Aloha, Aloha...Hello, Goodbye

Hawaii was the perfect end to my amazing adventure.

They told us there would be scattered showers the entire time we were in Honolulu, but we got perfectly clear sky both days. I spent most of my time on the beach of Waikiki, soaking up the sun and my final moments with 500 of my closest friends. And I crossed surfing off my list of future career options. I couldn’t even stand up on the board, and after getting whacked in the head for the 3^rd time, I was done. 

Overall, it was nearly paradise, especially since cell phones came back into my life in this port.

Being back in somewhat-America was weird and took some getting used to. I went to an ATM and looked at the numbers at the screen and had to think for a second what the exchange rate was in this country. I then got into a cab and slowly said to the driver “Can  youuuu  take  usss  to  the  beeach?” (there were also some hand motions). He looked at me weird and answered in clear English, “Sureeee”.

 

In another part of the island, a friend of mine was buying a bag of ice…

“How much for this ice?”

“Four bucks.”

“I’ll give you three.”

“Umm no.”

(hands the man a $5)

“Can I get a dollar back?”

“Outta change.”

 

Yep, we are back in the good old U.S.A.

 

 After our two days of paradise, we headed to Hilo. We got up in the morning, walk out on to the deck and took a good look around and asked “is this a joke?”

Hilo was a giant industrial park. It was cloudy and there were no beaches or mountains in sight. There was only an IHOP, a Walmart, and some volcanoes and waterfalls. Usually I would go straight for the Rootie Tootie Fresh and Fruity, but I guess since this still was Hawaii and all, it would be cool to see some volcanoes.

We ended up with this ‘tour guide’ (or a local with a large van and a ‘tour business’) to drive us all around the area. We went to some water falls, a macadamia nut and candy factory, and the volcano. However, I did not see any lava, and that was a bummer. Most of Hilo was a bummer. So we headed toward the other end of the island to Kona for the night. The sun was bright and shining over there, but we only got to enjoy about 30seconds of it. We had to be back in Hilo for a 5k race for Semester at Sea’s $100 Solution. It was a ‘Fun Run’ and we got to dress in all over funky clothing that we had purchased along the voyage. I’m willing to look like an idiot for my own pleasure, so why not do it for charity!?

 

Earlier that day, what we call a ‘boat rumor’ was in full spin about some swells in the Pacific Ocean and there was chance that we might not be leaving for San Diego that night. Oh great, another night in Hilo. What fun…

When we got back on the ship that evening, we discovered that the ‘boat rumor’ was true, BUT we were not staying in Hilo…We were heading BACK to Honolulu and getting an extra day there!!! The entire Union (our auditorium) went up in a giant roar of excitement. It was as if we all just got called down to contestants row on the Price is Right. Back to the beach of Waikiki we went.

 

The day after our last day in paradise was a sad day for all of us. It was not only the beginning of our final exams, but it was also the day we set sail for home. I guess sad isn’t the right word. It’s more like bittersweet. (Not bittersweet for the exams, that just flat out sucked)

 

As of today, we are finished with our exams and I officially have one final semester left in my college career.

 

In my final days at sea, I plan to do the following:

- Work on my tan (most important)

- Collect thousands of pictures from everyone on the ship (Facebook will not cut it)

- Find a way to fit my entire cabin into 3 suitcases (mission impossible)

- Get all pretty and fancy for our Ambassadors Ball tomorrow night (Prom!)

- & prepare to cry my eyes out in 48 hours…

 

I still feel like this was all one big dream and I am going to wake up soon. I hope not, because that would be one big puddle of drool that has built up over 3.5 months…

 

Why must I ruin every sentimental moment?!

Domo arigato Japan

Thank God Japan was not our first port, or else we would have been seriously concerned for what else this trip might do to our sanity, hygiene, and bank account. It was definitely a finale and all of our travel skills that we had learned along the way were put to the test. We hit wall after wall of problems and spent most of the time figuring out what to do instead of actually doing it.

