Medasi Ghana

Last day in Ghana. So gotta start the day early. I woke up at 7 again to get some breakfast. I waited for the others until 9, so that we could go to Sekondi. However, I doubted that they would get up any time early since they had a long night yesterday. I saw Cooper who told me that he was going to an orphanage at 9:15 with a number of others to play with the kids there and donate some things. I felt like I should wait for Ben, Nick, and the others to wake up, however again I didn't think that they would get up soon, so I decided to join Cooper at the orphanage. There were about 20 of us and the orphanage was about a 20 minute taxi ride away (5 of us in one taxi). We got there while it was raining (as if the weather was symbolizing the pain these kids have felt). It was in the middle of nowhere within lush vegetation, and was a relatively small place. We all gathered inside the main room, where all the kids sat with us, and then we got out lots of paper and crayons and gave the orphanage two soccer balls that were made of some material that made them almost indestructible (and also relatively heavy for a soccer ball). For the next 2 hours we played soccer with the children, did art with them, blew balloon toys for them, and talked with them. It was quite an exhilarating experience. The kids were surprisingly good at soccer; kids 12 and younger were schooling me with some insane dribbling and juggling skills for someone their age). At the elementary school on the first day I had a fun time, but here at orphanage I felt like I was actually making a difference and affecting someone's life in a beneficial way. There was one child in particular, James, who was just so adorable and clung on to me for a long time. We did some art for a while, and then blew up a few balloons and played with them. His joy and satisfaction from the simplest of things made me jealous and reminded me of the beauty and innocence of a child's mind. The orphanage had some African drums, and one of the taxi drivers was really good at playing them. He taught one of the students a beat, and then the two of them and one of the older kids played the drums while we all danced for the longest of times. It was all good fun, and it was an amazing feeling to see the all the smiles and fun times we gave to this kids. Even  if it was only for a few hours, I'm sure we affected these kids for a lifetime. I know that this experience definitely affected me for a lifetime. Towards the end of our stay, one of the lady heads of the orphanage took us to the local church and village. The church was simple, old, and small, and yet had a certain beauty to it. When we came back out we met a lady who knew one of the orphans with us (Cecilia). Her name was Mary and from the conversation we guessed that she was her aunt. Like the kids, she was full and joy and energy and thanked us from her heart for helping out these kids and bringing some light into their lives. It was now time to leave (at least for me and by 4 other taxi buddies), as we had to get back to Takoradi to do some last minute shopping. We headed back to the city's market, where I was able to find a Ghanaian flag. When I got back to the ship, I only had three hours left before on-ship time and I still had to get soveigners and stamps. When I got back out the ship to the soveigner shops set up right next to our dock, I asked Samuel if he knew where I could find stamps. He said that unfortunately the post office was closed on Saturdays, something that I didn't take into account. I was let down because I wanted a Ghanaian stamp on my postcards (I could still send them from South Africa, but it wouldn't be the same as having a Ghanaian stamp on them), however Samuel promised me that he would buy some stamps for me on Monday when the post office opened again and send them to my home. This is what I love most about Ghanaians, they are always willing to help. With that stress off of my mind, I started my shopping. During this time, I met another one of the sellers whose name was Felix and was quite an amazing and friendly and understanding fellow. He described to me in particular detail the meaning of all of the things I bought, including the significance of the bead patterns on some masks I got. Around 5:30, it was time to get back on the ship. I bid farewell to Samuel, Kojo, Felix, and Ghana, and re-boarded the ship. This was in short, an experience of a lifetime, and I plan to come back to Ghana at some point in my life (maybe more than once). On the ship I got dinner and caught up with friends and shared experiences. When time came for our ship to leave, we all went out to the outside decks to wave goodbye to Takoradi. All of the shop people came our of the stores (which they were packing up to go back home) with their drums and instruments and performed drumming and dancing for us. I wish every port would bid us goodbye in this manner. Many people were yelling, "We love you Ghana" (I was among these people) and as our ship detached from port and headed out of port, we continued waving to every last Ghanaian we saw. I stayed out on deck for a bit longer, although the others went back in, and I reflected on my experiences and thought about upcoming events. I went back in when it was time for our post-port meetings. Afterwards, I went to Ben's room and watched Mulan (for the first time in years). After the movie, I was feeling quite time and I had things to do tomorrow. I decided to call it a night early so that I could recover from little sleep over the last few days. I will miss Ghana, but there are more countries to experience, and amazing locals to meet. We will see where this path takes me now. Medasi Ghana. Thank you for a great time.
-Nimish
September 25, 2010

Ato Kwamina

Good morning. Its 7am. My trip leaves at 8. I'm good (I Blink). It's 7:50. OH MY GOD. I'm gonna be late. Get out of bed, change into some jeans and shirt quickly, toss on my shoes, get my backpack, and run! (I get off the ship) Thank god the bus is still there. I made it.
That's how my morning started. I almost missed my trip "Village Experience." I hate it whenever something like this happens. You wake up on time, blink, and then its somehow 30+ minutes later. But its a good thing that I did make it, because I am excited for this trip. It was a 1.5 hour drive by bus to the village, during which I talked with Howard about interesting things, and practiced a bit improv for comedy class. Like the drive to Ankasa, the sides of the roads were lush with vegetation and the occasional village. When we arrived to the village, we were greeted by a performance by the tribe's drumming group. The music was amazing and very energizing, a good thing for my tired self. We all got in a line and greeted the tribe's leaders (there were about 10 of them) and then took our seats. The naming ceremony started off with a traditional dance accompanied by drumming, which was intriguing to say the least. This was followed by an initiation ritual and then more dancing and drumming. Then the real naming ceremony began, as we were called by last name in sets of 12. A traditional Ghanaian name has two parts: the first is a unique name of special significance for each person and the second is a name specific to the day the person was born on. The ceremony involved us getting up to the tribe's "secretary" (there is a real name for him but I don't remember it), telling him our real name, then some chanting from the secretary, us drinking a little bit of water, some more chanting, and then a little bit of soda (traditionally the second drink is honey or gin, I think, but they changed that for obvious reasons), and then the proclamation of our Ghanaian name. Some people had cool names, others complicated, and others were both. My name is the first: cool but not really complicated. Ato Kwamina: meaning he who is born on Saturday and is a genuine person who people like (I'm not making this up). After we all got our names (all 70 of us), it was time for us participating in some dancing and drumming, and talking with the tribal people. As anywhere I've been in Ghana, the people were very friendly, and not shy at all to ask me for my number of email. Some children took me into the village and introduced me to some of their friends. It amazed me in what conditions these people were living in (it wasn't horrible, but it still was quite dirty and old) and yet how happy and content they seemed with their lives. It's times like these when I feel like the things I worry about back home (like school, academics, the future, etc) are so insignificant. I have a great life compared to many of these people, and no matter what happens I should stay content with life. Only then I feel I can be as happy as these people (not just in Ghana, but also in Spain and Morocco). The children wanted me to come to the park and play soccer with them, and I was really tempted to, but then I heard the drumming slow down, meaning that we would probably be leaving soon. And sure enough, as soon as I got back to the group and drumming stopped and we began boarding the buses to leave. There was much picture taking the children and adults before getting on the bus and leaving while waving goodbye. People is Ghana really do love waving and meeting people, especially travelers. We then went to a beach resort restaurant for lunch, which really reminded me of the the restaurant we went to the day before after Ankasa. Lunch was really good, the rice was tasty, the fried plantains were delightful, the tomato sauce was mouth watering, and the pineapple was to die for. The trip back on the bus seemed short for me (obviously, since I was sleeping for most of it) and featured a view of the ship from far away, on the other side of the land near Takoradi's twin city Sekondi. Upon arrival on the ship, I dropped off my stuff and went to Ben's room to transfer some pictures. Since it was still quite early (like 4pm), we (Ben, Nick, Howard, and I) decided to head to Takoradi's circle market, which we had not yet experienced fully. After getting a taxi to the circle, and withdrawing some money, we made our circumnavigation of market. There were so many people, selling anything from backpacks to plastic containers, to fish, to fruit, etc. We even went inside the market which was a cramped labyrinth of more food vendors. Inside, a lot of the locals noticed Howard, and every 2 seconds we would here someone say "blah blah blah Korean blah blah blah" (even though he is Chinese). Back outside, we found ourselves on the complete opposite side of where we should be, so we made our way back towards the harbor. As we were walking between the vendors, one of the cutest things that I have experience took place. I hear a little girl say something loudly, and then she pelted at me and gave me a big hug around my knees (she was really short), and then looked at me with one of the most innocent, curious, and merry faces I have ever seen. I replied by giving her a great big hug, and waved bye and continued on (in my mind I was thinking, "Did that really just happen.... so adorable"). We hired another taxi back to the harbor, and made our way for dinner on the ship, which was a very simple meal for us vegetarians today (just potatoes and rice). After watching Toy Story and playing a card version of Monopoly (Deal Monopoly, which I found much more enjoyable than the board game, probably because it was much shorter), we went to the duty free shop across from the ship again, since everyone was congregating there again. This night was much more fun that the last, as I met a lot more people and had a good time with Jacob and the others. We called it a night around 12, since we (or at least I did) want to get up early the next day so that we can do as much as we can tomorrow, which is our last day in Ghana. I really wish we stayed here longer. There is still so much I want to experience and see. But it is what it is, and so we must make the most of what we have. Dey-ye.
-Nimish
September 24, 2010

