1/26
Happy Sunday Everyone,
We are officially about 300 miles outside of Cuba, first port down 10 more to go. Its weird� this first week FLEW by. I could have used one more day to look around Havana, I didn�t really get a chance to see the downtown area too much. Everyone is always busy and I just didn�t get the time to tour into the Capital area until last night. Havana is a beautiful city. There is so much poverty, evident everywhere you look, but the age and personality of the buildings gives the city a ton of life. It looks almost like a page out of a history book from the 1950�s; the locals even drive old Ford�s and Chevy�s out of the 50�s. These people really don�t have anything, doctors in Havana make $20 a month, and people in tourism (bell boys at hotels, restaurant servers, etc) make almost triple that. Tourism is the profession that all Cubans strive to get into simply because they have access to the American dollar. It is interesting to see how even though the US has imposed the embargo on the Cuban government their people this economy still uses and runs off the American dollar to a large extent. There are Cuban pesos also, but the dollar is what is really battled over by vendors and businesses. It was an interesting process to watch.
I did so much in the 3 days I was in Havana, the most sleep I�ve gotten sense I�ve been out of the US doesn�t exceed 5 hours a night ever, most of the times usually about 4. It is starting to catch up with me, but because I am always so busy and running around in 5 different directions its almost like you don�t have time to be tired. We had early orientation on the ship this morning which didn�t allow me to sleep in, but I am feeling a nap later this afternoon. We are in some pretty rough waters, especially were last night. Its kind of funny because we are told that this is nothing, but a lot of people are so green and spending a lot of time in their bathrooms and hanging over railings off the side of the ship. I get a good laugh out of it all.
Friday was one of the best and most fun days I�ve had. A group of us were up at 6 and left on a tour of Pinar Del Rio, a section of the island densely taken over by a tropical rainforest and large Limestone cliffs and mountains. It was like that scene on Jurassic Park when they�re flying in the helicopter over the mountains, the topography was just like that except with lush valleys at the base rather than the ocean. I am really glad I did that trip and got to see more of Cuba than just the port city, I feel like I have an advantage over the students that chose not to go. I met some interesting people, saw some interesting sites (2 ten year old boys killing a pig, tying it up and mounting it on the back of a bicycle) and some people that reminded me we�re not in Kansas anymore.
We did have the chance to see Fidel Castro speak�. and he spoke and spoke and spoke and spoke. He talked about everything but specifically talked about the "blockade" which Cubans use to refer to the embargo placed on their country. He kept referring to the fact that blockades are acts of war and how is this not a direct action of war. He talked about each of the countries we were visiting and the crisis in Venezuela, but really every point just took him back to his economy and how they were being shortchanged by the US and as a result everyone else. Very interesting, but he lost me and put me in daydreams from time to time. But he was very warm to us and emphasized how welcome we were in their country. After the talk we were all led to one of his mansions and thrown a kick-ass "modest reception" complete with tons of Cuban food and beer and rum. It was awesome, there were about 1200 students from Semester at Sea and the University of Havana. After we ate and drank for a little while a band took the stage by the pool and everyone salsa danced all night long. They are the most popular band in the country and were very good, it was a sweet party. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and had a blast before stumbling back to the ship about 3 AM.
Everywhere we went that was the case, people were so nice to us and really went out of their way to welcome us and our money. Everywhere we traveled in the busses the Cuban police would make a caravan for us and block off all traffic and we drove down the middle of the streets with all cross streets and oncoming traffic at a standstill. It was pretty cool but made a lot of people uncomfortable being in such a poor country and being treated like kings. People on the streets would just stop and stare at the line of busses, sometimes 15 or 16 long, and either wave or just stare with empty faces. We even got a few middle fingers as we drove by and some pretty bad other notions. It was a pretty weird feeling. They love American girls here and it would be pretty tough to be a girl in some of these places. But its something they better get used to, the constant whistling and touching will probably just get worse in the countries we�ll be at down the road. Its 10 times worse than the absolute worst treatment you would see in the states. When we arrived in port and departed they interrupted all television channels and broadcast us getting off on all Cuban televisions and articles and pictures of us were posted over the front page of the Cuban newspaper every day we were here. It is a big deal to see Americans in Cuba, even though there are a ton of European and South American tourists in Havana. Overall I felt pretty safe everywhere I went and they told us that Cuba would be the safest port we would be in the entire voyage. It was a pretty fun couple of days.
