Ben, Jordan, Sean, Colin & I at the top of the Cathedral
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Seville orange experience
These were the AWFUL oranges from the streets of Seville. Funny story to follow about these from South Africa
Cadiz
These are the remains of an ancient castle in Cadiz used for guarding against pirates and foreign attacks
Namibia
Ok, ok, I’m back now and even though this blog is way late, well here ya go. Namibia is incredible. I know I keep saying that about every place but it just keeps getting better and better. I don’t even know how the rest of the trip can top this but I have a feeling it will. My expectations for Namibia were so different than my experiences. The best surprise of my life, I might add. I had never even really heard anything about Namibia before except that is where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt decided to have Shiloh. Other than that, Namibia held nothing for me. I honestly thought that there was nothing there. Alright, so we arrive into Namibia on Valentines Day and listen to our first Diplomatic briefing. In most of the ports, we have officials and diplomats come (usually from the Embassy) onto our ship and talk to us about some of the logistics of the country. This was the first time they had done it though and it pretty much scared us to death. They told us how we need to always watch our things and need to be wary of everyone you meet etc. This is important information that we all need to hear during pre-port but sometimes they over-do it to the point where we are so fearful of everything that it closes us off from experiences. So it was a mixture of that and almost non-interest that I had coming into Namibia; not the greatest way to start off a trip. After that was over, we were greeted by a girl’s choir from Windhoek (capital of Namibia) singing and dancing for us down on the dock. Their voices were amazing. What a way to get welcomed to Namibia! I wish I had a way to record it and let you all hear because it was so beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes because it felt so beautiful and untouched. I can’t describe it but it felt like Africa; this welcoming, open, inclusive, fragile but strong. I felt like I was home. I hadn’t even felt “homey”in Europe but here it was completely different. It really makes you think; our voyage is themed migrations and in all my classes there is a focus on evolution and how our species came from Africa, and there I did feel like I belonged. Interesting ya? Well these girls were amazing. They were wearing hand-made dresses and had moves like you wouldn’t believe. We got to meet them and hang out with them afterwards and they were so sweet and friendly. They had no reservations about making you their new best friend. It was heart-warming. We are incredibly lucky to have met them and had this experience. After that I walked around Walvis Bay with Jordan and Faith a little and leaving the port we discovered that a bunch of vendors had set up camp right outside the port gates. They had mostly come from the Northern parts of Namibia with their hand-made art and traditional crafts to sell to us because apparently word travels that a huge ship with lots of students was coming to buy things. What they had for sale was beautiful! Hand-carved chests with the Big Five, traditional masks, bowls, carvings, statues, jewelry, and so much more. I wanted to buy it all and had I been able to fit more into my hands I would have. We wanted to eat first and had to get cash out so while Jordan and I were in the ATM, Faith met this woman outside of the bank and got to talking and asked where we should go to eat. She pointed us in the right direction and we started walking, and she started following us. Apparently she had invited herself to lunch with us. That was fine, we like meeting locals. Her name is Agnes and she has all our addresses so ma, watch out if you get a visitor from Namibia at your door! She was really nice and we found out she was a preschool teacher and has a son. It was fun but at the end when we got the check she looked at Faith and was like, “You pay for me, ok?”Faith didn’t really know what to do so she was like ok. Interesting but ok whatev. We went back to the vendors and bought lots of stuff and then they had an FDP so they had to go. I went back to the ship to rest a bit and as soon as I get in the door Vanessa comes and finds me and we went to explore some more. We met these guys who showed us around the city and it was an amazing tour that I’m pretty sure SAS couldn’t have beat. We even got to see the townships where all the poor people live. It’s kind of like seeing the projects or ghettos. All the people were waving at us and saying hello and the kids were running around us playing. Some people looked at us like they had never seen white people before. Incredibly fascinating. Pumla and Savaci, our new African brothers, were awesome and so nice. They were just interested in learning about our culture and sharing theirs with us. We were kind of sketched at first but it turned out to be amazing. We went back to the ship after a long day to get all dressed up and meet our friends for a Valentine’s Dinner. We had heard about this great restaurant called the Raft so we hailed a cab and went. About twenty minutes later we pull up to this circular hut in the middle of the water with lights all around it and the sun going down behind it. It was beautiful and the food inside was good too! We sat around for hours eating fondue, Kudu, Springbuck and drinking incredible South African wine. It was an incredibly romantical night haha. The girls kept missing our boyfriends though so we caved and gave them a call on the cell. Neither Vanessa or I can talk to ours though (they happen to be in the Dominican Republic and the Bering Sea respectively) so a voicemail had to suffice. At the end of the night, happy and full and in love with Africa, we pile 6 people into one of their small taxis (another taxi driver tried to steal me too!) and head back to the ship for a sleepover on the deck. We thought this would be the best place to do it because it’s hot and there’s no wind. We were stoked. We started off the night with 5 of us sleeping outside and only 3 woke up together. We also discovered that it gets very cold in the middle of the night and that it often rains. Not so fun after all but a good start to Namibia.
