It’s been quite a long time since my last update.
I’ve had some troubles with the internet, which is why I never posted on the ship, and once we got to South Africa I had NO free time to go on the internet. But let’s start from where we left off…
On my last day at Salvador we were able to find a hole-in-the-wall Capoiera school which was 15 Reai, which is about 10 US I think. I forget the exchange rate, which is kind of sad… Well it was quite an experience. For those of you who don’t know, Capoiera is the South American martial art developed by the slaves who had to disguise it as dancing so the “masters” wouldn’t know they were practicing fighting. In short, it’s break-dancing fighting. This is kind of a shame, considering I can’t even do a cartwheel. So I was embarrassed for a good deal of the lesson, but it was still an amazing experience. The people who owned the school didn’t speak any English, which in a weird way made the experience all the more enjoyable. Thus Brazil ended, and thanks to Capoeira, I was sore for half of our trip across the Atlantic.
I’m going to get right to the point. I’m bald. Or, that is to say, somebody shaved my head. I told a few of you that I’d do it when I crossed the Equator, and not many of you believed me. I look… interesting. I’ll post some pictures once we get to Mauritius, because the bandwidth on the ship is not up to par. Neptune Day started with some of King Neptune’s royal subjects marching down the hallway banging drums at 5 in the glorious morning. We then stumbled out of bed to the seventh deck, where we had fish guts poured on us, jumped in the pool, kissed a fish, and had to kiss King Neptune’s ring. It was something else. Then the head shaving commenced. A lot of the girls went first, because it was more dramatic for them. It was weird, because it was mandatory that everybody shave their head. A lot of the girls objected, but you can’t do too much when you’re in the middle of the Atlantic, and brute force always has a way of convincing people. It took a while for all the girls to get their head shaved because they have such long hair, and there’s so many of them. A few hours later it was my turn, and I said goodbye to my beautiful hair.
Now I know some of you are thinking, “Thomas, you had such beautiful, wavy, curly, attractive brown hair, it should be a crime for you to have it shaved off.” Well, yes, it actually is a crime. The penalty is 25-life. But we’re in international waters, so I can get away with anything. Except not studying on tests, which I don’t want to talk about. And by the way, that whole thing about brute force and hair cutting being mandatory is not true at all. I was just messing with you.
I just want to take a minute of your time to tell you how much I hate time changes, and how they slowly pierce my heart and eat away at my soul. And they make me tired, but mostly I just hate them because they pierce my heart and eat away at my soul.
So we finally made it to South Africa! This is the most opportune time to get sick, so of course my body did. I started developing a cough, but that didn’t stop me from waking up at 5 in the morning to watch us come into Cape Town. I shouldn’t have gotten up though. That was a mistake. I thought for some reason that the sunrise was at the same time, so it would be gorgeous, but the sunrise wasn’t for another hour, so you could barely see anything. I hastily went back to bed.
Cape Town is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world. It’s right on the ocean, with Table Mountain overlooking the entire city. Every evening, clouds come to cover Table Mountain with what is appropriately named the Table Cloth. The clouds move so fast, it’s almost unreal. There’s a local legend of a Dutch pirate who came to Cape Town and made some kind of a bet with the devil to see who could smoke more, which is the explanation for the clouds everyday. It’s kind of a weird legend, and I don’t remember the specifics, but… yeah. I went to Robben Island on the first day, which was pretty emotional. Robben Island is the Alkatraz-esque island where political prisoners used to be held and tortured. Nelson Mandela spent a good deal of time here. It was extra emotional because every guide that works there is a former prisoner, and you get to hear a bit about their story. I have never been on a tour where everyone is so silent before.
The next morning was my safari! I had to get up at 2:45 in the morning to catch the plane. I went to the airport, and realized that I had a fever, and it couldn’t be cured by more cow bell. I stuck it out, figured that I paid to see animals, so I was going to see animals. After a two hour flight and a six hour bus ride, somehow I miraculously felt better, and continued my safari. The sleeping was in-tents, the animals were wild, and the food was delish. We went to Kruger, and the scenery was beautiful. We saw an abundance of animals, and I’ll tell you more about it once I can post pictures.
