Day 38 (02-25-09)

Training tonight. The day after Mauritius is our Sea Olympics, and we have to be ready. The students on the ship are separated into different seas, and we compete against each other in a handful of events. The winning sea is able to get off of the ship first when we dock in Ft. Lauderdale. I’m not in any rush to leave, but the competitive aspect is still nice. I’m signed up for Dodgeball and the M&M Find (burying my face in whipped cream trying to find the hidden M&Ms). My sea is the Arabian Sea, and I’m our mascot. Our color is brown; we’re the Arabian UPS workers... what can Brown do for you? It’s exciting. Unfortunately, not much else is going on. Just waiting on our next port, even if we only get to spend 10 hours there.

Day 39 (02-26-09)

One of my classes was cancelled today. Professor had a stomach bug. Seasickness is running rampant now. This water is the choppiest we have had to deal with on a constant basis. Adding insult to injury, the food is the worst it’s been all voyage, so the people that feel well enough to eat don’t even want to. Gross. I’m just going to lie down for awhile and dream of dry land. Mauritius tomorrow should be fun, if not all that eventful. I think I’ll just wander around, maybe sit on the beach for a little. We’ll see.

Day 40 (02-27-09)
Well, so much for that. 10 hours in a port doesn’t really give you much time to do anything. Illness doesn’t help, either. I woke up with some kind of stomach bug and it kind of killed the day. I just walked around the port area and waterfront for a few hours, got some lunch, and came back. No beaches, no mountains. But, no worries. It was still a few hours in a country I’d never seen before. At least I was able to get off the ship and walk around. Plus, Mauritius is the only place that the Dodo Bird ever lived before it became extinct. So I can say that I’ve been there. That’s cool I guess? When we were all back on the ship, there was a barbeque for us, and the opening ceremonies for the Sea Olympics happened tonight. Each sea displayed their own flag, yelled their chant, and displayed their mascot. I think we did pretty well. Slumdog Millionaire is being shown on our TVs tonight since it just won 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture and because we’ll be in India in a week. I’ve been told that anyone going to India should see this movie first. I’m excited.

Day 41 (02-28-09)

Sea Olympics. First event: Dodgeball. Actually, this ended up being my only event because it took us over 3 hours to do the tournament. There are 10 teams, and it wasn’t single or double elimination. It was round robin. Each team played every other team. 9 Games each. Well, that turned out to be too long, so they just cut a game from everyone’s schedule to make it 8 games each. But then the synchronized swimming competition started and all the dodgeball teams lost half of their members, so they just ended the tournament with whatever progress had already been made. In the end…Arabian Sea wins the Gold. We only lost one match. 6-1 record. It was exciting. But I missed out on whipped cream/M&M action. Sad day. In the evening, they gathered us all in the Union again for medals and closing ceremonies. Our flag took the Bronze. Our chant took Silver. And my mascot-ing earned us Silver as well. Overall, we were in a 3-way tie for 3rd place over all. Not too shabby. Also, in South Africa, one of our team captains contacted a t-shirt printing company and we had Arabian Sea t-shirts made for the games. Dedication. Well, I’m exhausted and they’re showing Lost in the Union tonight, so I’m going to get caught up on that. Back to class tomorrow. Class, really? Weird. 

Small Updates and Movie

Day 36 (02-23-09)

Apparently we just left Cape Town early this morning. But we have the fastest cruise liner in the world; making it to Mauritius on schedule is no problem. Today might be the most boring day onboard the ship thus far. Why? Tomorrow is the first Global Studies exam. Everyone is freaking out because they don’t know what to study and we’ve just been out of the classroom for the past 9 days. It’s rather amusing. I guess we’ll see what happens. There’s really nothing else to report here because that’s honestly all I’ve encountered today. I admit, I caved in and studied too. But only a little. I spent the rest of my time watching 24 and eating Frosted Flakes. It was awesome. Making it an early night tonight so I’m well rested. Catch you on the flip side.

Day 37 (02-24-09)

I think everybody on this ship is sick right now. Some have the flu. Some are seasick. Some have lingering coughs. A few are unfortunate enough to have some “traveler’s disease” (yikes). But everyone is sick. Except, for once, me. I guess I’ll just keep taking my Vitamin C and hope for the best. Dinner time. It’s 7pm and I’ve only eaten some pop-tarts and a cup of noodles today, so I should probably get on that.

I put a video on the photo site. Nothing special, just a little message for everyone.

Enjoy.

Day 31 (02-18-09)

A month. I’ve been gone for a month. It really doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. I’d love nothing more than to press pause and soak it all in at a leisurely pace. But I’m pretty sure I can just deal with what I’m given. Take for instance…South Africa. We’re now in South Africa.

We got here a little bit late this morning. Dense fog made our arrival into port a slow process. Instead of leaving the ship at 9am, we couldn’t get off until after 11. But no worries. On the agenda for today: summit Table Mountain. We got some information from the Executive Dean and some of our inter-port guests (a couple who have climbed Kilimanjaro) and we left for our climb up a gorge to the top of Table Mountain. I apologize in advance because I might get a bit detailed and self-indulgent here, but it just feels necessary. Simply put, this thing was rough. I didn’t know how out of shape I am until today, and it didn’t take very long for me to realize it. The trail was supposed to take about 2 hours at a leisurely pace, and we finished in slightly less time than that, mostly because we stopped for a lot of pictures along the way. But we were still getting passed a lot. There was a really steep staircase of boulders about halfway through the climb and I had the bright idea of running them as fast as I possibly could. It was fun. But it didn’t make the rest of the climb any easier. I love the whole mountain climbing experience though. I feel like I don’t take advantage of anything that’s right at my doorstep in Boulder. Who knows. Maybe I’ll climb Pike’s Peak sometime. It’ll get me ready for Kilimanjaro. Consider a Kili climb added to my life’s to-do list. Not Everest though. That’s a bit ambitious. Plus it costs at least 50,000 dollars and there aren’t even good odds for making it to the top. But Kili would be great.