I got a chance to go to a Cuban baseball game. They had roped off the section directly behind home plate for us and we were right on the field. Also, beer is illegal to have in baseball stadiums for Cubans, however bunches of the SAS kids went to local liquor stores and brought bags of beer in right in front of the police and were not hassled at all. They take their baseball really seriously, almost like you see Brazil with their soccer. They protest every call, throw objects onto the field, yell at the players (even the home team) and really get into it.
Wow this is going on and on and I don�t mean to bore you. I�m gonna go grab a quick lunch before we meet the faculty this afternoon. The food is surprisingly pretty good, better than dorm food. I mean theres only so much they can do with what they have but its all fresh and pretty good. I have already had a chance to meet all my teachers and talked to them quite a bit, its nice being on a small campus. My roommates are super chill and we all have fun going out together. I�m actually looking forward to classes, we�ll see how tough they�re really gonna be. I hope all is well in Boulder with everyone and you all had a great weekend. Email when you can and have fun watching the Super Bowl today. It would be great to hear from everyone back home. Hope all is well and good luck with classes.
Thanks for the trip Mom and Dad. Your money is being well spent J Love you and will call you from Brazil when we arrive in 9 days
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Ship Life
1/30/03
Hey hey,
Hey everyone, how's it going back in good ol Colorado. This email comes to you from just off the Brazilian coast, or somewhere just north, in fairly rolling seas (which forced me to break down and swallow my first Dramamine pill today). Wanted to just send everyone a quick update, hope this finds you well.
Not too much new news to report from my side, heard the Raiders got trampled in the Super Bowl (such good news to get) and have been watching the Iraq thing as it may have direct implications on our ports or potential changes thereof. We actually sailed along a US aircraft carrier a couple days ago, which was sooooo cool to see. It seemed to be very busy, planes and helicopters both very active taking off from the ship and in the skies above. We got buzzed a couple times as close as a hundred feet off our top deck, they were very close. It was so cool, they'd scream at us and then pull up right over us and shoot up into the sky and be gone within seconds. The joke around the ship was the pilots were bored and checking out all the tanning girls on the top deck. Nevertheless it was pretty cool and very fun to watch.
Weather here has been great, low 80's for both the air and water. They filled the pool for the first time today although I was busy with class work and then attending class. They are going pretty well, its pretty weird to be so close to all my professors, they literally are right in front of you in the lunch line or laying out next to you by the pool. Its pretty weird but gives me the opportunity to really get to know them and feel comfortable asking them questions. Class work is OK, the weird thing and thing that's going to be hard to adjust to is that there are no weekends. I know that's such a small thing to stress about, seeing how we theoretically have 5 day weekends in port, but during that time I am so busy there is no way I have time to sit down and look at class work. So instead I will have to stay on top of my work and not fall behind when I would normally catch up using weekend time.
We get into Brazil early Wednesday morning. A group of us are doing an orphanage visit Wednesday, then getting on a plane and flying to Rio the next day until Saturday. We hope to be back Sunday in time to do a field trip to Itapacara Island in Brazil and do a field program for one of my classes. It should be a busy and fun couple of days.
Food is OK. always some variation of a meat (usually pork), fish, pasta and salad. Its good at first, but after many days at sea there's only so much they can do with what they have. We cross the equator Saturday night and Sunday we have a day off classes and celebrate Neptune day. I guess it's a tradition the first time you cross the equator to shave your head and kiss the head of a fish to please King Neptune and promote easy sailing for the rest of the day. They don't make you do it but I will, why not, how many times am I going to ever get to cross the equator. Then they fill the pool with fish guts and let everyone go at it. Haha going to be a good day off from 7 straight days of class. Well its almost midnight here (I think we're 3 hours ahead of you now) and I'm going to head to bed for a good nights sleep which doesn't happen very often. Hope everything is well, send me updates from home and love you all. Thanks so much for getting me here, I'm enjoying it all.
