Las aventuras de Brazil y Argentina

Incredible. Just incredible. My trip to Iguassu Falls was mindblowing. I don’t know if words or pictures will ever do it justice, but I got some videos that might give you an idea. You’ll have to wait 3 months for those though. But I’ll start to give you an idea now, and I hope I can get at least a small portion of the experience across.

My first day in Brazil I just went out with friends in Salvador. Salvador is super sketch. In all my travels I have never encountered a city like that. The stories are starting to roll in about thefts and people getting tackled etc.; most of the cases seemed like they were asking for it, in my opinion. We got very direct advice on what to do and not to do (for instance, if you want to take a picture, do it, but put your camera right back away) and from what I hear most people were ignoring that advice. My friends and I were just fine though. The city was a little difficult to blindly navigate, and a lot of restaurants were closed because we arrived on Brazilian Independence Day, but it was a good start to Brazil.

The next day began at 5 am. We had 5 hours on the plane, 2 hours to Rio de Janeiro, an hour of waiting for new passengers to get on, then 2 more hours to Iguassu. Our entire group was conked out the whole trip. Our incredible guide Carlos met us at the airport and took us straight to the Falls. The first day was a short hike down to Devil’s Throat. As Carlos told us, Argentina has most of the Falls (they have 70% of the land), but Brazil has the best views. The closer I got the more spectacular it got. The end was a walkway out over the water, with the mist rising up around you. Samantha would have had a conniption - all the walkways were made of metal grates. But honestly the view was so incredible I didn’t notice the bridges. The sun hitting the mist created rainbows, it was unbelievably picturesque.

That night we went to a Brazilian barbeque for dinner and ate lots and lots of meat. It’s a good thing the meat on the ship is disgusting, because I ate enough meat for about 2 weeks after all these barbeques, but what do you expect from a country that has more cattle than people? I ordered a bottle of wine that was listed as Brazilian, but it had a very German name; I think I got duped. But it’s okay, because we tried a legit one the next day, as well as an Argentinean wine; we had to do the complete sampling throughout the trip, so I’ve now had Brazilian and Argentinean beer and a caipirinah, a special Brazilian drink made with lime juice, sugar, and cachaca (a Brazilian rum made from sugar cane). Along with the buffet there was a show of Latin American dances and songs. Honestly it was a bit strange, but it was pretty hysterical to watch and good bonding for the group.

The next day was spent in Argentina! Another stamp on the passport, caching! In the morning we took a “jungle safari:” a short trip through the rainforest in 4x4 jeeps that were just like the ones for the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland except for a real driver, not just a fake wheel, to get down to where we would catch our boat. The rainforest wasn’t very impressive; it’s a secondary rainforest (meaning all the big trees were cut down so it’s recovering), and definitely not as spectacular as El Yunque in Puerto Rico. Then on to the boat ride, one of the highlights of the trip. I rocked my poncho, although it wasn’t much help, under my big ol’ lifejacket. To start we sped our way up river and got gorgeous views and pictures (this part was camera safe). Then halfway we stowed the cameras in waterproof bags and got ready to get wet! Now, we didn’t just get wet from the mist, we drove straight under one of the falls and got absolutely drenched. Water just funneled straight down the poncho. It was so much fun. Even in the mist it was hard to keep your eyes open because it was so powerful. Afterwards we started hiking up, catching views of some of the other falls. Iguassu Falls is the widest waterfall in the world, but the falls aren’t all connected unless there’s a flood. After lunch we took a path out over the Argentinean side of Devil’s Throat. This pathway goes right to the edge, such an incredible view. I realize I’m saying incredible a lot but the English language isn’t suited to describe this view. You can’t see the bottom because of the intense mist rising up from it, and you’re just surrounded by mist and the sound of the water rushing over the edge and pounding into the rocks below.