Rain Rain Go Away

Another early-ish start of the day. 7am is early for home standards, but when you are in a place like Ghana, its never too early.... at least for me. Other people like sleeping in, even though they know that they may never again visit places like this. After getting some breakfast, Ben, Nick, Megan, and I headed out of the port and try to get to Ankasa (we also stole some cereal boxes from the cafeteria since we knew we most likely would not be getting another meal anytime soon). One of the taxi drivers we had yesterday that we talked to, said that he would be able to take us there. We told him that we would meet him outside the Port Gate at 8:30. We got there at 8:50 (due to the the obvious delays in leaving: forgotten things in our room, last minute bathroom stops, etc). There was no sign of the taxi driver, and we waited for 20 minutes for him. One of the other drivers who was waiting there offered to take us in his nice car (it had A/C, an automatic win). So we began our two hour long drive to Ankasa Nature Reserve. Anthony, the driver, was an interesting person to talk to. He talked in loudly, used hand motions, kept touching my leg every time he was trying to make a point, and he was very strongly opinionated. He did teach me a thing or two about the Ghanaian kings, the most interesting fact being that the heir is not his son but his sisters son in order to avoid competition/fighting between his own sons. The drive was most beautiful. The vegetation was quite thick and very green for roadside nature. Along the way, we passed by rubber tree forests, palm tree forests, and many small villages/towns that were intriguing to see. One thing I did notice on the drive, is how religious Ghanaians are. We saw tons of cars that had religious-saying stickers on them, stores that were named in religious ways, and Anthony who was a staunch Christian. We reached the dirt road that would take us to the park entrance after about 2 hours. The dirt road was quite treacherous, with mud holes, pot holes, very rocky pavement, and giant cracks/trenches in the ground. Tony had to get out of the car to inspect questionable areas to see if his car would be able to make it through or not. He told us that this road was best/only for 4x4 cars, and yet he pushed his car onwards. After 6kms on this path, we got to the entrance and picked up a guide who would lead us to the bamboo cathedral of the park. We first drove down the park's road for about 15 minutes with the four of us squeezed in the back (I was literally sitting on the door's handle bar) adn the guide in the front. When we started hitting some bumpy and muddy roads, we got out of the car, left it, and continued our trek on foot. This would lead to an extraordinary experience. For one, we were in an African rainforest. Two, this park was not a tourist destination, so we were completely isolated, which a great feeling after being stuck with other people on the ship and in port on trips. And third, it began raining (and it rained hard for the whole time) and this only added to the experience since the others didn't have a raincoat and I was fortunate enough to have brought my umbrella. I don't  know how to describe it but the rain added a certain vibe to the environment and it felt great. Our guide lead us along the road for a couple of minutes, until he took us into the main forest. This part was especially cool, because we were walking on a completely makeshift trail (I'm not even sure the trail even existed before this) through the thick foliage of the forest, while ducking and diving under and over trees and  tree roots. Before reaching the Bamboo Cathedral, we made a quick rest stop in a small campground, and boy was it raining hard. I've seen it rain this hard before (in India) but I've never actually been outside in the open while its been raining like this. The "cathedral" was only a 5 minute walk from the campgrounds. It was spectacular. It featured 10s of gigantic clumps of bamboo that shot up and fanned out to give each clump an cathedral arch like look to it. The air in this place had a serenity and stillness that was quite soothing and relaxing. There was even a stream with a bridge inside this area, adding to the beauty. We were only there for about 10 minutes, before deciding to head back (it was a long hike, and it was raining damn hard). This time, we stuck to the park road and hiked through mud and gravel until we got back to the car and crammed into it again. At the park entrance we dropped off the guide and made out way out. The experience in Ankasa was brilliant. The vegetation was spectacularly green and thick. There were trees and bushes and vines growing everywhere. The place was isolated from any real human activity, so it gave us time to separate ourselves from the world and connect with nature. My pants, socks, and shoes were also soaked with water and mud, so that's a good thing too I guess. The only thing I was sad about was that we did not see much animal life aside from a swarm of army ants and two guinea fowl (which is apparently an endangered animal, so that was cool to see). Since it was raining so hard all the animals were away inside the deeper parts of the forest, and Ankasa is known for its animal-life that is not used to human-contact (and thus more natural). Nevertheless, the experience was exhilarating, and I was glad I made it to the park. The drive back was a quite experience during which time I reflected on my time with SAS so far. I don't know why, but the combination of heavy rain, being in a car with a Ghanaian driver and three sleeping friends caused me to be finally hit by the realization that I was traveling the world on my own. It was a scary and exciting feeling. When we got back to Takoradi, we had lunch/dinner (linner :) in a hotel restaurant near the beach. It felt really good to feed our stomachs after a long drive, long hike, and being soaked. Upon reaching the port, we headed to the ship, and it felt really good to be "back." When I passed by the shops set up by the Explorer, I saw Samuel again who called me into his shop and gave me a large seashell on which he had written "Welcome to Ghana Nimish" (with his email on the inside) as a gift of our friendship. I was touched by this token, and I intend to treasure this shell for the rest of my life. Back on the ship, I did something really important: I took a warm shower and changed into clean clothes, and it felt so good. I also tried to wash the mud off of my pants and socks (the socks just turned all mud red, so I will have to wash them again later). I then got dinner (yes I was that hungry still) and shared experiences with friends. Around 9, Tony, Alyssa, Tesha, and I headed outside the ship, as there was a convenience store right next to the store where a large number of SAS students were gathering to "socialize." I had a good time there talking with Tony and the others, and even ran into Samuel again and chatted with him for a long time about life. When we headed back, Tony and I had to walk through the large mob of drinking SAS kids, and I felt sorry for the Ghanaians there (who had to see and experience these loud and obnoxious Americans who were making fools of themselves and not at all helping debunk the stereotype of Americans being loud and stupid people) and the students themselves (who seem like they can't go a single night in port without drinking or "going out;" I observed the crowd and saw the same people who go out a lot in all of the ports). But that is not my problem, and in all fairness, "To each his own." It was getting late, and I have to wake up early the next morning, so I'm calling it a night. Only two days in Ghana have passed, and I've had two memorable experiences on both days. Dey-ye: Good night
-Nimish
September 23, 2010

