South Africa and Super Bowl

To talk a little bit more about South Africa...

It was wonderful. We docked in Cape Town and unfortunately I didn't get much chance to venture into the downtown area. I did like the waterfront area where we docked, it was the best port area that we have encountered. The picture above shows the clouds coming in to Table Mountain, the backdrop of Cape Town. A lot of people hiked it. Some other things that people did: shark diving, skydiving, bungee jumping, winelands touring, walking with baboons, venturing to Cape Point and hanging out with penguins, and so much more. There is definitely a lot to do for when I come back.

 

Since Africa is such a poor country, we had a lot of opportunities to see what is being done to help. As you know, I did Habitat for Humanity. Some other people visited Operation Hunger and the Amy Biehl Foundation. Amy Biehl was a white woman who went to South Africa 15 years ago. She was an anti-apartheid activist and did a lot of humanitarian work in the townships. One day she was driving through a township with a black friend and people chased after her and stoned her to death. Hundreds of people participated, but a handful were charged and convicted. It is quite a sad story, but her legacy is living through this foundation that is still helping the townships. After apartheid ended, reconciliation was emphasized and her killers were pardoned. Her family supported their release and one of the killers is working for the foundation today. He gave a tour to some of the students. Amazingly, South Africa is much more dangerous than Brazil, but I felt much more comfortable going there. There is also a larger income inequality than that in Brazil. It is quite noticeable with the miles and miles of townships which never improved from being squatter settlements.

 

On another note, we watched the Super Bowl tonight. It was quite hilarious watching the game after we already knew the result. But, life on the ship always seems a little behind the rest of the world.

 

In love with South Africa

Amazing. That is all that can be said. Cape Town and the rest of South Africa is incredible. I wish I had so much more time in Cape Town - there is so much to do. I was only able to do Habitat for Humanity and cycling in the winelands. Then, I was off to my wonderful safari. We stayed at a luxuriously rustic lodge and the bathroom was larger than the size of my cabin on the ship. We had an outdoor shower and a bathtub to relax in. There was a mosquito net around our beds. These five-star accommodations were quite in contrast to my riverboat down the Amazon. As for the animals that we saw, my expectations were completely exceeded. We saw everything, well except for a leopard. That is one of the hardest animals to spot and I haven't met anyone who did see one. But we did see:

• lions
• elephants
• giraffes
• zebras
• crocodile
• monkeys
• snake
• hippos
• rhinos
• baboons
• kudu
• wildebeest
• waterbuck
• wild dogs
• owls
• impala

More stories for later, but I just wanted to put up a preliminary post with some pictures. More pictures of South Africa are at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047722&l=99e97&id=704151

 

 

Brazil Pictures Posted!

Here is the link to more pictures from Brazil: http://mit.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047721&l=2d09c&id=704151

More pictures and stories to come soon about South Africa!

Build one house in a week!

Habitat for Humanity was amazing and so much fun! I am so glad to be here and can't wait for the rest of the week. I can already tell that this is a place that I want to come back to.

 

We built a house for a older woman and her three children. She has been living in a shack that is hardly comparable for a long long time. It costs 70,000 rands, or about $10,000 to build each house, but the families get it for free. There are over 100,000 people on the waiting lists for houses and the main limitation is getting them through the system. They have a lot of financial support from individuals and companies, they just need to authorize which families will be getting the house. Some of the requirements to get a house are own the land and making less than 3,500 rands per year or about $50.

 

As we were driving around on the back of the truck, all the kids around were so happy to see us, waving and saying hello. It was so much fun!

 

 

So close to South Africa

We have been trying to keep busy on the ship, with what else but classes! How fun...

 

In addition to that, we had the official ceremonies for Neptune Day. Early in the morning (aka 7am), the crew came around knocking on our doors and banging on drums. A little while latey started the ceremony. It consisted of people getting fish guts poured on them, then jumping in the pool, coming out to kiss fish, and bowing down to "King Neptune" (aka our dean). Then, the people with even more courage got their heads shaved. As much as I would like to say that I had the courage to do those things, I did not partake, but took tons of pictures. There were over 50 people who got their heads shaved, including a significant number of girls.