After the Falls we went to the Guarani Indian Reservation. The Guaranis are native people in Brazil and Argentina. They live in extreme poverty; their income comes from tourists and selling handicrafts. It felt so intrusive rolling in to their land in our giant tour bus, but my experiences in Honduras prepared me for it a bit. I knew that it was their choice to allow us to visit, and that they want us to see how the live to help us understand their culture. And they were examining us as much as we were them. As we walked down the road everyone stepped out of their homes and watched us pass. We also started to pick up a few friends: two little boys. They walked alongside us with their arms draped over each other, the best of friends. When we stopped to listen to Carlos, they stopped and wrestled each other and climbed trees. They got over their shyness when most of the group went to buy handicrafts. Some of us started taking their pictures, and I knew to show them their picture on the screen so everyone started to do that. They were in heaven. They would strike a pose, then immediately run over, wrap their hands around yours on the camera and look at the screen, then burst into fits of giggles, and run to go pose again. One of the boys was wearing a Spiderman shirt and I caught him doing the web pose so I had him do it in a picture; after that he did it in every other picture. The innate trust in children is so inspiring; these children couldn’t even communicate with us through words, but they had no problems jumping off tree stumps straight into our arms, only minutes after meeting. We continued on the path and my little Spiderman buddy grabbed my hand and the hand of another girl, so we started swinging him; he was so stoked on that we had to keep swinging him for the next half hour. We stopped to watch a musical presentation by some of the other kids and he still had to keep swinging. He was such a little attention whore; he would lean out around us to see if his friends were watching him and call their names if they weren’t, then leap and swing out and back down, over and over. Too cute. Then we all went to get a group photo and I squatted down in front of some of the little boys. Spidey (I have nothing else to call him; the kids learn Spanish in school when they’re 5, but he was too young, so I couldn’t even learn his name) reached up and grabbed my sunglasses off my head and shoved them on his face with a giant grin. My heart just exploded; he reminded me so much of Amelia, one of the girls in Honduras. Then walking to the bus we went back to swinging, but this time I had a boy on each side - it was quite the workout! When we were saying goodbye I opened my arms to give him a hug and he just leapt into my arms. Children and their ability to form friendships so readily, even when our only common form of communication is a smile, restore my faith in humanity. I can still feel his little hand, covered in the red dirt that was everywhere, intertwined in mine; when I close my eyes I can still see his smile gazing up at me, waiting for one in return. They have so much love to give, so much happiness to spread; I’m going to try my hardest to do my part of that mission in each of the next ports, to make Spidey proud.

This morning we visited Itaipu Dam, which produces the most hydroelectricity in the world. It provides 90% of Paraguay’s energy and 20% of Brazil’s. That’s right, Paraguay! No customs this time, but we did spend about 15 minutes on the Paraguayan side of the dam, so I’m claiming it as another country visited. The spillway wasn’t open, which is where they let extra water through on the side without going through the turbines, which was a bit disappointing. It was not my favorite part of the trip but it was interesting enough; it was hard to be in awe of this manmade creation after witnessing the natural wonder of Iguassu Falls. After that we went to Parque Das Aves, an aviary. That was pretty awesome. There were birds in cages that you could see, but the coolest parts were the areas you could walk through with the birds. There weren’t nets separating you; the birds could go wherever they wanted, and a few tried some paths that would have been straight through my head if I hadn’t ducked. Those tucans had it out to get me! Saw everything from ostriches to flamingos to parrots to peacocks to hummingbirds and anything in between. From there we went to lunch at ANOTHER barbeque. This one was one where the carry skewers of meat to your table and slice it off in front of you, so that was cool. Then on to the airport again. We raced one of the Rio groups back from the airport; we got to the dock first, which meant we didn’t have to wait in line forever while they checked everyone’s bags, hooray! I made a phone call home and now I am uploading 500 pictures and writing this. I can’t wait to sleep after 3 nights of only 6 hours of sleep or less. Tomorrow I’m taking it easy; my only plans are to go to the market for a bit to buy a painting from one of the vendors and spend the rest of my reals. I’m not taking any chances with getting back on the ship late; even if you’re in line to get back on at on ship time, you get dock time at the next port, meaning you can’t get off the ship for a certain amount of time, and nobody wants that. I’ll try and upload a few photos, but I don’t want to waste too much internet time so don’t necessarily count on it. I don’t want to overload you all with thousands of pictures when I get back in December, but that will probably be the case. You probably won’t be interested in 500 pictures of waterfalls and birds either, but there are some I think anyone can appreciate even without experiencing it. And if you think I wrote a lot, you should see my journal! If it’s too long, ask someone else to give you the cliffnotes version, I’m taking a break from brevity for a semester :P And editing. None of these have been copy edited or even re-read, so if you see any errors, ignore them and just know that I do know the difference between right and write, my fingers just don’t always get the memo. Lots of love and smiles from Salvador, Brazil!

Question

I don't really have any updates today, I'm just wondering if anyone could explain to me the impact of the government rescuing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I tried reading an article about it in the NY Times but it just went way over my head. Thanks!

Neptune Day!

