Meghan called from CapeTown and as everyone else, sounded like everything was 'amazing'. She did the paragliding instead of skydiving and of course that was the best thing she's ever done! Already informed me that she intends to go back next year, maybe on Christmas break!
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South Africa
Hi everyone!
Today is Day 39: Saturday March 1. We will be arriving in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in less than 8 hours! And I am now 9 hours ahead of Wisconsin time. I�ve had a pretty busy week since leaving South Africa last Sunday night; I had two exams and a paper this week, and we had the UNOLYMPICS on Thursday! (My team, the Ionian Sea Pirates took 2nd, one point away from being the first ones off the ship in Seattle!) I thought that the trip wasn�t going to start going fast until after India, but this week just flew by and I�m sure next week will too.
We arrived in Cape Town, South Africa last Wednesday around 5:30 in the morning and the ship was cleared by The port area is beautiful, a little touristy on the wharf, but the view of Table Mountain is amazing!! I walked around and explored the wharf and market area and that afternoon went on a township visit.
Our first stop was at the District 6 Museum established in 1994 after the end of Apartheid. District 6 was declared an all-white district (like so many others) in the 1960�s; 60,000 people during that time were forced out! It�s hard to imagine that Apartheid ended just 10 years ago�everyone I was in contact with had lived through that change. It must have felt as it did in the U.S. when segregation finally ended. It�s amazing that we (kids my age) look at that time as �history� and almost with a sort of embarrassment, yet the citizens of Cape Town are still fully submerged in racism and segregation. The white kids my age are still very racist towards black people; they don�t understand how we can be so open towards something that to them is such a huge thing. The 20 year olds are going to (hopefully) be part of the last generation in South Africa to be, as a whole, openly racist.
Ok! So from the District 6 Museum we went to a township called Khayelitsha just outside of the city of Cape Town. It is hard to explain what the township was like. Khayelitsha has a population of 1.5 million people, and it is just rows and rows of tiny little shacks and people and kids everywhere. The kids were great, but obviously used to tourists coming because they were waiting for our bus to get there.
Once off the bus I was able to walk around, and try and get away from the huge group! I talked with some women about their daily chores; they were roasting what looked like goat heads over an open fire. One of the women showed me her home and I talked with her mother and grandmother for a little while. Lisa and I also met two girls who were 18 and 19, Noloyiso and Siphokazi. They introduced us to a lot of the people in that area and we talked about common interests, music and dancing, and we compared our cultures. They really enjoyed looking at my pictures and the postcards from Madison. I also played ball with some little boys and we attempted to speak some Xhosa (pronounced �co-sa�). This language involves this clicking with the tongue, there are so many different clicks that they can distinguish between! Anyways, so the visit to Khayelitsha was great, I am very glad that I went on my first day to Cape Town because I remembered that for the rest of my visit in the especially touristy areas, there are still people in the townships working hard. That night after the township I went out to dinner with a few friends and then we headed down to Long Street which is where all of the bars and clubs are.
We were told by white South Africans to not go to the �black� bars, for reasons having absolutely nothing to do with crime! There were a lot of tourists around Cape Town during our stay because it was World Cup Cricket! We obviously did not know we were supposed to be that excited for it, but everyone from the United Kingdom let us know what a big deal it is! We met some boys from Switzerland and Germany who are working in Cape Town, and later met some other boys who were from Durban (in South Africa, north of Cape Town). These boys (even more so than the European boys) really wanted to discuss the United States government and the impending war. Everyone, the whole weekend, made a point to tell us what an idiot they think Bush is and how much they hate our government; I suppose it is only going to get worse from here. Just before we arrived in Cape Town there had been anti-American rallies and protests, so we knew that this was going to be a big topic of discussion. Already I have gotten pretty good at avoiding this type of discussion; no matter what, it is apparent that I am wrong and just a stupid American. Thankfully though most of the people I have thus far encountered have let the topic go and we ended up having a really fun night learning about South Africa from the people we met.