The next morning, Vanessa and I had a Sea and Sand dune trip. I don’t think we really knew what we were doing but we were excited to go anyway! Jordan managed to snag a last-minute spot on the trip too. The first half of the day was spent on a boat in Sandwich Harbor where seals played in the water around us and dolphins swam next to us and pelicans flew above us trying to match our speed. Seals would climb onto the boat too and we got to pet them and watch our guide feed them. We drove next to this seal island too where all the seals were laying out and playing and the little ones were swimming in and around the waves. It was so much fun and beautiful views too. We didn’t want to leave the boat but we finally came to the other side of the harbor where there were 6 Land Rovers waiting for all of us. We got in Harmon’s (pronounced Ar-mOn) rover and drove all around the beach and next to the Dunes. A few days before our arrival there a whale had washed up on the shore. Everyone tried to save it but it died after a couple days because it’s lung had collapsed on him. So we came across part of its ripped off jaw bone and 50 meters further down, the whole whale itself. I haven’t ever seen a whale that close and it was weird. He was huge and it was so sad, you couldn’t even see it’s original face because its tongue had swelled up to such an enormous size. We got to touch it too. So that was kind of depressing, some jerk climbed on top of it too and I was about to punch him in the face. But we kept driving down the surf and eventually we were driving through the dunes up and down, it was like a Disneyland ride! Harmon busted out Red Hot Chile Peppers and the new Coldplay so Vanessa and I were singing it at the top of our lungs in between fits of laughing, driving through the dunes and holding on for dear life. We stopped for a picnic lunch on the beach of oysters and champagne and got to watch the dolphins swimming along the waves. Jordan of course jumped in after them and tried to swim with them but no luck. While they were setting up for lunch, Vanessa and I hiked up a dune to get the full view. Incredible. And totally worth hiking in the desert sun on sand. We kept driving up and down the dunes and even drove down backwards on some of them and came to the top of this dune where you could run and jump off and you went so far because the dune was super steep. I’ll post pics I promise! I thought I had it figured out but most are still too big to post. By this time, Harmon had become our good friend and so we made dinner plans with him because his girlfriend owns a restaurant called Harry Peppers that we had heard good things about. So driving back to the office, we got to see the salt flats by the harbor. They turned the water on top of the salt bright pink and we tasted the salt –intense! It was a huge day and we were all wiped out from the sun and activity but we went to gather the crew and head to Harry Peppers. We ended up being late and Harmon wasn’t there when we arrived but the waiter called him and he came back to meet us. We had an awesome dinner (again). We had a big day ahead of us, but still wanted to see Namibia at night so Harmon had the waiter escort us out to a little local bar. It was awesome! And really funny because they pay American music in all the clubs where we’ve been so far. We met some fun people out and then headed back to the ship for what could possibly be out last night of life. We were skydiving the next morning. Woke up to clouds and were bummed cause we thought they might cancel it. We were already late and I’m pretty sure we got the only taxi driver in the country who lost on the way to the airport and drove at least 30 km slower than everyone else. We made it though, and they got all signed in and suited up and proceeded to freak out for the rest of the time. They had to drive you out into the middle of the desert where there was a tin roof we could sit under and then a room where they kept all their gear. They could only take up two people at a time and we were a group of like 25 kids so it took a long time and we were just hanging out in the desert with the skydiving guys who are so cool. Mias was my partner and were now Facebook friends, watch out! I don’t think I said two words the entire day. My friends were all worried cause they had never heard me not talk for more than a few minutes, go figure. But soon it was my turn and there wasn’t anything I could do. I got strapped up and we got into the plane. Mias had to hold my hand the whole time and tried to get me not to think about it but the plane just kept going higher and higher! Well my videographer got out to the edge first and just hung onto the wing outside the plane like no big deal, all of a sudden I was on the edge of the plane looking out over the desert and dunes and the ocean. And then I was gone. Flying. Floating. I don’t even know. It was incredible though. He let me fly the chute a little and we had a perfect landing. I was so excited afterwards! It was so incredible. Ah I can’t even describe it! I was so happy the rest of the day. It was already after 5 by the time the taxi came to get us at the place and we were at least 45 minutes from Walvis Bay and the ship and if were 0-15 minutes late to get onto the ship we get 3 hours of dock time in the next port. We were all so happy though and our driver was awesome and sped and we got the to the gate with 7 minutes to spare but the guard wouldn’t let us in cause the taxi didn’t have a port pass so we had to bride the official to let us in the gate to the ship. We handed him all the cash we had and the driver got us as far as he could go and we got out and booked it, I mean ran hard-core with all our bags to the ship and up the gangway and we made it in time! it was a miracle and the best day ever. Ah, I love Namibia. I want more time to explore Swakopmund (where the airport is). Ok now I need a writing break and then its blog South Africa!!! Be excited, safari stories to come.