Neptune Day begins with teachers and the crew marching down the hall at a lovely hour (7:30 - hush, we’re college kids, it’s early) banging on drums and other assorted objects. Or so I am told. I heard it, sure, and for a good hour after they went by my door I could still hear it, but by the time I got my glasses on and got our door open they were already halfway down the hall. Jesse, our room steward, tried to convince us we had to go up on deck right then, but he was tricking with us. We probably should have anyways, because we got no more sleep. I guess the staff decided to set up shop with their drums right above our room. Fun.

Finally we all got called up on deck so the Neptune Day celebrations could commence. Something was going on when we got up there, but little shorty me couldn’t see anything. My guess is it was the Captain shaving the two raffle winners heads? Finally King Neptune and Queen Minerva (two teachers) made their way to the pool deck. We all had to recite an oath to King Neptune, and then the ritual to prove we Pollywogs were ready to become Shellbacks began.

To prove this, you go and stand in the wave pools on the side of the pool, where a crew member pours fluorescent blue and yellow “fish guts” on your head - nobody really knows what’s in it, but it sure stunk so I’m guessing there was some fish in there somewhere. Then you jump into the pool. Now, this sounds like it would be refreshing. It’s not. It’s extremely salty, and all the fish guts are draining right into it. Plus, if you’re short like me and can’t keep your feet on the pool floor when the ship rocks it’s full of people to bump into. Then you climb out of the pool and kiss a fish on the lips (you’re not alone anymore, Glenn!). It’s very salty, again. Then you kiss Queen Minerva’s ring, and finally you kneel to be knighted as a shellback. The particularly adventurous then go to shave their heads. We had a good number of kids do it; I have no idea how many, but there are lots of baldies going around now.

Public Service Announcement: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! Holy crap you’re old! Haha I still love you. But seriously now. You’re old. Over the hill. I thought it was particularly fitting that your birthday was spent by kids getting their heads shaved. The barbers weren’t as good as you, though. There are a lot of patchy kids walking around. Also, I don’t know if Mom told you, but we can see birds now because we’re close to land, and they’re called mashed boobies hahaha.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing on deck (which is somewhat dangerous for me - the wind keeps you so cool that you don’t realize how hot and dehydrated your body is really getting from the sun, so I’ll have to be more careful next time) and napping. Tonight we have our first cultural pre-port to find out more about Brazil, and tomorrow we have our logistical pre-port, which I guess is the more safety side of things. Then the next day we’ll be in Brazil! Crazy to think it’s so close already. I probably won’t update the blog until after Brazil, unless I find a cheap internet café or something on my trip and have the time. But I love and miss you all and I’m still available by e-mail for the next 2 days! I can’t tell if I’m receiving all the e-mails sent to me, so if there’s one that it seems suspicious I haven’t responded to yet, re-send it just in case or ask me if I got it.

Just thought I'd let you know...

I am on the equator as we speak. (Well maybe not with the e-mail delay. But my time right now, 6:59 PM. 5:59 EST, 2:59 PST, the rest of you can figure it out on  your own).

Overwhelmtion... is that even a word?

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOBAH! You’re getting so old I can hardly keep track of it! No really, how old are you? Haha :P I hope you have a wonderful 13th birthday, Glenn, and eat lots of cake for me! I had sherbert at lunch, but that just doesn’t compare.

Today has been both good and bad. It started out very good. We got our second batch of trip sale confirmation this morning. I got the FDPs (FDPs are basically field trips for our classes)that I needed as well as a trip to Robben Island, and I got the Tsinghua University trip in China. (I really feel like I’m copying you now, Thomas!) Apparently I was really lucky to get the Tsinghua trip - my roommate got bumped from it, as well as 35 other people. The other university trips, however, had a good amount of open space in them. The Tsinghua trip has the best itinerary though, in my opinion. We get a day in Hong Kong, where we port, and then we fly to Beijing. While in Beijing we get to see the Great Wall, Beijing Zoo (PANDAS!!), Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Olympic stadiums, and an acrobatic performance. From looking at it, it’s the most jam-packed university trip, and I’m very excited to be able to see all of those places in just 4 days, and then fly to Shanghai for a day there and then boarding the ship again.