Afterwards, we relaxed at the top for awhile, but the clouds came in right as we got there. The hike was clear, but the top of the mountain was in the clouds and we couldn’t see the city from our vantage point. So we just ate some lunch at the top (beef burger covered in some kind of delicious barbeque concoction) and reveled in our accomplishment. We took the Cable Car down (I was singing the Fray all day), and headed back to the ship.

We walked around town for a bit, then headed out to dinner at a Belgian place called Den Anker. Great food. Red meat covered in gravy with a glass of some nice South African white wine. We rushed out of the restaurant just in time to make it to a theatre for a 3-man production called Freak Country. The concept of the show was interesting, but the execution was a bit off. You can ask if you’d like a synopsis. I found dessert to be necessary, and we all went back to the same place that we had dinner and grabbed something. A short walk up the waterfront later, I found myself at a little jazz club called the Green Dolphin. I took in some live music and got some drinks there until it closed and we went back to our floating abode. Great first day. Cape Town, I could get used to you.

Day 32 (02-19-09)

Early morning today. Why? Because I’m building a house in a South African Township, that’s why. I did Habitat for Humanity all day, and it was great. We got into the Township and split into groups, with 10 people going to each of the two project houses. Roofing, mortaring, cinder blocking, cementing, and painting ensued. The future homeowner came and made us snacks and we talked with her for a little bit. Kids from the surrounding area came out and played with us and took pictures. It was a long day, but certainly fulfilling.

After making myself feel human again, I found a friend of mine on the ship and she said, “Hey, come with me.”I asked her where she was going. She replied, “I have no idea.”So I went. We ended up 20 kilometers away in a beach town just on the other side of Table Mountain. It’s a place called Camp’s Bay and was absolutely beautiful. It felt like a less obnoxiously crowded version of Southern California with a mountainous backdrop. We met up with friends at a place called the Bungalow and spent 2 or 3 hours just eating and relaxing with each other. The restaurant was completely open to the outside, and we were sitting on a giant white couch at our table, with white sheets on the walls that flapped lightly in the breeze. As we were at a table by the entrance, we had an unimpeded view of the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean, which is a treat. From the coast, I’ve only ever watched the sunrise over the Atlantic, never the sunset. Venus was the brightest I’ve ever seen in the sky, and the blue sky gave way to orange over top of the palm trees and breaking waves while we had our meal. And the meal is worth description. I had some drink that was essentially a smoothie made with peach schnapps. Tasty. The appetizers for the table were all amazing, especially our palette cleansers. They were called Nitro Dragons. The waitress brought out this steaming metal pot filled with liquid nitrogen. It had flash-frozen pieces of lemony goodness inside. She grabs one of these lemon things out of the liquid nitrogen with some tongs and she tells me to “open your mouth, bite down, and breathe out through your nose.”Umm…okay? So I do as she says and it’s cold and delicious and the steamy stuff from the nitrogen comes out my nose and I look like a dragon. It was beautiful. Dinner was the pasta of the day, spaghetti with some kind of cilantro infused tomato and vegetable sauce. And then someone ordered the Jellyfish. Not an actual jellyfish, but a drink called the jellyfish. It’s a party drink for the whole table to share, and it was interesting not because of its taste, but because of its presentation. It came in a giant fishbowl with about 20 straws sticking out of the top. We all took the obligatory picture with the fishbowl, making it appear as though we were consuming it individually. Good times. Went to the Green Dolphin again for some more live music before finally heading to bed. Rewarding day, fantastic night, can’t wait for another.

Day 33 (02-20-09)

Can I move here? Or just get a vacation house or something? I could spend months in Cape Town without getting bored. And it’s dirt cheap. The exchange rate is 10 South African Rand to 1 US Dollar. So that gourmet meal last night for all 7 of us cost about $200 American, including drinks and tip and everything. Less than $30/person? Are you kidding me? Plus, Cape Town just has so much going on. There are great beaches, a few mountains to climb, plenty of wildlife, vineyards, extreme sports (bungee, skydiving, shark diving, cliff diving, motorsports, etc), sailing, cycling, everything. But, alas, my time here is short, and it’s impossible to do it all in 5 days’time. So for now, I’ll just do as much as I can.

Today was another fun-filled day. A few of us hopped on a minibus tour of the area south of Cape Town. We went through the resort beach area, a couple vineyards, and the most southwesterly point of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope. We were fortunate enough to see some of the local wildlife up close, including baboons and Jackass Penguins. They’re called Jackass Penguins because their mating calls sound similar to the braying of a donkey. True story. After some more scenic driving and lots of pictures, we wound up back at the waterfront for lunch. The group of people I was with hadn’t yet been to Table Mountain, and it was a perfectly clear day, so I went with them to the top (via cable car…there isn’t a chance in Hell I’d want to climb that thing twice in 3 days) and we got some great photos of the city and surrounding areas. We could even see all the way out to Cape Agulhas, the very southern tip of Africa where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. Spectacular.

Oh and it’s time for our tangent of the day. You’re excited, I can tell. On our minibus tour in the morning, there was a man named David, probably in his early 30s, originally from New Zealand, but now living in London. He works for a broadcasting company in England that supports networks all over the world, and this company is most notably responsible for many of the televised soccer matches in Europe. While on holiday from his job, he decided to come down to Africa for some time to take in the sights. He was in Zambia and Zimbabwe a few days ago for Victoria Falls, Johannesburg yesterday on safari, and now he’s in Cape Town for a wedding. So we talk to this guy for awhile about traveling and sports and it was a lot of fun, but then the tour ended and we go our separate ways. Well 2 hours later in line for the tickets for the Table Mountain cable car, guess who’s standing right in front of us? (That’s another thing I hate…when people ask a question that’s so incredibly obvious that it fails in its purpose as a question. Questions are meant to elicit thought and provoke conversation and ideas. I’ve only been talking about one guy in this entire paragraph. You know exactly who we saw in line.) Imagine that, it was David. So we rode the cable car up and walked around the top of the mountain with him, got some food, etc. He took all of our cameras and got group shots of all of us SAS kids together on the mountain. Just a genuinely nice guy. We rode in a taxi with him back to the waterfront and told him about a great steak restaurant nearby where he could get the t-bone he was craving (the best in South Africa, supposedly). Before we left though, he stopped and thanked us for traveling around with him all day; he was touring Africa alone and it was nice for him to have some companions for the day. And then he gave me his e-mail address and said “If you’re ever in London between August and May, drop me an e-mail a few days in advance and I’ll get you up into the broadcast booth for a Champions League match. Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, whatever. Just give me some notice and it’ll be no problem.”Even the TOURISTS are friendly in Cape Town. It’s ridiculous. But hey, now I have a contact in London. Just in case.

