Walvis Bay/Swakopmund, Namibia

Namibia was great! Two days until Cape Town, then the dreaded 11-day voyage to India. I think everyone was sad to leave Namibia, I’ve only heard one or two bad things that happened, and one was something they totally told us to be careful about and it happened to a professor! Oh well, I thought Namibia was great- I’d definitely come back- even though it was cold! Someone said what they’ve been told about Africa their whole lives is a lie- they were always told that Africa had a largely black population, and that it was hot. We saw a lot of white people (Namibia is heavily populated with German’s) and it was cold. All the locals were really friendly and wanted to talk to us about where we’re from and what we’re doing, a lot of the younger people we talked to seemed really interested in it and were so excited to meet so many Americans! The first day in Namibia we stayed in Walvis Bay and walked around the whole city, it’s so small! That night we asked a cab driver to take us out to a certain bar and he said “No! All your friends are at The Raft!” So we went to The Raft and it was PACKED with SAS kids (and professors)! I guess they even started running out of beer and glasses. The next morning we left for Swakopmund, a more touristy German town about 25 minutes away. The drive there was beautiful, one side was all desert, and the other was all ocean! We saw evidence of the skeleton coast, a place where ships get lost in the fog and end grounded- so you’re looking at the shore and a few yards out is just an old rusty ship sticking out of the ocean! It was really cool. We got to the bungalows in Swakop, it was less than $10USD per person/per night! You’d never find something like that in America, of course there wasn’t heat or hot water but we didn’t care. We spent most of the three days we were there walking around town and eating amazing food. I tried a bite of zebra! People had zebra, oryx, and crocodile. There’s really nothing negative to say about Namibia, I had a great time with the people I was with (Allison, Esther, Allison, Jen, Brooks, Austin, Bill, & Justin- hi Justin and Brooks’ mom’s! I hear you read the blogs!)- can’t wait until Cape Town! I have a few days to spend exploring before my safari. So far I’ve heard people suggesting the Table Mountain, shark cage diving, and skydiving...

One day away from Namibia!

We're less than 24 hours away from Namibia, finally! It's been a long week, pretty much everyone on the ship has a cold/cough/or flu. Everyone's super tired from the 6 hour time change, and of course they took attendance at Global Studies this morning! It took 4 days to get our laundry back this week! I'm really excited about Namibia though, the same group of kids I hung out with in Brazil is getting a bungalow outside of Walvis Bay in Swakpomund, Namibia. It's a 6 person bungalow- for only $10 a night! I think they were talking about going sandboarding, I'd like to go kayaking too since I'm selling my SAS kayaking trip... and the independent trips are a lot cheaper anyway. Tonight is the So You Think You Can Dance competition, it should be good. We put it together in less than a week so it'll be interesting to see how well it comes together. We'll only have two days on the ship between Namibia and Cape Town, then after Cape Town there are 11 days- including midterms. They're saying the bombings in New Dehli won't effect any of our trips to the Taj Mahal, as long as it stays relatively peaceful.

In the middle of the ocean!

Again for a week, we're out at sea. Except this time we cross 6 time zones, so everyone will be even more confused as to what time it is back home. Everyone is exhausted, and there's a lot of work to do for classes. Brazil was great though, I spent all week in Salvador and don't regret not going to the Amazon or Rio at all. We explored the lower and upper cities, shopped the markets and squares, went to the mall, had lunch by the beach, saw the light house, went to a local bar, watched the futbol game- it was all great! I hung out with all new people, no one I had previously hung out with on the ship, but I think that made it a more interesting and unique experience.

The first day, Mackenzie and I were in the first group off the ship, and were able to get a little feel of Salvador before we really experienced it. That afternoon I had the Panoramic City Orientation which was so great. There were a lot of faculty and staff, but that must be a good thing? It was a great trip, we took buses all around the upper city, around places we wouldn't see normally on foot or might not catch in a taxi. It was all narrated by a tour guide and we got out in a few places. One stop was at a nice coastal area where there were a lot of boats docked, and we went into a shop where a man painted tile. Then we went to the Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim, these Bonfim bracelets were ALL OVER Brazil. I think I have about 20 in my Brazil-bag (I'm keeping ziplocs for each country). But people in the street come up and tie these bracelets around your wrist, and tie them in three knots. One for peace, love, and happiness... then they try to sell you things. But at Bonfim they are tied to the fences and all over the place- it was crazy. There are so many things in Brazil that are based off of the phrase on the bracelets, scarves, tapestries, bags, and jewelry.

After the orientation, Mackenzie and I went out again in search of food. We went to the upper city- because that's where they actually have street food. I tried some Acarajé which is "It is made from black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in dendê (palm oil). It is served split in half and then stuffed with vatapá and caruru - spicy pastes made from shrimp, peanuts, palm oil and other ingredients. A vegetarian version is typically served with hot peppers and green tomatoes." I only ate a few bites- it was so spicy!!

