Namibia and South Africa

Namibia

Namibia was the first port that I got a chance to relax a little bit and not ALWAYS be doing something constantly. The first day we arrived in Walvis Bay and I went straight on a tour of a city called Swakopmund, which was about 20 minutes away. Namibia was a German colony and only gained their independence about 20 years ago so Swakopmund is very heavily influenced by German everything. All of the cars are Volkswagens, there are lots of German restaurants and most of the people speak German and English. The town is a very cute little beach town and you can get around everywhere on foot, which was nice. Three of my friends and I rented a little house on the beach, which was really nice and cheap! It was 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms with a kitchen and living room and views of the beach for $50 a night total! Basically we each paid $12 a night, which is outrageous compared to what is would be in the U.S. During our time there we took it easy and ate really good German food and drank really good German beer. I tried ostrich for the first time as well as some other game meat that I’m not even sure what it was, but they were both very good. Namibia is basically all desert with huge dunes so there is a big industry for sand sports such as 4 wheeling, sand boarding, etc. but since I have already ridden ATV’s before I didn’t feel the need to do it again. We were only there for 3 days total so it went by pretty quickly. The last day I went on a little speedboat out in the bay and we got to see huge pelicans and lots of seals. The seals know that there is food on the boats so they have been trained to jump right up on the boat and get some fish. They also will hug you and let you pet them while they get their fill of fish so that was really cool. After that I only had a few hours left so we just walked around the port city a little bit but it wasn’t very exciting. Overall, Namibia was a cool place and the people were very nice and the food was really good.

Cape Town, South Africa

I had an AMAZING time in Cape Town over the past 5 days and experienced so many cool things so this is probably going to be a long post just to warn you. I kept very busy every single day and enjoyed every minute of it. The first day I had a trip that was actually for one of my classes so my professor was with us. It was called Wine Production and Management, so we went to 2 different wineries and got to learn about the production process and how a winery is run. There is a very big market for wine in South Africa and the wine lands take over a huge part of the country. Since the United States doesn’t like a lot of competition, it is very expensive to buy South African wine there because of the high exportation costs. It would cost about $200 to ship just 6 bottles of wine from here to the U.S., which is 3 times more than you even buy the bottles for! So we got to learn a lot about the wine business as well as taste a lot of different wines. This was my first experience with wine tasting so I didn’t know anything about anything before this. I have to say that I really enjoyed it though, especially since the people that spoke to us were so informative about everything. The wine lands were so beautiful also, which made it that much better.

That night, my friends and I went to this popular African restaurant in Cape Town called Mama Africa. The food was delicious and I got to try springbok steak and some other traditional African food. They had a live band there, which we were all really mesmerized by. The male singer had such a beautiful voice and the musicians were all amazing. There was drums, saxophones, a trumpet, xylophones and the singing all put together to produce a really great sound. I ended up buying their CD and found out the music is called Marimba and is traditional to one of the tribes in South Africa called the Xhosa. We stayed at the restaurant for probably 4 hours just watching the band play on and on and it was really magical.

The second day I went on an SAS trip with a non-governmental organization called Operation Hunger. This was by far the most eye-opening experience I have ever had. To preface this, I want to explain a little bit about the history of South Africa and what it is like now. As you may know, South Africa struggled with apartheid until it was finally banned in 1994. It has only been 15 years since then and there are still many lasting effects of apartheid and continuing racial discrimination today. This is very obvious because of the miles and miles of townships that are still being lived in all over Cape Town and South Africa. A township is basically a community of shacks made out of tin or whatever scraps the people can find, are about 10 by 10 feet and house very impoverished black families. Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic is so huge, most of the children living in the townships are orphans. The people living here have a very hard time finding work and most of them barely get anything to eat and are starving. The president who was just kicked out of office really wasn’t doing much to help these people, basically ignored the AIDS problem and was very corrupt. South Africa has an interim president at the moment and is having their first free elections this April, which has the potential to be very good but the only candidate at the moment is not a good choice. So anyways, Operation Hunger is an organization that goes into the townships to try to improve the nutritional well being of the people there, improve the facilities and provide some financial assistance. They monitor the children on a regular basis by weighing them and taking their measurements to make sure they are not malnourished. We started by going to one of the townships about 10 minutes away from the main part of Cape Town. The people were very welcoming and grateful that we had come to help them and play with the children. There were many small children and a few women who acted as mothers to all of them, trying to give them an education and keep them fed. The kids were a little shy and scared at first and our guide told us this was because the only white people they had ever seen were doctors who gave them shots because they were ill. They warmed up quickly and after 3 hours of interacting with us, probably had one of the most exciting days in their entire lives. We played with them as well as weighed them and took their measurements as part of the program. To give you a picture of the kids, they were all wearing dirty clothes; most of them didn’t have shoes and were obviously not very clean. It was so sad to see them in the condition they were but it was also rewarding to see how much fun they were having while we were there.

