All Around in Cape Town

So, I just left Cape Town, South Africa and I am the most sad I have been this entire trip. Cape Town was incredible; it was one of the places I could really see myself living one day. The city itself is gorgeous and has everything you could want in a single place. It kind of reminds me of LA mixed with a posh European harbor city like Copenhagen. The view itself is just stunning; towering above the city are massive mountains and at the outskirts are tropical beaches and beach towns. The city center is filled with amazing restaurants, shops, and clubs of every kind. The city is full of hip young people so the nightlife is crazy and busy. The people of Cape Town are from all over the world; I met citizens from New Zealand, Scotland, Switzerland, and the Bahamas. It’s really refreshing. Basically, the city was full of a vibrancy and beauty that almost masks the aftereffects of the apartheid that existed only a few years ago.

Brief History: I’m sure most of you know this stuff so I’ll be quick. South Africa was colonized by Britian in 1806.  Up until 20 years ago, South Africa was in what is called Apartheid.  This basically means that the black populations were kept completely separate from the white populations. Many Blacks were relocated into “townships”, crowded disheveled neighborhoods outside of the city with horrible health and sanitation conditions. Even though now the apartheid has been abolished, the aftereffects are apparent just under the surface. For example, I met one guy who told me that he had not ever talked to a black person until the World Cup. Many blacks still live in the townships because they lack the resources to migrate. I saw predominantly white people in Cape Town.

Day 1: We were supposed to dock in South Africa on the morning of February 17th. However, when the ship arrived the night before, the weather conditions in the harbor were terrible. The wind was howling and our ship was rocking so violently that our drawers were constantly sliding open and slamming shut, and things were flying across the room. The entrance to the harbor is extremely narrow and the port alerted the ship that it would not be able to enter until the winds subsided. We were told that they had no idea when the ship would be allowed to enter, but that they would keep us updated. So, the next morning we awoke eagerly awaiting our next port, but instead were subjected to beautiful views of the city as we drove in circles for hours. We thought that we would be able to dock at any time but the weather never improved and we were stuck on the ship all day and night. It was horribly frustrating especially because many of us (but thankfully not me) had planned activities for that day or expensive safaris that started that day, and were not able to go or even be refunded. But, I guess it taught us that really anything can happen when you’re traveling around the world via a huge boat. The unofficial motto of semester at sea has always been “be flexible and patient”, a motto I only recently came to really understand. On the bright side, this port was worth waiting for.

Day 2: In the morning, we were still driving in circles. By this time, I was extremely frustrated and ready to get off the ship. Thankfully, before it was 10 AM, an announcement was made saying that she ship had been allowed access into the harbor. Once we arrived, the process had just begun. First, the ship had to be cleared by South African officials who boarded the ship and searched the whole thing. Then, one by one each student had show the officials their passports and be checked off a long list. It was a very tedious process. Then, the students were all let off depending on who had trips that were leaving first. Finally, it was my turn and I set out into the harbor with a group of friends. The harbor itself was really beautiful. Crowds of sea lions lived in the water right next to our boat and they splashed and played and arfed at us. The streets were lined with little fancy restaurants and shops and groups gathered around local bands who were lounging around playing in the sunshine. My friends and I spent most of the day exploring the city on our own. We had lunch at a nice place and realized how different the currency is. For every price in South African rands, we had to divide by seven to find the price in US dollars. Therefore, everything looks massively more expensive than it actually is and I almost had a heart attack looking at the prices on the menu. That night, we headed to Long Street which is where all of the city’s nightclubs are located. We went into a few that looked very much like the clubs in the US, but in one we were approached by a group of locals who invited us to their table. They were young, our age, and we spent a long time talking about what differences they have seen in their country in the post-apartheid years. They explained to me that racism is still widely prevalent. And not only racism against black people, but many hate crimes committed against white people by the black communities who are still (understandably) bitter about the past injustices. “However”, one guy said to me, motioning around the club, “look at this. Black people and white people and colored people all partying at the same club, sitting at the same tables, dancing together. 10 years ago you would never see this. We have a long way to go, but we’ve also come a very long way.” So, I got the feeling that the people of Cape Town are pretty optimistic about the future of their country.
(Note: In the US the term “colored” is a derogatory name for a black person. In South Africa, however, it is the term used for people who are neither black nor white, mixed descent. Its not a bad word at all and people use it all the time.)