Miss you all and love you so much!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Photos!
Yaya! I figured out how to manipulate my photos an email so that I can send them to my blog! I'm off to South Africa now to hike Table Mountain and then I leave for safari tomorrow but know that more are coming soon! Love and peace,
Alex
Monday, February 16, 2009
Flying Free
Blog coming tomorrow about Namibia but I just had to drop a little line...
I jumped out of a plane today over the Namib Desert at 10,000 feet!!! Indescribable.
The most amazing feeling of my life; to soar over the desert and ocean side-by-side floating down in the sky with nothing around to disturb the moment. It was freeing.
Love and peace, Al
Monday, February 9, 2009
Greetings Pollywogs from a newly appointed Shellback!
Neptune day is the greatest day EVER! It was so much fun! I think we were all expecting it to be corny and lame but it actually turned out to be awesome. So we were woken up at a reasonable hour by our stewards coming through our cabins banging pots and pans and screaming and yelling at us; not the most pleasant part of the day. We were all summoned to the top deck at 9 for the beginning of the festivities. Once all of us pollywogs (people who have never crossed the equator) were gathered, Captain Jeremy and his wife came out dressed as King Neptune and the Queen and followed by staff and shellbacks (people who have crossed the equator) all dressed up in crazy getups and with fishes and instruments and everything, it was super funny. Then all who wanted to cross the king’s ocean had to pay their respects by getting “fish guts”dumped over their heads, kissing a fish, kissing the king’s ring and bowing to the queen, then jumping in the pool, getting out to kiss another fish and then getting knighted by Joe the safety officer. It was really funny to watch everyone doing it and it was so cold too! Ben and I did it together and got some pretty funny pics. Then, if you wanted, you could go to the royal barber’s corner to have your head shaved. Tons of people did it (lots of girls too), but I opted to keep my hair. They had music playing and the sun was shining and the rest of the day was spent lying on the deck, jumping in the pool to cool off (after they had cleaned the fish out), and playing volleyball. Then at night they set up a huge buffet dinner outside on the top deck and decorated it all pretty and served us the best meal we’ve had on the ship. It was like 4th of July times a thousand. They had hot dogs, hamburgers, bbq pork ribs, corn on the cob, potato salad, macaroni salad, and tons more! And then they made us all these bomb desserts on the decorated fruit table that was spilling over with all kinds of fresh fruit. And then they had an ice cream table too! It was heaven. We were all so happy! It was definitely the best day ever. So all you pollywogs, I am now a shellback and will hold that over you until you become a shellback too (and no, on a plane does not count; you must be on a ship because its an old sailors tradition. This is the background we got from the Dean’s memo for today: “Crossing the Line, or Neptune Day, is an initiation rite celebrated in many navies. It commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the equator. The rite was intended originally as a test of new shipmates by seasoned sailors. The tradition dates back to the 16th century, and in the old days, the ship heaved to (that is, it set its sails so as to remain stationary) and the pollywogs were hoisted on the mainyard and dunked into the ocean 40 feet below; afterwards, shaving and other forms of blood letting took place.”Glad we’re not back in the old days!) And we’re not actually crossing the equator until tomorrow afternoon haha.
Here’s our position for today in case you’re curious! Back to classes tomorrow and Namibia in 4 days!
At noon today the Explorer’s position was…
Latitude: 08° 20 mins. N
Longitude: 016° 22 mins W
Distance made good: 414 nautical miles
Distance to go to next port: 2606 nautical miles
Average speed: 24.94 kts
Air temp: 26C (79° F)
Sea temp: 26C (79° F)
Wind: NW/5 kts
Sunset today: 1908
Sunrise tomorrow: 0657
Love covered in fish guts!
