Go ninja, go ninja, go!

I’m halfway to India! I thought this part of the trip would seem a lot longer, but it has actually seemed to go by pretty quick. That’s partly because half of the days were spent building up to the Sea Olympics, which happened today! Forewarning: This blog entry extremely biased to the Bering Sea.

Yesterday we had the Opening Ceremony. Bering Sea had the color green, so we decided to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! We made masks for everyone and did our cheer to the theme song:

        SAS Bering turtles!
        SAS Bering turtles!
        SAS Bering turtles!
        Portside on the fourth floor!
        Bering power! (fist punch)
It was pretty bad ass. We also got some good “Go ninja! Go ninja! Go!” chants going on. We kept it sweet and simple, just like our team. We didn’t go into this expecting to dominate, and no one else really expected us to either. Butttt.....

The morning started out really strong for us. I was part of the Olympic Relay, doing the Orange Pass. We had our technique down pat and flew through it, and ended up winning first place for the entire relay, which also had three-legged race, wheelbarrow race, and fireman’s pass. Then we took first in the work-out relay, which no one expected because our hall has the smallest guys on the ship. Volleyball also took first place! Dana secured our place in the lead, winning hula-hooping and limbo.

The afternoon did not go so well, unfortunately. The human knot, which I was in, was a failure. It wasn’t even a real competition. Two teams had figure out “the secret” to the human knot, so they got it done in 10 seconds. The judges wouldn’t listen to us that if it was a real, random human knot that would be impossible, so those teams went on to the final round. But in the final round, the judges decided they did it too fast, so they made them re-do it with a random knot. Yeah, real fair there. So we didn’t even get a chance to see if we could really compete. Then we didn’t win anything else the rest of the afternoon. Before synchronized swimming with 5 events left unannounced, we were in first place up by 2 points.

Our synchronized swimming team was awesome! Unfortunately the event had to be done in the Union because the water was too rough for the pool to be filled. But the Bering Sea’s routine was one of the only ones that you could imagine being done in the water. A lot of the teams forgot the “appropriate for all ages” rule as well - Bering Sea was throwing up a lot of “awkward turtle” hand signs.

At the beginning of the Closing Ceremonies, they told us that Yellow Sea and Bering Sea were tied for second before the Synchro event. We were sitting across from each other in the Union, which made things really tense. Arabian and Caribbean tied for third. And, unfortunately, we came in second. Apparently we didn’t even place in Synchro, while Yellow got first place, which everyone - even people in other seas - have told us is completely ridiculous. We definitely got gypped. We’re pretty bitter right now, to say the least. First place gets first off the ship in Miami, but we don’t get anything for second place. Not cool. The good thing is that the competition really brought our sea together - along with the fact that we all walked around the entire day in green shirts so you could really figure out who was on your hall.

Four more days until India! I’m so ready for it, considering these next four days contain two midterms and a paper. We also got our second round of trips sign-ups. For those who are interested in looking at the itineraries on the SAS website (cough cough Papaw), my new trips are: PEN11 - Welcome Reception and Shadow Puppets; PEN27 - Temples and Mosques; HCM01 - Cu Chi Tunnels; SHA07 Suzhou; KOB03 - Hiroshima; COS16 Canopy Adventure. I had wanted to do Hiroshima independently, but it would have cut too close to the trip I’m planning with my friends - we’re traveling to Tokyo on our own, spending a day at Tokyo Disney, a day exploring Toyo, and then hit up Mt. Fuji before getting back on the ship. I still don’t really have anything planned for Malaysia, but no one really does so I’ll play it by ear. When we get to Malaysia the semester is halfway over, and it’s just going to fly from there!

I love hearing from you guys. All the wonderful comments about my blog and pictures mean the world to me, seriously. I love that no one’s complained yet about how much I write! I seriously think this is the longest blog in the history of SAS. If you have any questions, however random they are, let me know! I can tell you right now, the rumors about pirates are all false, but hysterical. No, we didn’t have a blackout to hide from pirates - they turned the ship deck lights out so that we could stargaze. No, we didn’t change routes to avoid pirates near Kenya - we had always planned to stop at Mauritius to bunker. I wouldn’t object to Orlando Bloom taking the ship hostage, though, so if someone can get on that....