Next morning Lisa and I headed over to the train station for the hour ride to Stellenbosch in the winelands. The train had open windows, the view of the mountains and the estates was amazing, people were talking Xhosa all around us, and we saw zebra!! Stellenbosh is a touristy little town, the center of the estates. We did not have as much time as we realized we needed, but we made the most out of the time we had. (Which is why I absolutely have to come back to Cape Town, Mom!) We had lunch at this little caf� called the Blue Orange and then went to Die Bergkelder, to taste wine. Wine tasting cost each of us 12 rand (about $1.50)! OH and it was �pour your own�. Honestly I don�t know enough about wine to know if South African wine is as great as I heard it was, but I did learn a little more about wine and I know a little more about what I actually like in a wine. (so it was an educational experience!) Lisa had to get back to the port area for a trip she had signed up for, so we left Stellenbosch and got back around 5. (also we were told that the trains were safe, but shouldn�t be used at night, so we didn�t have too much of a choice
I walked around the wharf area that night with my friend, Will and we watched the sunset over the harbor. It�s funny how all of us appreciate the beautiful sunsets so much! I went out for lobster that night and ended up at another restaurant after that, talking with some of the waiters who were just finishing up with their shift.
The next morning some of my friends were on SAS sponsored trips or had spent the night in the winelands (it is SO hard to keep track of people in port!) so I headed over to catch a ride up to Signal Hill (right next to Table Mountain) to go paragliding. I met Leah from the ship while signing up, so we stuck together for this. We caught a rikki up to the meeting point (it�s like this little 8 person wagon) and met Juls, who was taking us up. I went first, and I was very nervous! Juls told me that I had only 3 rules: �run, run, run�. So of course I thought that this was going to be scary and I would stop running off the cliff and put us on our butts. But I didn�t!! It was so easy and not scary at all! The view was amazing!! And I guess that the wind was amazing also, but of course I don�t know anything about that. It was only supposed to be about 20 minutes, but I was told that I was getting more than just the �touristy stuff� because we were doing fun turns and stayed up for about 45 minutes! It was so cool to see the city from up in the air, just floating around!
After we landed Leah went up and I was able to talk with some of the other people hanging around, there were some girls from Finland and a guy from Sao Paulo. Then the wind conditions changed and I guess that means that the guys have to land at the football stadium, this was a fun trip getting down there to pick them up! One of the first things that Juls had asked us was if either of us knew how to drive a car. Of course we both said yes, thinking afterwards, first off there is no way that I can drive on the left side of the road (in the right side of the vehicle) and besides that I can�t drive a shift! (and how was I supposed to find this stadium?) So this guy from Sao Paulo had his girlfriend down there (with Ian) and I had Leah down there with Juls. Thankfully there was a girl from London, Kate, who had been hanging out with Juls and Ian for the last few days and got us down there! Ian gave Leah and me a ride back to the ship after that, my (quoted) hour paragliding excursion ended up being about 5 hours! So I didn�t do as much as I had planned on doing that day, but the paragliding and the people that I met definitely made it worth it!
That night we headed out to �Marcos� (after the cab driver drove us all over the city, stopping about 4 times to ask directions; we really don�t know, this was a well known restaurant! The other two cabs had no problem getting there!) This was a traditional African restaurant with traditional food and live music, so much fun!! I had a platter with springbok, kudu and ostrich and one of my friends had crocodile, warthog and chicken, so we shared and tried everything! The kudu was so good, like a good steak. I wasn�t too impressed with ostrich and the crocodile was like nothing I have ever had before (but very good). We also had �pap� with dinner which looks like mashed potatoes but doesn�t really taste like anything. The food and the music was amazing and we were so beat afterwards!! We got back to the ship and immediately went to sleep!
Sunday was the last day in port, and we got up early to eat pancakes at this famous pancake restaurant, and then headed over to the green market in town. After the morning of shopping we went back to the port area and took the ferry over to Robben Island. This island had been used as a prison for many years, and was where Nelson Mandela was for so long. Former prisoners are the guides, and it is very difficult for them to describe what this prison was like for them. The black prisoners had fewer clothes, were rationed less food, and lived in harsher conditions. All prisoners were forced to speak Afrikaans and were beaten if they did not know it. The prison complex is not as big as I was expecting it, I thought the entire island would be the prison, but there are houses on the island! I would love to go into more detail about Robben Island; but it is especially hard to explain the significance and what I learned now that I am so tired!!