Maa Che Ghana

Maa che (good morning) Ghana. Today was the best single day experience on SAS.... yet. I started off the day quite early, getting up at 6am to watch us dock at Takoradi. First thing that hit me was that at 6am, it was already daylight outside, with the sun shining brightly. This was most interesting because when we were getting in Cadiz, the sun did not even start rising until 8:00am, and it was already up at 6am here. At the front of the ship, there were a lot fewer people than there were when we were docking in Spain. This was a nice thing though, because I was able to enjoy the moment since there were no noisy people destroying the ambiance. Once getting out on to the deck, the first thing I noticed in the water was a very small wooden plank with a tiny tree tied to it. Intriguing. Then in the horizon, I noticed a small silhouette in the distance. Someone yelled, "shark!" But I didn't buy it. As we got closer, we saw that it was just a very small fishing boat throwing out these tree-on-a-plank things into the water (most likely fishing net tied to these planks), and the people on the boat waved to us, and we waved back. First interaction with Ghanaian people. Then near the horizon, we saw a decent-sized splash, and a mist of water shoot out: whales (we also saw a few dolphins a little bit before this, but they didn't jump out of the water; just saw their fins).  As we got closer to the port, we saw more fishing boats and tree-planks, and we got this sudden whiff of a rusty, ash smell that followed us all the way into the port. We docked alongside a ship from Germany, and another from Singapore. The city definitely looked much smaller than the past two cities we docked at (Cadiz and Casablanca), but I was quite excited to meet the people of Ghana, who are said to be very friendly and helpful. After a quick breakfast, I met up with Nick, Ben, and Jacob to finalize our plans for the day. Since Ben was still waiting for his Ghana visa to be processed, we decided to just head into the city for lunch, get back to pick up our passports, and then take a bus to some random city. Little did we know where our path would actually take us today. Immediately after getting off of the ship, we found out why Ghanaians had a reputation for being friendly. So many of the locals, were calling to us and welcoming us to Ghana, and a very large number of them were cheering to me. I was wearing the Manchester United Jersey that Yash got me when he went on SAS, and apparently Ghanaians are huge ManU fans. People were yelling at me happily, giving me thumbs ups, pumping their hands in the air in support, and a large number of them just walked up to me and introduced themselves. I personally am not a ManU fan (I just have the jersey), but I played along because it felt good to "fit in." The first person who introduced himself, was a man by the name of Samwell who was a local salesman. We talked for some time about soccer (aka football in the world, aside from the US), and he agreed to make us custom named bracelets. We continued our walk in the port, which took us 10 minutes (not as bad as Casablanca, which was a 20 minute walk) with more Ghanaians calling out to us. Never in my life, have I felt so much friendliness from such complete strangers, not even on the first few days of the voyage when everyone was trying to meet everyone. The locals would just walk up to us, and ask us who we are, where we are from, if we need help getting somewhere or needed suggestions of places to go, etc. Right when we got out of the port, a man asked us if we knew where we were going, and then gave us directions to the town center and the bus stations. While walking up the path towards the city (which was through a foresty area), a taxi dropped off two young-adult Ghanaians in front of us. These guys then started talking with us, and like the others asked us if we needed help, and then actually decided to show us the city on their own time. Something like that has never happened in my whole life. I mean just think about it, a person offering some random tourists he will most likely never see again in his whole life a tour of the city just so that you can feel comfortable and see the real side of his country. These guys were apparently best friends, and both of them also happened to be name Robert. So Robert and Robert (I will refer to them as R singularly or RnR for both) lead us towards the city and market, talking to us about general info about Ghana, the life, their own lives, what they want to do with their lives, and it was all so much fun. And it was only 11am. In Takoradi we tried various banks to exchange money, but they all had long lines. So RnR took us to the city's center (the market) where they took us to a sketchy looking road, that had a federal exchange bureau. The atmosphere there was amazing. People were everywhere walking, talking to each other, and saying hi to us. There were not many cars (which is a great thing) outside the port. This place is definitely the first culture "shock" for me, and I'm sure many others as well. The buildings were old, there were very few restaurants (mostly side stall vendors), the people were ridiculously friendly, and there was a very active environment (I know that I've been saying that for a number of places, but its true). We wanted to get some food, and so RnR took us down some rural roads and areas, from asphalt to dust, and brought us to "The Secret Hideaway" (a well-chosen name). The place looked kind of questionable at first, but we trusted RnR and it paid off. The food was very good, I got steamed rice that came with a tomato and onion "stew" which was very tasty. I also had some 7-Up, which tasted different here than back in the USA. The soda was less bubbly (in a good way) and something about it made it seem tastier. And on the bottle was a saying that really hit me: "Life is Short, So Live it Up." And I plan to live it up on this voyage. I pulled out my paper that SAS gave us that has some of the phrases and commonly used words in the local language, and R helped teach me how to pronounce some of these words. My favorite phrase was definitely "Onyami Adom" which translates to "by God's Grace" (or more like "I'm doing fine, by God's grace). From the Hideaway, we made our way for monkey hill, which is the home of an endangered species of monkey. On the way, we passed by RnR's elementary school during what I'm guessing to be lunch break, since all the children were playing outside. I asked if we were allowed to go in, and got a positive reply. One of the best experiences of my whole life. The moment we stepped foot into that school, a huge mob of children noticed us (with our cameras and non-local clothes) and rushed us. What ensued was one of the most amazing chaotic moments ever. it started off with just a big mob of children surrounding the four of us taking pictures with us and wanting pictures taken of them, and then pouncing on us to see the pictures on our cameras. They were then able to separated the four of us into separate groups, in which they overwhelmed us with their friendliness, innocence, and excitement. After some picture taking, they actually took our cameras and began taking their own pictures of us and the other children. I was perfectly fine with this, but trying to get my camera was one of the most difficult experiences ever, because they would not let go since each and every one of them wanted to take a picture and I had to literally beg them to let go of the camera. But the children were just so happy, and excited to know more about us. They asked us many questions, from "where are you from" and "what's your name" to "say something in our vernacular." A few of them actually asked us for our phone numbers, but since my phone is not working internationally, I just gave one of them my email address. When it came time to leave, I got onto my knees and opened my hands in a motion to get a hug. About 30 kids rushed me at all directions with such force that they almost tackled me. Most enthusiastic hugs ever. Even after I got up, a few kids continued holding on to me, even as I walked out the gates. The children followed us out of the gates and asked when we would be back. I told them that we might be able to come back on our last day (Saturday 9/25/10), but otherwise we couldn't guarantee anything. As we started walking away, they kept giving us high fives, and hugs, and some of them even said that they wanted to come with us. As much as I would have loved that, we had to tell them, "Be cool and stay in school." As we walked off, they kept calling us from behind and waving us good bye. What an amazing experience, one that I will surely never forget. We made our way for monkey hill, but decided to cut through the short part of the forest since we heard that the monkeys were not coming close today and acting shy. So aside  from hearing some monkey calls, no monkey encounter today. On the other side of the forest, we came upon New Takoradi, or as the locals nicknamed it "New York City." Since we were a bit burned out, we decided not to walk to that part of the city and started heading back to the harbor on some railway tracks that would lead us right to the entrance. After walking on the tracks for a little time, we were called by some policemen on the side. They were friends of RnR and told us that it would not be safe for us to continue of the route we were taking. They flagged down a taxi and set us on our way to the harbor. People here really take care of you, and its quite extraordinary. All six of us were able to fit in that small taxi. So seven (including the driver) fully grown men were able to fit in a car the size of a Nissan Cube. Jacob, however, probably was not very comfortable since he was sitting in a very awkward way in the front with R. When we got back to the port entrance, we took our leave of RnR, after thanking them extensively for all of their help. We really did have an unforgettable experience and it was most likely because of their help. When we got back on the ship, we took a plunge in the pool which was quite rejuvenating since it was hot and humid outside. We spent some more time with children as we played in the pool with the voyage's photographer's two kids. Around 5:30, we got some dinner on the ship before heading out to experience the city by night, this time accompanied by Natalie and Jyne as well. We got two taxis to the Takoradi's market (Ben and Nick went in the other one), and due to a misunderstanding the two taxis were separated. We got off at the market, and just wandered around since we had nothing better to do. Some children noticed us and they followed us for a short time, during which they held our hands and kissed them multiple times. Children in this country really have captured my attention and heart, their innocence and energy is really quite contagious and eye-opening. While walking the path back to the harbor, we ran in to Ben and Nick, who still were with their cab driver. We then hoped on and headed for a restaurant to get a few beverages and possibly some food. We then chilled there for around an hour before calling it a night. Although it was only about 9pm, it was very dark (it was dark around 6:30), the streets seemed kind of barren and creepy to a certain extent, and many places were closed. Although it was still a little early, I did not mind because I an a remarkable and memorable day. "Winging it" is really the way to go in countries like this. I've only been in Ghana for one day, and I'm already having a much more memorable experience than in Spain or Morocco. That's not to say that I didn't have fun in those two ports. Spain and Morocco were also amazing, but Ghana is just something different. At least today, it was not as much about sight-seeing as it was about truly experiencing the country. And experience it we did. To a whole new level. And there are many more days to come. After today especially, I realized that I want to do more service trips in the other ports, and so I will start looking immediately for openings in the South African service trips. I can't wait for more amazing experiences To come. But for now, "Dey-ye," or "Good Night (sleep well)."
-Nimish
September 22, 2010