After that! I had the Welcome Reception. It was highly recommended and I almost didn't go, I'm so glad I went! There were free drinks and snacks, and I did try a lot of the little snacks, most of which were very good and not very spicy. They did a lot of circus performances for us, including some amazing Capoeria. Then they turned the circus into a night club and we danced (to American music) until we had to go back to the buses.

On Monday I went with a few people to the upper city square, we ended up splitting up and finding each other all day. It's just a square with so many roads off of it, and when you walk up and down the roads you end up in one of two squares, it's really easy to find your way around. All the stores seemed geared towards tourists, we found some really awesome souvenirs. That day I got a musical instrument called a berimbau, a hand carved painting, and a canvas painting. We had amazing ice cream- I tried a few of the Brazilian fruit flavored ice creams but settled for chocolate, it was still amazing. We all had dinner, and tried Brazil's national cocktail, Caipirinha. It's made with cachaça, sugar, and lime... lots and lots of lime. It was too lime-y for my tastes but I was glad I tried it! The food that night wasn't too authentic but it was good anyway!

The next day we spent the day sight seeing by ourselves, we went into a lot of churches and historic buildings, which offered great views of the city. We also went to the Afro-Brazilian Culture Museum, where we were attacked by a class of Brazilian school kids. It was so funny, only a few of them spoke English but they were all giggling when we walked in the building and were so excited when we wanted to take pictures with them. We headed back to take naps, and had planned on observing a Capoeria school that night. When we got there, we found out that it wasn't free to observe and it was 15 rais (about 8USD) and we decided it wasn't worth it and we could just watch Capoeria in the square for free. We did that instead, and we also watched the beginning of a street concert. We left fairly early because we were exhausted and the group of guys we found wanted to stay really late, and it's not safe to walk back at night just a group of girls in that area.

We had planned on going to this island the next day, but as soon as we got off the boat and to the taxis, it started raining and the skies looked really dark. We decided it wasn't a good beach day but that this would be a good opportunity to check out the mall and try to find a grocery store. The mall is just like any other mall, really. The food court even had American places (McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, and Pizza Hut). We went to Lojas Americanas, which is the equivalent of WalMart, and picked up some dry packaged food to bring back to the ship. I found Cheetos, Nature Valley bars, and Club crackers. When it was time to leave, the skies were a little brighter and we realized we were near the beach so we headed down there for lunch. We had amazing food. We had carne-de-sol (heavily salted beef, which is exposed to the sun for one or two days to cure), grilled chicken with vegetables, and pizza which was more like fried cheese with sauce (a BBQ/pizza sauce almost) and tomato, it was all served with this amazing salsa, veggies, and rice. It was really good.

We walked the beach and walked over the a lighthouse, then took a taxi back to the boat.
We went to a local bar, Caranga's to watch the futbol game that night, it was Brazil vs. Bolivia. We were the only ones in yellow and green! Natalia, our inter-port student who was on the ship from the Bahamas to Salvador was there and said we looked so American. It was a good time though, one guy we were with met up with this guy he met on the plane back from Rio. It turned out that the guys girlfriend is actually the daughter of Brazil's "Whitney Houston" (meaning, her mom is REALLY famous) and that he was a drummer in her mom's band. He has his own band now that is extremely popular, and we got a copy of that CD. It was a really good last night in Brazil, I was really glad I went out.

The next day everyone was really tired, I still woke up early and went to the lower market to spend the last of my rais! All in all, I spent $101 USD in Brazil, that includes souvenirs, food, taxis, drinks, etc. I think I did REALLY well- I know some people who spent almost $700! The BBQ  we had on board after on-ship time was great, the food while we were in port was so good. Everyone's really exhausted now, and I can't imagine the time change we have to go through- 6 time zones in the next 7 days! We'll see how that goes...

Bahia!

We're FINALLY docked in Brazil! We woke up this morning to our cell phones buzzing to change the country code, but that was way before we docked. Now the view outside our window is the port, which... isn't much to look at. We won't be let out of the ship for another 3 or 4 hours. We have to learn to go through customs first. I guess this is one of the longer customs that we'll go through. They have to do a face-to-passport check of everyone on the ship. So they're going to call us up alphabetically by seas (wouldn't you know, my sea is second to last) and even then we can't get off. We have to go to a diplomatic briefing. And THEN we can get off. A lot of people were saying they booked flights for this morning assuming that when it said we docked in Salvador at 0700 it meant, we could get off at 0700. Oops!

I only have SAS things planned today, with a little break in between where I assume a few of us will just get lunch and maybe go to the market which is supposedly right outside port- if it's open... it's Brazil's Independence Day, of course.

I finally stopped feeling sea sick yesterday! A physical therapist on board said you get sea sick because you're visually dependent, and you'll probably still feel the boat long after you're on land. Fabulous.