Afterwards, the rest of my group ended up going to a local rugby match in which I wasn’t much interested, so I met up with someone else and we went to dinner at a place that came highly recommended to me, Mama Africa’s. They open at 7pm, we arrived at 7:15pm, and there were no tables available. They’re booked solid from 7-midnight everyday. Fortunately, there were 2 seats open at the bar, and they serve the full menu there as well, so we were able to sit down right when we got there. I got the local game variety plate, with one serving each of sausage, kudu, springbok, ostrich, and crocodile. Tasty. Plus, there was live music: Some African drums with a guitarist and a vocalist that actually sang Josh Groban at one point. Not what I was expecting from an African-themed restaurant in Cape Town. When we finished, we walked along Long Street, the nightlife capital of the city. We were offered cocaine on two separate occasions in a 10-minute span. I don’t even have the long hippie hair anymore. Bizarre.

But of course, we ended the evening at the Green Dolphin for some drinks and music. Tomorrow is my free day in Cape Town to wander at my leisure, so I fully intend to sleep in a little bit. Woo hoo!

Day 34 (02-21-09)

Okay, so remember that time I was going to sleep in a little bit? I slept in a lotta bit. Noon. Whoops. I wasted half of a day in this incredible place. But I’m over it. Nothing I can do about it now. Today was my day of R&R. I stayed near the waterfront all day, went into the local mall, got a phone card and talked to some people back home.

And now I’m going to blow your mind. Surprise surprise, food is involved. There’s a little chain of coffee shops here called Melissa’s. It looks like a typical upscale coffee shop. They have their own types of coffee and tea and some dried fruits for sale. They have fresh baked goods sitting on the counter for your enjoyment. I had the baked cheesecake and it was lovely. But it was here, folks, at Melissa’s, that I consumed the best mug of hot chocolate I have ever had. Now, let me say that with a disclaimer, because the Chocolate con Churros in Spain had the best actual drinking chocolate that I’ve had, but it was meant to have fried goods dipped inside it. Melissa’s hot chocolate was the best overall cup of hot chocolate though, because of its preparation. It’s something so basic that it shouldn’t even be exciting. But I never would have thought to do it, so cheers to Melissa. Okay, so you have your hot chocolate, right? Before you pour it in the mug this is what you do: line the insides of the mug with a layer of Nutella. Consider your mind blown. Rich and decadent hot chocolate in a cup lined with chocolatey hazelnut goodness. It was almost too good to be true. But it was true. So not quite too good. Whatever. Try it out, see if it works.

Today really was all about food, actually. After my stop at Melissa’s I went to dinner about an hour later at a waterfront restaurant called Quay Four. Tagliatelle with chicken and cream sauce. Our group of 10 was there at the restaurant for 3 hours before moving on to the…Green Dolphin. Where we spent another 3 hours having drinks, taking in some jazz, and talking to the locals. We talked to a couple of guys from Johannesburg for little bit that were in Cape Town for a weekend off. A common thread for most of the people we’ve met this week, tourist or local, is the sense of joy they all have about the city. Foreigners come to Cape Town once and then return several times. Locals move out of the city or the country, but always go well out of their way to make it back as often as possible. Two of the musicians that we listened to at the Green Dolphin every night were Australian citizens that were born and raised in Cape Town, and they come back for a week every year because they love it so much. I was lucky enough to sit down and have a drink with the saxophone player in between sets and he talked about how much he loves the area and how he always enjoys coming home to play. I have yet to see the downside to this city, at least from a tourist’s perspective.

Late night tonight, early morning tomorrow. Eat, sleep, breathe, repeat.

Day 35 (02-22-09)

This morning, I hate everything and everyone. It’s 4:40am. I’ve gotten 2 hours of sleep. Anything that doesn’t involve walking immediately back to my room for more sleep is a terrible idea. And what terrible idea is on the agenda for today? Great white shark cage diving. It’s 2 hours away and we have to do the dives in the morning, so an early pick-up is necessary. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. We set out for Gansbaai, the great white capitol of the world, at about 5:15am and we made it to the boat by 8:30. Fun fact: rough waters + small boat = sea sickness for Christopher. Oh man. There were about 20 of us onboard this boat and I’d say that half of us were getting sick all morning. It was pretty rough. But also worth it. Because we saw 4 great white sharks. The groups that went out yesterday saw zero. Zero. We had different sharks, and they all kept coming around for more opportunities to bite at our bait. One of them was a baby, only about 6 feet long. Two of them were juvenile females, about 9 feet long. And we got a special treat in that we were fortunate enough to see and adult male, approximately 12-13 feet long. Typically on these dives, juvenile females are the most common sharks seen, adults are rare, and adult males are especially rare, as they tend to be more cautious about approaching ships. Plus, February is the South African summer. The water is colder. The shark population in the area diminishes significantly here, and the ones that are around are more skittish than in the wintertime. So the combination of everything just made the whole experience more memorable. Even if I was vomiting over the side of the boat half of the time, I still came within 2 inches of a 12-foot-long shark. What did you do today?

