was a really incredible experience! Oh we didn’t get to shower this entire time, I forgot to mention that. But, we had rainfall on one of the days so some us took advantage of this and took a shower in the rain. As a side note, we also learned about the limited educational and medical resources the Amazon has. It is unfortunate that many of the children that live there don’t have the opportunities for higher education. Also, some of the people further in are far away from the city and in case of emergency, it takes a while to get there by boat.  However, the Amazon is really one of the natural wonders of the world and I’m glad I had this opportunity to visit.

I don’t know how close this was to being in a nutshell...

First Stop: Salvador, Brazil!

Our long awaited first stop on Semester at Sea was Salvador, Brazil. We arrived on Sunday, September 7th, were at the dock at 5:30am and anchored by 7am. It felt so weird to wake up that morning to a still ship! I looked out my window and saw industrial-like buildings. They were going to start calling students at 7:15am to get cleared by customs. They wanted to do face-to-face passport checks so we weren’t expected to be cleared for another 2-3 hours. In the end, it turned out that Brazil customs wasn’t going to do that after all, so we proceeded to pick up our passports at the faculty and staff lounge and were ready to disembark-Yay!

We disembarked the ship and were greeted by a traditional Bahian woman giving us these ribbons for our wrists. We got tons more of these while we walked around Salvador. We went through the Port of Salvador building that had an area that seemed to be designed just for Semester at Sea students. It had postcards, stamps, computers for internet use, telephones, and little souvenir and convenience stands. We were too anxious to stop and figured it was probably overpriced so we proceeded to the city.

Salvador is interesting because it has an upper and lower city. The ship’s dock and more industrial areas seemed to be in the lower city. They advised us to take the Lacerda Elevator to the upper city where most of the tourist sites were. We took a right exiting the port building and walked down this street that had a very strong smell of urine. My friends and I quickly crossed to the other side of the street to avoid the smell. We walked through some blocks where there were always taxi drivers asking us if we wanted a taxi. One taxi driver advised us to avoid where we were because there were “bandits”. They kind of scared us at the pre-port meetings telling us that Salvador is a very big city and to be careful not to look like tourist targets.

Well, we finally found the elevator to get to the upper city and found some nice architectural sites and other places. Throughout this whole time, street vendors approached us and little kids asked us for money. The vendors would put the necklaces around our necks and wouldn’t let us give it back because they really wanted us to buy the item. We quickly learned to avoid them so that this wouldn’t happen. But sometimes it was really unavoidable. The sequence of events was something I wasn’t used to. Bahian women dressed in traditional costumes would come over to pose for a photo and ask for money AFTERWARDS. Capoeira performers would also do a small performance for us pretending like it’s free and then they would ask us for money, explaining that this is what they do for a living and need the money. I felt bad walking away and ignoring them but one of my friends made the point that this is going to be happening in many of the countries we’re visiting and we can’t get haggled in each one. Also, at the Diplomatic Briefing, they told us not to give money to the children on the streets and that if we were so inclined to give money, to find an organization to donate to.

After a few of these episodes, we got hungry and asked a taxi driver where we could find a Churrasceria, a traditional Brazilian BBQ. He said there wasn’t one in the near vicinity but that he knew of a place where it was about 35 Reals for all you can eat. This is equivalent to about $20 so we thought it was worth it and hopped in. We get to the restaurant and it is this really fancy place called Boi Preto Grill where we feel very underdressed. And it was not 35 Reals but 65 Reals (about $40). But it was a really nice place where they come around and slice fresh meat and they did have a nice buffet. But as soon as I walked in I noticed a stark difference than where I had just been. Where were all the Afro-Brazilians that roamed the streets of Centro Historico and by the elevator? The servers were all dressed nicely and the people who were eating were better dressed. I wanted a more authentic dining experience but of course, the food here was delicious as well.

We finished eating and took a taxi back to the port. On the way, we saw a shopping mall called Salvador Shopping and I wanted to get a few things so we told the taxi driver to drop us off there. So he drops us off and we go inside and notice that all the shops are closed. We actually knew that it was Brazil’s Independence Day but saw that there were so many cars, we figured it was open. It is a really nice mall actually but the only things open were the movie theater and the restaurants. We browsed around the mall and then left to Centro Historico. I found this to be an interesting observation-there were so many people at this mall just walking around and relaxing even though it was closed. The aspect of time was quite different in Brazil. I’m used to being on “Go” mode all the time and Brazil was not like this at all. Everyone was just relaxing, sitting around. I observed this when I was at the Amazon as well. I’ll get to that.

We visited the town of Pelourinho that had lots of colorful establishments and souvenir stops. We noticed there was many SAS students and saw that we were close to where we started. I visited the Igreja de Sao Francisco, a church that I had seen on a postcard that had a really nice interior. We paid 3 Reals to get in and it actually had much to see. It was museum-like with a lot of rooms with many artifacts. The interior didn’t look as spectacular as the postcard but it was quite intricate and beautiful.

There were other little events but this is getting really long. We finally came back to the ship because I had a Welcome Reception with Brazilian students to attend. I saw Estefania, another girl I knew was going and asked her what she was going to wear. She was with some friends and they said they were wearing dresses so I guess this was going to be a little more formal. I rushed through dinner and got ready for the Reception. The reception was really fun!!! They had a capoeira show, an act with girls that do tricks on ribbons (like at the circus), and dancing. There was hardly any Brazilian students but Estefania, Ale, and I had a great time together! Again, there was also Bahian women dressed in the traditional dresses. They had Brazilian finger foods like grilled cheese on a stick, little shrimp things made with palm oil, and unlimited beer. So it was well worth the $60 we paid to attend.