Day 3: In the morning, Moriah and I woke up early and decided that we wanted to take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a massive mountain that overlooks the whole city. The top is completely flat, like an enormous plateau.  The mountain is so steep that it takes 7 hours to hike to the top, and half of the hike is basically rock climbing. I know many semester at sea kids who attempted to climb it and had to turn back after three hours because it was too difficult. The cable car was much more my style.  Skipper, Moriah, and I took a taxi ride to the base of the mountain which is about 20 minutes from the city and purchased a ticket for the cable car. The car itself held about 20 people at a time and the floor of the car actually rotated around so that, without moving, every person could see the stunning view from every angle. The ride itself only took about a minute but because of the height of the mountain and the angle of the car, it was a lot like a fair ride. Once we reached the top, everyone unloaded and we were all free to wander around for however long we wanted. Being up there was one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. First of all, the views were unbelievable. We could see the city and the beaches from every angle; we even had a great view of Robbin Island (the island prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 27 years). But, fantastic views aside, the top of the mountain was like an alien planet. A huge cloud had gathered on the top that poured over the sides of the mountain like dry ice. We were literally standing inside of a cloud. The plants on the top were like nothing I had ever seen. It was like some strange kind of tundra, lots of low down shrubs and prickly bushes as far as the eye could see. I did recognize some of the plant life, I had seen it once before in the “ancient species” section of the DC Botanical Gardens. Vibrant flowers bloomed bright red and purple in the midst of strange rock formations that we climbed and explored. Small fat birds hopped around on the rocks, but they were the only animal life apparent. The wind was powerful and icy, almost unbearable. We could only stay on the top for about an hour because we were all dressed in summer clothes and the temperature up there was frigid.  When we returned to sea level, we decided to hit up a beach we had seen from the top. The beach, Camp Bay, turned out to be the most famous beach in Cape Town. A huge rock formation jutted out into the sea and we climbed on the rocks and played in the icy water. We stayed at the beach for the rest of the day, and would return there many times during our trip.

Day 4: My earliest morning, I found myself awake and showering at 430 AM in preparation for my day long safari. Skipper and I were zombies and eating breakfast at about 530 and boarded the bus at 615. The Aquila Game Reserve was about 2.5 hours away, and during the drive (the parts I was awake for) I was treated to views of  massive mountain ranges surrounded by valleys that were filled with vineyards. The winelands stretched out for almost the entire drive, row after row of grape vines weighed down with bunches of fat grapes, red, white, and every color in between. When we arrived at the game reserve, our guide explained to us that all of the animals who lived within their 45,000 acres were rescued from poachers and were completely protected within the boarders of the reserve. We ate breakfast in the reserve’s resort and, mom and dad, we have to go back and stay at this place. It was gorgeous. The lawns of the resort span out into the land of the reserve and ostriches and elephants wander around freely as you eat breakfast on the patio. All of the guesthouses are little chalets located far from each other on the mountain, so that you have a perfect view of the wildlife from your hotel room. After breakfast, our group was split into three different sections and we were each loaded into a separate open-air jeep. Our guide explained to us that South Africa is famous for what they call their “big five” the five most prevalent and famous of their indigenous animals. They are: elephants, zebras, buffalo, lions, rhinos, and leopards. He said we were not guaranteed to see all of the big five, but that we would see some of them. We set out on our safari (in Swahili “safari” literally means “a journey to the wild”) and I didn’t really know what to expect. Within 10 minutes our jeep came across a massive herd of zebra. (The guide told us that, actually, a herd of zebra is called a “dazzle”!) At first, they were far away, but the guide had cleverly parked our jeep between the dazzle and the watering hole, and the zebra passed directly in front of us. I think I took a million pictures. About 20 zebra passed right next to me, including about 5 tiny baby zebra. It was really intense. We were about two feet away from them.  Throughout the whole safari, we saw all of the big five very close up. We also got to see warthogs, crocodiles, antelope, giraffes, and spring bok (South Africa’s national animal, like a little adorable deer. Incidentally, I ate one the next day in a restaurant and it was delicious.) The lions were majestic. We were a few feet from them and let me tell you, in pictures or behind the bars of the zoo, you get a good impression of their power and general bad-ass-ness, but nothing really compares with standing a few feet from them. All in all, the safari was a huge success. I loved it. And if you actually stayed at the resort, you could do the safari on horseback or on a 4 wheeler, which would be so amazing (hint hint mom and dad!) After the journey into the wild was done, we had lunch back at the resort. The ostrich had lunch with us too. He was gobbling down bunches of cigarette buts out of an ashtray like they were some large-bird-delicacy. It was gross.