 

The language barrier was near impossible to break and figuring out the rail system was worse than calculus. Well, I never took calculus, but I’ve heard horrible things. But still, we had a really good time, even if it was a giant cluster fuck. We have truly learned to just throw our arms up with a big ‘who gives at this point’.

 

So day one we left the ship in Yokohama and headed straight for Tokyo! Hooray! Kinda. Tokyo was crazy with flashing lights and tons of people. It was like the entire city was one giant Time Square. Pause for a second and let me mention the fact that it was a holiday weekend in Japan and nearly every hotel/hostel/karaoke bar (yes, you can sleep in them) was booked. Good thing we planned ahead…Not. When have I ever planned ahead? Exactly. Therefore, it took us until around 11pm to finally find a hotel that had rooms available. We then got to enjoy some of the night life that Tokyo had to offer.

The next day, we just wandered around the different districts of the city, while trying to find another place to stay for that night. It is now a Saturday night, and EVERYTHING was booked. I know what you are thinking…”why not just get back on the ship?” WELL the ship had now left Yokohama and was in route to Kobe. I’m not that dumb.

 

Our group of five has now turned into eight people, all so homeless with the small resource of a travel guide book in hand.

“Oh this sounds cool” said Alyssa “An Onsen village, they have hot springs!”

 

So around 6pm that night, we decided it was a fantastic idea to hop a train to this Onsen (it’s like a spa…google it) village on the western side of Japan in the mountains. We figured they will probably have somewhere for us to sleep. Wrong again.

 

We arrive around mid night, and Japan does not believe in 24 hour reception desks at hotels. Not that it would have helped because apparently everywhere was filled here as well. Oh but wait, there was one thing open- the Seven Eleven. Insert ‘Arms Up’ moment here. We came up with this genius idea that if we just kept buying things, they couldn’t kick us out.

We were on our third round of Cup Noodles when the cops finally showed up. When they threatened to arrested us if we did not leave the SevenEleven, a spark lit up in our eyes.

“Could you arrest us?” said Kevin “At least it will give us somewhere to sleep”. The cops were not amused and did not arrest us. So we were stranded once again about to sleep outside in the freezing cold, until an Asian Angel came walking by and came to our rescue. We spent the night in his apartment, which was literally an 8x10 room. Remember, there were 8 of us. Arms Up!

 

We finally found the hot springs early the next morning, and it was exactly what we needed at this point. A hot spring (or onsen, or public bath) is a giant outdoor hot tub. It was perfect, except that you had to go in naked with a bunch of naked Asians. We were REALLY glad that this wasn’t our first port.

 

After our bath, we spent the rest of the day on the train (the super fun high speed 150 mph bullet train that is), traveling to Kyoto, which is a city close to where the ship was now docked. They had Geishas and a place to sleep that wasn’t an internet café or a McDonalds! Yes, you can sleep in those too.

 

My final Japanese adventure was a home-stay with a family that lived in Kyoto. The daughter was 17 and we bonded over singing High School Musical at karaoke. Karaoke is much different in Japan than it is in the States. You are put in a private room that maybe can hold 6-8 people. No crowds, and it is taken very seriously. It is not the drunken entertainment that the U.S. tends to make it.

Anyways, my home-stay was interesting. The parents didn’t speak much English. Only the daughter did, and it still wasn’t very good. At one point I asked the father where he had been in the United States, and he responded with “Um San Francisco, Seattle, Home Depot”…

 

            Overall, Japan was fascinating. And EXSPENSIVE. It was also SO clean and SO quiet. Even the cities had this creepy silence about them. The sushi was decent, and the fashion was intense. Japan has some of the most well dressed people in the world. I could sit there and people watch all day. The people are very shy but also very friendly. And germ-phobic. We walked into a coffee shop one day and instantly the Sars masks were put in place. Oh not to worry silly Asians, I do not have Sars. But I also haven't showered in three days so I'd keep those masks on...

