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Havana, Cuba and Meeting with Fidel

December 7, 2002 in Personal, Semester at Sea

I never got around to writing anything about my time in Havana. It was right at the end of the trip and we were all pretty world-weary from so much non-stop travel. We were able to visit Cuba because we were entered from Brazil and not directly rom the US and were were also an educational – not tourist – organization that was hosted by the University of Havana.

I spent one of my days touring some of the old forts and lighthouses along Havana’s coast. I was a bit surprised at how similar they were to other fortifications I had toured in the US. As I had throughout the trip, I enjoyed the history of it all – particularly the former headquarters of the revolution – but by that point, I was a little tired of seeing so much history. I was ready to be home.

One evening, we were invited to spend the evening – all 600+ of us – with Fidel Castro. For nearly 4 hours el Presidente droned on about nothing at all. When he opened it up for questions, he was asked about the state of healthcare in Cuba, the assassination plans on both sides during the Kennedy years. He went on and on about progress and partnership without really saying much of anything. The high points of the evening came right at the end when one of the more courageous asked Fidel for a hug – which he got – and another asked him to autograph his passport. To which Fidel relpied, ”I’ll do it but I’m not sure if you’ll be allowed back in to your country!” You can’t say the man doesn’t have a sense of humor.

After the audience with Castro, we were invited to an all-night party on him. From what I heard it was quite a good time. I’m not the party type and I was running pretty tired so I took the motor coach back to the ship. I also felt the injustice of such a lavish event being held when the Cuban people went without so much. Just imagine how that money would’ve been better spent to make some real difference.

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Back on the Atlantic

November 25, 2002 in Personal, Semester at Sea

Well, Brazil was an ok port. Yeah, it was just ok. I didn’t go on any of the big trips to the Amazon or Rio so I just stayed in Salvador for the most part. I went to Praia do Forte to check out the sea turtle project where they are trying to increase the population of the turtles. I also went to the Afro-Brazilian Museum in Salvador – everything was in Portugese and no one spoke English, which made for an interesting time. I went on a ship-sponsored trip to see a performance of traditional Brazilian religious dances. It was pretty cool with almost constant drumming for about an hour, good food, and a form of martial arts/dance called capoeira. I only watched the show and they wore me out from all the energy they expended. I went shopping one evening and that was pretty much it. At this point in the trip, like I said before, I’m ready to be done. I wasn’t too impressed with Brazil. The old section of the city was quite beautiful but there wasn’t much that really excited me or made me want to come back. It’s sad to say but it was just another port. Overall, I think most of the rest of the ship had an amazing time but for me it just wasn’t as great as it could’ve been. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds though. I don’t regret being there. I also don’t feel like I missed out on much by staying on the ship for a couple of days. My roommates were gone for 2 nights and I had the room to myself for once. I watched a few movies, got some work done at a casual pace, and I was able to recover somewhat from the past week straight of work. Now the fun begins. We have 10 days until Cuba and in that time we have our last few days of class, Thanksgiving, and finals. It will be a lot of work but it will be done before we know it. And to think, Thanksgiving is in a couple of days. It’s my first Thanksgiving away from home and it’s going to be served buffet style in the dining hall. How wierd is that?!? It will certainly be an experience though. I’ll be with some good friends and dining somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean. How many people can say that? (Well, other than the 950 or so other people on the ship with me!) It will be fun.

Well, this will be my last Voyage Log until after I get home. With everything that will be happening in the next 2 weeks – finals, Cuba, packing, driving home – I won’t get the chance to write again. But do not fret! I will post all of my pictures and thoughts on Cuba and the trip as a whole before Christmas. I will be home around the 12th of December if anyone wants to email me again or anything. I will be thinking of you all as I make my way northward and I can’t wait to see you all again upon my return. Best of luck to all of you with finals and papers and I wish you all Happy Holidays, safe travels, and I send my love and thanks for all of the support and love you’ve shown me as I’ve been on this amazing journey! Take Care! and God Bless! Until I return…

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Atlantic Ocean: Day 8, Salvador Tomorrow!

