hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! molly and kyla (two of my best friends here) are in an internet cafe, and so i fugured i would drop you a line. crossing the equator was crazy, but tons of fun. i am still afraid that i am going to wake up in the morning with a shaved head. i cannot get over the amount of people who did it. it is nice to be off the boat, although salvador is run down and hotter than - - - -!!!!!!!!! i want to jump in snow right now......erie anyone? just kidding. it kinda smells here too. kyla, me and a group of people are heading to lencois tonight. i cannot wait to get out of the city and into the jungle. it is going to be great. we may even get to go to a soccer game on sunday....which would be outta control, b/c brazil is like the best team in the world. i am going to try to call you in the next few days..and it should work. but who knows. i hope you and dad and, of course, maggie are all doing well. glad that you talked to jess. it is so weird being cut off from the world, but know that i am having a great time and meeting some great people.
love courtney
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South Africa
Four days in South Africa was hardly enough to satisfy my curiosities of Africa. I ported in Cape Town on a Wednesday and departed on a Saturday. Not a minute was wasted in this country (as will be made quite clear by the end of this email), because sleep is way overrated when in Africa!
The first day in the country served as one of the most exciting days in my entire life. I stepped off of the boat, after nine long days, and onto a rather westernized piece of land. I say westernized because Cape Town suffers from such an intense state of modernity that you often must remind yourself that you are in Africa for goodness sakes! There were numerous shops and boutiques, millions-or what seemed like millions-of eateries and restaurants, incredible malls comparable to Short Hills, The Mall of America, and also Bloomingdale's (my personal mall shoved into one terrific department store). The majority of the stores ventured towards the upscale side, although I suppose that made sense due to the high tourist attraction of Cape Town. To give you a better idea of the area, I would just say it closely resembled the Baltimore Harbor, but much bigger and in my opinion much better.
I did manage to tear my eyes away from the stores for two seconds to analyze the population demographics. It is unbelievable to see how tightly South Africa's former apartheid government choked the diversity out of Cape Town. Apartheid simply means "apart" (segregation), and this government ruled until 1994. The system basically set in stone a race classification system that would place people into four different categories: Afrikaners (white British and Dutch), Indians, Coloureds (mixed races) and black Africans. Afrikaners represented the highest class, followed by the others respectively. Under apartheid, most people of color were not permitted to travel into the cities of South Africa-these laws were called banning restrictions. To make a long story a bit shorter, the blacks, coloureds and Indians never established themselves in cities like Cape Town. Therefore, what I saw when I arrived in the port were Afrikaners and thousands of tourists (Europeans and Australians). Even though blacks represented the highest percentage of people in South Africa, I had to actually search them out.
Racism still very much pervades the country. I had many discussions with the South Africans about their feelings towards other races, and what I realized was that 1994 basically paralleled our Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is just going to take time to work out race relations. For example, (almost 10 years after the abolition of apartheid) one of my friends sat down next to a black person on a bench. He offered the black person a cigarette and the man just stared at him. He said "why are you sitting next to me?" My friend had no idea what he was referring to and so he just shrugged. The black man continued to say "no white person ever sits next to me�let alone offers me a cigarette."
Okay so I managed to completely diverge from the topic at hand-let me give you a little reminder of the topic, my exciting first day in South Africa.
I WENT SKYDIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friends Molly, Jake, Eric and many others took a little trip to a rural area in South Africa to throw ourselves out of a plane. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I went tandem and so I had a guide clipped to my back. It seems like such a blur now. I arrived at the skydiving center, was thrown into a harness with a quick intro into skydiving, and before I knew it I was in a small plane flying over the most incredible sights. There were only three tandem groups in our plane, and to spare you all from irreversible grey hair growth I will refrain from describing the plane to you.
Our plane ride was about 15-20 minutes, and we flew over the ocean, islands, the coastline, Table Mountain and many other geographical features. Our peak height was 9,000 feet�woah! I was actually the last to "fall out of the plane," which was interesting I thought. When I watched the other two girls exit, it looked exactly as though a large vacuum sucked them out of the plane. I can hardly explain it�but the air just pulled them right off of their behinds. Less than two seconds later it was my turn. Andre (my guide) and I flipped out backwards when the time came, and I began my 4,500 foot free fall. The free fall was the biggest rush I have ever or probably will ever have.