Next, we went to a different township and helped out with a soup kitchen, which was really just a few ladies who use money from their own pockets to cook soup and buy bread for the people twice a week. It was appalling how many people showed up to get food; there was probably a line of 200 people ranging from small children to old men and women. They were all obviously starving and who knows how long it had been since they had eaten a substantial amount. Before the food was served, one of the women said a prayer that literally brought me and many others to tears. To see how little these people had in their lives and still she was thanking God for everything they did have and even praying for us to be OK and just obviously so grateful to just be alive. I can’t describe what it was like to see these people with little plastic Tupperware dishes coming up one by one to get one scoop of soup and a few pieces of bread. It was devastating to hear them, especially the children begging for just a little more and not being able to give them more. Even though they only got so much, you could see in their faces how grateful they were just to have something. One of the things that really impacted me was that before we went, our guide told us that we could buy some bread at the gas station to bring to them. A whole loaf of bread was only $1, which is practically nothing to us so everyone bought a few loaves to bring. When we got there, I realized that we had just supplied half of the meal. If we hadn’t of brought it, most of the people would not have gotten bread at all. Although it felt good to know that we had fed these people, all I wanted to do was help some more. Knowing that I could afford to buy so much more food was hard to think about. It was hard to know that the soup kitchen only supplied food twice a week and wonder what, if anything these people were eating the other days of the week. The memory of this entire day will stay with me for the rest of my life. I know that we can’t solve all of the problems in the world but it is nice to know that every little bit makes a difference. It inspired me to think more about when I throw things away that I think are trash but could be so useful to these people. I would like to send old clothes and whatever else could be useful to Operation Hunger in the future when I get home because I know it will be put to good use. I am so glad that I got to experience all of this and I hope that when I complain about things in the future, I will stop to think about these people and how lucky I am to have the life that I do.

The third day I did another service visit with the Amy Biehl Foundation, which is another organization in Cape Town that provides after school programs to the township children. Without this program, they would never have the chance to learn about music, arts, drama, participate in sports as well as get educated about HIV/AIDS. Under the conditions in the townships, these children would probably turn to drugs, drop out of school, keep churning in the cycle of poverty and probably die from AIDS. The statistics are horrifying, 50% of people in South Africa have AIDS and many of them have had it from birth and so had no control over their own destiny. The story behind the Amy Biehl Foundation is a powerful one and you could learn more about it by Googling it but I will try to explain it the best I can. The story begins with a girl named Amy Biehl who graduated from Stanford in the late 80’s and came to South Africa and decided to stay to help the people and the government transition from apartheid. She was fighting for the black people to overcome the discrimination and poverty that was so common among their people. One day she was driving to a township with some black friends and there was a political rally going on. The rally was basically about fighting for the rights of the black people and all white people were seen as oppressors to them. As Amy drove through, the mob attacked her car and forced her out. Her friends tried to explain that she was a good person who was actually helping them but they didn’t listen and 4 men beat and stabbed her to death. These men went to jail for 4 years and then appealed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was run by Nelson Mandela, to be released because their acts were only because of political reasons. The reason the story is so powerful is because Amy’s parents were actually there supporting their release from prison. After speaking with the men, her parents realized that they really had no intent to murder their daughter and their beliefs at that time were so strong against white people that what they did was almost necessary under the circumstances. The men were obviously extremely sorry and regretful for what they had done and so they supported their release from prison. Now two of them are working for the Amy Biehl Foundation and have really come full circle and are now working with the children to hopefully lead them to a better life. They are actually very close with Amy’s parents and even call her Linda, the mother, Mom sometimes. One of them named Easy was actually there with us when we visited the Foundation. It was obvious how much he enjoyed working with the children and how thankful he was for the second chance he was given. It is almost impossible to understand how Amy’s parents could be so forgiving to the people who killed their daughter but they realized that it is what Amy would have wanted. Her parents set up the foundation because they realized how passionate Amy was about the cause she was fighting for and they needed to do something to keep helping the South African people. We got to see some performances by the children, which were exceptionally good. They performed some traditional tribal dances, sang for us, played instruments and even did some modern dancing, which was all really good. It was cool to see what the Foundation was doing for them and how much different their lives were because of these extra-curricular activities that they have the chance to participate in. It made me even think about coming back sometime to work with the Foundation and help out with the children because it would be such a rewarding experience.

