Cape Town, South Africa

        It seems to be the general consensus of the ship that Cape Town was the best port.  I don’t agree with this.  I loved my time in Cape Town, but it can’t compare to a port like India or Ho Chi Minh City.  Cape Town was very western and touristy.  It was very expensive as well.  I spent the entire first day touring power plants on a Semester at Sea trip for one of my classes.  I wouldn’t call this a complete waste of time because it was very interesting, but when you only have five days to see an entire country power plants aren’t at the top of the list of things to do. 
        By the time I got back from the field trip it was already night, and I had lost track of the friends I had planed on meeting up with.  Once again I left sticky notes on doors and waited for calls to my room.  Eventually I made it out for the night with a few friends.  Everyone went to Long Street every night we were in Cape Town.  It was a street about ten minutes away from the ship and lined with bars restaurants and clubs.  Walking up and down the street popping into different places I would constantly run into other SASers (Semester at Sea’ers) without fail.  I ended up in a bar called Dubliners because from the street I heard their live band playing Queen and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  I would much rather dance to that than most of the music that is played in the other clubs and bars.  One good thing about Cape Town being very touristy is that there were always interesting people to meet and talk to.  I spent the first night in South Africa talking to and dancing with Steuart from Scotland who was studying abroad to write a term paper.  In the next few nights I met people from France, Germany and Spain.  I also met an entire rugby team from Argentina.  Every night was a late one and every morning was painfully early, but it was worth it. 
        I went up Table Mountain on the second day.  I was hoping to do some rock climbing, but wasn’t able to pull it together in time.  I would have needed to hire a guide for the ropes and the shoe rental.  That would have been an amazing experience, but taking the cable cart up the mountain was nice anyway.  The view from the top was incredible and of course complete with a gift shop and an overpriced restaurant. 
        The next day I went shark diving.  One of the coolest things I’ve ever done.  The sharks would come inches away and stare me right in the eye.  Their eyes are strikingly black, and I could feel them looking right into mine.  Sensing that connection with a shark was incredible.   We spent the entire day on the boat taking turns being in the cage attached to the side.  The cage was long and skinny. Seven people could go diving at the same time.  We wore wet suits and goggles.  When in the cage we had no idea where the sharks were.  We had to rely on the people on the boat to tell us when to duck under to see them.  They would swim at us out of nowhere, following the bait tied to a rope.  Every time I was in the cage I got the best place, meaning I got the corner where the sharks came closest.  This was because the six others in the cage with me were more than a bit nervous.  Every time a shark came by I would hold myself under and put my nose right up to the wire of the cage and wait for my heart to skip a beat.  It was very easy to slip up and let a hand or foot outside the cage, this happened to me a few times.  I still have all my limbs though, I promise.  It was extremely hard to stop myself from sticking my finger just one centimeter outside the cage to touch a shark fin.
        We ended that exhausting day with another late night on Long Street.  It was my 20th birthday at midnight and I was in a club called Ivy League at the time.  People surrounded me singing happy birthday, then came a mess of free drinks and dancing.  I ended my night at Dubliners only after buying the most delicious hot dog I’ve ever tasted from a street vender. I went back and got another one the next night. 
        The day of my birthday was a relaxing one.  We didn’t really do much at all.  I had wanted to go to Stellenboche to taste wine and pet cheetahs, but it was over an hour away.  I had plans to go out to dinner with a group of people so I didn’t have enough time to make it all the way to Stellenboche and back.  During the day we took a bus tour of the city and went to a market.  I bought a skirt from a street vender.  The skirt said made in India on it, and I remember seeing it in India but being too cheap to buy it.  I paid about three times as much for it in South Africa then I would have in India.  The night of my birthday, I went to dinner with a huge group of people then went back to explore Long Street some more. 
        The last day in South Africa we set out to see Hout Bay.  On the way there we drove by a beautiful area with a little town and nice beach so we asked our cabbie to just drop us off there.  After only a few hours it was already time to head back to the ship. 