Day 5: Today, when I woke up, I was a little confused about what I would be doing. A few months ago when I had signed up for this trip entitled “Cape Malay Cooking Safari” I had thought it sounded cool, but for the life of me I could not remember what exactly I was going to be doing. I boarded the bus and the guide was not really helpful either. As we drove through the city she gave a brief generic tour, but didn’t talk at all about what the trip was. Soon, I found myself in a part of the city I had not seen before. We unloaded from the bus and it looked like we were on a completely different continent. We were in the Muslim quarter. According to our guide, Muslims had been exiled to this neighborhood in Cape Town and, over time, created their own community here. Now, a local woman named Zani met us on the side of the road. She was probably about 70 but was very skinny with long dark hair, and I could tell she used to be very pretty. She led us through the winding streets of the Muslim quarter where every house was painted a different vibrant color and there was a huge Mosk on every block. We followed her to a Muslim spice market so that she could buy the spices she would use in the meal we were to prepare together. The market was full of stuff I had never seen before, and full of smells that were foreign and strange. Zani picked up what she needed and we continued to a small shrine on the top of a hill where she explained to us that an important Muslim leader had been exiled here and had become a religious leader now revered by the whole Muslim community. The shrine overlooked the Muslim quarter and was a spot of serenity in the bustling community. Next, we headed to Zani’s house. As we walked, people stuck their heads out of their windows and called to Zani, cracking jokes, setting up times for get-togethers, and inquiring about all of her family members. Everybody knew eachother intimately and as we continued to her place, she constantly pointed at houses and said things like “my brother lives there” “my uncles cousin lives there, with his two beautiful daughters” “the grocer lives there, he needs to lose some weight”. Zani was extremely funny and outgoing, always making jokes and telling us stories about life in the small community. When we arrived at her house, she set about gathering all of her ingredients and setting us to work chopping veggies and stirring hot oil. Over the course of the next hour or two she taught us how to make some common foods from her culture. The food was basically Malaysian, but a bit less spicy. We made chicken Masala, “chili bites” (a puffy spicy deep fried appetizer), and ground beef samosas. Don’t worry guys, I got down all of the recipes so you can all try them when I get home. When the meal was done, we all settled down and ate together with Zani and her family. It had been a long time since I had a home-cooked meal and it was very comfortable to listen to her family bicker and to relax in a home like environment. The meal was delicious. It was really nice to be able to get a feel for how diverse South Africa is. I was expecting to be cooking African food, but this food was more likely (in my mind) to be found in India. It really gave me an idea of how smaller subcultures function within a totally different culture.

Day 6: Our last day in South Africa! The girls and I decided we needed to spend the last day relaxing so we headed back to Camp Bay. The beach area is one of the most posh areas in the city. The mountains that overlook the bay are filled with enormous beach front mansions that rival any house I have seen in Potomac. I gasped when a taxi driver told me that they are sold for about 65,000,000 rand. That is, until I realized that that was less than one million US, about a fifth of what such a house in my area would cost. So, I have decided that I will be relocating there one day. The beach is full of little shops and boutiques and fantastic restaurants. We lounged around all day and relaxed in the sun before we had to head back to the ship for an on ship time of 6 PM.