The bad came when I realized that I didn’t get the Habitat for Humanity trip in South Africa. Every day but one is booked up, and the one open one conflicts with my Robben Island trip. Both of those trips are the two things I most wanted to do in South Africa, so it’s very disappointing. I think I’ve decided to keep my Robben Island trip instead of doing it indy because there’s a fairly large chance tickets will sell out and I won’t be able to do it. As much as I would like to do a service project (and the Habitat is one of the only ones on this trip where you actually help, not just observe), I have had experiences like that before. As meaningful as they have been and as much as I want more of those experiences, I know that I will have a chance to do Habitat builds in the future (although they might not be in South Africa) but I don’t know when I’ll have another chance to go to Robben Island and I don’t want to miss it. I’m still going to try and buy a Habitat day from somebody or get on the trip the day of if someone doesn’t show up, though.

I am a bit nervous that when everyone is gone on their safaris I won’t have anyone to travel with in South Africa. It’s a bit terrifying at this moment to think of indy traveling, because the people that I have befriended are doing a bunch of SAS trips so I can’t travel with them. I know I still have lots of opportunities to meet people to travel with, but it’s a huge unknown right now, and that’s frightening. Plus adding up the cost of my SAS trips so far is freaking me out; I know I don’t have to pay it all off immediately, but I don’t want to be in debt to my parents forever, and it’s already a pretty big number and I know I’m going to be spending more. Looking at it makes me leery to even pay $1 for a Diet Coke, because that’s a dollar that could go to those trips. It’s been a bit of an overwhelming day, to say the least. It’s the kind of day that I really miss being able to pick up the phone and call home for reassurance :-\ 

The other day we had to fill out all of our customs forms for every single country; it was absolutely insane. India even made us declare what types of electronics we were bringing into the country, from cameras to iPods. We went through a lot of white-out and a lot of confusion. The best part was hearing multiple guys say “I wish my mom were here to do this for me!” Tomorrow should be better though! No classes and Neptune Day! You’ll hear more about what that’s all about tomorrow (and there’s another birthday wish coming up!) Big big day tomorrow. Tonight, after my one more class that is, they’re showing Pirates of the Caribbean in the Union, so that should be fun too. I’ve been a party pooper a lot of nights because I can’t stay up late when I have class at 9 am. I got too spoiled last semester with no classes before noon.

Life at sea, take two

So I wrote one of these earlier today, but the free e-mail ate it and didn’t even leave any crumbs behind, so I’m giving it another shot. This time, however, I’m being smart and typing it in Word first.

Semester at Sea has officially begun! Orientation is over (and boy am I glad! It was so boring and most of it I already knew... although no one else seemed to know it all - I guess I over-researched just a bit) and classes have begun. The ones I had today seem good - World Lit is like the other two I’ve taken, although I won’t have any SparkNotes to help me out, and Zen Buddhism is like Barney McGrane take two, although a little less spaced out (I think he just did a few less drugs than Barney). Global Studies, however, is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Half the students are in the class together - there are 672 students on this voyage. Yeahhhhh, my largest class to date has probably been 30 students at most. We’ll see. Tomorrow I have the class I’m most excited for, Travel Writing; I’ve already had the teacher for World Lit though.

We spent most of today bunkered in Puerto Rico - I don’t know if there’s a difference between bunkering and docking, someone let me know! Anyways, we couldn’t get off because of classes and how short of a stop it was which was lame, but I got to watch us pull in past Old Town San Juan as I was eating breakfast on the deck. Too cool. And since it is US territory, I got to make some phone calls home. It hasn’t been long at all, but it was already nice to hear familiar voices and talk instead of e-mailing. It was also nice because it meant the first day of classes was free of motion (although there were lots of test safety alarms that interrupted). And after last night, it was much needed. I can’t even begin to explain how much we were rocking. It was incredible and nauseating, but Dramamine helped. Those darned pressure point armbands didn’t, though! They were so tight that I still have marks on my wrists from them, and I took them off this morning. I actually think it might have bruised. I don’t care if they do help, I’m not putting them back on.

The ship is fabulous. A little less over-the-top than your typical passenger cruise ship, but still elegant. Another difference is the cafeteria style dining rooms and classrooms. But the service is equal. We get brought drinks and have our plates cleared for us; our room steward, Jesse, makes our beds and cleans our room every day. It’s a little strange to be waited on when you’re in school, but they’re so nice you feel like you’re insulting them if you don’t let them do their job.

Just as a reminder, my free e-mail is MAHelme@semesteratsea.net; it seems to come in on the hour, which is really nice. I’ve already signed up for NYTimes headline updates (I’m still in shock from McCain’s VP pick - by the way, the ship is arranging to have the debates recorded and sent to us on DVD, which will be so nice). But aside from the national news, I want your news! I don’t want to just talk at you through this blog, I want to talk to you! And you can also feel free to comment on here - I get sent the comments so I can keep up with it.