Cruising Cape Town

South Africa started with a bang - literally. At 5 am we awoke to everything on our table sliding off onto the ground. Luckily we had our drawers taped shut or we never would have fallen back to sleep. Then at breakfast, the waters were so rough that at one point everyone’s plates slid off the tables. All the while we were sitting just outside the harbor because it was too rough to go in. Crazy. But the view as we pulled in was priceless. Cape Town reminds me a lot of Baltimore, if the Inner Harbor had mountains in the background, colonial-era buildings, and African bands playing along the waterfront.

The first day I stayed on the ship initially to listen to readings of three South African authors - don’t ask me their names, I can’t remember or spell them. Then I had a SAS trip to the District 6 Museum and the Langa township. You can’t really understand the severity of the townships until you see it. It was a strange mix of unspeakable poverty and incongruent wealth. No one in the townships has to pay rent, so sometimes people stay there so they can save money to spend on other things - like a Mercedes Benz, for instance. Then there is the incredible sense of community; because the homes were so small, children ended up having to play outside, so every adult on the street was in charge of making sure they were safe and behaving. And if one child was lucky enough to have a bike, they had to share with everyone. We got to see inside one of the men’s hostels - the men were moved here so that the government could have control over the population and still have people to do their dirty work. Three men lived in a room about half the size of my cabin; later, the government allowed their families to move with them, which meant that there were around 15 people per room. Most of those families moved out after apartheid ended because the conditions were so horrible, worse than anywhere else in the townships. They moved in the shanty towns, which were purposely set up on the edges of the townships along the highway. The government had built nicer homes along the edges, so that the view from the airport didn’t really show the injustice.

The second day my roommate Catherine and I explored the waterfront in the morning and then got a tour out to Cape Point in the afternoon. We stopped at Simon’s Beach to see the Jackass Penguins. We even saw a baby penguin hiding in its nest with its mom, and daddy penguin was outside guarding. They were all just hanging out watching us, totally unfazed that we were inches away from them. Then we went down to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, where the views were incredible. We saw some ostriches along the way - that means I have now seen an ostrich in every country so far haha. But the real entertainment was the baboons. There were around 10 of them on the side of the road, and some other tourists were tossing food out their window to them. The baboon was not content with that snack, so he jumped in their window and started going to town on their carrots and lettuce! The women jumped out of the van screaming, and the men were trying to shoo him out but he would not budge. Finally the baboon jumped out and tore apart the bag of carrots, and all the other baboons started fighting over the food. Security came and the baboon-feeder was trying to lie about what happened, but our tour guide ratted him out. It was hysterical to watch, but I’m glad it didn’t happen to me!

Sunday I went to Ratunga Junction! An amusement park! It was great. They have one of the highest log flume rides in the world, apparently, and some good coasters. Plus we got to see a hip-hop fusion dance performance and an illusionist haha. The dancers were actually really good, surprisingly. Their b-boys had some impressive moves and their popper could have held his own on SYTYCD. The illusionist was funny and a good entertainer, but I saw through all of his tricks. We also walked through the largest mall in Africa.

Monday the plan was to go up Table Mountain in the morning, but it was drizzling and the top was completely covered in fog, so we couldn’t go. So Ashton and I headed out to the winelands earlier. Our cab driver was actually born in District 6. She was one of the last families to move out in 1978. She took us to a tasting at Neethlingshoff Estates, and then we did a brandy tasting at Van Ryn’s. I am not a brandy fan, but it was quite the experience, learning to melt the chocolate in your mouth and then mix it with the brandy. We went to Moyo for lunch, and incredible buffet restaurant in treehouses and tents. Performers came and sang at our table and we got our faces painted. Then even gave us a free postcard that they then mailed for us! Talk about service! Right next door to it is a cheetah rehabilitation center; they take in cheetahs that have been hurt or cubs that have been abandoned. They had 5 baby cheetahs that were the cutest things ever.