 Once back on board, I felt pretty down. Even though I had really enjoyed all of the places we had been so far, I did not connect with any of them in the same way as South Africa. I really did not want to leave and it felt very underwhelming to be back onboard. I’ve been at sea for about a day now and I’ve been feeling better about it, but I am determined to return to Cape Town one day. Soon. You guys should come too.

Ghana-rama

Hi dears! The MV Explorer has officially left Takoradi to begin our 6-day stretch to Cape Town, South Africa. Ghana was amazing. I had no idea what to expect when I disembarked but the city really does look like what you think about when you think about Africa. The dirt is dusty and red, it is consistently over 95 degrees, women do carry around enormous packages on their heads, and children really do follow your taxis around because they’ve never seen a white person before. It is really kind of a culture shock. The landscapes are really beautiful though, and the people are very friendly and kind.

Day 1: A friend from the ship, Cali, and I decided to head out pretty early and it was suggested that we go to the market in the center of the city. We hopped into a taxi and after about five minutes ended up in the middle of Takoradi. The market was packed full of people shopping, hustling their goods, herding chickens, balancing all sorts of things on their heads, and staring at us. It was intense. People were lined up on the sides of the roads selling everything from strange produce to mountains of shoes. The market was seemingly endless and we panicked for a while because we couldn’t find our way out. Though English is the official language, there are over 60 different dialects in Ghana and not many people are English-fluent. After being thoroughly overwhelmed, we grabbed a taxi to check out the beach. The guidebooks were not kidding when they said Ghana had beautiful beaches. The beach was like nothing you could find in the states. Deserted and completely natural. The tide was out and there were tons of rocks that we climbed and explored. The water filled nooks and crannies in the rocks were teeming with fish, little crabs, and monster sea urchins. We headed up the beach to a hotel restaurant and ate some spicy beef kabobs while getting to know a group of Scottish men who work in Ghana. They told us the best spots in the city to hang out and on their advice we headed to a “pub” which turned out to be a crazy nightclub. Fun was had by all. Skipper had to get up early the next morning so we headed back to the ship around 1 am. I almost even forgot I was in Africa until some goats came over and hung out with us on our walk back.

Day 2: I didn’t have anything planned for the day so I woke up super late and wandered off the ship. I met some locals who spoke English and they took me to lunch. I got to eat some authentic Ghanaian food which consisted of a lot of rice, yams, and plantains. It was really good and I’m wondering if there are any Ghanaian restaurants in DC? Anyways, after that they took me to a great shopping spot where I was able to get some awesome stuff for all you lucky duckies J I spotted an internet café and, after learning that it was only 2 American dollars for two hours, I settled in and was able to skype with the wombear and chat with the big sis and some strange people who seem to think they are my cousins. I also got to upload my pictures from Dominica, so check them out on my fb. I would have uploaded my pictures from Brazil too but my computer died right in the middle of the upload. It was getting a bit late at this point so I headed back to the ship to grab dinner with my girls. They went out and I was sorely temped to go, but knew that I had to wake up at 5 AM the next day to do a service project building homes in rural Ghana. So, I stayed in and was lame.

