I was in Mauritius?

Mauritius has always been known as the spring break for Semester at Sea.  And our voyage was no exception.  This island is basically Hawaii for Europeans and the Afrikaners of South Africa.  The beaches are insanely beautiful and the weather is unbeatable. 

We were only docked on the island for one night, so we made the most of it.  My friends and I rented a villa with a private beach about a half hour drive from the city of Port Louis.  Lets just say we had fun and leave it at that.  Late night Pizza Hut never tasted so good.  The next day we met a catamaran at 9am that took us on an all-day-long snorkel and drink-fest adventure.  According to my sources, I then took a taxi back to Port Louis, got to the ship on time, and enjoyed a barbecue dinner on board.  Apparently I was the life of the party during embarkation.  The next day was a little rough.

The night after my hazy experience in Mauritius, we watched a large thunderstorm rage directly over the Explorer.  I stood on Deck 7 and let the rain drench me as lightning flashed and booming thunder shook the ship.  Soon after, the crew made us go back inside.  I suppose standing on top of the only giant metal thing in the middle of the ocean during a thunderstorm is frowned upon. 

Since then, it has been business as usual with classes and mealtime.  Today we had the Sea Olympics, which was a fun-filled day of games and miscellaneous malarkey.  We are separated into "seas" according to decks, hallways, and weather we live on the starboard or port sides.  Tradition holds that the winners of Sea Olympics get to be the first off the ship in San Diego and get a party in the faculty lounge later on in the voyage.  My Baltic sea came in 4th place, but we fought hard and besides, who wants to be the first off anyways?  They are going to have to drag me off of this ship when the time comes.

Today also marked the halfway point on the Fall 2010 voyage of SAS...bummer.  It seems like yesterday I was lugging my bags up the gangway for the first time.  I miss all of my family and friends back in the States, but I feel like once I am back, I will always have a yearning to return to the floating hunk of metal that I have come to call home. 

Tomorrow, the tugboats will meet the Explorer at 7am and begin to push us into Chennai Harbor.  By the time I wake up, I will be in India.  I'm going on a three day long meditative yoga retreat.  As for the rest of the time, I'm winging-it.  Should be quite the trip.  As of right now you are finally up to date on my voyage.  Once again, I apologize for the late updates.  My computer decided to shit-out on me a few days ago, and it looks like it wont be functional again until I get home.  That means I will not be able upload my pictures from Ghana, South Africa, and the eleven I took in Mauritius until then.  Luckily, I have my external and will be able to put my pictures up as I go from here on.  Goodbye for now and wish me luck as I enter the insane world that is India.  Lets cross our fingers that I don't get the ridiculous diarrhea that everyone is warning us about.

Getting Down in Cape Town

Imagine standing on a bridge that stretches across a massive gorge.  710 feet below, a river snakes its way into the Indian Ocean--which is visible in the distance.  Now imagine standing on the edge, looking down, taking a deep breath, and leaping off... Besides being the highlight of my life, this experience was also the highlight of my time in South Africa.

But yet again, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Cape Town is by far the most beautiful city I've ever seen.  On the day we arrived, I got up at 4am to watch us pull into port.  The entire coastline was ablaze with lights from buildings, lighthouses, and a giant ferris wheel that rests on the coast.  The Explorer docked right smack-dab in the middle of downtown.  I ate breakfast on Deck 6 while enjoying a view of the city and Table Mountain--the gargantuan rock that dominates the landscape.  A friend asked me what my plans were for the day.  I pointed to the top of Table and said, "that".  The hike consisted of walking up stone stairs for three hours.  They weren't kidding when they named it Table Mountain--the top is almost completely flat.  The view from the top is indescribable.  Turquoise ocean nestles against the entire city of Cape Town.  We enjoyed a few beers on top before taking the tramway back down into the city.  We got down just in time to see the clouds roll over the mountain.  They look like a wave slowly crashing over the hill.  The locals refer to this almost daily event as the "tablecloth".  My pictures are great, but nothing can compare to seeing it for yourself.  I suggest everyone should add it to their bucket list.

Cape Town is a city of contrast.  The immediate port area is white and shiny--an when I say white I don't mean only the buildings.  Racism is still very much alive in South Africa.  The era of apartheid was not that long ago at all.  While the separation might not be legal anymore, it still exists both socially and economically.  About 20% of the population lives in high rise apartments and mansions.  They drive top of the line cars and make at least six figures annually.  A ten minute drive out of the city allows one to see the true colors of South Africa.  The rest of the country lives in massive shantytowns called townships.  Shacks are pieced together with sheets of aluminum and wood.  I've never seen such opulence back right up against extreme poverty.  South Africa is a place that is hard to wrap your head around, and Cape Town is equally crazy.  The city has both the highest crime rate and HIV/Aids rate in the world.  Neighborhoods are separated into black, white, and "colored" (a term for lighter brown skinned people--like Muslims, or me).  These terms are not taboo like they are in the States, the people identify themselves with these names and never think twice.  It was a shock to be asked what it was like to be "colored" and live in America. 