Alex
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Neptune Day
SUBPOENA to all POLLYWOGS,
You are hereby requested to appear before the ROYAL COURT OF THE REALM OF NEPTUNE, in the DISTRICT OF EQUATORIUS, because it has been brought to the attention of HIS HIGHNESS, NEPTUNE REX through his trusty SHELLBACKS, that the good ship M/V EXPLORER is about to cross the equator and enter those waters accompanied by passengers who have not acknowledged the sovereignty of the RULER OF THE DEEP.
THEREFORE be it known to all Slimy Pollywogs that The Royal, King NEPTUNE REX, Supreme Ruler of all citizens of the deep, will, with his Secretary and Royal Court, meet in full session on board the offending ship M.V. EXPLORER on the 9th day of February, A.D. 2009 at 0900 on Deck 7 aft, to hear your defense.
Regards,
-King Neptune and His Royal Court
In addition: All pollywogs with hair longer than 8 inches who wish to donate their hair to a worthwhile charity, should do so BEFORE undergoing the initiation ceremony, as only clean hair is able to be donated.
If there are any pollywogs who have brought hair clippers on board, your services are hereby solicited by King Neptune and his Royal Barber. You may help by bringing your clippers to DECK 7 aft, tomorrow morning.
Hmm... So we all just got sent this email for tomorrow which is the day we cross the equator. We have the option of shaving our heads or having fish guts dumped on us... I'm contemplating baldness. Should be interesting! I'll fill y'all in tomorrow!
Sweet dreams! Love Al
Saturday, February 7, 2009
As-Salamu Alaykum
I am in love with the world! So we get back to the ship on Saturday night in Spain and were planning to stop in the Straight of Gibraltar for fuel the next day and then get into Morocco on Monday morning early for 4 days/3 nights. Our ship is considered the fastest in the world, but to do that, they had to sacrifice something in the engineering so our ship rocks pretty heavily on a regular basis. However, to go around the coast of Morocco on the way to Casablanca, Captain Jeremy had to turn off the stabilizers to make the turn. Everyone was warned over the PA system and told to make sure all our belongings were secured. Naturally we were all stoked. Em, Vanessa and I were eating in the dining hall during the announcement and decided to stay for the festivities. Oh. My. Goodness. I can’t even describe the angles the ship was going between. We could still see the lights off the coast of Spain so looking out the big windows on the 5th deck they would go all the way below the horizon then come back and disappear off the top at a greater than 45* angle. It was madness. Dishes were flying off the tables, food bins were crashing everywhere, chairs were falling over, and people were hanging on for dear life. It was so much fun! Some people got it on video and I’m definitely going to get a copy to show you all!
So the next day, Sunday morning I think, after all the damage had been cleared, we stopped in Gibraltar for like 6 hours which would have been way cooler if they had let us off the ship, but at least we were close enough to see it. Later that night when everyone is packing and getting ready to go off trekking in Morocco, they tell us that the sea was too rough to get fuel so we would have to wait another day to get it which means we wouldn’t into Casablanca until late Monday night☹Sad! We lost a day there and everyone was super upset but I was actually ok with it because I needed another day of rest, I was still exhausted from Spain! They tried to make Monday into a fun day which actually turned out to be awesome because there was a good talk on Islam and then we got to watch the season premiere of LOST in the Union! I was so happy! There is a huge Losty cult on the ship so I think were going to try to get all the new episodes here. But really? That episode only made me have like 50 million more questions and no answers!!! Ahh! Then we got to listen to Joe, our safety officer who is a retired LA undercover cop tell us how people pickpocket and how to avoid it and he taught us moves to use in case we got in trouble. After that we had mic night which is so much fun because the people here are so talented and everyone is singing along and having a good time. So Monday wasn’t bad, but the delay to Morocco messed everything up because all the trips were supposed to leave the first day and no one knew what was going on. A lot of the Semester at Sea trips had to cancel parts of their itineraries because of it. I was lucky that this was a port I was doing on my own because my friends and I were planning on taking the train to Marrakech to spend the time there and everything worked our perfectly. Once we got on our way it was amazing. Indescribably beautiful and exotic and different and tantalizing. I am going back at the first opportunity I have. Starting from the beginning, here is my Morocco:
So we let ourselves sleep in a bit on Tuesday morning then got packed and ready to go. SAS had brought people on the ship to help independent travelers make plans and book hotels etc., which was awesome because we booked our amazing Riad through them. During our pre-port they had warned us that a lot of cheaper hotels and hostels will give us scabies and other gross bug diseases so we decided we were willing to pay a bit extra in this country to avoid that. Turned out to be the best decision ever. We booked a place called the Riad Aladdan in Marrakech right next to the Medina. It included breakfast each morning and a Hammam (traditional steam bath) for each of us too. Unfortunately we ran out of time to take our steam baths but it was because we had so many other things to do! So we got off the ship and planned to walk to the train station to catch the train from Casablanca to Marrakech. We thought we would be ok because most people speak French in Morocco and none of us knew Arabic but one kid who traveled with us in Spain told us he spoke French. Ben and I had gotten everyone around Spain with our Spanish, and so I was looking forward to a break from translation but as soon as we get off the ship, the “French”speaker couldn’t even remember the word for train. So Sean and I, whom neither of us had ever taken French before, ended up speaking more French than the kid who had taken classes for two years! One of my new life’s goals is to learn French. Casablanca is a huge, dirty, industrialized city, which was disappointing because I had always had this romanticized view of Casablanca. After walking around for an hour and letting go of the Casablanca I had always dreamed about, we finally smartened up and got a cab to the station. The train ride was about 3 ½ hours with beautiful scenery: there were rolling green hills and lots of shepherds and their sheep grazing and every once and a while some villages trimmed with clotheslines and people watching the train roll by.