That last night in Cape Town I went up to the top of Table Mountain, where the view was even more spectacular than when paragliding! We had fish-n-chips by the water and ran back for on ship time. It is so funny how in every port everyone (including deans, teachers, adult passengers) are actually running back at the last hour. Ok, so I wanted to write about the UnOlympics tonight but I just can�t do it! Thank you so much to everyone who has written to me! I love all of the updates and knowing that you are all thinking of me! I�m sorry if I haven�t responded to you, my time has never moved so quickly! Besides, we keep losing hours!!
Tanzania tomorrow!
Love,
Meghan
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Tanzania
Sounds like her safari was great! There were 8 (only mentioned two others, Meghan & Gretchen) in 2 land rovers, and drove to Mikumi park (5 hrs) Guides were awesome! Saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, lions, and hyennas. When they got back to the ship their guide waited for them to change & then took them to the hotel and even came back the next day to take them back to the ship, which made them feel very safe. Went to a waterpark & had the lifeguards 'playing' with them on the slides. Safari only cost $200 & she mentioned how disappointed the SAS trips were so glad she went independent. She said "Can you believe I'm on the other side of the world and swimming in the Indian Ocean!"
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Tanzania
Jambo! That is hello in Swahili and we heard it so much in Tanzania. We arrived in Dar es Salaam on
Sunday, March 2nd around 7:00 in the morning. Semester at Sea had not been to Dar for about 20 years!
This probably explains why immigration took so long; the ship wasn�t cleared until 12:30! The dock area was like nothing we had seen before, just big trucks and trains and the only other ships in the area were for cargo, this was definitely not a cruise ship city! Dar was described to us as a �crumbling city� and that is exactly what it is, there is virtually nothing to do besides safari. SAS was running a shuttle service from the ship to the center of town, but this didn�t start right away, so we just walked off the ship and headed into the city with our backpacks to try and find a safari! I was in a group of 8 students and somehow we managed to find what appeared to be a reputable tourism agency. The safari we decided on was toMikumi National Park, about four hours west of Dar,and we were able to leave that afternoon. We were on the road by about 3:00, in two Land Rovers, with our guides Nganga and Filbert. This trip ended up being more than six hours! We would ask Nganga where we were and how much longer, and he would always say �onehour, that is all!� I will never complain again about road construction in the U.S.! The roads were horribleand the drivers would drive on the other side of the road to try and avoid potholes. Half of the road was crumbling pavement and the other part was gravel and dirt, everything was very dusty and hot!! I spotted a baboon sitting by the side of the road, and we saw four elephants just before we arrived at the hotel.
The hotel was a little nicer than I expected, my room even had a toilet seat! (we were the only room out of the four!) We definitely had our share of cockroaches and spiders though (there was a big one, with only 5 legs who we had to keep an eye on every time we took a shower). This was also my first experience sleeping with a mosquito net! We had dinner that night and went to sleep right away. I ate Impala, which is like a small antelope, it was pretty good. The next morning we were up by 8:00 for breakfast and a full day game drive in the park. The hotel restaurant packed lunches for us and we were off. We saw so many animals before we even entered the park area
There were zebras, giraffes and elephants everywhere! Elephants were typically in smaller groups, giraffes we saw alone sometimes, and zebras were in big herds! And we saw baby animals of pretty much everything that we saw. The whole day was spent driving around the park, Filbert and Nganga werereally great guides, they knew exactly where to take us to see the animals. It was nice to have only four in each Rover because it gave all of us plenty of room to see. These were exactly what I pictured a safari vehicle to look like; we could stand up, and even sit out of the roof, very safari-like! We also drove to a small lake area where we saw Hippos, and we were able to get out of the vehicles, but all we saw was just their noses sticking out. The bugs weren�t too bad until around lunchtime and later in the afternoon, and then it was tsetse flies and mosquitoes that bothered us the most. We stopped for our picnic lunch, and it was really cool to see animals all around us while we were out of the trucks and sitting on the ground.