 

As of tomorrow, we will be 7 hours ahead of the East Coast. Time is flying by here, especially since we have been losing an hour every other night while crossing the Atlantic. We encountered some rough waters in the middle of the ocean and we had to hold on to our plates in the dining hall so they didn't slide off the table due to the rocking. Rumor has it that the waters will be particularly rough immediately after Cape Town, some of the worst in the world. Luckily, I have been getting used to the rocking and have enjoyed the adventure of living on a ship.

 

So, what will I be doing in South Africa?

• Day 1: Habitat for Humanity. I am soooo excited to do this. I have always wanted to do habitat for humanity and never had a chance while in Boston. Now I can do it in South Africa!
• Day 2: Cycling in the winelands and jazz at night. Can you imagine biking and drinking wine at the same time? Should be interesting...
• Days 3 - 6: Safari!! I hope to see tons of animals. I did a four-day safari rather than a three-day one so that I could have the greatest chance of seeing them.

I wish I had more time to hang out in Cape Town, but I am hoping that some of the nights I will be able to explore. I guess tourism has just surpassed gold as the main industry. Diamonds are also quite popular; however, I did just read a Blood Diamonds, which was disturbing. I also read Kaffir Boy, which is a great story about a boy growing up during the apartheid era.

 

 

Finding a cause

It is so hard to know what the best way to help people in need is. My goal for this entire voyage is to find a cause that I am passionate about and support for the rest of my life. So far, I realized that I am passionate about hunger, and that is not only because I love food. I see people in these villages and they are so happy. They may not know how to do addition or how to spell their names or how to use a computer, but they are happy. The author of the memoir that I talked about earlier emphasizes that one obstacle in the way of happiness in hunger. She said, "I fought against the real slavery – hunger." Now, I just need to figure out a sustainable way to feed people throughout the world. Don't take this the wrong way – education and technology are powerful tools for the world as well.

 

I have been talking a lot to my Brazilian friend Daniella about her country. She is in the upper echelons of society in Brazil. She went to the American school in Sao Paolo, which is the best that there is. Right across the street from her school (which is guarded with barbed wire and all), is the school for a favela. The structure is made of tin. There is no school when it is raining because it is too loud. Teachers come and go. Classes have students from all ages. Daniella's school set up a program so that the students of both schools could interact. In general, the upper classes, especially the children, are completely sheltered from knowing about the lives of the lower class. Daniella was carted from home to school to horseback riding lessons and back home again, all without having to see the destitute conditions. And I don't blame her. Anyways, back to my story, so the students of the American school went over to the favela school to teach them grammar. When they got there, they realized it would be completely impossible. The children were either withdrawn and wouldn't talk or they were all over Daniella saying "You are so beautiful," "I want your watch," etc. Instead, they decided to teach the kids about self-esteem. I am so impressed with Daniella – she has dreams to change her country. She is going to school at Boston University and wants to return to Brazil eventually. She realizes that there are huge problems but is not disillusioned and wants to effect change. She has already started to help. When she started driving and was not being carted around the city, she really saw the street children. They would come to her window and beg for money. Yes, that happens in the U.S. but not to the extreme that it does in Brazil. Daniella, instead of helping these kids through money, decided to carry food in her car to give to any of the streetkids. It is great to meet amazing people on this ship who really want to have an impact on the world.

 

 

 

Bye bye Brazil

We returned to Salvador on Saturday and I had a chance to go to the handicrafts market a bit. There was lots of woodwork, art, cashews, and soccer jerseys. Some people who stayed in Salvador had the opportunity to go to a “football” game, which I am really jealous about. The other big trips that people took were Rio de Janeiro, Lencois, or Iguassu Falls. If I ever return to Brazil, I would love to see Rio because I hear that it is absolutely beautiful.

One of the hardest things to deal with in Brazil was the language. They speak Portuguese, which some people say is like a drunk French person trying to speak Spanish. I will definitely encounter the language barrier in every country so Brazil just eased me into it. I just felt so unaware. On the airplane, they didn’t always translate and we used a lot of hand gestures. They did teach us on the basics on the ship, and some of the words that I use a lot were “hello,” “thank you,” “please,” “sorry,” and “excuse me.” The good thing about Brazil though was that we could survive at least with Spanish. Some of the words were the same or similar.