Planning for Ghana

Tomorrow, we will be in Ghana. I can't believe it, this last week went by much faster than the week before Spain. I spent most of the day figuring out what to do the first two days in Ghana, and I'm quite excited for it. The first day, we will either be going to Cape Coast, which is known for its old slave dungeons and castles, or if we are not able to get a bus to Cape Coast, then we will just be winging it. I'm quite excited because this is the first independent travel I will be doing that takes us out of the port city, and I really wouldn't mind just getting on to the bus and going to a random town for the day. This would be a great way to just get away from the tourist areas and see a different side of Ghana that most people may not be able to see. One thing I do want to try at least once while in Ghana is the Tro-tro, which is like a makeshift bus and is apparently quite the experience to have while in Ghana. Second day, I will be traveling to Anaksa Nature Reserve independently with a few friends. We are particularly excited for this because the reserve is not a tourist hot spot (so it will be a more enthralling experience) and has many species of plants and animals (including forest elephants). A hike there should be a wonderful experience. In general, I don't really have much planned for Ghana, and that seems to be the fun part. Many of my other friends are doing service visits, or tours of the slave trade areas. However after tourist-like travel in Morocco and Spain, I definitely want to travel in Ghana without the travel guide or large group, and go on my own with just a few  others and try to truly experience the culture and atmosphere. Something I learned on my  overnight trips in Spain and Morocco, is that when traveling in large groups, you can't help but feel like a tourist. In such a large group it is easy for you to stand out, and difficult for you to flow into the culture of the area. The cultural pre-port was quite interesting, with one presentation during which one of the professors talked about how to use a squat toilet properly (of course most of the speech people were laughing). Hopefully these independent trips of ours work out, if not we'll see where the road takes us. Thats the best part about this adventure.
-Nimish
September 21, 2010

Study Time

Today was study day. Did nothing besides work for the whole day. So nothing much can be said about today. A quite boring, but necessary thing to do.
-Nimish
September 20, 2010

Oh Captain, my Captain

We hit some rough seas today. First time since the first day of classes. I was good in the morning, but after having two classes in a row in the Union (which is in the front of the ship, which rocks the most), I was not feeling to well. I then attended my Bridge Tour, in which I went onto the bridge of the ship, and was introduced to the various gizmos and gadgets that runs this floating home of ours. I was also allowed to wear our captains hat, and sit in his chair to get a picture. The tour, however, was in the very front of the ship, and after our tour I was quite out of it with sea sickness. Lesson of the day: Captain Crunch and Raisin Bran are not easily digested cereals. Fortunately the waters calmed down further on during the day, so I was able to leave my room and get some studying done for various classes. I have lots of stuff coming up, so I have lots of "work" to do. But its all in good fun. That's the thing I really like about this voyage; no matter what happens (aside from sea sickness) you are always in a pleasant mood.
-Nimish
September 19, 2010

Need to get serious

Just another normal day. Don't want it to seem like its boring, but nothing really happened that is different from the usual. I really need to get serious with my studying however, I feel like I'm behind, but I don't really have any work to do. Its a really weird feeling. Notable things of today: saw some flying fish, the water is ridiculously calm (almost no waves, its like glass), and there was some lightning at night.
-Nimish
September 18, 2010

Dean David

Not much happened today. So not going to waste time talking about nothing. The one things that was awesome about today, is that I had breakfast with Dean David, or as I call him, Knight David (he was knighted by the King of Spain). He really is an amazing person. So funny, informative, supportive, and friendly, its really quite astonishing when you meet people like him. You just look at people like him, and just wonder, "How do you do this, act like this, or how did you become like this?" Everyone on the ship loves him, and for good reason. As I always do during breakfast, I at lots of cereal (3 small boxes of it). Dean then says, "You eat a lot of cereal Nimish." And I said, "I know, in Spain I ate 4 bowls during breakfast at one of our hotels." And he says, "I know, do you know how I know?" "No, how do you?" "Guess." I tried my best but couldn't figure it out. After breakfast I asked him how he knew, and he said, "You have to figure it out, you have until we reach SD." I tried to figure it out all day, but did not succeed. I don't know how I'm going to guess this, and its going to chew my brains out until I do so. Dangit! I need to sleep on it, maybe it will come to me in my sleep. Or at least I hope so.
-Nimish
September 17, 2010

Lunch With Desmond Tutu

I woke up quite early (8am) which is quite surprising seeing that I played a lot of soccer last night, and was dead tired. Its times like this when I notice how much happier, healthier, and more energetic I am when I exercise, and how after exercising I sleep much better yet shorter. I then look out the window and see a city. My initial reaction was, "We are already in Ghana? Did I sleep for 6 days and nights in a row?" After turning on the TV, I saw that we were refueling in the Canary Islands. Now things made more sense, but I was still confused why we were refueling. We were in Morocco just two days before. Probably because the fuel in the islands is cheaper, or something like that. I had breakfast with the ship's security faculty, Mary, and her husband James. They were very fun to talk to and had many interesting stories. Mary is an ex-secret service worker, and James is a hell of an athlete (he swims for 5 hours for fun). After classes (comedy was a great experience as always, and history was confusing [on what exactly we are doing] as always) I went to lunch. As I was looking for a place to sit, I noticed Desmond Tutu and his wife siting alone by the window. I took a deep breath, walked up to them and asked if I could join them for lunch, and was given the "yes" answer. The two of them seemed a bit tired, so I didn't pester them with many questions, and we mostly talked about my aspirations and related topics for a short while. It was kind of annoying though because many of my friends who walked into the dining hall afterward noticed me, and gave me weird faces in the attempts to make me laugh/giggle. I think they were just jealous that they didn't have the courage to do the same thing I did. After lunch was done, the Archbishop and wife took their leave (the Father gave me a fist bump), and I was left thinking to myself "I just had lunch with Archbishop Desmond Tutu......... AWESOME!!!" My friends and I then just fooled around after that, until it was time for the Father's book signing event. After that I thought to myself "I had lunch with Father Tutu, and now I have a book signed by him, and a picture with with..... AWESOME AGAIN." Score: me. Then they day was a matter of trying to get some work done, and kind of succeeding at doing so. At 6, I went down to the main dining hall, where I would be meeting my "extended family" group on the ship. I was part of a small group compared to the others. There was me, two other students (Alyssa and Ariel), and a lifelong learner (Pat). Dinner was a pleasant time, as these people were full of curiosity and energy to learn. I didn't get much work done after that though. I went back up, and played Apples-to-Apples with the others, and then hung out with some other friends in their room. Today was an eventful day. I had lunch with the Archbishop, got my book signed by him and took a picture with him, and met my shipboard "family" if you will. Good times aboard the MV Explorer.
-Nimish
September 16, 2010