Other than the elephants, giraffes, and zebras, we also saw eland and impala (they are so many of them!), baboons, kudu, wildebeest, warthog, wild dog, spring hare, steenbok, buffalo, gazelle, and lots of lizards and birds. We also saw a lion and a hyena!! Both of which are very hard to see usually. I have no idea how Nganga spotted the hyena, he was lying in a mud hole, and lifted up his head to watch us as we were taking pictures of him! I was the one to spot the lion first! We were in an area that had a small cliff and a lot of vultures around, and usually there are vultures around when there are lions. That afternoon after ourrest we had a few fun experiences with the trucks we were driving in! Filbert was driving in front of my truck and tried to go up a pretty steep, rocky, hill/cliff because this was the only way to get to this other area where we were hoping to see a leopard. Well, their Land Cruiser (not as tough as Nganga�s Land Rover) couldn�t quite make it up and ended up dropping the spare tire and couldn�t move because of the loose rocks. Eventually �the boys� took care of it and just as we were all bragging about the Rover\ being better, Nganga turned around inside a ditch and we heard really loud �pop� sound. The axle broke
Apparently this is the type of stuff that safari guides are used to, because in no time Nganga and Filbert had the tools out, the axle fixed, and we were on our way again! Back at our hotel, we had dinner and I tried hartebeest that night, and then the bartender turned on the news for us because there was talk of possible bombings in Iraq. We sat around and talked with Nganga, Filbert and the two other guides about U.S. relations, the impending war and how they feel about all of us from the United States. Overall they made us feel very welcomed, yet these guides work in the tourism business, and are not Muslim. When I first started to think about what I wanted to do in Tanzania, one of my professors told me how wonderful Zanzibar is, so I was planning on going there for a few days, not knowing any background on Zanzibar, which is about 90% Muslim. There have been many demonstrations lately on Zanzibar, and we were told that we weren�t allowed to go there. Another thing that I thought was very interesting is that one of my friends was in the casino at the New Africa Hotel and saw a man with a shirt that had a picture of the twin towers collapsing, and it was obviously promoting the act. This is something that is a complete shock to all of us. Yet, once we thought more of it, there are plenty of people in the United States who wear Osama bin Laden t-shirts. Both societies are accepting of one of the contrasting shirts, this gave a new, different, and very real and scary perspective to the other side of the story. I think that everyone on the ship felt very much outside of their comfort zone in Tanzania because we didn�t know how the people felt about us, and because it was a city that was so dangerous compared to the previous three ports. There was really nothing to do in Dar es Salaam and there was no specific area where one would feel safe. We couldn�t trust anybody, and we never knew getting intoa cab if the driver would take us where we asked him to. Four of my ship�s crew members were in a taxi that was diverted coming back to the ship and they were held up by the taxi driver and some of his buddies. The other big problem was that taxis were not allowed into the port area, so if anyone missed the last shuttle, they were dropped off at the port gate and walked about one mile to the ship. Being out in the city it is especially hard (and hard for me to admit) to travel with just girls. I like to think that I can take care of myself, but it is scary to be with just two other girls and looking around there are men everywhere on the street, and no women around. Thankfully nothing major happened to us, and now I am getting ahead of myself in my story! So the second night after the long game drive day, and talking with guides about the current situation we headed to bed because we got up at 4:30 the next morning for a sunrise game drive! This was really fun because there are so many animals out early in the morning. After that we came back to have breakfast around 9:00 and then headed back to Dar soon after. After everything I just said about how unsafe the city felt, I had a terrific experience and it was mostly because of Nganga.