I’m going to try to use my Internet minutes and upload some pictures so I hope it works! This is super long and that was just my first day in Brazil!

Neptune Day Festivities Part II

Neptune Day. It started with people in these funny-looking costumes coming around the cabins banging on drums and on our doors at 7:30 IN THE MORNING. My alarm was set for 9:30am even though I knew the festivities for Neptune Day were from 9-12pm. Of course, I quickly grabbed my camcorder and took some video. Then I tried going back to bed but they made another round and I finally threw some clothes on and went to breakfast. I came back to my cabin to get ready and at 8:45 there was yet another announcement that we should make our way to the 7th deck for Neptune Day festivities. That one woke my roommate up and we both got ready. I had read that we should wear stuff we don't mind getting wet/dirty so I put on my bathing suit and some shorts.

According to what I heard around the ship and Wikipedia, someone's first crossing of the equator, is a sort of initiation rite. Those who haven't crossed are called Pollywogs. So the Pollywogs made their way up to the deck and they announced the king and queen and some other "officials". The initiation began with one of the assistant captains being splashed with "fish guts" (some colored juice that tasted really bad) and jumping into the pool. So people formed a line and had fish guts poured on them and jumped into the pool. Then we proceeded to kiss a (real) fish, kiss the queen's ring, and then we were proclaimed by the King to be Shellbacks. I was hesitant at first but figured this only happens once so my neighbors and I did it! By the time it was our turn, the pool tasted really salty and not so great so I quickly got out, kissed the fish, the queen's ring, and was proclaimed a Shellback. YAY!!! Sounds kinda crazy, I know.

The festivities continued by people shaving their heads. Girls could donate 6 inches or more to Locks of Love. I saw some people get their heads shaved and then it got really crowded so I left to take a shower. But it was exciting and I guess worth waking up at 7:30am.

So then I tried to go read with my friend Ricki in the Piano Bar (a lounge with a piano and a snack bar) but it was not working so we both went down to take a nap. I slept for a good two hours and then we went to dinner. At 8pm we had our cultural pre-port for Brazil where they told us about Bahian culture, music, food, beaches, and other sites. OH! and they even taught us some Portuguese! Um I know how to say, do you speak English?-- Voce fala ingles? It's very similar to Spanish so I'm sure I will get along fine. We have interport students that are from the countries we are visiting so the student from Brazil told us what to eat, where to go, and what to avoid. All of our classes tailor their curriculum to the countries we are visiting so having that background plus this cultural pre-port is VERY helpful.

Anyway, this got a little long and I have class tomorrow. Good night!

Neptune Day!

Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere! We crossed the Equator tonight at approximately 8:30pm and I found out that it's a pretty big deal at sea. So much of a big deal that we have the day off tomorrow. It's called Neptune Day. They didn't give us too many details but one of the big activities includes people shaving their head. I'm sure it'll be quite interesting. I was done pretty early today but still managed to not get too much done. This ship is not ver conducive to studying. So I managed to keep myself busy by hanging out with my neighbors, grabbing dinner, going out on deck when we crossed the Equator, playing card games, AND going to the gym (which consists of 2 treadmills, 4 ellipticals, 2 stairmasters, 2 bikes, and some machines and weights for the guys)! Running on a treadmill on a rocking boat is a little scary but I got used to it. Oh, and of course the 10 o'clock snack-- some people's favorite time of the day. That's when they have food like sandwiches, PB & J, and a plethora of desserts like cheesecake, brownies, banana cake, and pie. I stuck with a sandwich since I had just gotten out of the gym. That's it for now, I'll keep you posted on Neptune Day!

5th Day at Sea - some updates

So today was my fifth day at sea. The ship is somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean headed toward Salvador, Brazil. I think all of us are pretty ready to get off the ship and have other adventures on land.

I wasn't able to transfer the Science Education credits to Cal so I'm stuck taking the Mental Illness class. I missed one class already because I thought it was going to be okay. oops.

Everyone on the ship is starting to look familiar, people are remembering each others names. I have given up on introducing myself as Rocio because no one can ever pronounce it. I've gotten Lucille, Rosario, the usual Rock-io when they're taking roll, etc. Lol I'm used to it but I'm sticking to Rosie.

My birthday was nice -- we had a chocolate ice cream cake and a bunch of my cabin neighbors came to celebrate with me. It was pretty cool to spend a birthday on a ship in the middle of the ocean!

I signed up for the Vicarious Voyage with SAS where a group of us is going to be keeping in touch with a classroom in the States. Two Santa Clara students and I got a 6th grade class in Acampo in Northern California. We will send them "cultural packets" that include newspapers, pictures, etc, from each port we visit and the teachers incorporate it in their curriculum. The kids also write to us so that should be fun!

Puerto Rico Stop + Happy Birthday to Me :)

Yesterday we stopped in Puerto Rico for fuel. We were there from around 9am to 6pm and I was so happy because since it was US Territory, I was able to use my cell phone to call home and a few other people. The students were kinda bummed that we couldn't get off the ship but it's a long process so I guess it's understandable. But it was nice to look around the port at the nice hotels and other cruise ships.

Today is my 22nd birthday-- yay! We ordered a birthday cake and some friends and I will have it after dinner tonight. It's Monday and we have six days until we get to Salvador, Brazil!