Back to Classes

Oh yeah, classes again. Today was our first day of classes after like 11 day. Its so weird not having a break from classes right after starting classes, and then going back to them after traveling to two countries I have never been to.  It was like coming back to school after winter break, only it wasn't winter, it was September. After Macroecon and Global Studies, I tried to get some work done, which failed miserably. So instead I tried to do some research for travel in Ghana. I really have no idea what I'm going to do there. I'm not sure if I just want to sign up for some FDPs that open up, get some independent travel, or do an overnight trip with a local Ghana tour guide. I need to get this figured out soon. We only have a week before we get there. I spent hours hanging out with some friends, and not getting work done. In truth though, I really didn't have any work to do anyway, so I was feeling guilty or anything :). At some time, after dinner, I went back to my room and watch some TV shows (I felt like having some alone time). Around 9 Ben, Tisha, Jason, and I went up to the 7th deck to play some soccer. Initially there were only 4 of us, that changed to 6 and then to 12. We played for a good 2 hours, after which we were tired and sore. But it was all very good fun. It was great to play soccer again after like 3 years. Ben then needed to get some drawing done for his class, and I felt like drawing for fun, so we went to the Dining Hall and found Amy who was reading poetry. Around 1, we called it a night and went to bed. I'm excited for tomorrow, because Father Tutu will be signing books. Another day awaits.
-Nimish
September 15, 2010

Bye Morocco...For Ghana or Bust

Last day in Morocco. These last 5.5 days in Morocco and 5 days in Spain really went by fast. The day started out early at 7am, with some breakfast and forming a group to go to the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. This is the second or third largest mosque in the world, so large that it could fit the Cathedral of Notre Dame inside of it, and features a 200m tall minaret (the largest religious minaret in the world) that fires a laser in the direction of Mecca at night. We were trying to make the 9am tour (because you can only go inside the mosque through these tours), but some of us had to exchange/withdraw money, so ended up missing the 9am one, since the walk took around 30 minutes and it took a while to get to the open bank. Fortunately there was also a 10am tour so we decided to take that one instead. The mosque was absolutely stunning. It was so awing from the outside, and very beautiful in the inside. The builders used special stones (including specific types of marble) that did not oxidize so that the mosque would stay that way for 100s or 1000s of years. It was so large that it could fit 50,000 people inside of it, and 100,000 people in the outside square (150,000 people in all) during payer time). The tour was short, and my favorite parts were the beginning when we say the main hallway (which was huge) and two room in the basement, one that was filled with fountains of different sizes, and the other that had a large bathing pool in the center. It was quite the experience, and I would definitely recommend it (and Morocco in general) to any traveler. Unfortunately it was a cloudy/misty day, and the top of the minaret was generally shrouded behind a light mist just thick enough that you could not get good pictures of it. From there we made our way for the markets, and stopped in a cafe along the way for some beverages (mint tea for me as usual). The walk to the markets took a while, since we decided to take a longer way that went through a part of the city we had not seen yet. And then we roamed the market streets for 4 hours (from 12 till 4) looking for some last minute stuff we may want or need, and just absorbing the environment the best we could for the last time. I was able to find everything I needed, as was everyone else. The one thing I was having trouble finding was a mixture of mint tea that I could bring back to the states for my big brother Yash (who loves mint tea). I gave up hope towards the end of our trek, and we decided to stop for a last drink of mint tea before we got back on the ship before departure. That mint tea was definitely the best I've had in this trip (maybe something having to do with it being the last mint tea I would be drinking for a long time, made it taste sweeter or something like that), and I thought I would give it one more shot, and asked the waiter if he knew anywhere to find that mint tea mixture. And he said "We have it." And I took it. I felt really good after that, because I was feeling kind of bad for not finding Yash some mint tea (that's all he asked me for.... yet), but it all worked out in the end. That was a great way for me to end my Moroccan experience, and so we headed back and boarded the ship, leaving Moroccan land. On board, we had dinner (which was really good today), played some more soccer, and caught up with friends, some of whom I had not seen since we got to port. Around 8pm, we undocked from Casablanca port, and started our trip for our next port: Ghana. I have nothing planned for that country, and I should definitely get on top of that starting tomorrow. Overall, my time in Morocco was very enjoyable. In the beginning it felt a little slow, but as it came to a close, I realized how much fun I really had. The Marrakech/Essaouira trip was a long trip with lots of bus driving, but allowed me to see different parts of Morocco and compare the differences between these parts of Morocco. Although there was some very bad behavior from a few of the SAS students, I feel that we all as a group did a very good job responding to a country that is much more conservative than our homes back in the USA. I do hope that these students who have been taking this trip for granted start acting more seriously because I am kind of embarrassed of some of these foul incidents committed by SAS students, which I will not speak of here (ask me later). Its kind of scary to think that we are already done with 2 out of our 14 ports, and we start classes again tomorrow after like 12 days. Hopefully I get back in the grove again, but only time will tell.
-Nimish
September 14, 2010

Safi and El Jadida

Oh, that felt good. Last night, I had by far the best sleep I've had since leaving home for SAS. The beds in the Golden Tulip Hotel were so soft and comfortable. I really needed that, because after Spain and all the traveling we've done so far in Morocco, I've never really had the chosen to recover properly until last night. Breakfast was a very simple meal, only bread and butter for me. We left the hotel around 8:30, and got a driven orientation of the city, which was quite beautiful like Essaouira, and had fortified walls surrounding the old part of town. Right outside of one of the entrances in the wall, we stopped to shop for some pottery (Safi has a reputation to make beautiful pottery). In bought two vases and got an amazing deal for them, because I think the store clerk used a wrong conversion for US dollars to Moroccan Durham (I paid in dollars), so it worked out well for me. After that we headed out for El Jadida, our last trip on this long excursion of ours (another 2-2.5 hour bus ride). When we reached the city, I noticed an immediate difference from all the other Moroccan cities I've seen. This city was much more industrialized, with large factories and phosphate processing facilities, and an expansive port. It was interesting to think about all the different environments I've seen in Morocco: the large city and port of Casablanca, the populated yet traditional Marrakech, the beautiful beaches of Essaouira and Safi, the industrialized El Jadida, and all of the rural areas we've seen in between cities. Our first and only stop in El Jadida was at our restaurant, which was also situated near the beach like the restaurant we had lunch in in Essaouira. After a simple lunch of cheese on toast and salad, and some interesting conversations, we made our departure from El Jadida to Casablanca (another 2 hour bus ride). Seeing the ship again gave us a very relaxing feeling. We all could not wait to get back on board, relax, and get back to the "normal" way of ship life. Saying bye to Lotfi, who got a little emotional, I got back on board (which felt like so long ago since I was last there), dropped my numerous bags, and made my way for dinner. I reunited with Chris, Kathleen, Nick, and Ben, and met a Lifelong Learner (Ken) who was a retired orthopedic surgeon and had a long conversation with him about drama that took place during the trip and education. Next, Nick, Ben, and I headed out again to the Casablancan markets, since we had nothing better to do anyway. It was much more active this night than Thursday night when Noah and I went (because it is not Ramadan anymore). While I got seperated from Nick and Ben, looking for a Morrocan shirt and flag, when I met up with them again I found them with a flag that they got for me. Appartently a man asked them what they were looking for, and when they said they were looking for a Moroccan sticker to put on their laptops, he thought they were looking for a bumper sticker for their car, but came back to them with a Moroccan flag (which made absolutely no sense to any of us, but thats the beauty of it). It's interesting to think how I have gotten both my Spain and Morocco flags in very interesting ways; maybe the same thing will happen when I look for others in their respective countries; that would be very cool. After walking back to the ship, we decided it would be a good idea to get some intense excercise by playing a 2-on-2 soccer match: college roommates (Dino and I) vs. SAS roommates (Ben and Nick). After beeing thoroughly expired :), we watched some comedy videos and made plans for the next day. We have to get up early, as its the last day  in Morocco (have to make the most out of it). I've had fun these 10+ days of traveling in Spain and Morocco, but I must say I'm ready to get back to shipboard life and relax for a few days before Ghana.
-Nimish
September 13, 2010