Besides dealing with some latent racism and heartbreaking poverty, my time in South Africa was amazing.  The nightlife was great--just as in every other port.  Basically, if you are twenty-something years old you can go anywhere and have the time of your life--so my advice to all of you is to get out and go, anyplace will do.  Speaking of amazing times, my bungy jump was hands down the craziest and greatest thing that I have ever done.  A six hour bus ride brought me to Bloukrans bridge, the highest bridge in the southern hemisphere and the tallest bungy bridge in the world.  I have wanted to bungy ever since I was little, and I finally had the chance to do it.  The jump was freeing to say the least.  I felt everything melt away, all the worries from my past, present and future--and then I jumped.  I fell for 6 seconds and reached terminal velocity at around 120 mph.  Two weeks later and I still can't stop smiling.  The next day, I went cage diving with great white sharks.  I know--my life sucks.  The rest of my time was spent shopping and raging in Cape Town.  None of us wanted to leave and we all dreaded the seven day trip to Mauritius.  Although, once we got there we forgot all about it...

Waka Waka Africa

Greetings folks.  Sorry it has been so long since my last update.  I have been on a whirlwind tour of the lovely continent they call Africa.  As I write this entry, we are zipping our way across the Indian ocean on our way to Port Louis, Mauritius.  This port is more of a "spring break" for us SASers--but more on that later..

The last time that I left you I was on my way to Takoradi, Ghana.  Let me start by saying that this was my favorite port so far.  If Morocco was the country where I lost myself, Ghana was surely a place of rediscovery.  The immediate harbor area offered a small duty-free liquor store, some tables to sit and drink, and a few vendors selling miscellaneous items.  Here I bought a drum that will be quite the pain in my ass to get home from California, but that is besides the point.  A ten minute walk was all that separated us from the crazy world that was Ghana.  The people there were the nicest that I have ever met.  I was immediately greeted with similes, waves, and handshakes (I'll teach you all the Ghanaian Snap when I get home).  Unlike Morocco, the poverty here was instantly apparent.  Every roadside featured an open trench in which raw sewage was washed straight into the ocean.  Needless to say, the country had a distinct smell that I grew to love.

The markets there were hectic and busy.  Rather than the usual touristy wares, vendors instead sold things like dried fish, raw meat, used shoes, and loose fabrics.  Everywhere there were women walking around with massive bowls of you-name-it balanced on their heads.  After I realized there was not much there for me to buy, I stopped to grab a soda on the side of the street (it was stifling).  I wanted to walk down the street with my Fanta, but the woman who sold it to me would not let me leave her stall.  A large portion of her income came not from selling the soda, but from turning in the glass bottles to be recycled.  There were many different kinds of programs like that in Ghana.  Most people drink their water from little plastic bags that are sold in huge packs.  When they are done they simply toss the bags on the ground.  A company called Trashy Bags then hires people to go around and collect the bags.  Once collected, the bags are turned into jewelry and re-sold.  There seemed to be a very conscious effort to reduce the amount of waste each community produced.  However, there were still random piles of trash throughout the city of Takoradi.  We learned that country is paid big bucks every year to take-in old electronic waste from the developed world.  Standing out and looking over the endless mounds of computers is heartbreaking, to say the least.  The US and others label these shipments as donations--but in reality, a few functioning computers are thrown in with a heap of decaying machines.  The hard metals and plastics leech into the soil and are washed into nearby populated areas.  Groundwater is contaminated and agricultural lands are rendered lifeless.  If you have ever thrown out an old computer, there is actually a good chance that it is rotting somewhere in Takoradi right now.

On a lighter note, I spent the night in a village a few hours away from the city.  The people there lived in small adobe-like houses along with their cats, pigs, and goats.  Running water was introduced to this region not more than ten years ago.  I stayed with a 20 year-old guy named George (his Christian name).  He just finished school and aspires to be a DJ.  I will never forget the time I spent there.  I walked all around the village--seeing the sites and meeting the people.  What I will remember most from my time there will be the children.  At every turn more and more would run up to say hello and hold my hand.  Some of the younger ones were terrified of others in my group because they had never seen white people before.  I would have loved to play football with the kids, but I could barely walk because more than half of my left foot was a giant, open blister.  Lets just say don't dance barefoot on sketchy Ghanaian concrete.  Besides sitting out for the game, I went through a traditional ceremony where I was given an African name and welcomed into the community.  The family that I stayed with owned one of the two bars in the village.  After dinner we drank and danced into the wee hours of the morning.  That night I slept in a tiny room that also was home to a baby sheep.

Speaking of drinks, the nightlife in Ghana was way crazier than expected.  Once one wades through the sea of prostitutes and drunks, the clubs are actually quite amazing.  There is a certain Shakira song titled "Waka Waka" that every single person in Africa knows.  At every place I went to, this tune was played every third song (I shit you not).  I'm still struggling to get it out of my head.  Local beers are cheap and delicious.  Even the crew of the Explorer had fun.  On the last night one of the captains was the drunkest person at the duty-free store.  I watched him pour brandy onto a student, completely collapse the table I was sitting at, and pee in the bathroom sink.  I think that pretty much sums up the port.  Ghana is a beautiful place that will always have a special place in my heart.  I will most definitely return sooner rather than later.

I would continue on about my adventures in South Africa, but rumors of an 8am lifeboat drill tomorrow are making me think it is time for bed.  Not to worry, I have plenty of time to update you all as we head for the island paradise of Mauritius.  Get excited because the things that I did in South Africa are beyond epic.  Pictures and videos should be slowly trickling onto Facebook and Youtube.  Just be glad I'm out doing things in port instead of spending hours uploading.  Wait 'till you see the size of the bridge I just jumped off of!