Coming into Marrakech was a completely different experience than coming into Casablanca. Marrakech was beautiful and more of the Morocco I expected. It was traditional and modern at the same time, a good mix that Casablanca seemed to miss. Soon though we were to discover the darker, dangerous, mysterious Marrakech that was not in the touristy public eye. And we loved it. We grabbed a cab to our Riad (cab rides are death wishes in themselves; there are no traffic rules or regulations) and the driver took us to the local, dirtier, authentic part of town and let us out and pointed in some general direction. This is what we do best though! We walked around a bit among the donkeys on the streets and the people buying their produce and men unloading trucks of carpets and materials. We walked in the direction that the man had pointed and it got us nowhere. We had come to a bit of a dead end by some fruit stands and Sean and I were trying to ask directions in our butchered version of French when a really nice guy our age started speaking English and was like, “O come with me, I’ll help you.”We were kind of sketched out because they had warned us on the ship that people would try and do this and then demand money. But we didn’t really have other options so being the adventurous travelers that we are, we followed him around a corner and down a pitch-black alley, which made us very nervous because it was still the middle of the day. Honestly, most us thought he was trying to kill us. It was the sketchiest thing ever. But he knocked on this random door next to a dumpster and the lady opened it up and ushered us into the most beautiful courtyard. It was open so we could see the sky and there were Moroccan decorations and furniture and a palm tree garden center, it was incredible. It was designed in a square so that the open courtyard was surrounded by rooms in two stories and went up to a rooftop that overlooked all of Marrakech. The lady of the house had us sit down and gave us welcome cookies and mint tea in the main downstairs area. We had a room for the girls and one for the boys and when we were done with our reception, they showed us up to our rooms. The girl’s room opened up into this cute room with two beds on one side and pillows on the floor in the middle and lots of curtains and amazing Moroccan art with big wooden doors and wooden window shutters. I decided I am decorating my house in a Moroccan theme when I’m older! So then we go into our bathroom and its all this beautiful colored stone and our bathtub is amazing. It’s the size of 4 US bathtubs put together. Amazing. I need one. Then we go over to look into the boy’s room and it’s even better than ours! Theirs opened up into a room with two beds covered in jeweled blankets and little tables and a huge wooden wardrobe. Then there was another level that opened into another bedroom with a double bed and the bathroom. This was the coolest place I have ever stayed and I recommend it to anyone if you ever go to Marrakech, the Riad Aladdan. After we got done squealing and settling into our rooms and taking pictures of everything (I’m sorry I don’t have internet on here but I’ll try and post pics in South Africa!), the hostess offered us dinner at the Riad. So we took up the offer because our philosophy when we travel is to just say yes. It was incredible too. It was a private room with a table surrounded by couches and pillows and candles everywhere and we had a three course dinner (amazing!) and wine and for dessert the most amazing oranges I’ve ever tasted covered in cinnamon and raisins ~ so good! I didn’t think I’d like the food here but we really had amazing cuisine. So after dinner and lounging we decided to go check out the medina (the central square) at night. There were lights everywhere and acrobats and crowds of people and the markets were still open and the atmosphere was just so alive. Every night too, vendors set up rows and rows of food stalls and there are always spice stalls with huge piles of spices and fresh orange stands. It’s incredible! We bought a few things at the Souk and then wanted to go out to see what Moroccan nightlife is like. Back at our Riad, us girls went up to our room to put on layers (Morocco gets COLD at night in the winter) and the boys went to ask the guy at the front desk where to go. Five minutes later, Jordan bangs on our door to tell us we can’t come out until they come and got us. Ten minutes after that they’re making us walk all the way up the stairs with our eyes closed and at the very top they let us open them. They had set up a table on the roof with trays of wine and glasses and lanterns with a full view of the Moroccan skyline. So cute! They were so proud of themselves too haha. It was a great night; we sat out and talked until early in the morning. A cool thing too about the rooftops of Marrakech; there are enormous storks that make their nests at the top of buildings and at night, they pair up and click their beaks together so we were serenaded by them all night long too.