Essaouira

The day started out by me waking up at 4am, to a very drunk student on one of the other trips, banging on his room next door to get in. At 7, I got out of bed, did the whole morning routine, and packed all the stuff I bought at the souks yesterday, and had a wholesome breakfast consisting of three bowls of cereal (I love cereal, if you didn't know already). Our bus headed out from the hotel around 8:30 for Essaouira. On the bus, our leader Jeff talked to us about responsibility for a bit, because apparently last night a bunch of students got really drunk, one of whom actually somehow broke the hotel's elevator, and three others who were swimming "inappropriately" in the hotel's pool. Jeff reminded us that as SAS students, we would be representing not only SAS but America as a whole (which I thought was absolutely true). We had a long drive ahead of us to get to Essaouira, about 4 hours. Along the way we stopped at a facility where women looking for jobs were working to extract oils from the Aragan tree's fruit, which only gives fruit in Morocco (it also grows in Mexico but does not grow fruit there). It was great to see how they extract the nut form the fruit, and how they put nothing to waste (the outside pit is used to feed goats, the inside shells used for fire fuel, the the nut used to make the oils). After sampling some perfumes, honey, and lotions made from this oils, we continued our drive. Upon reaching Essaouira, we first made our way to the restaurant for lunch. All the buildings in Essaouira had a special blue paint on them around the windows, because this paint apparently wards off bugs and keeps the building cool. The restaurant had an amazing view of the ocean from there over the the old medina's castle wall. Lunch was great, I got an enormous bowl of spaghetti and more mint tea, both of which were amazing. The others were jealous, because they got fish, but they wanted to the pasta too. After lunch, we had free time to wander the markets and streets, but not that long. Its funny that our trip is called Marrakech-Essaouira, but we only spent like 3 hours in Essaouira. We then had a 2.5 hour bus trip to El Safi, a town known for its pottery and handicrafts. There we were to spend the night, and spend tomorrow morning visiting, followed by El Jadida and back to Casablanca. When we got to our hotel (the Golden Tulip), we experienced one of the most beautiful sunsets over the ocean I have ever seen. We checked in, and then had dinner, and had a very deep conversation with Aaron, Kaipo, and Sally (a lifelong learner). And it felt good to have a such a conversation, because I really do enjoy having such talks. This lasted a good 2 hours, followed by another hour of talking with Aaron, Rudy, Kelsey, Kevin, Nat and Kori. This was a day that started out not so great, and ended amazingly. It was good times, but kind of looking forward to being back on the ship tomorrow. I honestly think I only want to do independent travel from know on (except for the cultural trip through SAS and Angkor Wat), but we will see.
-Nimish
September 12, 2010

Marrakech and the Souks

I woke up early, feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. After a good nights rest I was feeling much better, and then loaded myself with 4 bowls of cereal and two glasses of juice for breakfast. That was a great way to start a day, I wish I could do the same on the ship (which is not possible because I end up going to sleep much later there). Breakfast was very interesting, it was like a very early dessert. Most of the dishes were sugar laden pastries and cookies, with some fruit, cereal, juices, and bread. But I'm sure some of the others could use the sugar rush sicne many got very little or no sleep last night. We headed out for our tour of Marrakech around 9, which at first I felt like was a bit late (but I wasn't aware that most of the things we would be seeing would be seen within 30 minutes). We began the tours with a visit to the city's reservoir, which was a pretty boring visit, besides seeing our guide throw some bread into the water and seeing a lot of carp fish living in the reservoir fight over the morsels. But its visits like this that make me not want to take anymore SAS overnight trips. Today especially, I felt like doing all independent trips after this trip in Morocco. From there, we made our way down the street to the minaret, which was a much more interesting thing to see, since it was surrounded by some nice gardens, and was quite tall. The weather was getting much hotter after that, before which it was very pleasant. However even after it got the hottest in the day, it still didn't feel like the African heat I was expecting (most likely because it is getting closer to winter time). Next on our lists of stops, was a palace of one of the late kings. The most interesting part of this palace pointed out by Lotfi (our guide) was that in terms of external beauty the palace was only a little more than a normal house, but the main differences was just size and internal ornamentation and decoration. The insides of the palace were definitely very nice to see, including the fruit garden, and tombs of the royal family and workers that date back 300 years. From there we made our way to a Morrocan Crafts and Rugs Store where they showed us many rugs, the different ways they were made, different materials from which they were made, and the meanings behind some of the symbols in the rugs. It was fascinating to hear all these things, and then we were given some time to look around the store. Of course we didn't do any shopping because most of the rugs were thousands of dollars, and even the crafts on the lower level were ridiculously priced. Then it was time for lunch. We were taken to a truly authentic Morrocan restaurant where the building itself had classic islamic architecture and wall carvings, we were served in traditional dishes, and had a Moroccan band playing while eating. Although all I got were steamed vegetables since I'm vegetarian, most of the others thought it was the best food they've had on the trip so far, if not best food they've ever had. Now was time for the best part: the world-famous Marrakech souks (markets). Before getting off of the bus, we had a minute of silence in memory of the September 11th victims. In order to just get to the souks from where we were, we had to navigate a labyrinth of allies before getting there. And the souks were amazing. They were like the Casablanca markets, but more organized and much bigger. After we got to the souks' center (which was completely empty at that time), we were let loose to do what we wanted for 3 hours. I went into the markets naturally and bought a lot of stuff, primarily gift items for myself, family, and friends. My bairgaining skills are getting better, I was pretty rusty at first, but then got the hang of it. The key is to name your price, and if they don't accept it, walk away. And nine out of ten times, they will call for you after like 5 seconds and agree for your price. The souks got much more crowded when the time came to head back to the center. When we got there, we were amazed to see the entire center full (and it was completely empty just a few hours before). We headed back to the hotel for dinner, which was a pleasant experience once again, and featured mostly different salads for us vegetarians. Since we had no plans after that, we hitched a ride with one of the SAS trips back to the souks, which are aparently a sight to see at night. And they definitely were. The souks, center, and area within a 2 square mile around it where absolutely jam packed. I've never seen so many people, in such great concentration in a single area. And we were told that it stays this packed until 3am. The amount of people in that area was staggering, and I can only do justice by showing you the videos of it (I will upload them once I find interent again). There were acrobats, dancers, boxers, food and drink vendors, and the usual market goods vendors. Kathleen bought us all a glass of Jensing tea, which was a very powerful cinnamon mint tea, that left a burning sensation in my throat for a good 15 minutes after I finished my small glass. Also, the seller put some clear, silverly substance in the tea halfway through, which we thought was cocaine at first but then found out it was just crystallized mint. Howard also had a very racist experience that I will not talk about here, but it was quite an unusual experience. The souks by day and night was a fantastic experience, but definitely drained me of my energy. Time for bed, and another long day ahead of us.
-Nimish
September 11, 2010