E-Mail

I haven't gotten all the kinks worked out in the free e-mail system yet, so I haven't sent out a mass e-mail yet, but if you're reading and want to contact me, the address is MAHelme@semesteratsea.net Feel free to use and abuse it! I want to hear from you!

Everything is going great so far, although I don't have much time to write right now because of lots of orientation lectures. We're chugging along and rocking to and fro - we had to pick up speed to make up for lost time navigating around rough waters caused by Tropical Storm Hannah. Classes start tomorrow!

I love and miss you all!

Bahamas!

I'm in the Bahamas now! It's fabulous. The Atlantis is mind-boggling amazing. There's a waterslide that goes through a shark tank, as well as tunnels you can walk through and see all sorts of fish and sharks and stingrays. I learned the difference between a girl shark and boy shark hahaha. We went swimming with dolphins Saturday morning. Amazing! Our dolphin was Sasha; she was rescued from Hurricane Katrina and she likes to hula-hoop. I got a picture kissing her, it's adorable. The water slides here are amazing fun. Conch is delicious. Sam, Glenn, and Dad went home yesterday to start school, so now it's just Mom and I for 4 more days. I'm going to have to re-pack entirely, which sucks, but from one of the waterslides you can see where the boat docks so I'm getting excited waiting for the MV Explorer to come in! I miss you all and I'll be in touch.

Pre-Sale Trips!

16 days and counting, and I finally found out about my pre-sale trips! I wanted these trips, run through SAS for varying reasons. Although they're generally more expensive than doing them independently, I think the extra costs are worth it in each case.

The first trip I got is in Brazil - I want to do a trip through SAS here because it's the first port, and I don't want to gamble on whether or not I'll have people to travel with yet and it will be a good opportunity to meet people. I signed up for a 3-day trip to Iguacu Falls. I'll get to see the falls, which are wider than Victoria and higher than Niagra, by air, land, and water. I also get to cross the border into Argentina! (We're not allowed to cross country borders unless we're on trips with SAS for safety reasons.)

My second pre-sale trip is in India - I'm doing this through SAS because as a white, American female, I am not comfortable travelling alone in India. This trip will take me to the Taj Mahal and Varanasi for 3 days.

My third and final pre-sale trip is when we're at port in Viet Nam and will be taking me to Cambodia for 3 days to see the temples of Angkor Wat. This trip can only be done through SAS because we're crossing country borders. It's supposed to be one of the can't miss trips, and since I'll still have time to explore Viet Nam, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to tack on another country to the itinerary.

Besides these trips, I have arranged a safari in Namibia with around 10 other students through Facebook. I'm very excited about this trip because not only do I get to do a safari cheaper than the ones in South Africa, but there's sooooo much I want to do in South Africa and now I don't have to worry about fitting a safari in there too.

I really have no plans for any other countries besides abstract ideas - I'm waiting to see who I befriend on the ship so I can make plans with them. Just as a reminder, these up-for-grabs countries are South Africa, Malaysia, China, Japan, and Costa Rica. It's a bit intimidating to not have things booked before I leave, but I think it will help me loosen up and learn to live in the moment. South Africa I plan to do lots of day trips - vineyards, Roben Island, Table Mountain, and more! In China we port in Hong Kong and then are free to travel the country while the ship travels to Shanghai, where we will meet up with it. I just know I can't leave without going to the Great Wall and probably checking out the Olympic venues. Japan the plan is to buy a rail pass and travel like mad to hit as many cities as possible - We port in Kobe and Yokohama (same deal as in China) and I'm going to try to also get to Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Mt. Fuji at least, pretty ambitious for 5 days! We only have 3 days in Costa Rica, and it's the last port. Most of my time will probably be spent on the beaches since I'll be tight on money at that point, but I also reaaaaally want to do a canopy tour and conquer my fear of heights.


This weekend I went shopping for everything I needed for the trip. It's satisfying to have it done and everything sitting in my room waiting to pack, but it was so terrifying at the same time. How do I really know how much shampoo I need? I never really notice how long it takes me to go through a bottle, and why would I? It was always just a Target run away. Having to pack absolutely EVERYTHING I will need for 3 months is very scary. This is not the trip to forget to pack your underwear, to say the least!