We came back to the waterfront at about 3:30pm and I just stayed on the ship. It’s our last day here and we have to be on the ship by 6, so I didn’t have any desire to press my luck by going anywhere. I applied for a VAT tax refund on the ship, mailed some postcards, got some food back into my system. It was nice. And now tonight, we’re supposed to pull away from the dock at 8pm, but the winds are strong and the opening to this port is considerably narrower than any other we’ve traversed thus far, so we don’t know when we’ll be able to leave. They told us it could be “as late as 11pm.”Guess what. It’s 12:30am and we still haven’t moved. Who knows how this will affect our Mauritius trip. The Executive Dean said we should be fine, but you never know. Whatever, I’m on a cruise with great people and I’m having the time of my life and I could just keep on going. Do I have any control over what’s going to happen? Nope. Will it really make that much of a difference? I don’t think so. I’m happy to just go wherever the wind takes us, no pun intended. Do I have to come home? Let’s not think about that yet, I’m only a third of the way through the voyage. From Cape Town for the last time (for now), Goodnight.

PHOTOS

Day 30 (02-17-09)

Today is South Africa Day. It sounds more exciting than it really is. We basically just sit in meetings all day talking about South Africa and what to expect when we’re there. But the fact that we’re about to be in Cape Town is incredible enough in itself that I don’t even care. We get 5 days in South Africa, which is the longest we’ve had in any ports so far. Needless to say, I’m excited. What a weird phrase. “Needless to say.” People always preface their obvious statements with “needless to say,” so why say it? If it is truly so blatant that no verbal communication is necessary to convey your message, then you shouldn’t even say the statement in the first place. And if it is something that you want to tell people, it isn’t useless information, thus “needless to say” isn’t applicable, as you clearly do need to say your thought. But I digress.

Today, we did actually have the most exciting thing to happen on the ship in quite a long time. Ready? Wait for it… Taco Day. Oh man. Words cannot describe the wonder that is encapsulated in Taco Day. But I’ll try to make it happen anyway. Every day. For lunch AND dinner. There are 4 staples. Salad. Potatoes. Fish. Meat. The types of meat/fish and the way that these are all prepared may vary from day to day. But the ingredients are the same. Taco Day takes that formula and laughs in its face. Taco Day presents itself to you as a buffet of goodness, beckoning you to come and invest time in its deliciousness. Taco Day looks you in the eye and addresses you personally, saying, “You look hungry, Christopher. Come and fill your stomach with meaty, cheesy goodness. You call that a taco? Add some more sour cream! Don’t skimp on the salsa, either. We are friends, Christopher, and I will fill your mouth with an orgy of flavor to delight you until your plate is empty and your jeans feel tighter.”

Well, it’s sort of like that.

We also did our second evacuation drill today. It’s basically a half hour of standing on the outside deck feeling like a sardine packed in with all the other students/faculty members onboard. Lovely. More pre-Cape Town things will happen this evening, and then: South Africa awaits.

EDIT: So I realized in the last post there were some typos. Im human. I was tired. We all maek mistakes sometimes. If you cam’t deal with a few typos in a layd-back storytime-style blog, you’re taking your life way too seriously. Consider a massage.

Also, I believe I credited the Disney Animal Kingdom safari to Will Eisner. Slip of the tongue I suppose. Will Eisner was a graphic novelist who is usually credited with inventing the modern Graphic Novel. I was referring to the former CEO of Disney who spearheaded the creation of the Animal Kingdom in the 90s. Michael Eisner maybe? Something like that. You get the idea.

Oh, I had the opportunity to upload some photos to the picture page tonight. There are several from Neptune Day and only 1 from Namibia. I had to go to a meeting, so I couldn’t finish, but it’s more than were there yesterday, so it’s a start. Happy browsing.

Photos

Day 26 (02-13-09)

Friday the 13th. I didn’t even realize it was today until someone mentioned it in class. It’s impossible to have any sense of time on this trip. When we’re on the ship, days and dates don’t matter because we have class every day, regardless of weekend or holiday. In port, we try to cram as many activities into our days as possible and no one has any need to know what day it is. Tonight there was the typical pre-port lecture talking about what to expect/avoid in country. Peel-able fruit = good. Tap water = bad. Crime rate = high. AIDS = kind of a big deal. The usual. And apparently northern Namibia is a moderate risk zone for malaria, so I probably should have some extra pills to take for that, but my doctor at home told me I didn’t need any. So if I get malaria, I’m blaming her. I’m sure I could make a lawsuit out of it, so it’s really a win-win.

I’m on the activities/events planning committee on the ship, and tonight we had to carry out one of our events: Valentines. As tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, we created a few generic valentines and invited everyone to make their own as well. Someone put a drop box on the Student Life desk and we had to sort through an unbelievable amount of valentines for delivery tonight. It actually turned out very well; we got all of them delivered to the cabins in about 30 minutes and now lots of people have found out that they have secret admirers onboard. It’s adorable, trust me. Whatever, we get bored after 8 days at sea. What else are we supposed to do? And no, “study”is not the correct answer to that question.

The safari commences tomorrow morning! Stay tuned.

Day 27 (02-14-09)

Happy Valentine’s Day, lovers. An early morning wake-up revealed something I still wasn’t expecting. More palm trees. I haven’t been to a single country since leaving Philly that hasn’t had palm trees. It’s crazy. There was an African Children’s Choir waiting on the dock when we got there and they sang for us as we walked down the gangway. It was pretty fantastic. And I just realized, duh, of course it’s an African Choir. I’m in Africa. But. It has more of an effect than if I had just said Children’s Choir. You know I’m right.

A short walk across the dock landed me at a row of 9 minibuses labeled “Wild Dog Safaris.”I found bus number 9 and the adventure began. Sort of. First of all, the student who organized the trip told us that our bus ride would be approximate 4 hours long. False. Very false. If you get a chance, look up a map of Namibia. It’s not that hard, I’m sure Google Images is easily accessible right now. Findthe port city of Walvis Bay (where we docked) and then find Etosha National Park (way up north). Got it? Yeah. Not 4 hours. Try 8. Although, I should give you a disclaimer. Let’s get Tarantino here and rewind for a second. About 5 hours into the drive, we come across one of the other buses in our group sitting on the side of the road. Several SAS students are standing in the street. We stop and find out that the battery in their bus has died. So we had a street party while the guides tried to figure everything out. I laid down in the middle of the street just for kicks. Come on, it’s Namibia. There’s NO ONE here. It’s one of the most sparsely populated nations in the world. Comparison: Take the population of Houston, TX. Spread it out over the entire area of Texas and Oklahoma combined. Then give 250,000 of them AIDS. Welcome to sub-Saharan Africa.