An Uneventful Day

Today was an uneventful day. It started out early at 7am, so that I could feast on some breakfast. Since I would be leaving at 1 for my SAS trip, I thought that it would not be practical to go out for such a short time. So instead I sat on deck 7 and drew the Casablanca skyline for a good 2 hours. It was much warmer outside and dustier than yesterday, which was only expected because its Africa and we are pretty close to the Sahara desert. After finalizing my packing and eating a very good lunch featuring sherbet ice cream (which was very welcome in the heat), it was time to head out to the  Union, sign in for the trip, and then we were on our way. The drive was about 3.5 hours with me sleeping about 2 of those hours. The drive really reminded me of the drive to Phoenix from my house. It was a desert with the occassional small town and gas station. I was quite surprised to see many relatively expensive cars on the road. Most of the cars I saw wer BMWs, Mercedes, or new Toyotas. It may seem a bit ignorant of me, but I wasn't aware that people were that well off in Morocco. But then again, maybe the only people who buy cars are the ones who can afford the nicer companies. We stopped at a Shell gas station for a rest stop, and the heaet was also very similar to Arizona heat: dry heat, but it was relatively bearable. After about another hour, we arrived in Marrakech. Almost all of the buildings in the city were painted the same shade of red (hence one of its older names as "The Red City), and had a similarity to pueblo architecture: box like. We got to the hotel around 5, dropped our stuff off into the rooms, and then tried to find something to do. Unfortunately it was Eid today, so almost everything was closed, in particular the world-famous Marrakech souks (market) which were too far from the hotel to visit. So instead I just walked around with some other students (Rudy, Kelci, Mauli, and my hotel roommate Andres). We did not get far until we came upon a restaurant that had Moroccan Mint Tea. I really wanted to try some, so we all got some. And boy was it good. Everyone I know who has had some told me how good the tea was, and I now know what they mean: the mint flavor was strong, but not overwhelming, and the drink in general felt soothing. We sat there for about 2 hours talking about our SAS experience so far and stories we had. We all agreed, that it really didn't feel like we were in Africa; it probably just hasn't hit us yet since we were just in Spain the other day. We didn't see much of the city but we had to head back to the hotel for dinner (and we would be seeing the city tomorrow anyway) around 8. Dinner was very good: it mostly featured salads that we would mix in with couscous to make a very delicious mixture that was quite tasty but at the same time felt very easy on our stomachs, which is something very welcomed after all the heavy food on the ship and Spain. Although it was still early once we finished dinner, we couldn't really go out anywhere since most places were closed anyways. So most of us just went back to our rooms (some people went out to clubs, but I don't want to do that in this country), and got ready for an early bed. I feel like today went to waste, but thats what happens when your long trip leaves in the middle of the day and starts on a religious holday in a very religious country. I kind of wanted to wander around the city close to our hotel, but no one else wanted to do the same, and it would not be the best idea to go out in this city on my own. Tomorrow should make up for today, and I'm really looking forward to buying lots of stuff at the souks. And also the next few days are going to be intense (4 cities in 3 days), and we still hadn't really recovered from Spain yet, so today may also have been a blessing. We will see in time.
-Nimish
September 10, 2010

Casablanca and Africa!

Yesterday Europe, today Africa. Within 16 hours of leaving Spain, we arrived in Casablanca, Morocco. Also, resurrection achieved. I slept like a brick last night, and felt so much better when I woke up. At 9am, we had a 2 hour long cultural and logistical pre-port presentation of Morocco. This was the first time in SAS history that they had a second port within a day of leaving the last port. Although it may seem to be early in the morning, we gained two hours last night, so two extra hours of sleep that gave me a reason to stay up late :). As soon as the meeting was over, I rushed to the outside deck to watch us dock to the port. It felt really weird to be in a different continent within a couple of hours. Just looking at the port, I could see a significant difference between Casablanca and Cadiz. For starters, Casablanca was much bigger and busier than Cadiz, the people were different, the city has more modern and “plain” architecture while Cadiz was a little more authentic and old, and Casablanca was more lively which much more activity and vehicles than Cadiz. However, the weather seemed about the same, or at least today the Moroccan weather was quite pleasant (maybe slightly on the hot side). I ran into a friend who was in need of a money belt, as was I, and the student store was not open. So we went to Kathy, one of the faculty in charge of many things, and asked her if she could maybe help us get two money belts. She went off to ask, but returned unable to help us. Later in the day however, she found us and told us that she was able to get those two belts for us. This helped relieve some of the stress, because Morocco apparently has a reputation for petty theft like pick-pocketing. After getting some lunch, I got ready to for wandering the streets, met up with Ben, Nick, and others, and departed the ship. Once again (like in Spain), when I touched the ground I thought to myself, “I’m in Africa. This is awesome.” The port is so big, that we have to catch a shuttle to get to the gate of the port, otherwise it’s about a 20 minute walk. As soon as I stepped into the streets of Morocco, especially the markets, I felt a huge similarity to India, and so felt right at home. The city was bustling with people and vehicles, there was a same din of people activity as in India, and cars honked their horns quite often. There were shops, stalls, and street vendors everywhere and the products were more authentic soveigner gifts, food, or fake name-brand material like clothes, belts, movies, and footwear. There was a certain liveliness in the markets that made me feel a sense of enjoyment, energy, and excitement. Sellers were calling us to buy their products, street vendors were following us doing the same, children were running around the streets either working with their parents or on their own, and businessmen and other laborers were rushing past on their way to work. The one thing I liked most is how friendly the store people were. After bargaining for some jeans for Nick (which I was able to cut to almost half the price), the store owner gave us a great big smile, shook our hands happily, gave us a big pat on the back, and wave us goodbye. People here just seem so happy no matter what is going on. Store owners were constantly chatting with one another and laughing, children were playing in the streets, and people were quite often saying hi to us and welcoming us to Casablanca and Morocco. We spent the next 3 hours wandering the streets and walking down random market streets, making sure were knew where we were relative to the main street and the port. Walking down these streets really makes you get lost in the environment around you. Everywhere I looked, I saw so many similarities to India. People buying their groceries from street vendors, bargaining for products, talking and laughing with their friends, cars and motorcycles driving down streets with barely enough room, and satellite dishes everywhere (even on small/tiny houses/apartments). It was also quite interesting to listen to hear my friend’s thoughts and feelings to what they were experiencing. Most of them have never been to a place like this, and they were surprised by the sights, smells, and activity of the city. Nothing, however, really seemed to surprise me because I have been to India 7 times in my life (equivalent to 1+ year of my life) and have seen many of things (some of them worse in India) I saw in Casablanca. Nevertheless, the city was different from India. First of all and obviously there were different types of people here (a different mixture of Islamic/Arabic and Africans), the place was probably not as dirty as a whole as many parts of India (but I haven’t seen the rest of Morocco), and of course it was just really different seeing every female almost completely covered except for their faces. I tried to resist buying too much stuff since I would be going to Marrakech (where I could find much more authentic and traditional things in greater choice and variety) and Vietnam (where I could find many cheap things, including bootlegged movies and TV shows), but it was difficult to resist. We headed back to the ship for dinner because it was Ramadan and so no restaurants were opened yet (and we couldn’t really find any) due to the fast until sunset. After dinner, which was quite good today, I went back to my room for a little while and then headed out again with Noah, to wander the markets again. Unfortunately the shuttle drivers were off to dinner so we had to walk to the gate, which was not bad since the weather was very pleasant. However, as soon as we got out of the gates we realized our mistake of going out at this time. It was Ramadan, and it was dark, and so almost everything was closed. It was quite interesting to see how dead the city was at night during this religious time of year; not a single vehicle was operating (except for the city bus, but even that was quite rare to see), there were almost no one left on the main streets or the markets. This however did not perturb us from wandering the markets for a little while since there were still a few stalls still open. After only about 30 minutes, however, we called it quits and headed back to the ship (we were able to catch the shuttle this time). Back in my room, we watched one of my movies (Iron Man, which we had never seen) and then I began packing for my Marrakech and Essaouria trip for the next 4 days. It’s going to be a long and intense trip, but I’m looking forward to all the different experiences. As a whole, I really liked Casablanca so far, and I may go on a limb here to say that I may enjoy Morocco more than Spain (or at least in a cultural sense). But we will see what happens. Now I must call it a night, since I am still tired from Spain, and I have a long trip ahead of me.
-Nimish
September 9, 2010