One of my biggest regrets from Brazil was not going to a steakhouse. Oh my gosh, everyone raves about it. I guess you get a card at your table – you flip it when you want meat and they just mob your table to start shaving meat onto your plate. You flip it back when you don’t want any. It keeps going back and forth until you are utterly stuffed. I had the opportunity to go to one when I got back in Salvador on Saturday, but I wasn’t feeling so hot. I’ll spare you the details. We did have some great food on the riverboat, but for one reason or another, a lot of us got sick. Our cuisine on the riverboat was rice, beans, noodles, some type of meat and fish, salad, fruit (oh, delicious fruit), and their national soda, Guarana. By the way, if you are about to say that I got sick from the salad, I avoided the salad for the most part. Anyways, it was good food, and I am glad I didn’t get sick until the end although the flight wasn’t very fun. The one consolation to not going to the steakhouse in Brazil is that I am going to make myself go to one in New York next year. I will have to get some recommendations from my Brazilian friend, Daniella.

Other things that I learned about Brazil:

• They have direct elections and everyone is required to vote. If someone does not vote (or show up and abstain), they can’t get a passport and other government services.
• The grades that students get in their classes do not matter. The only thing that matters for college is a national examination. If they want to go to school in Brazil, they need to choose a specialty, such as business or engineering, and then they need to go to the specialized school. While in college, most students have seven to eight classes per semester, a lot more than we do in the states. However, we have more reading in the states than Brazil. The students usually stay at home while they are attending college.

To conclude, Brazil was an adventure. South Africa is next, which I am looking forward to the most. If you want to know more about Brazil, add a comment to this blog and I would be happy to add a post. I just have run out of things to write about, and why would I want to study for my exams anyways?

Amazon adventure

My next adventure in Brazil was the Amazon. But before the Amazon riverboat exploration began, I needed to fly to Manaus, via 4 separate flights. In the end, I did make there alright, although our last connection was delayed and they had to hold the plan for us. Overall, we were quite impressed with the reliability of TAM airlines and the quality of the airports.

Our first stop on our riverboat in the Amazon was to the Meeting of the Waters: the place at which the Rio Negro and the Amazon River meet. The Rio Negro looked like Coca Cola and the Amazon looked like chocolate milk. Do you like my drink analogies? Anyways, the two rivers do not mix because of their differences in density, temperature, velocity, and pH. The picture above shows this phenomenon.

Later that afternoon, we explored and saw massive water lilies, caymans, and monkeys. We then went on a boat ride and as we were going along, kids in canoes paddled quickly and caught up to us. What we quickly realized was that they had snakes, sloths, and caymans for us to hold. It was freaky. They wanted money for this little spectacle. One of the conflicts in these countries that I am sure we will all encounter is when to give money and when not to.

After being confronted by those children, we went on to fish piranhas. Sadly, I didn’t catch any but others did. Then our guides went into the water catch some caymans. As you can see in the picture, we got to hold them. That night, we slept in hammocks. It was close quarters and more comfortable than one might expect. The following morning we went on four-hour trek through the jungle. One of our guides, Jozef was leading the way with his machete. Rumor has it that he was a former jaguar hunter. They showed us so many plants and trees that can be used for survival. There was a tree that yielded water when you cut it. There were a couple trees with milk that can satisfy your hunger. There was the plant that yields the Vick’s medication – it smelled quite good. There was a straw whose oil can be used as insect and jaguar repellent (sadly, no jaguars sighted by us). It is amazing all the resources in the rainforest – the Indians who have survived all these years in these woods are so full of knowledge.

That afternoon, we pulled up to a beach. This beach was on the Rio Negro (so it had the Coca-Cola-colored water, if you have forgotten). Seeing that I hadn’t had a shower in the past couple days and my skin was plastered with bug spray, sunscreen, sweat, and dirt, I was desperate for a shower. This was the next best thing. I ran into the water with my shampoo and soap and cleansed the best that I could. It was so refreshing, even if it was the same water that we threw our leftovers into. Gross, I know. But, this is one of the few “roughing it” trips that I am going on. I am just glad it was at the beginning so I can truly appreciate the future hotels.

For our last day in the Amazon, we visited some villages. The best part about it was seeing the kids. But, it also was sort of weird, how would you feel if strange Americans came into your village and walked around holding the hands of your kids while taking pictures of your houses? It’s not to say that they weren’t happy to see us though, especially because we bought their handicrafts. I just wish that I would have remembered to bring my gifts for the children, like stickers and balloons, but I left them on the ship. Seeing the villages were amazing. We saw a traditional Indian performance at the second performance and it was quite impressive. I had the opportunity to dance with them. It was nice finale to the Amazon.