 

So now we are headed toward Hawaii. No more foreign countries left. We have been sailing the Pacific for about a week now, and we still have about 3 days before we reach Honolulu. We had our Thanksgiving dinner earlier in the week, and it was actually pretty good for ship food. Except they didn’t have gravy! And no football either. Not that I care, but it just all felt wrong.

This 10 day stretch was dedicated to school school school. What do you mean we have to go to class for 8 straight days?! Yea it sucks, but I get to go to Hawaii for the weekend and celebrate the end of classes. I can deal with that. ALOHA!

Made in China

There is no where in the world where the stars are as bright as they were sleeping under then on the Great Wall of China.

 

There is also no where in the world that I have ever felt so close to freezing to death...

I had 4 pairs of pants, 3 sweaters, 2 scarves, a jacket, a hat (...vodka.) and I still froze. But I made it through the night and I can now say “I have slept on the Great Wall of China”

 

SAAAWWWEEEEET!

 

On top of that, China was amazing for so many reasons-

 

1. Hong Kong. It was like New York City on steroids. Our ship was docked in the perfect location that over looked the massive skyline of futuristic architecture. And at night, the city literally lit up the sky with a light show of lasers and flashing neon lights from every building. Fireworks are so amateur these days.

Unfortunately, we were only in Hong Kong for about a half a day and then one night. The next day, I was on a flight for Beijing...which brings me to number 2.

 

2. Cold Weather. We haven’t had a day that the temperature went below 80 degrees. Hong Kong was hot, but Beijing and Shanghai we not at all! As our plane was landing in Beijing, there was a layer of snow covering the ground. Talk about mass panic. You could look around and tell who was from California and who was from Colorado. A lot of the students were loading on jackets, hats, and scarves (just to walk off the plane!). I threw my sandals in my bag and threw on my Ugg boots, but I refused to put on a jacket until my skin turned blue. It was so good to see my breath again.

 

3. The sights. My breath was not the only amazing thing I got to see in China. We went to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Bird's Nest (the stadium where the 2008 Olympics were held). The buildings in the Forbidden City were incredible, and the snow made it even more beautiful. And then came the best sight of all...

 

4. The Great Wall of China. There are two things that pictures don’t do for the Great Wall- and that’s how beautiful and incredible it actually is, and how intense it is to climb. We arrived at the wall at night time and hiked it for about 30-45 minutes (to tower 9 to be exact). All you could see were the silhouettes of mountains, the stars, and about 20 feet in front of you. Therefore, when the sun came up over the mountains in the morning, I was face to face with the most incredible views. And then we hiked it for 5 hours (to tower 37). It was hard work to climb that thing, even harder to take it all in. It was like nothing I have ever seen before.

 

5. The food! Authentic Chinese food? Yes please! Speaking of food...

 

6. McDelivery. Yes, that is correct. McDonald's has a delivery service. Except that they don't deliver to the Great Wall. Believe me, we tried.

 

I also discovered that the ‘peace sign’ is a universal viscous cycle. You know when Asians come to America and do the peace sign in every picture? Well, when the Americans go to China, we also do the peace sign. They see us, we see them…get it?

 

I can sit here forever and talk about how crazy the Asian culture is and how differently yet similarly things are done over here. It wasn’t exactly culture shock, but more like a culture “Ah ha…”. It was defiantly the biggest change from all the other countries we have been to. We were back in the land of shopping malls, subway systems, and Starbucks. There was very little poverty, and people did not hound us to buy things from their shops. Wait a minute, you mean if I decided not by this dress, you are not going to chase me down the street yelling out a lower price?? Weird. Easing us back to life in the States I guess.

 

The only real problem we faced in this country was the language barrier. It got very frustrating at times and Japan is going to be even worse. Guess I have about 12 hours to learn a few quick phrases.