In the morning we got to eat a breakfast of all the types of bread you can imagine with delicious honeys and jams and tea and coffee and fresh-squeezed OJ, so good! Then we went to hone our bartering skills in the Souk. I got so many awesome things and I must admit I’m a pretty good at bartering, everyone was impressed. I’m thinking of trying it out at Nordstrom’s when I come home. A guy in the markets offered the boys 14 camels to buy me and we all got kind of creeped out cause he was pretty serious. They joke now that if they had gotten him up to 20 camels I wouldn’t be here anymore. Not so funny. We had a really good lunch and then went to go find camels to ride. We got a cab out to this place called the Palm Groves where they have a bunch of people just standing with their camels on the side of the road. Our driver took us to an awesome one. We all got on our camels and went off for long ride through this beautiful palm tree desert forest area. Again I’ll try to upload pics soon because it was so beautiful! We went back to the medina after and there were all these guys who had monkeys on leashes and they would come up and throw the monkeys on you for a picture. The one that was thrown on Jordan started eating his dreadlock too, it was pretty funny. There was a British guy next to us who had a lollypop in his mouth and the monkey grabbed it form his mouth and started eating it! There were snake charmers too but I steered clear of them. The medina was such a fun place to just be in and look at everything happening around you. We ate dinner there that night too at one of the stands and that was definitely one of the best meals we had. Its fun too cause even if you are just walking through the guys who work there try so hard to get you to come in and eat, they practically drag you in. So knowing this, we walk right into the middle and have them fight over us to see where we’ll eat. It was super funny and we ended up sitting down at this great stand because the guy promised us a bunch of free stuff. Everyone started clapping when we sat down and so we continued the tradition and would clap and cheer whenever a new party sat down. That was a great night. A Moroccan man tried to steal me later though when we were laving dinner. We were just walking back through the Souk (and I’m traveling with 4 guys so I felt pretty safe most of the time) when out of nowhere this guy grabs my arm and starts saying, “You come with me.”I was like, “Um, no, let me go”and tried to pull away but he was holding on super tight and the boys were like, “Let go!”and tried to pull me back but the guy wouldn’t let go! Kind of scary but I eventually got away. We met up with some friends afterwards and went to a hookah bar and just chilled. It felt so good just to live and be and enjoy life with great people. Plus they have great shisha in Morocco too! (Yes, shisha is legal)
Waking up early the next morning to take an early train back to Casablanca was not fun because it was cold and rainy and windy outside…I did not want to get out of bed. But we got up and had out last meal in Marrakech and tried to pack all the stuff we bought into the small bags we had brought. This train ride was better because we got first-class and we all got to sit in the same car. Back in Casablanca we dropped our stuff off at the ship and went to eat at Ricks Café. I love the movie so this was a must for me. It was pouring down rain and there were eight of us going. We took cabs there and when we got to the door, the doorman wouldn’t let us in. he kept saying they were full and wait five more minutes. So we waited outside in the freak monsoon that happens once every 30 years in Morocco. People kept coming out and saying that it wasn’t busy so we kept asking and he just kept saying five more minutes. After 45 minutes and dripping wet, we were getting really angry and we tried to just go in and he told us they were closed! We were so mad…and starving. We then walked around and got lost in the backstreets of Casablanca trying to find a restaurant and still in the pouring rain. After an hour we gave up and went back to the ship for cheeseburgers and pizza. Morocco was awesome. Marrakech was the best and Casablanca could have been better but I love it there, we had such a good time and I cannot wait to go back and spend more time there. I talked to a lot of people afterwards who had really bad experiences there and even left some trips to come back to the ship. They stayed in really shady places and got harassed and did super touristy things. We loved it though because we put ourselves smack in the middle of their culture and embraced it. And had such a good time.