Three of us planned on heading up to the northern beaches after getting back from our safari. We knew that that area was pretty safe, but that sometimes it was hard to get a taxi (for a decent price) to take us there. Nganga ended up taking us back to the ship and waiting while we switched the clothes in our bags and then drove us to the hotel on the beach. By this time it was dark out, and he made us feel completely safe and took good care of us, he waited while we checked in and were all settled, and gave us his cell phone number in case we needed anything. We said goodbye and told him to come back the next day to hang out on the beach with us! The hotel we were at was right on the beach and they had dorm style rooms so we paid 7 bucks each, and had the entire building to ourselves! Dinner was out on the beach that night and then we went to sleep right away. We got up the next morning for breakfast and sat on the beach until about noon. Bythat time we decided to check out theWet-n-Wild water park which was down the street. This was a funny experience. It cost $3.00 to get in and when we first walked in there were swimming lessons going on everywhere, and the slides weren�t going at all. So we got into one of the pools and eventually one of the lifeguards came over and asked if we wanted the slides turned on, we of course said yes, and he said �which one?� We ended up going on the slides with one of the lifeguards named Samba, we were the only people in the park (which was pretty big, 20 slides, nice restaurant, but no one was around!) Every time we wanted a different slide he had to yell down for someone to turn it on. We wonder now looking back on it when the last time was that those slides had been used! It was a really fun afternoon, I couldn�t believe how shallow that water was in allof the pools, and the lifeguards were teaching the kids to dive in the four foot area! After we had been there for about an hour, three boys showed up, who had actually just finished up in the Peace Corp a month ago and were driving all around Africa (they had been in Malawi). It was fun to talk with them about their experiences and of course now I�m back to wanting to do the Peace Corps!
We all headed back to our hotel and had dinner there and soon Nganga showed up to drive us back to the city! The next morning we headed to Mwenge for the market. That afternoon I had planned on finding tanzanite but I realized that there was a good chance of getting ripped off, so I decided against that. We ended up getting postcards to write and sitting at the (air-conditioned) New Africa Hotel bar for food and drinks. (This was where the shuttle from the ship dropped us off) The shuttle stopped running at 7:00 so we got back pretty early. That�s it for Tanzania! Hopefully I�ll be sending my email from India soon!
Love, Meghan
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India
Hi mom! Sorry I didn't get a chance to call again from here, we'll be in Vietnam before ya know it though!
actually I was trying to call Missy too, but I just didn't have time!
Words cannot describe India! I won't even try to now because I am so exhausted! Varansi and the river Ganges a sunrise, the poverty, the beauty, the smell, the children and the people who look so sick and disabled, the Taj Mahal was so beautiful, I spent the most money here! Ad went to Mother Theresa's mission of charity orphanage and it was amazing! I was great holding those babies and playing with the kids and loving them. I almost brought them all home with me.
Oh so far I am not sick! That may change after tonight�s supper though! Lisa and I went to this awesome place where we were the only Westerners it was all just local people, and so good!!
K-bye love you! tell Missy hi supper though!
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Korea
Meghan�s Call from Korea
She said she just didn't feel like going to Seoul (sp?) as many of the kids did. She said she was tired, and had seen enough temples for right now. People are wonderful in Korea as they were in Japan. Things are much less expensive, and she's going shopping for a jacket of some sort. Lots of "fake" name brands I guess. She's with Lisa, Megan, Julie, Gretchen...She thinks the food is wonderful. She said it seems to have more flavor, kinda spicy, and less tofu than Japan! Also said there seem to be lots of "Mr Donut" shops & McDonalds (not sure tho if she mean't Korea also or just Japan.)
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Ship Life
Hi!
Have you ever been in the middle of a blizzard in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? I have! snow, ice, hail, and horrible waves! I am in the computer lab and it's really bad here. My feet are sometimes off the ground when I walk! Yesterday was horrible; there were even a few piles of puke to clean up! (Thanks for sharing that!) And the outside was blocked off, no one was allowed out. So today was a study day and tomorrow is now B23, last day of class! Because no one could study yesterday and our core final was supposed to be today.
The ambassador's ball is tomorrow night! Then two days of study and two days of final and then we get to Alaska. I found this coat that isn�t really a winter coat but it was 10 bucks and it will be good for layering I guess. Oh and I am doing this helicopter glacier thing. We get to fly over some glaciers and then walk on one with these clampy things on our boots. I thought it would be fun, and who knows when I will walk on a glacier again. I hope that it is worth the money. Other than that I don't know what else we will do. In Canada we are going to do the "great ale trail". Are you still planning on going to Victoria? I hear that those gardens are really cool so I will probably do that and the tea also. Oh and horse drawn carriage tours! All right, I'd better end this before I get too sea sick! I'll let you know how finals go! Ha!
Love you! Meg
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