November 19, 2002 in Personal, Semester at Sea

Hello once again from little ol’ me traveling around this great big world of ours! A lot has been going on in the week since Cape Town. This past Saturday, the 16th, we had our Ambassador’s Ball – the equivalent of a prom. We all got dressed up and showed off our fancy purchases and tailor-made outfits from Vietnam and other countries. I had a really great time. I love getting dressed up and spending time with such good friends.

Classes are starting to wind down. My first final is on the Tuesday after Brazil and my last will be a week later on the 3rd of December. Wow, finals already! I know many of you must be quite jealous since you still have another month or so before you get to be home with your families for the holidays. Thanksgiving is coming up next week! It’s hard to imagine that it’s already that close! Being out here on the ocean and running around in various ports, gaining an hour here and there, and not really having any time off so to speak it’s really hard to keep track of what day of the week it is any more, let alone what holidays are coming up. The only holidays I know of at this point that are coming up is that tomorrow is something like “Black Awareness Day” in Brazil. But I’m sure there will be a big “to do” onboard for Thanksgiving. From what I understand, we will not go without the traditional turkey with all the fixings. Granted, it will be served buffet style with around 750-800 other people but it will be nice in its own way.

I’m getting ready to be done. Senioritis is certainly kicking in for me. Traveling the world has taken a lot out of me mentally, emotionally, and physically and I’m just ready to be finished with classes and be home where I can just crash for awhile before heading back into the thick of things for my final semester at BU. This has been an amazing trip and I want to see more of the world. My only comment would be that I’m ready to be home. It’s been hard to be so detached from family and friends and because of all of the demands that come with traveling the way that I am with the constant routine of class and port I am ready for some time off. Brazil and Cuba – aside from the possibility of meeting with Castro, still uncertain – were not high on my list of countries I was looking forward to visiting. I pretty much have no expectations for either of them at this point and so, it’s somewhat bad to say but, I’m not that excited about them. Or perhaps it would be better to say that I am looking more forward to being home, meeting Garrett and being back with the familiar again for awhile. Bebo Norman – one of my favorite musicians whom I highly reccomend – wrote a song on his newest CD – that I picked up in Cape Town of all places! – that really spoke to me as to this feeling of wanting to be home. It says: “Yesterday it seems/ I traveled in a younger man’s clothes/ living out this dream/ and wandering through fields of touch and go/ moving on forever/ watching the distance fade away/ but now I just want to land…where the trees stand still.” But Brazil is tomorrow! I have pretty much no expectations of what it will bring. I know it will amaze me just as all the other ports have, each in their own way. I need to let go of the desire to be around the familiar, “where the faces look the same most every day,” and be open to what these next five days have to teach me about Brazil, its people, its culture, its history, and about myself. I will be amazed again!

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First Day After Cape Town, Back in the Atlantic Ocean

November 12, 2002 in Personal, Semester at Sea

I know in past ports I’ve done a little better about writing every couple of days about what’s been going on and what I’ve been up to but Cape Town was just so amazing! I pretty much stayed in Cape Town and didn’t take advantage of the trips to the African Townships that have their own distinct culture and heritage. I was told that they were quite meaningful for those who visited but if you went to a Dalit village in India, as I did, you would get much of the same impression of the poverty and social/racial inequalities present. After seeing a lot of the world’s poverty in the past few ports it was certainly a refreshing feeling to be in Cape Town, which is a fairly modernized city. In the waterfront area, where the ship was docked, it was quite touristy and the down town area was like many other cities in the US. Overall the city had somewhat of a Cleveland or Boston feel as you walked the streets. There was a charm that you find in little New England towns too. It was a great comfort to be there.