Tuesday I went out to Robben Island. Our tour guide was one of the students arrested in the 70s. In the prison, they kept the older generation separated from the younger generation, and the political leaders from the others, but the convicts were kept with the political prisoners - go figure. It wasn’t until the 70s when the Red Cross started interfering that the convicts were moved. The Red Cross also stopped the practice of moving the political leaders from cell to cell so they wouldn’t get too comfortable or used to their surroundings. Even though the cells were right next to each other, they couldn’t talk, and their windows were barricaded so they couldn’t even see each other. The only time they could talk was when they were at work in the lime quarry - the guards were stationed up above, and the work was so loud they couldn’t hear. So the men took to standing in lines of seven, with the two on the end actually working to cover up the sounds of talking and the five in the middle just going through the motions. When someone was due to be released, they started memorizing information to take back to the mainland and spread around. The government didn’t know how the resistance movement was becoming so united when they were keeping such a close watch on the people on the mainland. They never suspected it was happening on Robben Island, right under their watch. More impressive than Nelson Mandela’s cell to me was the Robert Sobukwe house. He was considered public enemy #1, and yet his name is barely known, even in South Africa. He started the Pan African Congress, which led a protest against the pass books that every black person was required to carry. Even this demonstration, which effectively started the apartheid resistance, is not remembered in South Africa. The government considered him so dangerous that they built a house for him, away from the rest of the prison, and kept him imprisoned until his death. He could have a visit with a priest once every 2 months, and with his family once every 6 months. When he was dying from cancer, the government moved him to a prison on the mainland, but only because they feared if he died on Robben Island it would gain public attention and he would become a martyr. He died in a still violent South Africa, with little recognition for his accomplishments and without seeing his mission completed.

Wednesday was the day that overshadowed the entire trip in South Africa, because Archbishop Desmond Tutu came on board and I got to listen to him speak for an hour! It sounds silly, but there’s really no word better fit to describe him than adorable: he is a tiny man, and when he would make a joke he would cover his mouth, giggle to himself, and tiptoe around. He spoke about how wonderful young people are, and how we should be celebrating how many young people do good in the world, not concentrating on those who have messed up. The best part for me was when he talked about his experience on SAS; he said how much SAS changed him and made him a more caring person, showing him how interconnected we all are - if even Desmond Tutu came away from SAS a better person, none of us stand a chance (in a good way)!

Today I just went out for one more nice lunch and to spend the rest of my Rand. I made sure to get back on the ship early because all of the safaris start coming back at 3:30, and anyone not on a SAS trip is sure to get dock time if they’re stuck in that line. Now vacation time is over and it’s back to writing papers and reading, sighhhhh. Luckily I made some grocery store trips and stocked up on enough snacks to last me to India and beyond. I couldn’t last 11 days at sea without Simba chippies! I miss each and every one of you!

The complete tour of Namibia in 5 days

I’m listening to the Lion King soundtrack as I write this, very fitting considering we spent the entire trip attempting to sing the opening of the Circle of Life as we drove around the park. So I’m in Africa! More specifically in Namibia, a country most people have never heard of. It’s only been independent for 18 years, crazy! Before that it was controlled by Germany or South Africa. It’s also one of the least densely populated countries in the world, with under 2 million people in a country that’s roughly twice the size of California. We’re the first Semester at Sea group to come to Namibia, perhaps one of the first commercial ships (that’s a rumor I heard so I’m not sure); you can imagine the impact 800 people descending on that small of a population had!

Because no one has been here before, no one knew what to expect or even really what to do. My group was an exception - before we left, we had planned a safari to Etosha National Park. Our total trip took all 5 days in port. As soon as we had our passports, we left to meet our van that took as for a short stop in Swakopmund, then to Windhoek, the capital city where we stayed the night - around a 4 hour drive. The next morning we were picked up and drove to Etosha, roughly 5.5 hours, for our 3 day safari. The 4th day we drove back to Windhoek and spent another night at the Safari Court Hotel, and were picked up this morning for the drive back to Walvis Bay (pronounced Valfish Bay). We basically got a complete tour of Northern Namibia, definitely saw the most of the country of anyone on Semester at Sea, and including game drive spent a LOT of time in a van haha.