Mauritius

        Mauritius was the spring break for Semester at Sea students.  The ship docked in Port Louis, which is on the northern side of the Island.  The minute we were allowed off the ship I got a cab across the island with two friends.  Our plans were to check into a hotel and spend the day on the beach.  We just relaxed and walked along the shore all day.  Its such a beautiful place. 
        A few friends were supposed to meet us at the hotel later that night.  A van filled with about fifteen people show up and expected to check into the two rooms we had reserved.   This clearly did not work out.  The hotel knew we were trying to squeeze more than 4 people in each room.  I ended up sleeping on the beach, in a lounge chair.  After about nine o’clock the hotel wouldn’t let any of us back into our rooms. Only a few people got to stay in the rooms there was a lot of free space and all of our stuff was in there as well. I would’ve loved to been able to grab my sweatshirt and put long pants on but they wouldn’t allow it.  It was extremely windy all night, which made the beach seem very cold.  I shared a lounge chair with a friend to keep warm and barely was able to drift off into a light sleep. 
        The stars were unbelievable.  Looking up at the night sky it seemed as if the stars were only inches away from my eyes.  Even though I was kicked out of my own hotel room, it was a privilege to wake up to such a beautiful sight as the sunrise on a Mauritius beach. Well after the sun had completely risen, our friends finally tore themselves away from the comfy hotel beds.  They went to the complimentary hotel breakfast and stuffed their pockets with croissants for the rest of us.  They were delicious.  Now on to Cape Town South Africa!
       

waiting...

Oh the fishes will laugh As they swim out of the path And the seagulls they'll be smiling And the rocks on the sand Will proudly stand The Hour that the Ship Comes in...I quote Dylan...
  we will be docking in Ghana tomorrow! almost there, getting impatient...

!

If you want it you can have it but you've gotta learn to reach out there and grab it

: )