After the safari I went up to Stellenbasch, the wine country, with my friends Grant, Phil, and Christina, and our newfound friend/taxidriver Uncle Mayor. We went to some tastings, but I wasn’t really a big fan. I’m not wine-ing, I had a great time and am glad I went, but I suppose my taste buds aren’t “mature” enough. There was one kind of champagne that was actually pretty good though. Le Domaine. I have no idea what it is, but that was it’s name. On the way to the wine country we drove by numerous townships, which are the incredibly poor neighborhoods in South Africa. I really wish I would have gone to one of them, because the poverty there is indescribable. I honestly can’t even begin to write about it.
On the last day at Cape Town, we went shark diving. Actually, everybody else went shark diving, and I just paid full price to get sick and watch people have fun. That sums it up for the most part. I was sick within the hour of getting on the boat, and I sat in the same spot for about 5 hours while everyone else went down to dive with the sharks. That basically sums it up. I’m not bitter, just a little sour because it wasn’t sweet. I feel like I should have put spicy in that sentence, but I’m too tired of writing.
I’m back on the MV Explorer and heading for Mauritius. I know you’ve heard this before, but I’ll try SUPER hard to update on a regular basis and add pictures when I can.
Lastly, I just want to give a shout out to Chandler and Mallory for sending me MAIL. Wow, what a NICE thing to do for a FRIEND that is halfway around the WORLD. MAIL must make him feel very SPECIAL and HAPPY to have such GOOD friends. I know that he LOVES you for sending MAIL to him, especially since he’s going through a PROBLEM right now where he has to CAPITALIZE random words in his SENTENCES. It’s a TOUGH life, but THANK you two for making him feel SPECIAL.
May that be a hint to all of you. Take care!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Brazil!
Here’s some very simple math for you.
Iguassu Falls = One of the Most Beautiful Places in the World
Wow. I mean, wow. There are SO many waterfalls that are just plain huge and amazing and everything is just surreal, from the smaller tributary falls to La Garganta del Diablo. I took about a million pictures too. And for those of you who are saying “Thomas, that’s ridiculous, you can’t take a million pictures,” well, I did. With 856 high resolution 8 mega pixel pictures on one 2 gig memory card, I filled up 1,170 memory cards. Which, for those of you keeping track, would be about 56 pictures a second for 5 hours of being there. It’s pretty impressive, I know, but I’m a pretty impressive guy. But in all honesty, these falls have some of the most beautiful sights you will ever see. I haven’t even started looking through my pictures yet, because I’m afraid that pictures won’t do them justice. We got to go to Argentina today too, and see the other side of the falls. Of course, it was beautiful. Another stamp in my passport.
Well, we arrived in Brazil a few days ago for the last night of Carnavale! They were telling us tons of horror stories from Brazil, so a lot of people, including me, were a little afraid to go to the largest party in the world. It really is the largest party in the world, as I believe there are 2-3 million people in the streets partying for a week straight (or something ridiculous like that. The teachers were telling us stories about how people have their cameras ripped from there hands, jewelry torn from there body, and a teacher and student from a local institution were killed a year ago. There was one story about a man who went to the bank to withdraw money from the ATM, and upon leaving the bank, he was kidnapped by some locals. They kept him for about 3 weeks, and every day they took him to the bank to withdraw the maximum amount you can, which is $300, until his bank account was completely drained. Once it was drained, they just dropped him off somewhere in the city and said goodbye. Needless to say, once I got to Brazil, I didn’t have my camera on me for any part of Carnavale, which is a shame, because I could have gotten some great pictures, but it’s really better to be safe than sorry. Carnavale ended up to be pretty fun, and nothing bad really happened to us. Grant and I bought some pretty amazing Capoeira pants, which are the pants they wear for the Brazilian martial art, Capoeira. Grant bought plain white ones, and mine are bright yellow with green, red, and black stripes on the side. They are amazing. We didn’t stay out very late though, because our Iguassu trip started at 4:45 the next morning. Not something to look forward to, but Iguassu ended up being amazing.