Love you-
Brian
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Brian
Hello everyone,
Hello from the S.S. Universe Explorer off the coast of Brazil. Happy Sunday snd hope everyone had a good weekend. We crossed the equator this morning which meant that today was Neptune day and we had to all be initiated from pollywogs (those who have never crossed the equator) to seamen. It was nice to get a day off of class to do some lounging and catch up. The ceremony started at 9 this morning when a bunch of the crew, dressed as gods of the sea, walked through the cabins blowing whistles and playing bongo drums and screaming like crazy. After our Tacky Tourist Dance last night everyone was looking forward to our first day of sleeping in so 9 seemed pretty darn early. But it was funny to see those guys all dressed up and slowly people started peering out the doors and watching these guys parading up and down the halls. The dean didn't think there were enough people awake yet so he got on the PA system and said "All sleepy heads and pansys still in your cabins its time to rise and shine." Can't say I've even been called a pansy by a dean before. Earlier this week he said there was a longer line at the library then at the bar at night and he wondered if we were really college students or retired people used to 6 o'clock TV dinners. He's a cool guy, its fun to have faculty that you see all the time.
So anyways, we went out the back deck and the ceremony started by everyone putting on their swimsuits and then the crew would poor a combination of salt water, Bisquick and fish guts all over your head and face. Pretty gross, it was all lumpy and didn't smell or taste all that great. They had us get in the pool and wash off and get out on the other side where we had to kiss what looked like a month-old big fish. Going through that supposedly got us good luck sailing on the other side of the equator. It was pretty funny watching some of the girls freak out about the whole thing. After doing that and having the kiss the feet of some of our professors, dressed up as gods of the underworld and ocean, we repeated some weird chant and were done. It was pretty weird, but with 600 college kids, most hung over with fish guts dripping from their chins, it was pretty fun. Hopefully some of my pics. turned out well.
Then they had some shavers and told us it was also pleasing to these gods if you shaved your head and the hair went overboard. They held a raffle all week and if you bought a ticket for $5 they would pick 5 winners last at the dance last night to have their heads shaved first and by the captain. I entered late last night for the heck of it and actually won. I was really surprised. Out of the 5, I was the only guy to have the captain shave my head. (probably 30 girls total shaved their heads, maybe 50 or so guys) So he took a shaver to my head and shaved it down, my head is so white b/c I've gotten a good tan except for where my hair was. Looks like a shower cap. But it was pretty cool having him shave our heads, these girls were hard core to shave their heads.
Afterwards a buddy and I came back and took a razor and shaving cream and took it down all the way, right now there's not a hair on my head. Its pretty weird, will take some getting used to. Troy shaved his too, Neil didn't. He was under some pretty big pressure from a lot of people to do it but was pretty set on keeping his hair. So yeah, that's Neptune Day.
We had the afternoon off and a couple of us played a long 4-hour game of Risk. Now I've gotta get cranking on my readings, that's the biggest difference about here and home is they assign and expect that you do a lot of reading because the classes are not lectures but mostly discussion and quizzes about the reading for that day. Which is more fun, but means you have to stay caught up. With no weekends to play catch up it means a lot of reading at night when your at sea, esp. with all the distractions its no fun.
I don't know if I said this in my last email but I am rooming with Mark Landers from CU and another guy from Cornell. Allright well its almost 6 here (I think around 2 back in Colorado) and we lose another hour of sleep tonight. We'll be in Brazil Wednesday morning, in Rio by Thursday afternoon. Sounds like it's a pretty cool city. OK gotta study now, or try to. Hard to focus when your view is the ocean. Its been lousy weather the last couple days which has helped, but is still 80 degrees and fun to lounge with a book outside, which usually leads to a nap. Hope all is well with everyone and its been fun getting your emails, keep them coming. Its good to hear from home every once in a while. I'll try to attach some Cuba photos here, we'll see how it works. Adios everyone, sorry this is more like a novel than an email.
-Brian
PS- We heard about the space shuttle yesterday morning but haven't heard much
specifics, if someone wouldn't mind a news update would be good. And sports.
Thanks
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India
3/22/02
Happy 19th birthday to the J-Dogg..
Hello everyone again from the Indian Ocean somewhere between India and Vietnam. Hear you're all having the same snow problem that we are here. I think we've gotten over 50" mixed somewhere between the 86 degree heat and 100% humidity we've had for the last 2 months. Can't say I wish I was there...
I know everyone is getting ready to do the spring break thing and I hope that the weather hasn't effected anyone's plans too much. And don't forget that today is the little sister's big birthday so don't be afraid to bombard her with corny, stupid, annoying cards.