Back safe and sound from Brazil

I returned from my second port of call, Salvador, Brazil. After hearing so many things about Brazil, I was quite intimidated to go, especially during Carnaval. Overall, I had a wonderful experience, and I returned to the ship exhausted and never happier to be on the ship. Mostly because I didn't have a real shower for 3 days in a row. Ugh.

There is so much to say about Brazil and what I did there! I don't even know where to start. Seeing that I have so much to say, I will split up my post throughout the next few days.

We arrived to Salvador early morning on Tuesday. The first picture is the sunrise as we are pulling in. In one of the classes, we talked a lot about the contrast between the rich and the poor in Brazil. It is a country that has one of the largest income inequalities in the world. As we pulled in to Salvador, our cruise ship was massive as compared to the tiny fishing boats. When we docked at the port, the favelas with their poor housing were immediately visible.

That afternoon, we went to Carnaval in our "afternoon camarote." I had no idea what the camarote was going to be, just that it was a safer way to celebrate Carnaval than taking to the streets. I had the perception that it was just going to be us SAS kids in an enclosed area sipping Kool Aid. Haha, well everything minus the Kool Aid. Instead, there were hundreds of us (us meaning Brazilians and SAS kids in the minority) on a platformed area partying the afternoon and night away. It was packed and hard to walk around because there were so many people. The singers went around on floats, essentially the tops of buses. There were people packed in the streets as well. We saw some famous guy that everyone was going crazy over, but I have no idea who he was, being the ignorant American that I am.

The craziest part about it was that we had a police escort as we were walking from where our bus was parked to the camarote. I was happy to have the security, but I also felt sort of guilty, as though I am too good to walk through the streets. There were kids sleeping on the streets with nothing and begging for cans. I am reading a memoir in one of my classes about a woman who lived in a favela and survived day-to-day by picking up paper and cans and exchanging it for money in order to feed her children. Those kids reminded me of the book (Child of the Dark).

Next blog about the Amazon adventure.

Crossed the equator

Good morning to all!

 

We crossed the equator this morning. I guess the tradition among ships is, if it your first time to cross the Equator on a ship, you are supposed to shave your head. It is called Neptune Day. We will be celebrating Neptune Day between Brazil and South Africa, although it technically occurred today. A lot of people are going to shave their heads, but, needless to say, I will not be participating. I like my hair too much.

 

Still a few days until Brazil, but we have a day off from classes today. Yesterday, I did a presentation about human rights in Brazil. In particular, we talked about the death squads that kill the street children, landless people, and indigenous there. It is quite a depressing practice and about 4 to 5 children are killed on the streets of Brazil everyday. There is a lot of corruption within the police forces and government. Last night I watched the movie City of God. Good movie, especially if you are looking for a drama. They show lots of these types of movies, relating to the countries we are visiting every night. In addition to movies, they have had Latin dance classes and Portuguese for travelers. There are also port-to-port speakers who come on the ship just between two ports to talk about their country of expertise.

 

As I said last time, in Brazil, I will first be going to Carnaval in Salvador. It is similar to Mardi Gras, but much larger and crazier, so I have been told. It is 6 days of partying the nights away. I will be going on Tuesday night, the last night, in a camarote. In other words, I will be in the stands (with a security guard) observing the craziness below.

 

On Wednesday morning at 2:30 AM, I will be leaving for Manaus. There, we will take a riverboat down part of the Amazon. We are sleeping in hammocks and doing lots of fun activities that I can describe later. Here are some facts that we learned about the Amazon Basin in class yesterday:

• It holds 20% of the worlds' fresh water.
• It is 6 million square miles (42% of which is in Brazil - also in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia).
• It has 1/3 of the worlds' forests.
• It has 20% of the world's bird and plant species.

Some other facts about Brazil:

• It is just slightly smaller than the U.S. (I knew it was large, but didn't realize it was that large).
• There are 200 million people.
• The unemployment rate is 1.8%.
• The inflation rate is 4.1% (not bad as compared to other Latin American countries).

Have a great weekend!