Sorry about the wait...

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!