So India was absolutely awesome. I really can't imagine how I can put what I saw, felt, smelled, touched and tasted into words but I'll try. I feel like nothing I can write will do it justice.
The first day I went to an orphanage started by Mother Teresa in Chennai. It wasn't an ordinary orphanage, this was for the mentally retarded and severely physically handicapped children. The average lifespan for the children that entered this orphanage was 3. some were older and some younger but on average they said that the average child spent 3 years with them from the time they were taken in until they died. It was really hard to see these poor kids. some with arms still attached to their stomachs, their legs so skinny (imagine trying to stuff an orange halfway into a straw and stopping, the orange would be as out of proportion as these kids' knees looked with skinny pencils as legs up their thighs and down their calves, the thickest part of their leg wasn't any bigger then the smallest part of your wrist), most had deformed faces because they can only move their neck enough to keep one side of their face off of their crib so the other side was so worn down from constantly rubbing on the metal and hard surface of their beds.
I could go on and on about what these kids had, more like what they didn't have and never would have but I think you get the picture. Although I was only there for a couple hours interacting with the kids, playing with some of them, I could see in their eyes the impact that we had on them. The orphanage has only 5 nuns, and over 30 kids, so they don't get a lot of personal attention and time to play. They loved having us there and hated to see us go. By the time I left I was literally coated in layers and layers of dirt, urine, spit, you name it. I was so drained - it was a constant challenge to always have a smile and not let the kids see any hurt on my face even though I felt horrible for what I was seeing. I can't describe it and feel like anything that I write will just seem like a pointless story, but it was one of the hardest, and most fulfilling, 4 hours of my trip. Just not something I can really describe to anyone. I left so tired and upset but felt so lucky to think that if I could have left putting one smile on kids face then the pain and suffering I saw was well worth it. One thing that really struck me was how sharing these kids were with each other. We took simple toys with us for them, nothing more than crayons and paper, pens, bubbles, etc. and every single kid was so willing to share with everyone we were all amazed. Seems like the emerging theme on this trip is that the people with the least are the most willing to share what little they have with anyone willing to take the time to notice.
So everything in India was 100% negotiable. This was both fun but at the same time frustrating. At one point a street vendor originally offered a souvenir to me for 900 Rupees and after 5 minutes of negotiating I walked away with it for 100. This is partly because they knew 'the Americans" were in town and prices were hiked dramatically, but also because they have so little they are willing to take whatever they can get. 100 Rupees is less than $2. They knew we were coming, every day we were in port there was a front page article about our boat and what we were seeing, what we were doing, etc. And this isn't a small city, over 6 million people live in the Chennai city limits alone. They were happy to have us, and more importantly our money, there. Every port we go to they seem to know we are coming, I have seen an article in each country's paper we have visited before with the exception of South Africa.
We had a day off of classes our first day back from India because supposedly 80% of the past voyages have gotten so sick. It doesn't seem literally that high with us, I have a few friends who have spent the better half of the last couple days in their bathrooms but other than that everyone seems to be fairly OK. Rio was another story for me. And the food was so good. spicy but I actually really liked it. Similar to Chinese but a lot spicier. So good.
On a quick side note we had our meeting in regards to the war and virus for those of you that are curious. As of now there have been no plans to change the itinerary and other than washing the boat more often in port and keeping everything extremely sanitized there doesn't seem to be much of an impact on us. I really feel like we're our own little isolated floating country away from everything else. They are in direct contact with 'Govt. intelligence agencies' for our safety and the CDC for the virus and seems like everything is in good hands. I'll keep you posted when I hear more, but they asked us to email our parents and tell everyone to calm down and everything flying around the internet regarding our itinerary is just rumors and that everything is being monitored and they're sure to maintain our safety. Some parents have even started petitions to have us sail straight home to Seattle. its getting ridiculous. Not that this whole Iraq thing is a big surprise to anyone. OK back to India. Uh oh fight breaks out in the union at 2:30 AM as I write this email. Never a dull moment.
