Mauritius Tomorrow!!!!
Hey everyone! So we arrive in Mauritius tomorrow, (an island off the eastern coast of Madagascar). I thought I would close myself up in my room today (for it is 3:45PM here and 4:45AM in San Diego) and finish up my blogs for Ghana AND South Africa. Woo….what a task…here it goes….
Last Day in Ghana:
Not much to write for this day since this day was spent looking for internet to talk to my mom on Skype. Went back to the African Beach Hotel to get internet, but every other SAS student went there so the internet was extremely slow. Walked around for awhile until I found an internet café for 1 Cedis (or 50 cents in American Dollars) an hour. Talked to my mom for about two minutes then my laptop crapped out. Darn you battery power!!!
After talking with my mom Jason and I headed to the market and walked around. Met a group of women sewing up blankets and we sat around for a bit, danced together and told a little bit of ourselves. After visiting them for a little I headed back to the ship so I would not miss dock time. There was a tiny market right next to the ship that has been there the entire time we were in port and I somewhat made friends with a vendor there. I ended up buying a painting from him and some tiny things. Funny (and maddening story for me haha):
I wanted to buy this one painting where the colors were green, black, white, grey and some other. What the artist had created was a picture with a group of silhouetted elephants next to a tree. Trust me, it was entrancing. Earlier in the week I had approached him and asked how much. The artist said 300 Cedis (close to $300), I said I did not have that kind of money but all I had on me at the time was 90 Cedis, hoping to bargain with him. He looked at me like I was crazy and HE walked away. This proved to me that he enjoyed this painting as much as I did and did not want to budge on the price. On the last day my friend Dennis went up to him with all he had left, close to 50 Cedis and maybe 40 American Dollars. He went to the guy asking, pleading, begging for this picture at that price. For about thirty minutes the artist did not budge, then another buddy of his got involved and guess what…….Dennis got the stupid painting. Now I have been pleading with Dennis to buy it off of him. I really liked that painting and told Dennis about it. I will update you on whether I get it or not. (which probably will not happen since we are two ports away from Ghana and he still has not budged….but I have not given up yet, I still have two months)
Overall, my experience in Ghana was the best possible experience anyone could receive in a foreign country. What I enjoyed most about this country was that despite the extreme poverty the people of Ghana lived happy lives, always smiling, always cheerful, always friendly. Ghana stole my heart and I will end up visiting again in the future. So if anyone wants to come with me let me know.
My mom asked whether I had a favorite port after South Africa, and although I have not written about South Africa, (because my experience here was maybe just as wonderful). I could not answer that question she posed since I feel that if I were to choose my favorite port so far, I would compare the other ports to that one, and not have as great of experience I would have if I did not create that boundary upon my immediate entrance into that country. So as of now, I do not have a favorite. Ask me in two months right after we leave Japan. I will have an answer then.
Anyways, I digress. On to South Africa.
First day in South Africa. We arrived in port around 0800. I slept through pulling into port, since my alarm clock did not go off. I woke up around 0930 because we had to physically hand our passports to the immigration officers who came on board. A group of about three and I, Kevin, Amy and Jenn, decided to climb Table Mountain within the first hour we arrived. Once we were cleared to disembark from the ship, the four of us began our trek to Table Mountain from the Victoria and Alfred Wharf. My first impression of South Africa, in the port, I thought I was in seaport village in San Diego. It was beautiful walking through the port. There was a gigantic mall right next to the ship and a bunch of restaurants. After exploring for a little, the four of a piled into a taxi. The South African currency is called the Rand and is worth about 7.5 US Dollars. The money is decorated with the Big 5, which are the most famous wild animals of South Africa. I can only remember two of them, the Lion and the Elephant.