The feeling was nothing like the "roller coaster" feeling you are probably all imagining. My stomach wasn't in my throat, I wasn't scared or sick�just borderline sensations of euphoria. The free fall lasted for about 45 seconds (obviously it seemed like an hour) until the parachute snapped out pulling my shorts to what felt like my neck. Can anyone say wedgy machine?? Riiiight. As soon as we had control of the fall, Andre began to spin us. We would whip around at about 45 mph in all directions. I was definitely having the time of my life. The entire dive was about two minutes�two minutes of heaven. Without rambling any further about this topic, I will just conclude by saying I plan on doing this again. Any takers?
As if the first half of my day was not action packed enough, a group of us decided to hike Cape Town's most notable feature, Table Mountain. Our intentions were to reach the top by sunset. What a complete hassle! The hike took us 2.5 hours and we were all speed hiking. The path was extremely challenging and involved enough rock climbing to spur asthmatic breaths, which almost led to my popping a lung. Despite almost passing out due to exhaustion and muscle overuse, the hike was worth it. The sunset that welcomed us at the top of the mountain was indescribable. The sky was full of color and the sun was radiating across the horizon. Unfortunately, we may as well have been in an arctic tundra. The top of the mountain was absolutely freezing, with winds that paralyzed one's entire body. (I am sure all of you Northerners have no sympathy at all for me after the winter you have had to endure). Luckily there was a restaurant and wine bar on the top of the mountain awaiting us. I will just let you guess which one I chose to enter. Thankfully, there were cable cars that ran up and down one side of the mountain. Our group jumped into one after our fair share of South African wine, and descended the mountain for more tolerable temperatures.
After the hike, Molly, Lacey, Lucas, Jaime, Rusty, myself�well a lot of people that you don't care about, all went to a Mexican Cantina near our ship. We had the most incredible dinner, and believe me we all ate enough for a small country. The cantina was most notable for its specialty drinks (non-alcoholic included). I give them two thumbs up. The atmosphere was very exciting because it was mostly filled with tourists. I spent the evening conversing with a group of guys from England. They were all cricket players in South Africa for the World Cup (cricket). One of the most exciting parts of this trip is the opportunity to meet people literally from around the world. Even though I have been in Cuba, Brazil and South Africa, I have met many Europeans, Australians-well people from everywhere. It is still odd to me that I must ask where in the world someone is from, rather than which city or state.
The next day came around, for me at five in the morning, to go shark diving! I am not attempting acts of suicide in this country, but rather I am just exercising my adventurous side. A small group of us traveled about two hours outside of Cape Town to a town right on a bay. We arrived at a house and were all served breakfast before we got on the boat. The boat was about 18 ft. long and was equipped for fishing.
Of course the day we elect to venture out onto the water in a fishing boat would be the day that the water was angry at the world! "The sea was very rough that day my friend." The boat may as well have been a waverunner, because we were tossed about as if the ocean was trying to throw us back on dry land. Needless to say, I had a great time. The funny part is that we were also traveling with a group of guys from Ireland. You know the big, tough Guinness drinking kind. Well they all became seasick! I guess the little American girls showed them.
Unfortunately, no sharks were seen that day. I was frustrated, however I did see some of the largest fish ever, 50,000 seals (no exaggeration) and numerous sea turtles. Wouldn't you know�the very next day a group saw two great whites. Argh! Enough said.
Later that night I went to a restaurant near the ship. Of course I had fish and chips (chips = fries), because what else would one order in Cape Town? Our dinner was about three hours long due to a slew of unidentifiable appetizers, drinks and desserts. It was wonderful.
The next day will probably be most appreciated by my family. I definitely went to the winelands in southern South Africa! This trip was organized by Semester at Sea and about 40 of us were on it. On the trip I toured a wine factory and learned the process of wine making, as well as sipped on the various tastes the factory had to offer. After the factory, we traveled to a mansion (similar to the Gone with the Wind house) for two quality hours of wine tasting. White, red, brut and blush were all on the list for tasting�and I believe it is safe to say that one was better than the next. My personal favorite (assuming that all of the flavors did not run together in my mouth) was a red wine by the name of Shiraz. It is easily found in the States as I have had it before, however the South African Shiraz had much more body to it. Yummy!
Still on the SAS trip, we went to our campsite for the night. The camp site was right on the Breede River, and was equipped with chalets, tents, fire, kitchen/eating section and toilet thank God. We were camping through the night, because the next day we were all going white water rafting down the Breede River. Once again, do not fret�the river was quite calm. If you do not believe me just ask how sore my neck and shoulders still are from paddling when there were no rapids and when my partner decided to stop helping. I am not at all bitter. On our trek, which was two sets including a four hour one and a two hour one after lunch, we saw many exotic birds and other animals. I can also remember at one point see some tribal people�I'm sorry--people from ethnic groups�come out from behind the brush. They looked as though they stepped out of the National Geographic magazine. What a sight! Overall, the rafting experience was incredible and quite refreshing. It was a nice breather from the city of Cape Town (y'all know how I need my country locals).