 

We have five days in Japan and then it’s back to the home land (with pit stop in Hawaii of course). I’m looking forward to it. China was all decked out in Christmas gear, and the city and the snow defiantly made me feel at home. And then a woman spit in my walking path and brought me back to the reality that is Asia…

Good Morning Vietnam!

I know I keep saying this after every port, but Vietnam was by far my favorite place. China and Japan are going to have to step their game up to compete with Vietnam.

 

 

There is so much history within the country that has to do with the United States. In the days leading up to our arrival in Vietnam, many of the professors gave lectures about life in the States during the time of the war. A good amount of them had even fought in it and this was their first time returning to the country.

I got the chance to learn a lot about the war up close when I went to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These are a 250km stretch of underground tunnels (created by hand!) and were used a ‘hiding spot’ during the time of the war. That was such a surreal experience. I walked through the old battle grounds and stood in craters of land where bombs were dropped. I crawled my way through a few of the tunnels, and have never felt more like an ant in my life. Well I guess it was the only time I ever really felt like an ant, but still…

 

 

The city that we ported in was Ho Chi Min City, but to get there, the ship had to float two hours up the Saigon River. All along the banks of the river were these massive jungles, villages, and tiny little house boats. The river itself was like a very thin stream of mud. The water was so brown. And the air was insanely hot and thick.

 

 

Vietnam is the cheapest shopping I have ever done in my life. T-shirts were a dollar, and so were DVDs. North Face backpacks were about $10 and the giant jackets were about $30-$40. Who cares if they might be fake! They look real enough. I even got two custom made dresses for $100. I can never look at a mall in the same way again.

 

 

The food was not only amazing, but cheap too! An average meal, drinks included, was about $4-$6. Motor bike rides across the city were a dollar. Massages were about $10 for an hour. It was amazing!

 

 

The best deal that we came across was our trip to the Mekong Delta. This is an area on the western side of the country, near Cambodia. It's basically miles of rivers that all lead to the Indian Ocean. It's all tiny little villages on the banks of the river with floating markets and house boats. Actually, they were more like floating tree houses and not 'house boats'. 

 

 

It was me and five of my friends. We drove 3 hours, and it only cost us 5 bucks a person! Our adventure began at the beginning of the Delta, and we spent the night sailing 6 hours further up the river. The sleeper train in India was a five star hotel compared to what I slept in going up that river. It was literally a large canoe with a tiny tin roof over our heads. Funny thing is, we had the option of sleeping in a hotel and then having our driver take us up the river in a car early in the morning. But no, we wanted the adventure, and we slept on wood.

 

 

In the morning we were dropped off in the middle of this village, and we had no idea what part of the country we were even in anymore. But we didn’t care. We spent a few days hanging out with the locals on their boats and in their homes along the river. They were just as fascinated by us as we were by them. This was not a touristy village at all (our homestay was the only one in the area). Most of the time, we were looked at like aliens, especially the two girls I was with who have blonde hair. But they still were so friendly and invited us into thier homes with open arms. The only problem was the communication difficulties. No one really spoke English and my map of pictures didn’t work as well as I would have thought. At one point, we were hanging out with a family and we asked them for cold beer. They took off in excitement, thinking they finally understood what we were saying. They soon returned with warm beer, and squid.

 

 

The conditions of these villages were really hard to take in. Back home, I camp in better conditions and more comfortably than these people live. At night, the water level of the river would rise and flood the roads and leave most of the homes with a slight flood of about 3 inches of water. But everyone seemed so happy content with life, like it was so simple and fantastic. And there we stood, concerned that our shoes were getting wet as these peoples homes flooded on a nightly basis.

 

 

Vietnam was just an overall amazing experience. 

 

 

Tomorrow we arrive in Hong Kong. We have been sailing the waters of the the South China Sea for 3 days now, and the sky is literally a giant rainbow with every sunrise and sunset. Have you ever seen a green sky before? Didn't think so. But they exist, and they are incredible. 