We got the bus situation sorted and continued our trek northward. We made it to the park just after sunset, and we settled nicely into our tents, we sat around the campfire singing, and all was well and good. Really? Do you honestly think it would go that well? No no no, you are dearly mistaken.

10 minutes before we got to the campsite: Torrential downpour. Oh, right. It’s February. Summer in Africa. The wet season. We pulled into our area; the guides grabbed the tents out of the back of the bus and threw them on the ground. “Grab one, find a spot without puddles, and set up camp.”Excuse me? We’re spoiled Americans here. What makes you think we’re capable of doing this? Sadly enough, that seemed to be the general consensus. I’m not a camper. I’ve never set up a tent in my life. But it’s pretty intuitive. Put the poles together, stick them in the ground, and attach the tent. Not too difficult. I ended up putting 5 tents together with 2 other guys and the 2 tour guides in the pouring rain while several girls sat in the bus watching us.

I’m not lying.

It’s really sad how spoiled people can act. I mean, I’m not saying I’m not spoiled. In comparison to most, I am. I’m spoiled and I’m privileged and I take things for granted. But I can admit it, and I’m certainly open to trying new things and roughing it for a while. That’s part of the experience. It’s why I’m here in the first place. But enough of the self-righteous ranting. It was a great experience, and I loved it.

Dinner took a very long time to cook, but it was well worth the wait. Spaghetti with meat sauce and hollowed out squash filled with sweet corn and cinnamon. All cooked in giant kettles over a campfire in the rain. The ship’s food isn’t this good and we have a full staff and things like, ya know, amenities. Crazy.

Tired. Wet. Sleep.

Day 28 (02-15-09)

Someone is shaking my tent. It’s still dark outside. I can smell breakfast. It’s cool outside, probably in the mid 60s. I open the flap and take a look around. There’s a fire going, with bacon and eggs on the way. My fellow Americans are emerging from their tents in a similarly groggy fashion. The sky is just beginning to turn those shades of red, yellow and orange that only seem possible in animated Disney movies.

A full day of safari-ing starts with a morning game drive. I don’t have my hopes up too high because it’s February and the best time for seeing animals here is June-August. But it’s a change of scenery that I never expected to see in my lifetime anyway, so it’s still well worth it. The first 4 hours of driving before lunch afforded us many treats. Zebras, ostriches, giraffes, sringboks, oryx, antelope, and the big daddy of them all, the Lion. Only one lion, off in the distance under his tree. But he was the alpha male and his mane was clearly visible and it was an incredible sight. If you’ve ever been to the Animal Kingdom in Disney World and ridden along on the safari ride, it’s actually quite similar to the real thing, just on a smaller scale. Kudos to Will Eisner. Lunch stop: hot dogs. More driving. More animals. We saw leopard tracks along one of he paths, but no leopards. Only one of the 9 vans saw cheetahs (it wasn’t mine). No one saw rhinos or elephants because they had already migrated north for the wet season. But it was still incredible. We stayed along the southern edge of Etosha National Park the whole time, and we were driving all day. It’s the largest park in all of Africa, and we only saw a sliver of a sliver of it.

Back to camp for dinner: a barbeque with lamb, pork, and sausage. Garlic bread. S’mores. Seriously, the food was so good. We watched the sunset from a tower in the camp and it was (can you guess?) gorgeous. After nightfall, a group of us went back to the tower and we turned our eyes straight upward to the skies. Fun fact: Namibia is known as one of the best places in the world for stargazing. Even with the moderate ambient light from the camp, the sky was still clear and filled with stars. The white band of the Milky Way was visible. I’ve only ever once seen a sky more clearly than tonight (Kelsey, you win. Your house has a better view of the universe than Namibia). Unfortunately, our stargazing was cut short by the swarm of bugs that suddenly and without warning overtook the top of the tower from below. It honestly looked like the plague of locusts just swarming over the edge of the stone wall. But we have a 5am wake up call tomorrow, so I should be going to bed anyway. Goodnight.

Day 29 (02-16-09)

5am wake up. Tent disassembly. Breakfast. 8 hour drive broken up with a stop to see flamingos and a stop for shopping. Well, there were bathroom breaks, too. But yeah, we’ve done lots of driving in the past few days. My legs hurt from lack of usage. We didn’t make it back to Walvis Bay in time for me to wander out to the sand dunes, which I was hoping for. The Namib desert has the largest sand dunes in the world (Dune 7, check it out) and several people climb them, sand-board on them, ride ATVs over them. It’s pretty intense. Oh well, I saw them from my window. I suppose I’ll just have to come back someday.

Happy 24th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

I’m back onboard the MV Explorer now. I’m tired. I’m dirty. It’s great. I’m going to go grab some dinner now and start the obligatory story trading. Goodbye Namibia, and goodbye readers.

PHOTO UPDATE

I was just able to upload 20 or so new photos to my gallery online. There are a handful of new pictures (that I'm actually in) inside the Spain/Bahamas folder, and there's an entirely new Morocco folder. For best picture quality, I recommend clicking the "slideshow" option at the bottom of the page once you are inside the album. Happy browsing.

Photos

Day 23 (02-10-09)

Wow. I’m bald. I can’t stop rubbing my head. It’s very distracting. We officially passed the equator today around 3:15pm…And now we’re in the Southern Hemisphere. I’ve never been here before, so that’s exciting. First thoughts: well, the water at 3:17pm looked curiously similar to the water at 3:12pm. And the water in our toilets is sucked down via some aircraft-grade suction system, so I can’t even test to see if it swirls down the drain counter-clockwise instead of clockwise. I’ll look into it in Namibia. We’re losing another hour tonight. This losing time deal is more exhausting than you might think.

On our voyage with us, we have a woman by the name of Lavinia Crawford-Brown. For the past 22 years, she has been the personal assistant to the Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa. She retired on December 31st, and she and her husband have come along for the ride. Tonight, Lavinia spoke about her time with the Archbishop, giving insight into the man behind the image. SAS really gets the most eclectic group of professors and lecturers on this ship. It’s crazy.