For the most part that wraps up my agenda in Cape Town. However, there are a few more words I would like to say about South Africa. If you have an uneasy stomach, please stop your reading now and end on a somewhat jovial note. I just want to mention a little about the African Townships and the AIDS epidemic. The Townships and the AIDS virus are just such a large part of the South African culture now that I feel I cannot properly talk about the country without talking about its two major problems.
To begin with, South Africa is infamous for its Townships. These are plots of dusty land that extremely lower class citizens (blacks) were once banned to. The Townships are still very much full, because most of the people lack the means to better themselves. From afar the land plot just looks like a battle camp for an army. There are what looks like thousands of shacks lining the dirt roads of the town. Each shack is composed of no more than corrugated cardboard, garbage bags, sheet metal, mud, etc�Each shack takes a mere 24 hours to build, and that should provide you with some sense of how poorly built they all are. These homes are all the Township people have to protect them from the elements. Whenever it is too windy the shacks fall down, if it is too rainy the shacks float away�and so forth as with any extreme weather condition. There is far from enough food in the Townships, clothing is a luxury, and schooling is of the poorest level. Disease and poverty rule their lives. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the Township is the fact that most of these people will never get out of them. The families are so suppressed by society that moving up is hardly an option. Furthermore, with the lack of proper schooling, I am afraid that the children are also subdued by the government. Most of the children will never succeed in moving out either. It has become their way of life�actually we in the States may not even term their daily rituals as a life at all.
These Townships in addition with other areas of poverty have enabled the AIDS epidemic to spiral out of control. As you may or may not know, South Africa has the highest AIDS population in the world. The disease began mostly as a result of ignorance. The people were not at all aware of contraceptives or testing procedures. The government-for the most part-denies the problem, and most certainly denies our belief that HIV causes AIDS. In addition, the government holds that testing does more harm than good. You figure it out, because I certainly cannot. Progress has been made however, and in fact government officials were seen handing out pamphlets on AIDS along with condoms. Here's the kicker�the condoms were STAPLED to the pamphlets. I will let you decipher the problem. AIDS is hardly the heartbreaking problem in South Africa today however.
Because 1 in 5 people contract the disease, rape has also leapt to high levels. South Africa currently has the highest rape rate in the world. This rape, however, is not restrictive to teenage-adult women. In fact, the only incidents of rape on this demographic is usually tied with other crime such as robberies. Unfortunately and revoltingly, infants are suffering from the highest incidence of rape. Infants are the target, logically, because they are without AIDS. In addition to their health contributing to their being targeted, an awful myth has been created by the South Africans. It is believed that if someone with AIDS has intercourse with a virgin (infant), then he will be cured of the disease. This myth has spread so widely throughout the country that now (on average) one-three infants per week are raped. A large percentage of these rapes are gang rapes as well. In most cases, solo or gang, the infant dies shortly after the event. I have been told that the problem is worsening every year, because the government does not recognize this as a crisis either.
I know a handful of Semester at Sea kids that went on an AIDS epidemic trip. They visited a Township and spoke with some of the infected South Africans. The kids could hardly report about their experience, but they did manage to question why "the infected people are scared, hurt and now destroyed. They are now knowledgeable about the AIDS disease and are looking to help. Where is the government in all of this?" We should all ask the same question.
Again, I apologize for the last two topics. If you were to travel to South Africa you would then understand why I discussed them.
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India
Courtney finally called 6 am When I asked her where she was calling from, she said a phone center. She didn't call from the business center because she knew it was the middle of the night here when she was there.
Anyway, she sounded wonderful. She also mentioned going to the school and how much she enjoyed the children. She told me how they were forced to hold the peace signs and had their photos taken. She was not happy about it. She mentioned Rusty and said they are good friends.
My acquaintance took her and her roommate, Lacey, to lunch and shopping. She bought a dress to wear to the Ambassador's Ball that sounds beautiful. She loved India and the people--while she saw many, many sad and emotional sights, it was not as horrific as what she saw 9/11. (Her dorm was 3 blocks from the WTC). She did say SAS does a great job of preparing them. She did not mention going to an orphanage, so she probably did not experience what Rusty did.
So far, they are going to Viet Nam, they are very aware of the war situation. She mentioned how much those who watched Sunday's press conference could not get over how much President Bush aged. They hadn't seen him since they left home.
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