 

 

The ship docks right in the harbor, over looking the amazing skyline and light show that Hong Kong has to offer. This is one of the top 5 things I have been most excited to see since the beginning of this voyage. We have 5 days in China, and I am heading up to Bejing to have a slumber party on the Great Wall! ….in below zero weather. Fantastic.

 

 

They say you can see the Great Wall from space, so Google Earth that shit and look for me!

India

India was dirty and hot and smelly. At the same time, India was beautiful and amazing in so many more ways.

 

I got up to watch the sunrise at 6am as we pulled into port, and you couldn’t even see the sun until it was almost all the way up in the sky because of the amount of smog and dust in the air. At the same time, the thickness in the air made it possible to stare directly at the sun with ease. It was hard to breathe let alone see anything in the distance. In fact, my nose began bleeding during a portion of the trip because of the massive amount of dust and dirt in the air.

 

The streets were filled with Rickshaws and people. The population of India is massive and so is the amount of poverty. However, it was not as shocking as I thought it was going to be. Usually, the Semester at Sea Voyage travels from Puerto Rico to Brazil, then Cape Town and Mauritius, and then BOOM- India. We were eased into it, having traveled to Morocco and Ghana beforehand. At this point, and it’s sad to say, but I am used to seeing kids begging for food and being looked at like a walking-talking gold mine. However, India was still far worse than both Ghana and Morocco. People were not missing arms and legs and fingers and eyes like they were in those two countries. In India, I saw grown men with legs the width of a 3 year old. And I saw all of this on the streets of the cities. I could only imagine what the conditions were like in the slums.

 

Enough depressing talk. Let me tell you what I did.

In the 5 days time frame I traveled non stop. We ported into the city of Chennai, and from there we flew to Delhi (by the way, for some reason I got bumped to first class for that flight. Thank you India). By the time we got to Delhi, it was already nighttime, so we did some quick sight seeing (and by quick I mean we literally drove by and didn’t even get out of the bus). We saw the India Gate, which is a big arch way with all the names of the people who fought in the Indian Empire of WWI engraved on it. Next we saw the President House. End of day one.

The next morning we took a 5am train to Agra, where we saw the red stoned ghost town of Fatehpur Sikri. Then we went over to the Agra Fort, which is where Emperor Shah Jahan (the dude who built the Taj Mahal) was kept under house arrest by his third son. Speaking of the Taj, I WAS THERE! And it was big and beautiful and we got there right at sunset. Did you know that the original plan for the Taj was that it was to be done in black marble?

There where thousands of people there and there was huge line to get in and we had a train to catch. Therefore I did not get to go into the Taj.

Here comes one of my favorite parts of the trip- The over night sleeper train. We spent 14 hours on it. Imagine the sketchiest place in the world and multiply it by ten. There were 8 beds to a compartment and 6 of them were taken up by me and my friends. I took top bunk and held onto my backpack the entire ride. There were bugs, my pillow was brown, and the 4 Indian men who slept in the bed underneath me gave me dirty looks when I suggested a slumber party. The toilets were holes in the ground, and when you looked down you can see the tracks. But I was running on about 2 hours of sleep in a 48 hour time frame, so it was heaven to me. I’m not being sarcastic either; it really was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was such a cool experience.

The train pulled into Varanasi around 11am. Varanasi is the oldest city in India. We did some more sight seeing at museums and then we went to factory where they made silk. As the sun was setting, we headed over to the Ganges River. We watched both the sun set and the sunrise on this river, and it was by far the most amazing experience of this whole trip. The night consisted of a festival and the sunrise was watched by boat. Hundreds of people were up with the sun, bathing and praying in the waters of the river. Varanasi is one of the most sacred and holy cities in the world and people come from all over to die in the Ganges River. It is like the international Hospice. They cremate over 120 bodies a day! There were dead bodies floating in the river, and as creepy as it sounds, it was incredibly amazing. This is another experience that is so hard to describe in words.