The travel time it took to get here was around 12 hours, which is a pain, but travel is something you just have to get used to. The hotel is pretty nice, and I’m sitting in it right now (I brought my computer with me because I figured I’d be able to get free wifi, which is needless to say a rarity). The dinner we had the first night here was another of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me in my life. All you can eat buffet. Those words are music to my ears, especially when the food is top notch. It was a traditional Brazilian style cuisine with some Italian and Japanese dishes. Kind of an odd combination, but any food combination is a winner in my book. And the dessert was to die for. I had to try all of them, which ended up being around 10-15 things, and I must say that the best dessert was the passion fruit mousse, with the flan in a close second. The Brazilians really know how to do fruit. I mean, they know how to do fruit. The fruits that grow here are amazing, and there are so many that we have never heard of in the U.S. I’m trying to taste all the new foods I can, and so far my stomach is still untouchable. Brazilian food is by no means a disappointment.
We went to a giant aviary after the falls today too, which I wasn’t looking forward to, but ended up being a ton of fun. It was interesting, because you walk inside a giant cage and all the birds are flying and walking around you. You can get pretty close to a lot of those guys, and some of them look pretty scary. We leave Iguassu tomorrow :,-( and Grant and I are going to try and catch a Capoiera class the day before we leave. As far as everything else, the ship is doing fine. There are a number of smaller kids on the ship (and that number is four) who are ten and younger. I’m giving two of them, Bridget and Eric, piano lessons. It’s kind of hard because our resources are limited, but we’ll see what we can do. It’s getting late and this entry is way too long. I’ll try to post some pictures of the falls and I’ll try to post something before I get to Africa. Neptune Day is on the 14th…
Iguassu Falls = One of the Most Beautiful Places in the World
Wow. I mean, wow. There are SO many waterfalls that are just plain huge and amazing and everything is just surreal, from the smaller tributary falls to La Garganta del Diablo. I took about a million pictures too. And for those of you who are saying “Thomas, that’s ridiculous, you can’t take a million pictures,” well, I did. With 856 high resolution 8 mega pixel pictures on one 2 gig memory card, I filled up 1,170 memory cards. Which, for those of you keeping track, would be about 56 pictures a second for 5 hours of being there. It’s pretty impressive, I know, but I’m a pretty impressive guy. But in all honesty, these falls have some of the most beautiful sights you will ever see. I haven’t even started looking through my pictures yet, because I’m afraid that pictures won’t do them justice. We got to go to Argentina today too, and see the other side of the falls. Of course, it was beautiful. Another stamp in my passport.
Well, we arrived in Brazil a few days ago for the last night of Carnavale! They were telling us tons of horror stories from Brazil, so a lot of people, including me, were a little afraid to go to the largest party in the world. It really is the largest party in the world, as I believe there are 2-3 million people in the streets partying for a week straight (or something ridiculous like that. The teachers were telling us stories about how people have their cameras ripped from there hands, jewelry torn from there body, and a teacher and student from a local institution were killed a year ago. There was one story about a man who went to the bank to withdraw money from the ATM, and upon leaving the bank, he was kidnapped by some locals. They kept him for about 3 weeks, and every day they took him to the bank to withdraw the maximum amount you can, which is $300, until his bank account was completely drained. Once it was drained, they just dropped him off somewhere in the city and said goodbye. Needless to say, once I got to Brazil, I didn’t have my camera on me for any part of Carnavale, which is a shame, because I could have gotten some great pictures, but it’s really better to be safe than sorry. Carnavale ended up to be pretty fun, and nothing bad really happened to us. Grant and I bought some pretty amazing Capoeira pants, which are the pants they wear for the Brazilian martial art, Capoeira. Grant bought plain white ones, and mine are bright yellow with green, red, and black stripes on the side. They are amazing. We didn’t stay out very late though, because our Iguassu trip started at 4:45 the next morning. Not something to look forward to, but Iguassu ended up being amazing.