A friend of mine had her birthday tonight and we did a scavenger hunt in celebration. I am proud to say that I am now 1 and 1 as far as scavenger hunts go. I avenged my loss last time with a big win this round. Granted, not a single one of the participants this time around was carried over from last time, but it made me happy to know I didn't lose two in a row. Whatever.

Day 24 (02-11-09)

I don’t even know how I spend my time anymore. I had 3 classes today, so that occupied about 4 hours. I went to all 3 meals, so that was another 2.5 hours. It was really nice outside (83 degrees and nothing but sunshine) so I napped on the top deck for about 2 hours. Did some studying for an hour. Well that’s 9.5 hours. And I started at 8:15. Now I’m not a math major, but I think that takes me to 5:45pm. And it’s just after midnight now. That leaves me with over 6 hours unaccounted for. Who knows. Maybe I napped for longer. I’d say I might’ve underestimated on my study time, but let’s be honest…it was only an hour. There weren’t even any committee/club meetings tonight that I had to go to. Craziness. I’ll have to start keeping a more detailed list of things that I do on a daily basis. Walks aimlessly around ship smiling at people: 11 minutes. Stares at ocean deep in thought, half amazed and half terrified at the sight of water stretching infinitely out into the horizon: 19 minutes. Pop tart break: 6 minutes.

Oh! They took a picture of all the newly bald people in the Union tonight. That actually took up a significant amount of time. I knew I must've been missing something.

But as far as all of the miscellaneous things go, I might actually write them down someday. Just to see. Psh, who am I kidding? Goodnight everyone.

Day 25 (02-12-09)

Sleep. Class. Sleep outside. Lunch. Class. Meeting. Volleyball Game. Dinner. Lecture. Meeting. Snack time. Sleep.

Busy, busy day. We lose another hour tonight, which means we are now +7 hours of the East Coast, +9 of Boulder. So if the hour of my posts/e-mails keeps getting stranger and stranger, I apologize.

Day 19 (02-06-09)

Back to sea, back to class, back to work. I forgot about mundane things like class work. Oops. Nothing new today. More time to talk to friends about our trips in port. I realize I’m not using complete sentences. It’s a blog, not an essay. Relax.

Day 20 (02-07-09)

So I’m minding my own business. I’m playing some volleyball on the top deck of the ship. You know what happens? Someone decides “oh my god you’re shaving your head on Monday…I have to straighten your hair!”Why? I don’t get it. Whenever I have long hair, someone always wants to take a straightener through it. But I was bored and didn’t have anything else to do for the evening. So I let her. I either looked like a frontman for an 80s rock band or one of the cavemen from the Geico commercials. Ridiculous. I guess this is just what happens when cabin fever sets in. I turn into a scruffy, brown-haired Fabio. I’ve got the crooked nose to match, so why not. Anyway. I started planning some of the on-ship events with my committee tonight, so hopefully we’ll have a karaoke night and a dating game (a copy of MTV’s Singled Out) up and running sometime soon. Also on the ship, we have something called the Extended Family program. In it, two adults (lifelong learners, faculty members, etc) become “parents”for a group of about 10 students. We all meet up for meals a few times throughout the semester, and it’s just another way to get close to people onboard. I met with my family for dinner, and I had already met 8 out of my other 9 family members. I suppose that means I’m not getting as much out of it as others who don’t know their families. But it’s still fun. We share stories and eat ice cream. I’m for it.

We stop in Senegal tomorrow for some refueling. Hopefully we don’t have to wait around for a day like last time. But waters aren’t supposed to be rough, so we should be fine. Later gators.

Day 21 (02-08-09)

Another day of class. Another day with straight hair. We’re in Dakar, Senegal right now getting more fuel. We can’t leave the ship, but it’s nice to see some land around us to know we’re not completely lost at sea. It’s gotten a lot warmer since we left Morocco. That equator is right around the corner. I’m sleeping outside on the top deck tonight since it’s so nice out. Oh and we had our first M.o.D. (Mediocre Dance) night tonight. Someone just busted out some techno music on her giant iPod speakers and a crowd of about 20 of us just ran around the ship dancing like idiots. It was pretty intense. Neptune Day is tomorrow. Say goodbye to my flowing locks.

Day 22 (02-09-09)

So I had to wake up at 3am this morning because the cleaning crews spray down the outside decks every night. We only got about 3 hours of sleep out there and we didn’t even get to see the sunrise. Bummer. But we’ll do it some other time. My second wake up call came at 9am, when The Voice came on the P.A. system and called all the pollywogs out to the pool deck. Pollywogs are seafarers that have never crossed the equator before. We scampered out to the deck and the festivities were just getting started. The ship’s captain was painted green and dressed as the God Neptune. In order for us pollywogs to become worthy of crossing the equator, we had to kiss Neptune’s ring, kiss a rather large and rather dead fish, and have two pitchers of awful-smelling and ice cold fish stuff poured down our backs before jumping the pool to rinse. The optional tradition: head shaving. I was one of the first 6 or 7 people to get it done, and my hair was the longest of any of the guys who shaved. It was pretty ridiculous. I don’t think my hair has ever been this short before; it’s about the texture and length of peach fuzz. My facial hair is currently longer than the hair on top of my head. But I still wear the pink bandanas so people can recognize me.

We’re still pretty far from the equator; I’m not sure if we’re even going to cross it before midnight, but that’s alright. We’ll get there soon enough. It was about 82 degrees today and we were all relaxing outside on the back decks.

(Boulder is 7 hours behind us right now, so my friends are probably just waking up since it’s 3:00pm here. What are you up to guys? Classes? Work? I got my head shaved and had a pool party with 700 of my close friends at the Equator. Just thought I’d give you an update.)

Well I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m going to head back outside, get myself a drink, and get a little more tan while I’m at it. Have fun doing whatever it is that you’re doing.

Christopher.

Day 15 (02-02-09)

Now we wait. Everyone onboard is holding a collective breath to find out how much time we’ll have in Morocco and which trips will be cancelled. Time today has been passing pretty slowly. We just got our fuel and now we’re cruising towards Africa. Days like these are the reason card games were created. They help to ease the tension and the boredom that inevitable set in with an extended period of waiting.