The fourth day was back to the wine lands but this time on mountain bikes. We biked 30 kilometers (about 20 miles) through the mountains and the wine lands, which was really beautiful and a lot of fun. The scenery was really breathtaking and after the ride, we did some more wine tasting at 2 different wineries and had a nice picnic lunch. I feel like I can enjoy wine more now that I know something about it. Today was the last day and I went on a half day tour of some of the sights near Cape Town. We drove along the coast and stopped at a few different places. It actually reminded me a lot of San Diego because of the beaches and the way the towns looked along the coast. We got to see some wild African penguins, which was very cool. Then we went all the way to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, which is the southernmost tip of the African continent. The tour guide was very knowledgeable but it was a little more driving than I expected. The rest of the day I just enjoyed Cape Town for a few more hours before we had to be back on the ship. The harbor where we were docked also looked a lot like San Diego or San Francisco. It was really pretty and very modernized and touristy so I felt at home like we were back in the U.S., which was comforting. As you can probably tell, I really loved South Africa and it was definitely my favorite port so far. There are so many different things you can do there and I didn’t even get to the safaris or extreme sports, which are a huge part of the tourist attractions! I would highly recommend going there at some point in your lifetime since I’m pretty sure most of you haven’t been there. I know I will definitely be back again because I have never experienced so many different and new things all in a range of 100 miles. Now it’s back to business in the school department until we get to India in 10 days. Although I will have a nice break in Mauritius for 1 day, which I have been hearing is a beautiful place. If you got this far, thanks for reading!

Morocco!

So Morocco was an interesting place to visit and I wasn’t really sure what to expect before we got there. We had some bad luck with weather and sat for a whole day in Gibraltar waiting for fuel so we missed one day in Morocco. Basically the whole time there I was on an SAS trip in Marrakech. The first day of the trip we took the bus to these palm groves in Marrakech where we got to do a camel ride. That was pretty cool, although it was like 30 minutes long, which was a little too much. We rode in camel trains through these palm groves, which are basically these huge fields filled with palm trees. It was actually really pretty and I got some good pictures of it all. One thing I don’t think anyone was prepared for was that there were people living in the fields basically in shack houses and we rode right through all of the people living their daily lives. They were obviously very poor and there were lots of children around that were running along beside us and watching and waving. That was my first experience with some of the poverty that is in Morocco. Next we went to our hotel in Marrakech, which was very nice by Moroccan standards but probably a 3 star hotel in the U.S. A group of us went to the grocery store to get stuff and it was obvious that girls should be with at least one guy at all times, especially at night. The men in Morocco are not used to seeing women with lighter features and not wearing scarves on their heads, so they would stare very obviously whenever girls walked by and even try to talk to us. I really didn’t like not being able to be independent like women are in America, even just to walk down the street. Women are treated very differently there, which in my eyes was sad to see. Some examples of this are that women are not allowed to go in cafes at all, they cannot pray in mosques with men or they must be behind men, and in general you just don’t see that many women out.

Marrakech seemed like a confused city to me because half of it is modernized and the other half is dirty and rundown. The confusing part is that both the modern parts and rundown parts are on the same street. I would see a really nice hotel with electronic billboards and right next to it was abandoned buildings and trash everywhere and holes in the ground. The same analogy could be used for the people in Marrakech. Some people still follow all of the traditional Islamic practices in regards to the way they act and dress and other people look and act in a more modern way. So there are a lot of women that cover themselves head to toe, some that just wear a head scarf with normal clothes, and some that dressed as any American woman would. My Islam professor explained that some people interpret the religion in a modern way and don’t believe in some of the traditional practices anymore.