The trip came to an end after that.

We flew back to Chennai and finished out the rest of the time in India shopping and cleaning ourselves. I think I still have a few layers of dirt on me.

 

Overall, India holds a top spot for being my favorite port. The fun was so good, the history is so interesting, and the sights were unreal. Especially the sunsets and sunrises. Again, since there is so much dust in the air, you could stare directly at the sun.  

 

My new favorite thing in each country is to look at the massive amounts of random animals that wonder the streets and blocked all forms of traffic-

In Spain it was cats.

Morocco had donkeys, and cats

Ghana had chickens, and cats

South Africa had baboons, and cats

Mauritius had intoxicated SAS’ers (or SASSERS as we like to call ourselves- or SASHOLES, but only if you respectfully deserve it)

And then there was India, which had cows and dogs. Cows are sacred in India. Hide your leather belts and bags, or else you get dirty looks.

 

Also, when visiting India, be sure to carry around your own role of toilet paper, and be prepared to squat every time you need to use that toilet paper. And DON’T drink the tap water, not even to brush your teeth. If you do, be ready to use an entire role of toilet paper in a day.

 

So we had yet again another 6 days at sea as we made our way to Viet Nam. In the middle of the week, we celebrated one of my favorite holidays- Halloween. And for being stuck in the middle of the ocean, you should have seen some of the costumes people came up with. I was an Indian (Native American) and I discovered how far a pair of scissors and some construction paper can go.

 

We are now in Viet Nam, and I’m going to get me a rice hat!

 

I can't believe that this is my 3rd to last country.

Mauritius and Olympics

“It’s like the Bahamas for the people of Europe”

 

It was like the Spring Break for the students on Semester at Sea.

Hey, we are in the southern hemisphere and seasons are opposite, so it makes sense!

 

We only had two nights in this port and we rented out a 30 person villa in the beach area of Flic and Flaq.

 

Only problem was the weather. It was kind of cloudy for the few days we were there so it didn’t give me the tropical vibe I was hoping for, but it was still fun. We spent the first day on the beach, swimming in the India Ocean, and trying to avoid the mass amount of coral reef in the water.

On our second day, I traded the party on the beach for some sight seeing and cliff jumping. Our cab driver turned into our tour guide and he drove us everywhere all day for about $10 a person! I couldn’t even get from one end of Newbury Street to the other for that cheep! Oh and he blasted Alanis Morissette the entire day. Why? “Because American’s love it!”. Fantastic stereotype.

Anyways, we went to see the giant statue of Sheva (a Hindu God), which is located at the top of the Grand Bassin. The Grand Bassin is a large lake in Mauritius and it rests within the crater of an extinct volcano and is home to some giant eels.

Next we headed for the Tamarind waterfalls, which are a stack of about 7 waterfalls tucked away in a mountain range. The hike wasn’t bad at all and the view was incredible. At the bases of some of the waterfalls were pools for swimming. This is where we were able to cliff jump. A few weeks ago, I plunged the highest bungee jump bridge in the world and I had to be pushed off the edge of this semi tiny cliff. Isn’t it ironic, don’t cha think?

They day ended with a taste of some sugar cane (which is what the island is mostly known for) and a hot pink sunset. Then our entire villa packed into a bus that took us to the touristy night life of Grand Bay. Party bus, in a dress, tons of intoxicated idiots…Prom? Even better.

 

Our final day was spent shopping and walking around the area. The ketchup on the ship has turned itself into this bright red sweet nasty junk and you know that I can’t deal with that. Therefore I bought my own supply of that Heinz goodness. I could not go the next few months without it!

 

We have been back on the ship for about 5 days now and I was busy planning for the SEA OLYMPICS, which took place in the middle of week. I was one of the two captains for my sea and we have been spending lots of time each night over the last few weeks planning for this event. It is a big tradition for Semester at Sea.