The night we got back on the ship too, Captain Jeremy had to turn off the stabilizers again. We were all super stoked because now we knew how to make the most of it. Tons of people went to Tymitz Square where the floors are made of marble and we all sit down and then slide when the boat is rocking back and forth. So much fun. Until the BIG wave came. There are big desks on either side of the square and I was sitting kind of on the edge so this HUGE wave hit and I flew upside-down into the big desk with me head and everyone was thrown on top of me. Couldn’t breathe, head completely smashed, and no one could move because the ship was almost on its side. A bunch of people got hurt; there was a broken wrist, lost of sprained ankles, head lacerations, and busted skin. But it was way fun. All our rooms were destroyed afterwards too. Furniture had come loose and broken and everything was overturned, all our stuff was everywhere. It was AWESOME! Can’t wait for turning the coast of South Africa because I hear it gets even worse!
For now, were on the ship sailing down the African coast. Neptune day is the day after tomorrow and there’s going to be lots of festivities so I’ll update then. Namibia is close and I have planned something awesome but I’m not telling anyone until after I do it! Hehehe, be excited. I am!
Love, Al
Sunday, February 1, 2009
!Vamos mi Seville!
O wow. We just did Spain and might I add we did it well. Everyone on the ship is exhausted, I have never slept so much in one day before. In fact that’s all I’ve done is sleep and wake up to eat then sleeping again. So excuse me if this entry is a bit delirious at times, I’ll try to stay awake to finish it.
Spain was incredible. I cannot wait to go back and spend more time there. We docked in Cadiz on Wednesday morning and woke up to the sun shining off the top of the incredible Spanish buildings right outside our windows. It only took a short time to clear the boat so Vanessa, Emily, Ally and I went out to get café con leche and explore some of the city streets before our day trips started. I had signed up for the Cadiz city orientation. We first got on the buses to the town hall and got to go inside and see where the mayoress and her cabinet met. I never knew much about Cadiz but its history is extremely interesting and dates much farther back than I thought. My friends and I have a running joke that everything was invented in Cadiz because it seems like that’s all that the tour guide said. But we saw the inside of a beautiful cathedral and had some free time to eat fresh pan at an outdoor flower market. Then we walked to the Archeological museum. The Phoenicians were the first inhabitants and not much is known about them but they left some fascinating artifacts behind. Then the Romans came in and built plenty and there are still remains of the ancient stadium they built. Really cool stuff! The Moorish influence is of course the most prevalent and can be seen everywhere but I never knew the history before that. So after a while the tour got kind of dull but I’m glad I went and learned the background of the beauty all around me. The beaches here are beautiful too.
As soon as the tour was ended my friends and I met outside the port for tapas and vino. We found this smoky little bar and sat around for hours drinking and having good conversation. These were my favorite moments of the trip, good wine and good friends! Back to the ship then to change for dinner but then we decided to just hop a train to Seville that night instead of waiting for the morning. So we grabbed our backpacks and headed for the train station. High on life and so happy to just have the freedom to travel when and where we pleased, we dilly-dallied through the streets of Spain and apparently took our sweet time because we missed the last train by 10 minutes. O well, good thing were all pretty flexible travelers. We then rushed to the bus station hoping we weren’t too late. We just made the bus to Seville and it turned out to be the better situation because we later found out that the train took about twice as long as the bus. We all immediately passed out on the bus, I guess our excitement caught up with us finally and knocked us out. An hour and a half later we stumble out in the middle of the night into the middle of Seville with no plan and no map. Were all tired and hungry (that was mostly me) and annoyed. We were so hungry that Sean picked an orange out of one of the many trees that lined the streets and we ate it. Bad bad bad idea. It tasted pretty much like straight acid. We later found out that these oranges are shipped to England to make marmalade. Carrying our backpacks through the city trying to find a hostel and food and beginning to argue with each other about which to do first, we suddenly hear this girl ask us, in English, if we needed a place to stay. You would have thought we had just found water in the middle of the Kalahari we were so excited! They were 3 students from North Carolina studying abroad and they showed us to a hostel and where to eat, and handed down the map that they first got when they got to the city. We are trying to figure out how to hand it down so that this map continues to save students in Seville. I think I might give it to Cass when she moves here;) So we got settled in our hostel (one room for the boys and one for the girls) and went out to eat because we were still famished. However, the funniest part of the whole trip was the fact that the only open restaurant we could find was a Chinese one. So as midnight hit, I turned 20 years old in Spain eating my first real meal there in a Chinese restaurant! Haha, good memories. Now our goal is to find a Spanish restaurant in China. We went straight back to the hostel and passed right out. And that was our first night in Spain ☺