The travel time it took to get here was around 12 hours, which is a pain, but travel is something you just have to get used to. The hotel is pretty nice, and I’m sitting in it right now (I brought my computer with me because I figured I’d be able to get free wifi, which is needless to say a rarity). The dinner we had the first night here was another of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me in my life. All you can eat buffet. Those words are music to my ears, especially when the food is top notch. It was a traditional Brazilian style cuisine with some Italian and Japanese dishes. Kind of an odd combination, but any food combination is a winner in my book. And the dessert was to die for. I had to try all of them, which ended up being around 10-15 things, and I must say that the best dessert was the passion fruit mousse, with the flan in a close second. The Brazilians really know how to do fruit. I mean, they know how to do fruit. The fruits that grow here are amazing, and there are so many that we have never heard of in the U.S. I’m trying to taste all the new foods I can, and so far my stomach is still untouchable. Brazilian food is by no means a disappointment.
We went to a giant aviary after the falls today too, which I wasn’t looking forward to, but ended up being a ton of fun. It was interesting, because you walk inside a giant cage and all the birds are flying and walking around you. You can get pretty close to a lot of those guys, and some of them look pretty scary. We leave Iguassu tomorrow :,-( and Grant and I are going to try and catch a Capoiera class the day before we leave. As far as everything else, the ship is doing fine. There are a number of smaller kids on the ship (and that number is four) who are ten and younger. I’m giving two of them, Bridget and Eric, piano lessons. It’s kind of hard because our resources are limited, but we’ll see what we can do. It’s getting late and this entry is way too long. I’ll try to post some pictures of the falls and I’ll try to post something before I get to Africa. Neptune Day is on the 14th…
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Hey all!
Not much has happened since Puerto Rico. Not much can happen I suppose, since we’re stuck on a ship for nine days. All of my classes have officially started, and they are very hard… to stay awake in. It’s just something about the rocking of the ship that makes you tired. Or maybe it’s the fact that I get about 5 hours of sleep a night, and we lose an hour due to time changes every few days. But regardless, classes are going alright so far. I think being on the ship affects my appetite also. It’s either the constant motion, or the sub-par food, but I don’t really eat that much anymore. I suppose I do still eat a lot, but I’m never incredibly hungry. I just eat because it’s fun. I just had two chocolate mousses (meece? moussi?) for dessert tonight, which was delicious. In Puerto Rico I had 5 flans for lunch. That was a good day.
We just signed up for some more trips a few days ago, and I was able to miraculously get everything that I tried to sign up for. Now that I signed up for additional trips, for those who don’t know, here’s what I’m doing:
Brazil-
Carnival - Well it’s the last day Carnival when we get in, so I’m going to that. I’m going to try and not bring anything with me when I go, since people apparently get robbed left and right, which means I won’t have pictures L
Iguassu Falls- I’m super excited for this trip. These are some of the most beautiful falls in the world, or so they say. We have to fly down to the south of Brazil and we get to cross to Argentina also. There are catwalks and such over the falls, we get to take a boat ride to the “Devil’s Throat”, and there is some kind of local festival.
South Africa-
Robben Island- This used to be where they would keep political prisoners, such as Nelson Mandela. And there are penguins.
Safari- This one explains itself.
Possibly skydiving or shark diving, but we’ll see what happens.
Mauritius-
Adventure Park & Beach- This is a really cool place that has a bunch of obstacle courses, canopy walks, etc.
“Blue Escape”- A dual catamaran/snorkeling trip on the shores of Mauritius.
India-
Taj Mahal- Yay! This trip actually goes to Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur, Agra being where the Taj Mahal is located.
Kencheepuram/Mamallapuram- For those of you keeping track, Mamallapuram used to go by the name of Mahabalipuram. I thought that might be interesting to at least one of you.
Malaysia-
I signed up to do a homestay in a traditional village, called a kampung. I’ll spend three days there, get acquainted with the village and get to partake in activities such as games with the children, cooking, and visiting the local farms.
Vietnam/Cambodia-
I’m going to Angkor Wat, which is in Cambodia, but it counts as a Vietnam trip because it takes away from our time in Vietnam. You should google Angkor Wat if you haven’t seen a picture of them, because they’re supposed to be some of the most impressive ruins in the world. I’m also going to try and get a crazy suit made.