UPDATE: My trip is still happening, with one minor change. The “Marrakech and Camel Trek”has now become “Marrakech and No Camel Trek.”With the loss of a day, the extra 8 hour drive into the desert isn’t feasible, but we’re still camping with nomads somewhere in the Sahara. But we’re getting partial refunds since a day-long activity was cancelled. Woo hoo.

Tonight there was a presentation by our chief security officer, Joe, that gave us tips about being safe in lesser-developed countries. He demonstrated how pickpockets work and actually pulled an unsuspecting student onstage and picked his pocket. About 20 minutes later in the presentation, he pulled the same kid onstage to show us how to defend ourselves against would-be attackers, and when the kid sat down, Joe had picked his pocket again. Hilarious.

We had an Open Mic night again tonight just to keep us occupied. There are a lot of great singers and musicians here, so that’s always a treat. 7:00am is the wake up time for the trip tomorrow; we’ll see how the next 3 days go.

Day 15 (02-03-09)

Today: we drive. We left the ship sometime between 8 and 9 for our minibus trip through Morocco. 3 hours to Marrakech. Rest stop. 3 hours through the High Atlas Mountains. Lunch. 2 hours to Nomad camp at the edge of the Sahara. Dinner. Dance party in Saharan oasis. That’s right. Time to backtrack.

I’ve never seen so many different types of landscapes in such a short period of time. We started in Casablanca, the nation’s largest city. A brief drive through the city revealed something that I hadn’t previously known: traffic laws in Northern Africa…mere guidelines. Our driver showed what seemed to be a blatant disregard for any other vehicle, pedestrian, donkey, stray animal, etc. But apparently that’s just the way locals drive. A four-lane road with one left turn lane can easily become a four-lane road with three left turn lanes. Painted lines on the road are only suggestions. Sidewalks are open for motorized vehicles if the traffic is bad enough. You hear approximately 16 horns honk immediately when a traffic signal becomes green because drivers have zero patience at all. It was nuts. After we left Casablanca, we drove through 3 hours of farmland before hitting Marrakech, and I was really surprised with the scenery. Famers and shepherds use most of the countryside and everything is green. Trees and grass covered the hills, and it felt more like driving through central Pennsylvania than Morocco. We’d see some of the red clay/sand/dirt every once in awhile, but not much. Until we hit city number two: Marrakech. This place seemed more like what I was expecting from Morocco, at least from a brief pass through it. Makeshift shops were set up everywhere and all of the buildings were red or orange. But more on that tomorrow. Now: The Mountains.

I had not been expecting to drive through the High Atlas Mountains. I was under the impression that the Mountains were in Western Morocco and the Sahara in Easter Morocco, and we’d move off towards the east. As it turns out, my geography was wrong, and we had to drive straight through the mountains to get to the desert. Our street wound through progressively taller hills until, out of nowhere, the snow-capped mountains appeared. The treacherous drive (our driver had a death wish, I swear) was incredible. Every other time I’ve driven through mountain passes, the driver sticks to the posted speed limit or less, because, well, there’s only a mere guardrail between the vehicle and the edge of the cliff. Imminent death seemed to be upon us as our 15-passenger van sped along the slippery-when-wet mountain road. But we made it to lunch so far ahead of the other three vans that we were able to make a stop for pictures with a nomad and his camels on the other side of the range. I may or may not have this same thought several more times during the semester, but I felt like I was on the Amazing Race. It was so much fun.

Lunch consisted of traditional Moroccan salad (which tasted like Pico de Gallo) and an omelet. Here’s something you can try at home. It’s simple, yet delicious. Take an orange slice and throw a dash of cinnamon on it. I never would have though to combine the two, but it was a really good dessert. The restaurant was attached to a fortified house that we were able to see. I call if a fortified house because that’s what it would be called in English. But you know what it’s called in Arabic? A Kasbah. That’s right. It was a Kasbah. And I bet you know what we did there. We rocked it. We rocked the Kasbah.

Two hours later, it’s 35 degrees outside and our vans were trekking through the middle of nowhere. We were on a barely-distinguishable dirt road leading us into the Sahara somewhere outside the city of Ouarzazate. Suddenly, the road opened up into a lush area with a stream, palm trees, and other foliage. We had arrived at our camp. It was a popular spot for nomads, an oasis in the desert. And in this desolate, impossible to reach area of human civilization, we had the exact type of celebration that I was expecting: A dance party. Complete with Moroccan DJ. No, I’m not lying. I couldn’t make this up. To end the night, we gathered in tents and sleeping bags and camped out on the desert floor. What did you do tonight?

Day 16 (02-04-09)

Wake up. It’s 7:15am. I crawl out of my tent and look around. Time for a realization. Wow…I’m in Africa right now. How is this even happening?

Some time is allotted for photographs and hiking through the valley before we start our drive back to Marrakech. Several hours and another death-defying drive later (this one was through the densest fog I’ve ever seen), we arrived at Marrakech for lunch. And now I’ll describe the best meal I’ve had all trip. Come with me, it’ll be fun.

Overlooking the famous Djemaa el Fna, we ate an incredible lunch. First of all, the bread in Morocco is fantastic. We started all of our meals with bread and this batch was particularly good. Following the bread was some sort of lemon salad with some kind of meat paste, and I could only manage to eat two bites of it. I’m not sure what it was, but I was not a fan. It didn’t matter though, because the main course was phenomenal: Rack of lamb with dates. The lamb was so tender it practically fell off the bone and the dates that were cooked in the broth with it added a sweetness that I wasn’t expecting. It was perfect. Mom, if you’re reading…this is a recipe you should try to find. Immediately. I’m just saying.