It took us about 100 Rand to get from the port to the bottom of Table Mountain, about $14. We began our trek at the Gorge part, where you walk up a staircase pretty much into a little slit in the mountain that allows access to the top. (Look at my pictures on face book if you can, they are wonderful) From the bottom to the top it took us about two hours. A large group of SAS students also went that day so Table Mountain was packed with SAS students. One of the groups decided to try and rock climb and in doing so, created a small rock slide and almost seriously injured a few other SAS students. Everyone laughed it off, but if they had not yelled, those students would have been in some serious pain. Stupid people these days. Climbing the mountain I felt as if, like I said, walking up a grand staircase. If you want a good leg workout, you should climb Table Mountain everyday.
Jenn, Kevin and I got up the mountain first. Amy could not handle going up as fast as we climbed it so she joined a group that was climbing at a slow pace. The three of us started to explore a little and took some pictures. We waited about thirty minutes until Amy finally reached us. Us four and a few others, including Katy and Veronica, started to explore the main part of the mountain. When clouds begin to roll over the mountain it is known as the tablecloth and that was what was happening when we were up there. It got cold REAL fast. With the clouds however, came some great picture opportunities. The clouds would come and go, blocking the view completely or when they were not there, giving us fantastic views of Cape Town. One of my favorite paintings that I saw during my AP Art History class back in high school, was Friedrich’s Man Among the Misty Mountains. Since the clouds were rolling over some of the mountains it created an excellent chance to recreate the painting. I did. It is now the profile picture of my face book page if you want to check it out. (Mostly ALL of my pictures have been posted so if you want to check them they are on there)
After exploring for a little we decided to eat at the restaurant at the top of the mountain. I had a “Lion’s Head” pizza. I have no clue what was on the pizza but it was great. We ate lunch with extraordinary views of the surrounding areas of Cape Town and other parts. (Last night I went to this Mindfulness seminar that the psychologist, Hieu, put on. He one interesting man. Anyways, he talked about how we should live in the moment, learn to forget about the past and not live in the future. For all that has happened will never happen again and does not affect you directly right now, in the moment. Same goes for the future, do not live in the future for you could miss out on what is happening right now, right here in front of you. A very good seminar here on the ship. [There are seminars on everything here on the ship and that is how I spend much of my night time is going to these with friends. Last night there was an open mic right after Hieu’s presentation. Last week there was a panel on the Peace Corps. Sorry mom, I think I might join the Peace Corps. They are great to stimulate your thinking and learn what goes on besides your college life] ) Where I was going with Hieu’s digression, is that being on the top of Table Mountain made you live in the moment, to soak up everything that went on at the top of the mountain. Being with friends, amazing scenery, great food, birds that were braver than seagulls in San Diego in taking you food.
After this wonderful start to our day, we decided to take the cable car down. The cable took like five seconds to get off the top of the mountain. After returning to ground level, we headed back to the port. We walked around the area for a little, exploring the stores and such. Headed back to the ship to take a shower after awhile. Katy, another group and I decided to head out to dinner at a place there in the port, Karibu. It was an extremely fancy restaurant. To prove how fancy it was, we had our own wine guy who helped us out in picking our wines. We all had something different to eat. I ordered Springbok, which is a deer like animal in South Africa, which also is the team name of the South African rugby national team. We started the night off with crocodile as well. It tastes exactly like steak. Nothing really special to it. My springbok also tasted like steak as well, but was a but darker. Veronica ordered ostrich. I tried some. One of the best meats I have ever eaten. It taste was unique to itself, it did not taste like chicken but it did not taste like steak either. I ordered it again later in the trip, that for another entry. After finishing up after a few hours at Karibu (what I have learned by traveling around is to take your time to eat, you do not get in and out in twenty minutes like in the USA. People everywhere else take their time, socialize, have a few glasses of wine, and just sit and chill. My friends and I have learned this and we now take our time when we eat.) so after finishing up a couple of the people in the group headed to Mitchell’s, a bar a little way down from Karibu. I headed back, for it was around midnight and I had an SAS trip the next day, Township by Bik and Interactive Soccer.
I will post this and post the others right after I go to dinner. I am starving. I still five more days to comment on for South Africa, compared to only four days in Ghana, I had six full days in South Africa. Whoo!
Until my next post,
“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live”
-Flora Whittemore
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