I was scheduled to hike up Table Mountain – the dominant feature of the Cape Town landscape – on our second day there. Unfortunately, when I got up that morning I was really sore from wandering the city the day before and I was feeling a little under the weather – a result of living in an enclosed environment and breathing the same air as all of the rest who have been sick. So I slept for another few hours and went out to tea with Dean Lloyd and took the cable car up to the top of the mountain later. The views from the top are breathtaking and I can only hope that the pictures can do justice to it. I wandered further into the city on Day 3. I walked the botanical garden, museum, university area for most of the morning to get a feel for the place. It was amazing. That night I called home for the first time since Vancouver. I got to talk to my entire family, including Garrett! I said hello and he made one of those uniquely baby sounds. Even though I’ve seen pictures just hearing him made his existence for me that much more real. I can’t wait to see him in person and, as Chris (my brother) says, Garrett can’t wait to meet me either. What a brother I have! It was great to hear all of their voices again! I haven’t felt homesick at all on this trip; there’s been too much to see and do to feel homesick. I’ve been missing them terribly and can’t wait to be with them again, though. But I don’t want this all to be over either! On Day 4 my friends Valerie and Samantha and I took a tour through the Stellenbosch wine region. It was a lovely afternoon of driving through the countryside and tasting some good wines with some good friends. I would highly reccomend that you give South African wines a shot – those of you over 21, of course. I’ve gotten hooked on sparkling wine myself, it’s good stuff. Some of the white wines were pretty good as well. A good time was had by all and I am so thankful that I got to be there with such good friends.

Cape Town is a wonderful city and will certainly be towards the top of the list of places for me to return to. Many of us could see ourselves even living and working there for a little while. The people we encountered were such a joy. We are even going to try to keep in touch with one of our waiters who was so eager to share experiences with us and learn about the US and tell us about Angola, where he’s from, and his impressions of Cape Town and school and all of that. I am so amazed by everything that I’ve seen and done! I still can’t fathom the fact that I’ve been to so many places and experienced the beautiful diversity that is all around me. And I’ve only scratched the surface. I’ve only gotten a taste of each port and I will definitely be returning and branching out to other countries as I travel throughout the rest of my life. I can only hope that you all have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of how the greater world works and find the beauty of everything that is out there. My thoughts are with you and I can’t wait to see you all and share what I’ve seen and hear what’s happened in the past months. But first, Brazil is calling and I must answer!

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Enroute to South Africa

November 3, 2002 in Personal, Semester at Sea

Kenya was amazing! I absolutely loved it and I will definitely try my best to go back some day. My safari was wonderful. We had two days of game drives and saw tons of animals and beautiful countryside at Tsavo East. The night before I left to go on the safari I watched “The Ghost and the Darkness” which is set in Tsavo. I thought the man-eating lions were an appropriate subject for pre-safari entertainment. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any lions or rhinos or hippos but I saw tons of elephants and gazelles and giraffes and many others. It was really cool!

I can’t think of much else to say at this point. Today is my one real day off until the Ambassador’s Ball after S. Africa. While everyone is competing in the Sea Olympics today, I’m watching movies and hanging out with friends and basically just enjoying myself. I’ve shut my brain off for the day and so, I have nothing else to report for now. I’ll update you all again after Cape Town on my adventures there!

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Mombasa, Kenya

October 27, 2002 in Personal, Semester at Sea

Midterms have been taken, papers written, and we have arrived in Africa! Finally, my first real break since after Vietnam. We were given a day off this past week to celebrate crossing the equator (which actually happened a couple of days later) but I spent much of that time doing research for a paper and studying for another midterm. But that is now all finished and I am free to experience our first stop on a new continent.

After classes were finished yesterday the ship received a call from Sir Arthur C. Clarke – author of “2001: A Space Odyssey” – that was routed through the PA system so we could all ask questions and hear what he had to say. He lives in Columbo, Sri Lanka and has been a lecturer more than a few times on previous SAS trips. He had good wishes and kind words to share with us all and it was a pretty cool opportunity. We received confirmation the other day of another amazing opportunity. Bishop Desmond Tutu has agreed to come aboard to meet with us once we reach Cape Town. We’re still waiting on word from Fidel but we’re pretty confident that he’ll agree as well.