Hong Kong/Shanghai-
I was able to get a University stay at Tsinghua University in Beijing. We stay at the university and get to know the students while we visit places like the Great Wall, Beijing Zoo, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the site for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Summer Palace, to name a few. We also get to attend an acrobatic performance, and there are optional lessons for Tajiquan, which is traditional Chinese shadow boxing.
Japan-
We’re going to do this country completely independently. It’ll be fun.
Hawaii and Costa Rica don’t really have any set plans so far. I’m going to try to visit some family in Hawaii, but unfortunately I’m only there for less than 24 hours.
We crossed the Equator today, and have three days left till Brazil! If you read this long entry, I’m impressed. I’ll try to update sometime in Brazil. Miss you!
P.S.
It took me so long to put this on the internet. My account apparently doesn't work, and I had to go on Grant's account.
Not much has happened since Puerto Rico. Not much can happen I suppose, since we’re stuck on a ship for nine days. All of my classes have officially started, and they are very hard… to stay awake in. It’s just something about the rocking of the ship that makes you tired. Or maybe it’s the fact that I get about 5 hours of sleep a night, and we lose an hour due to time changes every few days. But regardless, classes are going alright so far. I think being on the ship affects my appetite also. It’s either the constant motion, or the sub-par food, but I don’t really eat that much anymore. I suppose I do still eat a lot, but I’m never incredibly hungry. I just eat because it’s fun. I just had two chocolate mousses (meece? moussi?) for dessert tonight, which was delicious. In Puerto Rico I had 5 flans for lunch. That was a good day.
We just signed up for some more trips a few days ago, and I was able to miraculously get everything that I tried to sign up for. Now that I signed up for additional trips, for those who don’t know, here’s what I’m doing:
Brazil-
Carnival - Well it’s the last day Carnival when we get in, so I’m going to that. I’m going to try and not bring anything with me when I go, since people apparently get robbed left and right, which means I won’t have pictures L
Iguassu Falls- I’m super excited for this trip. These are some of the most beautiful falls in the world, or so they say. We have to fly down to the south of Brazil and we get to cross to Argentina also. There are catwalks and such over the falls, we get to take a boat ride to the “Devil’s Throat”, and there is some kind of local festival.
South Africa-
Robben Island- This used to be where they would keep political prisoners, such as Nelson Mandela. And there are penguins.
Safari- This one explains itself.
Possibly skydiving or shark diving, but we’ll see what happens.
Mauritius-
Adventure Park & Beach- This is a really cool place that has a bunch of obstacle courses, canopy walks, etc.
“Blue Escape”- A dual catamaran/snorkeling trip on the shores of Mauritius.
India-
Taj Mahal- Yay! This trip actually goes to Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur, Agra being where the Taj Mahal is located.
Kencheepuram/Mamallapuram- For those of you keeping track, Mamallapuram used to go by the name of Mahabalipuram. I thought that might be interesting to at least one of you.
Malaysia-
I signed up to do a homestay in a traditional village, called a kampung. I’ll spend three days there, get acquainted with the village and get to partake in activities such as games with the children, cooking, and visiting the local farms.
Vietnam/Cambodia-
I’m going to Angkor Wat, which is in Cambodia, but it counts as a Vietnam trip because it takes away from our time in Vietnam. You should google Angkor Wat if you haven’t seen a picture of them, because they’re supposed to be some of the most impressive ruins in the world. I’m also going to try and get a crazy suit made.
Hong Kong/Shanghai-
I was able to get a University stay at Tsinghua University in Beijing. We stay at the university and get to know the students while we visit places like the Great Wall, Beijing Zoo, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the site for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Summer Palace, to name a few. We also get to attend an acrobatic performance, and there are optional lessons for Tajiquan, which is traditional Chinese shadow boxing.
Japan-
We’re going to do this country completely independently. It’ll be fun.
Hawaii and Costa Rica don’t really have any set plans so far. I’m going to try to visit some family in Hawaii, but unfortunately I’m only there for less than 24 hours.
We crossed the Equator today, and have three days left till Brazil! If you read this long entry, I’m impressed. I’ll try to update sometime in Brazil. Miss you!
P.S.
It took me so long to put this on the internet. My account apparently doesn't work, and I had to go on Grant's account.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
+
=