Anyways, the second day we toured Marrakech and saw the famous mosque there, a prior King’s palace and the souks (the marketplace similar to a Bazaar in Turkey where there are many vendors that you can bargain with). The souks were kind of insane because all of the vendors were very aggressive when trying to get you to buy their stuff. Basically everywhere I went, the people are trying to scam you in some way to take your money. For example, there were snake charmers and people with monkeys in the main square, which was pretty cool. They lure you in with their cool tricks and then as soon as you take a picture, they demand that you pay them some ridiculous price. At this point you have no choice but to pay them because they will literally scream at you and chase you if you don’t pay. The same thing goes for cab drivers because they don’t really use meters so if you don’t agree on a price in the beginning, they will try to charge you 10 times more than you should pay. These sorts of things made me glad that I was on the trip with SAS because we got fair warning about all of these scams, while people traveling independently had to learn from their mistakes. This practice of scamming was surprising to me because this is so against the Islamic religion and most of the Moroccan people are very religious. I understood that the people are trying to make a living, but it was frustrating that they try to take advantage of you in every way possible.

Overall, Morocco seemed like a country where most of the people are struggling financially. Most people were dressed in old, dirty clothes and there were a lot of people begging for money. Everywhere we went, it didn’t smell very good and there was trash all over the streets. . It was much harder to communicate there than in Spain because the main languages are Arabic and French. I wouldn’t say this is a vacation destination but it was a good learning experience. I also know that this is just the beginning of the poverty I am going to witness along this trip so I am more prepared for that now. The next port is Namibia, which will again be much different than Spain or Morocco, but at least they speak English more commonly! That’s all for now and we have 8 days at sea so I need to catch up on some schoolwork but I’ll post again probably after Namibia.

Espana

Well we left Spain yesterday and I had an awesome time there. The first day I had a walking tour of the city where we learned all about the history of Cadiz and also saw the Arts and Archaeological Museum there. That night we went to Flamenco night, which consisted of an amateur bullfight followed by flamenco music and dancing. It was very cool to see some of the Spanish tradition up close and personal. The next morning we had to meet at 7:30 and head out for a 2 day trip to Sevilla and Cordoba. In Sevilla, we got to see the Plaza de Espana, the largest gothic cathedral in the world and one of the King of Spain’s palaces as well as many other sights. Everything was just so mind-blowing since I had never seen anything like these places before. All of the architecture was so massive and at the same time so detailed, which was what really amazed me. The cathedral had 100 foot tall ceilings and practically every inch of it was decorated in some way. The pictures really don’t do it any justice. Whether it was hugs paintings or engravings in the wall or stained glass windows or statues, the entire place was covered from ceiling to floor. Also in the Cathedral was Christopher Columbus’ grave, which has apparently been disputed as to whether he is actually in there. Just recently, they did some DNA testing from the remains and all along his family line including his living relatives and it was confirmed that at least some part of his remains is in that tomb. There also may be some in the Dominican Republic, but they refused to let them test what they have.

After Sevilla, we made our way to Cordoba and spent the night in a hotel there. The cool thing about being on a trip hosted by Semester at Sea is that they try to make every meal traditional so that we get to taste all of the food that people normally eat from that country. I thought I would like Spanish food more than I did though, which was disappointing but I’m glad that I tried it anyway. The next day we had a tour of Cordoba, which included a trip to the Old Jewish Quarter as well as La Mezquita, which was a mosque but is now the Cathedral of Cordoba that can fit 30,000 people inside. This place was just incredible. I’m sure you can look it up on Google, but basically there were hundreds of rows of arches inside the Cathedral. The mosque began construction in 785 and took about a century to finish. Then in 1236 it was taken over by the Christians led by King Ferdinand III. They basically redecorated the mosque with Christian adornments and added a very big altar. This was a common theme all over Spain, in which one building was used in history by Christians, Jews and Muslims at some point in time. This made the architecture and decoration very interesting because it had influences from many different countries and religions.

The last day I spent in Cadiz and enjoyed the local feel of the city. We went out to eat and also saw a local flamenco show. I did a little shopping and got some things I needed as well as some souvenirs. Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Spain and definitely think I want to go back someday. My roommate and I slept 13 hours when we got back on the ship, which felt very, very nice since we had been sleep deprived. Right now, we are sitting in the water near Gibraltar waiting for the port to open so we can get fuel and we should be in Morocco tomorrow morning.

I’ll post again after Morocco, where I will be doing some camel riding!