Day 3: I had to be on the bus for the home building project at 6 AM sharp, and by some weird mistake on my part my alarm didn’t go off until 5:50. I scrambled to get ready and ran out to the bus only to realize that I had left behind my sun screen, bug spray, hat, hand sanitizer, money, and WATER. The bus drive was about two hours long and took us to a very rural part of Ghana where low income housing is being constructed for families who have to live in inadequate homes because its all they can afford. Once there, someone who was smart enough to bring two huge bottles of water was also nice enough to give me one. Without it, I think I would have died. We were split into teams. One team was to work digging ditches, one to mold blocks out of wet cement, one would plaster a room, and the last team was to lug 50 lb cinder blocks all over the village. The whole time they were assigning teams I silently begged not to be in team cinder block. But lo and behold, the fates were against me and I set out attempting to carry the enormous things. After only a few minutes my team was soaked in sweat, scorched by the sun, eaten up by mosquitoes, and aching. The blocks were super hard to hold and if you slipped a bit, the block scraped down your arm leaving bloody cuts and weird rashes. Some others and I found it easier to balance the blocks on our hips. Now, I am sporting a bruise that runs from my upper thigh to my belly button. We worked like this from 8 AM to 3 PM. By the time we all piled onto the bus to go home, we were totally beat. Instantly, I passed out and woke up back at the ship with no recollection of the drive.  While the work itself was way more intense than I could have expected, I feel like we made a pretty big difference. The thirty of us dug three sewage ditches, plastered the interiors of three homes, and lugged over 100 cinder blocks. This is labor that the new owners of the home would have had to pay for, making many low income families ineligible for even this basic housing. Even so, I’m glad its over. I am not cut out for hard labor.

Day 4: I was up and back on a tour bus at 8 AM to travel about an hour outside of Takoradi to Ankasa National Park. The park consists of miles of untouched rainforest and beautiful waterfalls and rivers. After sleeping away the bus ride, we arrived at the park and were given a short orientation before beginning our three-hour hike. The rainforest was very different from the Amazon. It was less dense and lighter, with much more shrubbery and undergrowth. Butterflies flitted around the gorgeous blooms that blossomed in the river that we walked alongside. Our guide stopped us periodically to talk about certain medicinal plants and ancient species. He explained that the word “Ankasa” means “keep quiet” because in the old days the tribes believed that the forest was haunted by trolls that would kill you if you disturbed them. This legend was how the indigenous people explained the many deaths associated with the flooding of the river, diseases, ect. I did not really keep quiet though, and managed to survive. At one point, we came to a place in the river full of moss-covered stones and we were able to climb out into the middle of mini waterfalls and play in the water. We crossed tons of log bridges spanning the river and even balanced on an old wooden bridge that snaked through the muddy marshland. All in all, it was a really great experience, and the forest really reminded me of that part in Lion King where Timon and Pumba and Simba all live together in the jungle. Remember? When they sing Hakuna Matata. It looked a lot like that. I kind of wished we could just wander around and explore on our own, but I guess then the trolls would have eaten us.  After our hike we went to an absolutely gorgeous beach resort where we were served a traditional Ghanaian meal and got to explore the beach.

Day 5: Again, it was a very early morning and I was on the bus at 7 AM. We shipped out a few hours outside of the city where we boarded small wooden canoes that held about four people each. It was pouring rain and thundering, but it was also warm and beautiful. Each canoe had a tour guide in it who steered the little vessel using a long pole, kind of like a gondola. First we weaved through a tiny river, big enough only for the canoes to go one at a time. The landscape around us was that of a massive marsh with neck high grass as far as the eye could see. The river was full of blooming lilies under which, the guide explained, fish would lay their eggs.  Because of this, he said, the marsh was an excellent fishing ground and on weekends was crowded with little fishing boats. We snaked through the marshland and came into a rainforest where we passed towering trees and heard the chatter of monkeys and birds scavenging for fruit. After a short time here, we passed into a massive lake wherein the canoes could spread out. The water was solid black, a coloring that the guide told us came from the roots of the trees that grew in it. It was known as “good water” and was used as drinking water for all of the surrounding villages. The canoes docked next to a wooden structure built on stilts in the middle of the lake. We climbed up a wooden ladder and were directed to explore the floating village. It consisted of tons of tiny wooden huts balanced precariously on wooden stilts. All of the home were connected through networks of wooden pathways, most of which wobbled and creaked intimidatingly and I walked very slowly, afraid of plunging right through to the river below. The kids of the village, however, sprinted around on the tiny walkways, playing and chasing eachother as if they were running on land. About 400 people lived in the village, and they all stood in their doorways, watching us pass by. Many of them were cooking lunch, huge pots of rice and bubbling stews that smelled amazing. The children flocked to us and held our hands, following us in a large crowd. They were so cute! They were chubby and little, teetering around with their big curious eyes. Most of them were too shy to talk to us though, and would duck away if we tried to speak to them. The guide explained to us that this was one of the last remaining water villages in all of Africa. After we had seen the village we boarded the canoes and headed back. By then, the rain had stopped and it was getting very hot. We could see the edges of the lake looked foggy and the guide told us that the water was evaporating at such a fast rate, that you could see it turn into vapor before your eyes. After we returned, we ate lunch and headed back to the ship to make our on-ship time of 6 PM.