It seems that everywhere I go the more I see the less I know

India

We woke up on the train around 05:30, brushed our teeth, and jumped out into Alwaye station.  Nipin’s friend was waiting for us on the platform.  He didn’t speak English very well, but he smiled and waved excitedly when he saw us.  He had us follow him to a bus stop and talked to the bus driver for us.  When he found the correct bus, we shook hands, thanked him, and waved goodbye.  That bus ride was very intense and over four hours long.  We were going extremely fast and weaving around all other traffic.  Generally people only drive on the correct side of the road when there are vehicles on the other side.  Munnar is in a mountainous area, so the road was steep and extremely windy, as in twisty, not breezy.  Every time the driver would speed around a tight corner he would just blow his horn as a warning, instead of staying on his side of the road.  When we got on the bus it was only the two of us, and a little old man sitting in the way back.  We were squeezing into a seat for two people, so I decided to move since the bus was so empty.  The minuet I got up the man jumped up from the back and ran over to sit right next to James.  It was hilarious the way the man was awkwardly invading James’ personal space for no reason at all.  I start laughing at him because he clearly didn’t know what to do about the situation.  He ended up moving over to my row of seats after about ten minuets.  People started piling into the bus as we made our way up the mountains. 
        Munnar was beautiful.  I wouldn’t be satisfied with any selection of words I could possibly think up to describe it.  Rolling hills covered in low-lying bright green shrubs stretched on endlessly.  Because of the high altitude the weather was comfortable, and almost on the cool side during dusk and dawn. 
        James and I walked around the little town and got some food.  I got a chicken sandwich and a cup of tea for 35 Rupees, that’s like 80 cents.  Munnar is famous for its tea, as it should be.  The tea there was delicious.  After eating we found a small outdoor adventure company.  We went outdoor rock climbing with a guide.  It was a very small wall, I would rate it a 5.6.  I double checked the guide’s knots and set up before I decided to trust him.  So far I have climbed at The Gunks, New York and Munnar, India, next up Table Mountain, South Africa.  I hope to find a guide to take a small group climbing when we’re in Cape Town.  Anyway, climbing was great except for the fact that he didn’t rent out shoes and I had to go in my Converse.  It was James’ first experience with outdoor climbing.  The minuet he got his feet back on the ground he exclaimed that it was absolutely terrifying.  I don’t think he’s going to be much of a climber, which is unfortunate because he goes to school in Boulder, Colorado.  I’m going to have to make my way over there for climbing sometime in my life. 
        We walked around the mountaintop and had some tea before looking for a place to sleep.  We found a little home stay that was more like an extremely cheap hotel.  There was a street filled with little shops and restaurants.  We happened to stroll by a restaurant that was recommended in the Lonely Planet, and stopped in for dinner.  I finally found my favorite dish, chicken tikka masala.  I ordered that, raita, naan, tea, and a coke.  Everything was delicious and it cost about five dollars.  After dinner we walked around the shops for a while.  We found an Internet place and went online.  James was taking a long time checking his facebook so I decided to venture out by myself for some shopping.  I was getting quite a reaction from people by walking around without a male companion.  An Indian man basically asked me to be his wife, and he managed to do it in a very nice, un-creepy way.  After a short while I couldn’t manage all the attention I was getting so I headed back to where James was.  The two of us walked back to our room in the dark there weren’t any streetlights.  We arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 06:00 and were sleeping by 21:00.
        The next morning we had a four-hour taxi ride to Thekkady.  This is almost directly south of Munnar.  As soon as we arrived at our next hostel we just dropped our backpacks off and left to go ride an elephant.  James and I shared an elephant for a half hour ride through the jungle.  Her name was Maria, and she was 35 years old.  The trainers tied a mat with handles on Maria’s back.  James and I climbed into a shed on stilts to get on her.  We had two trainers walk us through the path in the forest.  One was instructing Maria, the other was running around with my camera taking pictures of us. 
        After the elephant ride we took a tour of a spice garden.  That place was incredible.  These are just a few of the goods the owner produced: pepper, lemongrass, allspice, mimosa, tomato, cardamom, nutmeg, coffee, coconut, rice, honey, alovera, papaya, jackfruit, lemons, eggfruit, pineapple, clove, chilipeppers, and cinnamon.  The owner took us into his home to show us how he processed the cardamom and other spices on his own.  He also showed us his system of using methane from cow manure for cooking fuel.  The owner was very smart and clearly loved what he did.  I bought a pint of honey, and a bottle of alovera from his wife. 
        Later that day we took a riverboat safari.  We got on a small boat in the Thekkady Tiger Reserve, and saw wild elephants and other animals.  We didn’t see any tigers though.  People rarely see tigers there.  The trail back from the boat passed a small beach completely filled with frogs.  Frogs weren’t just covering the ground, but were stacked on top of each other in some parts.  They were hopping all over the place.  It was like a beach covered in millions of tiny bouncing pebbles.  Walking back to our rickshaw driver we saw maybe ten monkeys.  They were walking with us or running and jumping over our heads through the trees. 
        We were exhausted from such a packed day.  After grabbing some dinner, we walked around the town for a while before going to bed.  We had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and bring us to Alleppy at 08:00 the next morning.  This was another four-hour cab ride.  Halfway through we stopped at a little roadside coffee and tea place.  The front looked like a rundown shack, but when you went through to the back it opened up to a porch with a gorgeous view of the mountains.  We were on the side of the mountain so the porch was on stilts and jetting out into the scenery. 
        We got to Alleppy around noon and rented a houseboat for the day, and through to the next morning.  It was an entire day of relaxing and enjoying the surroundings.  The boat had a bedroom, kitchen and a dining and lounging area that was outside.  It was just James and me, and the chef and driver.  We were served lunch and went to shore to walk around a small village.  The whole day was spent lounging and eating.  We had done so much and had been so many different places that we really needed to just relax for a day.  The chef caught fish from the river and fried it up for our dinner.  It was absolutely delicious.  Every meal had about five different dishes, and rice.  The stars were the brightest I’ve ever seen before.  There was a mosquito net over the bed, and geckos running all over the ceiling.  I woke up to the birds the next morning.  They sing a slightly different song in India. 
        We ate breakfast on the boat and then departed to make our way to Cochin. We walked over a mile looking for the bus station.  It was very confusing so it took us quite a while to find the correct bus.  It was a two-hour bumpy ride to Cochin.  Every time I see the ship after being away for so long I think home at last.  It was very comforting to turn that corner and see our ship there waiting for us.  India has been my favorite country so far.  I absolutely love Kerala.  People would wave and smile at us all the time.  Everyone wanted us to see them and for us to wave and smile back.  I’m going to miss all the beautiful colors of India.  The buildings would be painted lime green, bright teal and magenta.  All of the fabric was gorgeous.  Even the men’s business shirts were made out of strikingly detailed materials.  I’m definitely going to miss the food.  It is normal to just eat with your hands, no matter how messy it gets.  I don’t think I could get a cup of tea in the states quite like one I got in Munnar.  The landscape is magnificent and in every direction is something new and exciting.  I’m going to miss that Indian head bob people do sometimes while your talking to them.  It’s very distracting. You just have to stop and wonder how they are moving their head in that way.  I’ve tried to imitate it, but it’s just not the same at all.  I Know I will be back in India sometime in my life. 