But now for some details. We didn’t venture into the city our first night in Windhoek, just stayed in the hotel (4 star hotel for $15 a person a night - quite the exchange rate!) But our hotel was not short of excitement, because it turns out that they were hosting prom! Seriously, prom. We were walking to the restaurant and there was a ridiculous line of fancy cars with guys sitting on the roofs posing like models and little girls running alongside screaming. At first we thought they must be famous, but we asked and they told us it was prom. Crazy! There were all these people there cheering for them as they got out of the car, it was insane. Quite the experience.

As soon as we got to Etosha on Saturday, we went for an afternoon game drive. Sunday we rode around the park the entire day, starting with an early morning game drive to look for cats, and Monday we got in one more early morning game drive before we left. We had a 16 person van that the windows came down halfway and the roof popped up so you could stand on the seats and look out the top - perfect for viewing animals and safe in case a rhino decided he had something against us! Our guides were Manni and Marcus and they were wonderful to us; made us delicious food and spotted crazy animals for us! As for the animals.... Here’s the list: Springbok, kudu, onyx/gemsbok, impala, ostrich, baboons, wildebeest, warthog, vulture, zebra, giraffe, elephant, black rhino, white rhino, jackal, lion, and leopard! As you can tell, we saw a lot of animals, so I’ll go into the more impressive encounters.

I won’t keep you in suspense; I’ll start with the leopard. The very last morning we were driving looking for cats (they stay in the shade once it gets hot so you have to look early or late) and we see all these vans stopped, and whenever you see other vans stop you have to as well to figure out what they’re looking for. Turns out it was a leopard in a tree! At first he was really hard to see, but then he started to move and, the part that made the entire trip, jumped out of the tree and started walking along the side of the road! We followed him for what had to be 15 minutes; he was just strolling along, crossing in front of our van a couple times and just letting us stare in awe. Absolutely stunning. Manni told us that was only the 2nd leopard he had seen that year, that’s how rare it is to see them. We were so incredibly lucky.

The lions weren’t quite so kind to us - we spotted them hanging back in the shade of a tree and could only make out their silhouette unless we zoomed in with our cameras. Meanies. But still, we saw lions in their natural habitat doing their natural “thang.”

The elephants were so much fun to watch. We caught them a couple of times at the waterhole bathing. After they were done washing off, they got out and started spraying themselves with dust! It was adorable watching them shake their head in the dust, their ears flapping everywhere. There were also a lot of baby elephants around. And I saw an elephant kick at a zebra!

The first night we stayed at the most famous lodge of Etosha - all I remember is the name started with an O and was impossible to spell, let alone remember, and my roommate has hidden my Lonely Planet somewhere so I can’t look up the name. But, it has the best waterhole of the park that is floodlight at night. So after setting up our camp, we went there to watch sunset. When we got there we saw a pair of black rhinos! I think there are only 500 in Etosha total, so they’re a treat to see as well. We went back later at night and ended up seeing 10 black rhinos total! We got to see a mating dance and several rhino fights. There was a mommy rhino with her baby, so she was very defensive. There was also a huuuuuge male rhino that just seemed to have a problem with everyone and kept picking fights. He had a literally 10 minute back and forth showdown with one of the other rhinos, then surrendered and immediately went and picked a fight with another rhino and then a fight with mommy rhino! He was not very smart. I got a lot of the animals on video, including some of the rhino fights, so I can’t wait to share those when I get home.

One of the giraffes decided to come really close to our van and give us a little photoshoot. It’s amazing what a difference 10 feet away and 30 feet away makes with our excitement level of seeing the animals. Did you know that giraffes get darker colored as they get older? Elephants too. The zebras were everywhere, but my favorite zebra was a baby that looked like black paint had been spilled on his back, covering up most of his stripes. I think he’s the perfect inspiration for a children’s book.