Basically, the entire ship community was divided up into 9 different seas, depending on what floor you lived on and what not. We were the Mediterranean Sea, and each sea was given a color to represent their team. We were yellow. It got pretty intense. Everyone got really into it with props and war paint and gear. It’s amazing what we can come up with in the middle of the ocean. I attempted to paint my face yellow, but everyone kept saying that I looked like I had jaundice. Anyways, it was like a giant field day on the ship, with all kinds of events- volleyball, easting contest, ‘beer pong’, synchronized swimming, a spelling bee, board games, and much more. There was a big finish with a relay race, and I am so surprised no one got killed. I did the butt scoot in the relay race and I also competed in the ‘sweatshirt medley’ where I had to jump in and out of the pool with a sweatshirt on and ring it out in an attempt to fill a bucket the fastest. I lost. But over all, our sea took 4^th place for the entire day. Not bad.

The day was perfect. The ocean was the calmest it has ever been, and the sun was shining all day.

We ended the night with a BBQ (which is like Christmas on this thing) and the sunset was the best I’ve seen so far.

 

Oh and school is going well too. I forget that this is college sometimes…

 

Tomorrow we arrive in INDIA!!! This is going to be the most intense experience of my life. I am non stop traveling all over the country…planes, trains, and automobiles. We are going to see the Taj Mahal of course, and we are going to the cities of Varanasi and Delhi. IT’S ALL BEING DONE THROUGH A TRAVEL AGENCY. No way would I ever attempt to travel in India independently. But maybe we should just tell Dolores that I am not leaving the ship at all…

I'm going into this adventure with this quote in mind-

"If you love India, it will love you right back. If you hate it, it will hate you back twice as hard"

 

Time to pack. And watch Slum Dog Millionaire for the billionth time. JAI HO!

 

 

South Africa Part 2

Over all, South Africa is a country that I will most definitely be returning to at some point in my life. There was no where near enough time to do everything I wanted to do. Like a safari and visiting a township. A lot of students went to Kruger National Park and got to see the Big 5 - Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Rhino, Water Buffalo. Not the zoo, real wild animals. So many students had some intense experiences with these animals, like a tour guide being chased by a lion.

 

I, however, did not get the chance to see any wild animals. Not even a baboon and they walk the streets like squirrels. That's why I will be back one day. And I will see a baboon and an elephant.

 

But I'm not upset about this at all because I loved everything that I did get to do in South Africa. The family that I was staying with took us to Boulders Beach. This is where the penguins are! They were much smaller than I thought they would be, and they are gated off like they were in the zoo. It didn't seem natural, but I guess it’s for their own protection from crazy tourist like us. I would have probably taken a few, have I had the chance to get within reach of them. After the beach, they drove us through the wine lands, but it was raining so we did not get the chance to get out and walk around and go to a tasting.

 

I had a lot of 'not getting a chance' in this country, so I guess a return is a must. But the time I did have there was still so incredible. Sorry for the repeat of words, but I'm running out of adjectives to describe these experiences. I got to try some interesting foods, such as Ostrich and Crawl Fish. Both were SO good. Especially the Ostrich. And the Crawl Fish was a lot like lobster.

 

South Africa was a lot like the States, except that they drive on the opposite side of the car and road. It was the last bit of home that we will be experiencing until December. Everyone stocked up on groceries and toiletries, because no one wants to deal with that mess in India or anywhere else we are heading. We are almost done with Africa, and then we are off to ASIA!!

 

I did take some time on the last day to upload pictures onto Facebook, so check those out if you have not already. Those are just a very small handful, and they are missing Spain and most of Morocco.

 

We are now off to the island of Mauritius. I am so excited!! It's like a vacation WITHIN a vacation. School for another 6 days, and then off to paradise!

 

And finally....HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY MAYSSA!!! Enjoy & Stay alive.