Okay, how to sum all of this up? Ghana was probably the biggest culture shock I’ve had yet. It was easy to see that women were treated as lower class citizens. Moriah even talked back to a local and got yelled at because women are not allowed to raise their voices to men. Also, it was the greatest scale of poverty I have ever seen in my life. I know people in the states who complain that America has a lot of poverty too and that our government should spend more time helping Americans than with foreign aide. Well, you wouldn’t be saying that if you saw how people here lived. Families of ten live in little hovels the half the size of my kitchen with a roof made out of a tin slat. Children walk around the city barefoot, trodding through ankle deep excrement to get to school. I saw little boys with tumors the size of baseballs sticking out of their little bellies whose mothers were too scared of modern medicine to bring them to a doctor. At the schools, three or four children have to share one pencil because they can’t afford school supplies. Instead of begging us for money or toys, they begged for pens. Children are consistently abducted from their homes to be subjected to lives of hard labor harvesting cocoa beans for the chocolate we enjoy in the States. They are never paid, and work until they escape or die from exhaustion. There is nothing in America even close to it.

Wow, that got really negative really quick. It’s not all bad, I saw a lot of positive things too. The locals are kind and sociable. They enjoy talking politics and freely discussed with me the problems they see with their country and how they plan to solve them. They tell me that many now know the importance of education and strive to send all of their children to school. I saw huge billboards for local colleges offering scholarships, and saw tons of kids in school uniforms lining up at their school houses every morning, The government is peaceful, and there has not been any political dispute in Ghana in over 30 years (an eternity for an African country). The people are proud of their country and are very optimistic for the future. 

Cabin Fever

Today marks my eighth day onboard. I think I am going a little stir crazy. This will be our longest stretch on the ship for this entire voyage. On Sunday, we will finally dock in Takoradi, Ghana. There, I am building a home in a rural village, going on a 6-mile hike in a national park known for its unspoiled beauty, and traveling to Nzulezo which is a floating fishing village built directly on top of a river. Also, I have a few days to do some independent travel. This is great because Ghana is famed for having some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I’m pretty siked.

In the past week, I have gotten to know this ship very intimately. Yesterday we had the Sea Olympics. This is basically a huge competition between the seas (we are all split up into seas depending on where we live – I’m the Aegean Sea). We compete in like 30 different things. Even though Moriah and I contributed almost nothing to the entire thing, our sea ended up coming in second place, meaning that we get to be the second sea to disembark the ship at the final port on San Diego. This is kind of a huge deal because during disembarkation, you are required to stay in your cabin for up to 7 hours while the other people get off. Boo ya.

Also, Moriah, Ashley (our bff) and I have been spending a lot of time developing something we like to call the Sea Monster Watch. This is a journal kept by our pirate alter egos (SeeWeedz, Skipper, and Barni-coolz respectively) about our search for nautical beasties. The journal includes Skipper’s Compass which is Ashley’s side column on recipes, horoscopes, weather, ect. Every few days we print one of these out and leave it anonymously on our RA’s door. So far, it has caused a huge commotion. That’s a lie, everyone is ignoring it. Well, I think its funny. Also, I have a severe case of cabin fever so sue me.