        So I’m back on the ship once again.  We have five days until Mauritius.  I’ve started to really love these long stretches between ports.  Our journey has passed the halfway point, so we are now officially on our way home.  I just don’t want this to end.  I’m trying my hardest to take in as much of this experience as possible before it’s all over.   I absolutely loved India.  I need to go back someday.  Six days is not enough time to see such an incredible country.  I need to spend at least a month or two there. 
        I spent the first ay in India in Chennai.  Our group of four went to the Pondy Bazaar.  It took quite a while for us to persuade our rickshaw driver to take us to the correct place.  There are expensive, air-conditioned, fancy tourist shops all over.  The rickshaw drivers have some type of deal with these stores.  The drivers get paid every time they bring in a group of tourists.  If you’re not stern enough with them they will drive you around to those shops all day.  We got some food in a shopping plaza we set up a time to meet the driver to go to the next place.  After eating we went to the bazaar and then our driver met up with us to take us back to the port.
        I was basically forced to litter I feel so badly about it.  Bailey and I had plastic cups and spoons from the gelato we had finished.  Our driver was picking us up to go to the Bazaar, but we started to go off looking for a trashcan.  He said no stop and pointed at the curb.  There was tons of other trash on the street, but that doesn’t make littering any less horrible.  Bailey and I said no, no just wait a minuet, but he insisted, and then we insisted.  Our friend who was with us told us we were being disrespectful because we had attracted quite a crowd who were all telling us to just drop our trash.  So we just put it on the curb and climbed in the rickshaw.  I wonder how long our plastic gelato cups will be kicking around the streets of Chennai.  That was extremely aggravating. 
        The Pondy Bazaar was packed with people and little stands selling all sorts of things.  I bought a bright teal shirt with embroidery on its high neckline.  I noticed a man sitting on a bucket by the sidewalk who had a cup of henna mixture, and made my way over to him.  Bailey and I both got henna tattoos.  He covered our entire hands with beautiful intricate designs, and only wanted 50 rupees for it.  That’s just over one USD.  He was overly excited when we tipped him 20 rupees.  Our rickshaw driver found us just as we were finishing up with the tattoos. 
        We had agreed at the beginning we would pay him 400 for the day.   When he dropped us off about a mile from the port he demanded more money.  The drivers are aware that a ship full of American students are coming in and out of the port, and that most will have a lot of money.  The drivers will name high prices and some get forceful trying to get all the money out of us that they can.  Our driver was insisting we owed him more money even though earlier we had clearly decided it was going to be 400.  There was one guy in our group, Kevin, so the driver was only talking to him because that’s how it always works in India.  Kevin was trying to solve the issue, but the conversation was just going around in circles.  I was getting impatient and decided to jump in and end the argument.  I just simply and firmly told the driver no you said 400, we’re paying you 400, and then started walking away.  The group walked away with me.  The driver was extremely taken back by me talking to him that way.  He knew we were from the ship and just thought he could rip us off.
        I got back on the ship and immediately met up with James, the person I would be travelling with.  The two of us jumped in a rickshaw and headed for Chennai Central Station with hopes of getting an overnight train to Cochin.  The train station was quite an experience.  I wish I had stopped to take a picture but I was too preoccupied with being lost and confused looking for the tourist booth.  The building was enormous and completely filled with smoke.  There were people sitting and sleeping all over the place, trash and stray dogs were everywhere as well.  Children and handicapped people were following us asking for money. 
        We wondered around for about an hour before we found a sign that said “tourist”.   We went up a staircase, past three sleeping stray dogs, took a left and saw a man in an empty room except for his desk and old computer.  He got us tickets on the next train to Cochin.  We were very lucky because we had just made it in time.  We went to a booth to buy food for the ride.  I got rice and pointed at some dumpling looking things to buy.  Everything was extremely spicy.  I bought a package of cookies.  They were delicious, even better than Oreos.  We had a little room on the train with two mini bunk beds and a fold up table.  James and I chose our beds and then stared reading his Lonely Planet travel guide to decide what we were doing when we got off the train.  It was 19:30 and we were expecting to be in Cochin around 06:30.   Two other men stayed in our room.  One was named Nipin, he was an engineer working on a project for NASA.  He spoke English very well and helped us plan out our time in India.  Cochin is in the state of Kerala.  I think Kerala is such a beautiful name.  Anyway, Nipin knew a lot about Kerala and gave us some great advice.  He told us we should actually get off at Alwaye, the stop before Cochin, and to head strait to Munnar.  We ended up doing just that.  His friend was also getting off at Alwaye, so he made sure we got on the right bus that would take us to Munnar.  I actually slept very well that night.  I couldn’t believe what I was doing.  I was on a train going across India, no phone, no contacts in India, no idea where I would be sleeping the next night, and basically just my passport, journal and camera with me.