Our last night in Windhoek we went out to the city for dinner at a restaurant called Joe’s Beer House (see the German influence?). Two of the German girls on our safari with us recommended it to us (we had 2 German girls and 2 guys from New Zealand on our van along with us 12 SAS kids) and they served game, so we were game! Lame pun, I know, I’m my daddy’s daughter. I tried ostrich, springbok, onyx/gemsbok, and crocodile. They were all delicious! I wish we had more exotic meats in the US! I’m definitely going to have some more gemsbok in South Africa for sure. Oh, the best part? For a huge plate of meat (even split between two like I did, it was a lot of food) and 2 draft beers, I only spent 12 American dollars. Ridiculous. On the subject of food, Namibia has the best potato chips! They’re called Simba Chips (the name alone makes them awesome) and they come in crazy flavors like Chutney and Savory Roast Beef, but also normal American flavors that just taste better than our chips. They make them in South Africa so I’m definitely going to stock up before 11 days at sea to India!

I’m back on the ship now; we have only 2 days at sea until South Africa, so I’ve got a lot to do in that short of time! I’m going to miss Namibia, but not as much as I miss all of you at home! I’m going to start editing my hundreds of pictures now and send some of the priceless ones on to be posted hopefully later tonight, so look forward to that! But first I need to get my laundry together so I don’t have to wear stinky smelly clothes! Can’t wait to hear back from everyone, I miss you!

Hakuna Matata

I'm in Africa! So far my view of Namibia has been encased in fog. And it's cold! It's the end of winter here, but still! I didn't expect it to be cold! I leave in just a couple of hours for Windhoek, and tomorrow my safari begins! Talk to ya'll in 5 days...

e-mails

I haven't received any e-mails outside of SAS e-mails in my inbox since Wednesday morning (your time). No one else has either, so we're pretty sure this is an issue with our SAS e-mail address. Of course, I don't even know if this will send, but if it does, just know that I haven't responded because I haven't received your e-mail, not because I don't care. I really hope the issue is resolved before I leave for Namibia!

Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me

Hello family, friends, and assorted other people reading this blog! I'm halfway through this block of time at sea, with only two more days to go until Namibia! The days can't go fast enough. Actually, considering the fact that I have two papers to write, they could go a bit slower, but I'll sacrifice my sanity to get to my safari faster. Not much has been happening. Days at sea pretty much go class meal nap class meal e-mail homework meeting movie sleep repeat. Not much variety.

I'm working on my first piece for my travel writing class. It's been really difficult to finish even though I know what I want to say. I don't have a good workplace on the ship. I have a desk in my room, but that includes roommate distractions. Lots of people work in the piano bar but its way too noisy for me. I've tried one of the dining halls but there are always people playing games and the tables vibrate which feels really strange when you're typing, especially since I leave my hands on the keyboard when I'm thinking. Plus you get some strange looks when you murmur to yourself in public places. So the going's been slow, but I think something good is coming from it anyways. I'll post it after it's been critiqued and edited a bit.

It seems most people on the ship have tons of free time in Namibia and no idea what to do. I'm the exact opposite. As soon as we can get off the ship my independent group is leaving to meet our vans that are taking is to Windhoek for the night. Then in the morning we'll be picked up for our 3-day safari at Etosha National Park. And we get back to the ship the last day in port, with a large cushion of time so we won't get dock time, but not really enough time to do anything in Walvis Bay. I'm okay with that though; I don't really feel like breaking my wrist sandboarding, which, given family history, is a likely occurrence.

If anyone reads any good articles or editorials in any newspaper outside of the New York Times, please send them my way! Hint hint Dad please watch thepantheronline.com for me so I can keep up to date with Chapman :D I get the "official" school e-mails but those aren't nearly as informative. In case you haven't been keeping track, my e-mail is MAHelme@semesteratsea.net Certain people such as a Miss Kathryn should e-mail me because I forgot to write down your e-mail. Lots of love from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!

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!