The next morning I woke up to the boys raiding our room and kicking my bed as a good morning wake up it’s your birthday greeting. Not the most pleasant good morning but o well. It started a great day! We went for café con leche and pasterias and began to plan our day. We bought our tickets for the partido de futbol later that night; Seville FC vs. Valencia FC, supposedly the best game of the year. On the way back, since it had only been an hour since our last huge meal and we were already starved again, we stopped at a restaurant for another amazing luncheon. A few bottellas de tinto y muchas tapas later, I got to call mommy and Cass and Jules to talk to them for my birthday! It was so good to hear their voices! That was definitely one of the best meals I ate. We made friends with the waiter who told us to come back later for cervezas antes del partido (beers before the game) and we readily agreed. But we first had to go meet our other friends and stop by the hostel. We changed into our Seville FC jerseys and scarves and headed back towards the bar. The atmosphere just getting closet to the stadium was insane. You could feel the electricity in the air; everyone was pumped. We made friends with guys in the bar who taught us the cheers, which have been stuck in our heads for days and you can hear people singing it around the ship. “Vamos mi Seville! Vamos campeons!” and there’s a nice little tune that goes along with it too. So we get into the game and its even crazier inside. I guess we were a little late because Valencia had already scored a goal. But lots of jumping around wildly, chanting, singing, wildness, new friends, and screaming later Seville scored the winning goal in the 89th minute. Everyone lost it. We were all screaming and running and jumping and hugging everyone and kissing everyone on the cheeks and waving our scarves and shaking fences; it was sheer madness and some of the most fun I’ve ever had. Pretty awesome birthday present. I am a brand new futbol fan and a diehard Seville FC follower. Mikey, some day were going to a Real Madrid game, I promise. So everyone is stoked and we head back to the bar to celebrate with all of Seville our party occupied like 3 tables of just SASers. The drinks kept flowing and the entire bar sang me happy birthday and I even got a birthday cheesecake with a candle! It was so much fun! A couple hours after that we go out to the discoteca and there’s only like 5 other people in there. We were fine making the party ourselves though and more and more Spaniards kept showing up and dancing with us. We were the only Americans in there which was perfect! It turned out to be the craziest night ever. And the best one I might add. The girls and I were dancing on little stages and I’m pretty sure the whole club sang me happy birthday too. We had so much fun! It was the best birthday of my life and going to be pretty hard to beat in the future! We stayed up till I think 5 or 6 in the morning talking and making video messages to send to Russell. And I’m pretty sure Jordan had to carry me to the room hehehe☺ Like I said, best birthday ever!
The next morning though, not as much fun. Jose and I are no longer friends ha. Senora had to wake us up by banging on our doors. We went back to our café for desayuno and met up with the girls there. Immediately after breakfast we went to lunch. That is how we planned and executed our days was by meals. So when you all ask me about Spain, I’ll only be able to talk about the food and I’m more than ok with that! After lunch we split from the girls to go see the cathedral. I guess it’s the third biggest in the world. It was beautiful. And yes Grandma, I was a good little Catholic girl and knelt down and said a prayer for everyone I love. There were walls made of pure gold carvings and statues and the detail that went into everything was amazing. I’ll try to post pics soon. We trekked to the top of the tower to see a bird’s eye view of all of Seville. Incredible. There aren’t words to describe how beautiful it was. I am so grateful we got to see that. We headed to the Plaza de Espana after that but we were all so tired and sore that the impression it made wasn’t as magnifique as it should have been. A vendor gave Heather and me free scarves though which was pretty sweet. We hopped a bus back to Cadiz after that. Showers and more food were definitely in order so after everyone got cleaned, we went tapas hopping! It was raining by now but that didn’t bother us. We had found an outdoor tapas restaurant with a covering and sat around with laughed and talked and ate until it was time to move onto our next tapas bar. Walking back to the ship in the pouring rain was awesome. Doesn’t sound fun but we were loving life, nothing could bring us down and we were in Spain! Slept like a baby that night too ☺
The next day we spent getting snacks for the ship and finding an internet café. Everyone was so tired when we got back on the ship, we have all just been sleeping. We were stopped in Gibraltar all day to get fuel but at logistical pre-port they told us that since the seas have been too rough we couldn’t get it and now might not get into Morocco until tomorrow night. We were supposed to be there at 8am tomorrow! So everyone is kinda freaking out right now but honestly, I could use another day of rest.
Miss you all terribly but I’m having an amazing time. I love this experience and I can’t believe we are already one port down. So excited though! Jordan and I are planning on taking the train to Marrekesh to meet up with our friends. I cannot wait to eat their food haha! Update soon and sorry this last one took so long, I've been very busy!
Lots of love,
Al
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