Well, I have two more days in Mombasa before I head out to the Tsavo National Park for my safari. Today I spent on the ship relaxing and giving myself a long-needed break before heading out on the town tomorrow and the next day. So, I think I’ll stop here for now and write more after I’ve done more interesting things than relaxing and taking some time for myself. Until then…

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Between Malaysia and India

October 10, 2002 in Personal, Semester at Sea

Hey Everyone! Sorry I haven’t written too much lately. We’ve been hopping from port to port and life’s been full of classes and little free time lately. And the trend continues. Papers and midterms are quickly coming up and exhaustion from our pace is hitting everyone pretty hard. But we’re all having a great time!!!

In Penang, Malaysia I toured a number of religious sites and saw the extremely open and tolerant nature of religion and its diverse expressions. The next day I was there I hiked Penang Hill. They call it a hill but I beg to differ. It was a grueling 4 hour hike through the forest-covered mountain. The temperature was about 95 and the humidity was up there too. By the time I reached the top there wasn’t a dry spot to be found on my body or clothes. It was rough, it was hot, and it was a lot of fun! But no matter how much fun that was, I am glad for the month between now and when I hike Table Mountain in Cape Town to rest.

My final day in Malaysia was spent at the Wesley Methodist Church in Penang. I had seen it on our way to and from Penang “Hill” and decided I’d stop by. I got a tour and sat in on their Senior Fellowship time. After refreshments and some mingling a couple of their members offered to drive my friend and I around the island of Penang some and drop us off at the ship afterwards. It was a lot of fun and it felt good to be around such loving people. I gave in to my American taste buds though and went to Pizza Hut for some stuffed-crust and breadsticks. What they laughingly call pizza onboard wasn’t as good as I like and I needed to have something I knew at the onset would taste good; and it did!

Well, I have to head to class now so I will end it here for the time being. I wish all you who have papers and midterms the best of luck and I wish I could be there to suffer through it with you. I hope you all are doing great and I look forward to seeing you when I can. Until after India…

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Vietnam & Cambodia

October 3, 2002 in Personal, Semester at Sea

September 29 – October 3 (Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam and Siem Reap (Angkor), Cambodia)

Vietnam was great! Though I only spent about 2 days there because of the Cambodia trip, I got a lot out of my stay. Perhaps the most influential/interesting/sobering experiences I had there was my trip to the War Remnants Museum. To give you an idea of what I saw, though I’m sure you’ve seen much of the same thing as it happened, the Vietnamese side of the story was obviously a little biased against the American involvement and the photos at the museum were not censored at all. Almost all of the pictures on display were extremely gorey and gave you a sense of what really happened during the war. It was emotionally taxing and mentally shocking that stuff like that would even happen but I am grateful to have seen it. I don’t think I could’ve truly experienced Vietnam without being subject to that.

Cambodia was the highlight of my trip and I doubt it will be matched!! I absolutely loved it! The temple complexes at Angkor were huge and in fairly good condition, allowing for climbing and crawling around through the massive stone structures. It is nestled in the middle of the Cambodian jungle and is not yet as “touristy” as most other temples that I’ve visited thus far. Along the road we took to get there we drove by killing fields and over the craters left by stray land mines that were never recovered after the war. There are no words for what I felt because of that. It was more real to me than anything else. It is perhaps too early after my time there to fully comprehend all that happened and all I have seen. All I’ll say is that I am so fortunate to have the chance to experience all I did and I loved every minute of it – despite the 90+ degree temperatures and the humidity that completely drenched my clothes and body for 3 days straight. But hey, it’s all part of the experience and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

We will be in Malaysia the day after tomorrow and the crew is on the look out for pirates during the nights. What a thought, huh?!? I can’t believe sometimes that I’ve been to 5 countries so far. I’m having the best time and I’m so humbled by the fact that I can even be here and by all that I’ve learned. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

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