Before we checked into our hotel for the evening, we had several hours to wander the souks of Marrakech at our leisure. This was absolutely overwhelming. Walking through the labyrinthine passageways of the marketplace with vendors packed shoulder-to-shoulder, all trying to sell their crafts, was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Their prices, much like their traffic laws, are mere suggestions, and bartering is key. Vendors start off with a high price, hoping to trap unsuspecting tourists into buying, but if you know how to haggle, prices drop significantly. It was kind of fun trying to purchase things here because the shopkeepers speak mostly Arabic, French, or Berber, with a limited amount of English. Not only are you negotiating, but you’re doing it through a language barrier. While I did have fun here, I’m not in any hurry to return back to such a setting. The merchants could be very aggressive, often times grabbing you by the arm or the shoulder to try and lead you into their areas. One man in particular called us “American Terrorists”and “Bush Babies”while miming our beheading with a machete from his shop as nearby merchants laughed. It was enough to make us uneasy, regardless of how serious he was. I can laugh about it now, but when that machete touched my shoulder, any sense of comfort and confidence I had gained in the market vanished.

When we were done with the vendors, we checked out the main plaza. It was here that we saw the stereotypical Moroccan performers that I had been expecting. Men carrying monkeys on their shoulders offered to take photographs with tourists. Snake charmers played their instruments while cobras swayed at their feet. It was great.

We had dinner at the Moroccan version of Medieval Times, but it was a complete joke. The food was great; I typically don’t like couscous but this was delicious. The horse show on the other hand…not so good. It was probably the least Moroccan thing we could have experienced. The performers looked miserable and they were wearing obvious costumes. The soundtrack for the show included Darth Vader’s entrance music, the Back to the Future theme, and I Will Survive. And whatever story they were trying to tell was completely lost on us. It was rough. Tomorrow is our last day in Morocco before we have another 8 or 9 days at sea before Namibia. I don’t have much free time, but I’ll try to make the most of it. Goodnight from Marrakech!

Day 17 (02-05-09)

Boring day today. Woke up and had the best orange juice of my life. 100% positive I’ve never had orange juice that good. Freshly made from the oranges that are growing all over Morocco. Tasty. A couple more hours of souvenir shopping followed before our return to Casablanca and entry back onto the ship. We’re all dead tired and swapping stories about our different Moroccan adventures. The best part of the day came when the ship left the dock. We had to turn around in order to get out of the port, and this means that all of our stuff was going to go flying again, as sharp turns don’t go over very well when the ship’s stabilizers are off. So, for this occasion, about 35 of us went to the main reception area of the ship and sat on the smooth tile floor. Several others went up to the balcony to take photos and videos of the event, but they definitely didn’t have as much fun as we did. When the boat started rocking, so did we. All of us slid across the tile floor with the motion, and it got pretty out of control. Some of the waves were really big, and all of us ended up piled on top of each other as we careened into the reception desk. Call it a bonding experience. It was certainly an interesting way to get close to people. Also, after these big waves knocked us around, I went to check out the damage in my room, and it was worse than before. One of my closet doors was ripped completely off of its hinges and was lying on the floor. The phone was thrown across the room; both chairs were on their sides. My bed, which is normally attached to the wall, was in the center of the room. Clothing was everywhere. It was nuts. Other people had their TVs come off the shelving units and land somewhere in their rooms. Plates in the dining halls shattered. Everything in the bookstores that wasn’t taped down was strewn along the floor. Craziness. But now, my Moroccan quest is over, and I must return to the unfortunate reality of schoolwork tomorrow. 9 days until Namibia. 4 days until I’m bald. Goodnight for now.

Day 14 (02-01-09)

 

Wow. It's currently 4:15am here on the ship. The Super Bowl just ended. We were able to watch a live feed from a German television station somewhere in Spain or Morocco or something. But seriously, that game was nuts. There are about 30 students onboard from the University of Pittsburgh (it's the second highest represented university behind CU Boulder's 80) and our Union was going crazy. We had about 500 people packed in at the start of the game and only about 50 by the end, but that 4th quarter was so good. I was pulling for the Cards, but to no avail. I don't even care though because that was the best half of football I've seen in a long time.

 

Anyway, we actually got some important and unfortunate news today. Last night, we left Spain and we were scheduled to make a stop in Gibraltar to refuel. Choppy seas made it impossible for us to do that in the morning, so we just floated around the Rock of Gibraltar for awhile waiting for something to happen. Finally, sometime in the afternoon, our refueling boat came up beside us and it appeared as though everything was going well. Sadly, this was not the case. The rough water made fuel line connection impossible, and we never got the fuel. So, instead of sailing on towards Morocco and getting there in the morning, we are still floating around Gibraltar waiting for fuel. They're estimating that we'll make it to Casablanca by tomorrow evening at the earliest. This has a few implications for me, because I have a 4 day/3 night trip planned and paid for in Casablanca, and one of those 4 days has now been taken away. As of now, I still don't know what's going to happen. They might shorten the trip to become 3 day/2 night if it's possible, or they'll just scrap it and give me my money back. If it's the latter, that means I have no plans and can wander Morocco at my leisure. Which would be pretty cool. But I was definitely looking forward to riding a camel through the Sahara Desert. I suppose I'll find out what's going to happen tomorrow afternoon. It's a win-win: one way I get at least a version of the trip that I planned, and another way I get more time to wander aimlessly around Africa with some refunded cash that I hadn't expected. C'est la vie. I'll let you know what happens.

 

On a lighter note, a group of 6 of us created a scavenger hunt today out of sheer boredom and we took an hour trying to knock some things off the list. In a 3 vs 3 battle of the sexes, the males lost, tragically, by a mere 3 points. But I did kiss a girl that I had never met before. I guess hippies wearing tye-dye aren't very threatening.

 

Well I'm going to go to sleep so I'm not entirely dead tomorrow. But there's no class tomorrow anyway, since it was supposed to be a port day. So I think I'll sleep in. Also, to any of my friends that are currently students and might be reading this, I'd just like to point out that we have had a grand total of 7 days of class so far. The first 2 of which were the intro classes that got out early and gave basic overviews of the courseload. So instead of being a full 3 weeks into a semester at Boulder, I'm about a week into a semester on a cruise ship and I've also spent some time in between in the Bahamas and Spain. Seriously, look it up. Semester at Sea. Do it. Love it.

 

Christopher