There were so many people EVERYWHERE in India. It was ridiculous. The streets were packed, the sidewalks crammed, no matter where you went you were in constant contact with the people around you. It was crazy. Nothing like small town Colorado. India has over a billion people (one sixth the worlds population), and there were people in every corner that you looked. The noise was amazing, people in India use their horns like they are going out of style tomorrow. Not a second goes by when you don't hear the horn of the motorcycle next to you, overcrowded bus behind you, rickshaw next to you (their form of taxi . basically a motorcycle with a carriage attached to the back of it for 2 people). Everyone honked their horns for no reason, if just to say hi to the person next to them. It got very annoying. And the pollution put off by the emissions of the huge amounts of traffic was so strong; my eyes burned so bad anytime I stepped outside and the back of my throat could taste the smog and dust.
The streets were so busy with people and traffic it was amazing. People literally lived everywhere on the sidewalks; you'd have to step over them on your way down the street, bump 500 shoulders walking through an alleyway which got really frustrating because it would take you 20 minutes to weave your way 100 yards through all the people. And I was a good head taller than everyone, and stood out as the freakishly tall white guy. It was amazing to see so many people everywhere. There were a lot of beggars, which goes along with all the poverty, and so much malnutrition throughout the streets. Naked kids everywhere, cows and goats wandering down the middle of the streets, it was a major culture shock. And the smell of the streets. it was enough to make you gag. And as you'd gag you'd look beside you and see there would be a family curled up sleeping in the actual puddle of dirty water that was going to make you sick. I really wish I could have captured what I saw on my camera, but I was so busy being in constant shock I didn't think to stop and snap pictures. And when I did I didn't feel right to take out my camera and take pictures of the people. Although everyone was so friendly and willing to pose for a picture, there was so many times I felt guilty for even being able to carry my camera through their 'homes'.
I went with a friend to a small town called Pondicherri for a couple days, which is about 3 hours south of Chennai. We got there (paid the taxi driver $50 for both of us to drive us down in the morning, hang out, him spend the night, wait around the next day and pick us up and drive us home later that night - included meals and tip for $50 - $25 each. Not bad) and had our 'driver' take us to a hotel that had "hot water and air conditioning" which were two things that are sometimes hard to find but to us were important with the 90 degree heat and 100% humidity. He took us to what might have been the nicest hotel in the city, and we checked into a room for less than $35/night. It was a great hotel, they actually put us in a suite room because they didn't have any more doubles. But staying in the hotel was something else that made me feel so guilty. I would walk out of the hotel and be immediately submersed into the poverty and malnutrition of the streets. It was such the two extremes, and they were only separated by the 30 feet of private gated driveway that you walked down to leave the hotel. I felt so guilty at first when we got there and checked in, but after a day walking around and interacting with the people it was a relief to be able to go somewhere and have a hot shower and sit in an air conditioned room and reflect on what we saw and experienced. It seemed like a way to relax and prepare myself to go back and see everything again. Such the American way.
Pondicherri had the coolest market I have ever seen. It was huge, it included everything from arts and crafts to fish to vegetables to grains to clothes to pastas to flowers to fresh fruit. we spent 2 hours walking around and didn't see every little vendor that each had something different than the last one. They all wanted to shake our hand and welcome and thank us for being there. It was very cool, we felt so welcome. And although there was a little pressure for our money I never felt uncomfortable and had fun bargaining with everyone. Overall I spent about $200 in India in the 5 days I was there and I feel like I did so much and that money went a long way. A lot of people spent a lot more, and a lot on really expensive nice silk rugs. There was a lot of shopping to be had, keep my sister away.
I could go on and on about what I saw and experienced in India but this is getting ridiculously long and rambling on. I wish that some of you could have seen this and heard it so I would have someone at home to talk with about everything that I saw. It was crazy. But I loved India and would love to go back. I have so many stories and look forward to telling anyone who is willing to listen - I have so many this email could be 20 pages without me even having to try. But it's close to 3 AM and if I want to go to CORE tomorrow, which I don't plan on anyways, I better get some sleep.
I hope that everyone is staying warm and doing well at home, have a great spring break and hope that classes are going well staying out of trouble. It's great to hear from everyone so email me when you get the chance, esp. with all the March Madness news that you have. Buffs pulled a 10 seed, eh? How'd we manage that? Keep me informed with everything at home, emails are so awesome when its all you have on this boat. Hope all is well, hope to hear from everyone soon. Miss everyone.
Sorry for the novel.
-Brian
PS. Mom and Dad I got the package again in India, thanks! All the magazines
are great and its proving to be yet another thing that keeps me from doing my
school work. So yeah, thanks! Love you and will email again soon.
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