One Down... 12 To Go

So tired. I woke up after getting only 3 hours of sleep. I haven’t been this sleep deprived in a long time. I’ve slept an average of four hours in the last 4-5 days. But the crazy part is that that is not bad compared to some people. My roommate hasn’t slept for three out of the last four days, which is unreal and I have no idea how he is still functioning properly. This was the first time seeing him and many others in the last 3-4 days. It was great to see many people again since the ship has been like a ghost town since we arrived in Spain. Now there are actually people walking around the ship. After waking up Ben (who got even less sleep than me), we headed out to get some souveigner shopping done: I needed stamps for postcards to my family, a Spanish flag (I’m collecting one from each country), and the blue FIFA World Cup Uniform for Spain. Since getting to Spain, I have had the most difficult time trying to find the last two. I don’t know why it is so hard to find a medium sized flag; all the ones I’ve seen so far have either been massive monsters or tiny babies. There’s like nothing in-between. Also I’ve been finding red Spanish jerseys everywhere, but the blue ones have been almost impossible to find, especially one for Iniesta. The postage stamps were a synch to find: tobacco shop right next to the city hall and 78 euro cents each. Then began the adventure of finding the other two. We wandered the Plazas, through sport shops and tourist gift shops and couldn’t find either. When we reached the central Plaza we stopped for lunch at a restaurant (I got a pizza margarita, which tasted so good until it got cold). People in Spain really take their time serving and eating: Dean David says that the average Spaniard spends around 2-3 hours eating and socializing during lunch and dinner, which is absolutely ridiculous for us always-on-the-move Americans. But the Spaniards take their time, which is a relaxing and healthy thing to do. Afterwards, we continued with the roaming around random streets, maybe we would get lucky and find one in a random street. We walked through the Central Market of Cadiz, which was centered in an old/ancient building with authentic columns and decorations. The center of the market was mostly meats, especially seafood (we saw a shark and swordfish carcass), and was surrounded by vendors selling various fruits and vegetables. Ben and I left the market and began just going down random streets and within 5 minutes we had no idea where we were. When we got to a crosswalk, we would just say “Left” or “Right” or “Straight.” It was actually great to wander the parts of Cadiz I hadn’t seen yet. Finally after about 30-40 minutes of wandering, come to a certain crosswalk. And I’m thinking to myself, “screw this, I’ll just get one of the huge or tiny flags and then buy one of the red jerseys. I give up.” But Ben said, “Come on, let’s take a left, last one.” With a deep sigh I complied with his request, and we walked a bit further down, when we came upon a sketchy looking store that was selling Rock’n’Roll, Metal, and Punk shirts and items. And in the very corner, I noticed a Spanish Flag.... but this was medium sized. Elated, I walk inside and asked the store clerk, who gave me a new one for really cheap. And it was the perfect size. Hooray. That success just got my hopes up, and I was feeling good about things until a bird thought that it would be funny to take a dump on my head. That was not funny at all, and I rushed to the nearest restaurant to get some napkins and get the feces out of my hair. That certainly made the day “different,” I mean it’s not everyday that something like that happens to you. Although the finding of the flag got my spirits up, I still had to get that jersey, and so decided to just get the red one. But then again, we were lost. We walked up and down many streets after that, using the sun to get a general direction of where we were going, and found ourselves in the Central Plaza (it’s scary that every time, I somehow end up here or the Cathedral Plaza). We made our way for a sports store to get the jersey, when I noticed an African man selling some jerseys on the side of the street. And he had a blue “David Villa” jersey. I pounced on it because it was also my exact size, just perfect. That really made my day because I got everything that I wanted, even though I had low hopes of finding it all. When I got back to the ship, Ben and I and two others decided to go running. This however was not the best idea for me because I am from California and I am used to 75 degree year round weather. And it was 80+ and humid in Cadiz. After running for 20 minutes, I got a very serious cramp and started feeling dehydrated. I also knew that I have a tendency to fall sick when I exercise after a long time, so Ben and I called it quits and headed back to the ship, only to leave again after a quick shower in order to get some last minute internet time. Unfortunately, many other SAS students were doing the same thing, so the internet was so slow that I barely checked my Gmail before we had to go back so that we could beat the re-boarding crowd. Back on the ship, we sat on the outside of Deck 6, and enjoyed the weather, which had become very pleasant, before eating dinner. It was great to watch some last minute people, booking it on the port in order to get back on the ship on time. The entire crowd on the outside deck cheered for the last person who was just sprinting back since he was almost just perfectly on time. I hung out with some friends on Deck 7 where I saw Desmond Tutu in basketball shorts. He then waved to me, and chatted with me for a little, and right before he left, he poked me in the stomach. I was like, “Oh my God, Desmond Tutu just touched me!” My goodness, he is such an amazing person. Around 8:20, our ship undocked from the Port, and we left Spain for good. It was a really weird feeling because even though it had only been 5 days, it felt like it had been like a week or two. It felt like the end of an era. However this was only the first port. We still have 12 more to go. We aren’t even 10% done with the trip yet, and I’ve already been having the time of my life. In only 5 days in one port, I have learned so many things about traveling independently, met a lot of new people, and just had a really memorable time overall. I will miss Cadiz, but there is so much to look forward to. We will be getting to Morocco the very next day around 2pm. So within 18 hours of leaving Europe, I will be in Morocco for another 5 days of fun and craziness. Also, after 5 days of little sleep, I am looking forward to catching up with sleep tonight, as are a lot of others. An added bonus is that we are gaining two hours tonight, so two more hours of sleep before an early morning 2 hour long pre-port presentation for Morocco tomorrow. So the fun never stops, and looking forward to recovering tonight and Morocco. Let the second round begin!!!
-Nimish
September 8, 2010

Cordoba and Last Night In Spain

I slept very well last night. After a few nights in a row of being sleep deprived, I finally had a good night’s rest on a bed that was much larger than the ones on the ship and had a pillow that was not a foot thick. Breakfast was great, because they had tons of cereal and I ate to my heart’s content of rice crispies and cocoa rice. It felt quite good. We then started our tour of Cordoba. We walked to the old Roman wall of the city, and strolled around it until we reached the Castle of Cordoba. Entering it, we came to some gorgeous gardens with long ponds and fountains bordered by tall bushes and fruit trees. After that, off to the Mezquita, a cathedral featuring Islamic and Christian architecture. It was beautiful and quite interesting seeing that blend between two architectural styles. The Cathedral had over 100 Islamic arches surrounded by numerous altars. In the center was a cathedral with exquisite decoration and ornamentation that was built when the Christians re-conquered Cordoba and made space by destroying some of the arches. It was interesting to see so many of the same type of arch in a single building, and amazing how every single seemed to be painted exactly alike. From there, the tour took a turn downhill. We walked through the Jewish community of the old part of the city, which made no sense why they had it because according to our tour guide there were not enough Jewish people living in that area to form a community. This part seemed a bit pointless, aside some seeing some beautiful buildings. When we exited the community, we found ourselves at the entrance to the old Roman wall: we had simply taken a very big circle around the old town. We were given free time until lunch was served, which was an affair of fruits and salad for me. I sat and ate with my comedy professor, his wife, the art professor, and two lifelong learners, who were all great people to talk to. After that, our group separated from the Seville-Cordoba-Granada trip. We got on our bus (which came an hour late) and began our 3.5 hour journey back to Cadiz, during which I napped and took time to reflect on what I saw. Cordoba was an interesting city, but I wished that we had spent more time in Seville, because that city seemed to have so much more different and interesting things to see, and it was just a bigger city in general. Seeing the ship again felt like we got back home, which is scary that within two weeks we already consider the MV Explorer as our home and refuge from the world. We were able to get back in time for dinner, and so I stuffed myself with pasta and rice, because I was starving after my nonexistent dinner. After unpacking my stuff, I ran into Dino who just got back from his Barcelona trip (which was apparently amazing). I then chilled with him and his Barcelona friends while they also stuffed themselves. We realized how behind we were with news and connecting with the world, and so decided to have a massive internet party at the Cathedral Plaza (which is the favorite place for the SAS students to conglomerate and Skype with friends and family). While Skyping with my mom and little brother, this really drunk guy sat next to us, and started having a one-sided conversation with us (only he was talking and we were not responding because he was really creepy). He eventually started talking very loudly, and began yelling at random people walking by and screaming things like “I am happier than all of you rich people.” After a few minutes of this interesting entertainment, we decided that we should leave and head back to the ship to get ready to hang out with people in the city in our final night in Spain. It was a great night after an okay morning. I met many other students that night and had a great time just chatting with everyone. We got back very late, because culture in Spain is very late-oriented. For example, nightclubs and bars don’t really get going until 2 or 3 am, and end around 6-7 in the morning. I then met up with Noah who also just got back from Barcelona, and caught up with him and shared travel stories. Now its really late, and I have to get up tomorrow and go crazy souveigner shopping. I don’t understand why it is so difficult to find a medium-sized Spanish flag (all the ones I’ve seen have been like Wall-sized) and a Blue Spain FIFA World Cup Jersey (I can only find the red ones). Tomorrow will be crazy shopping, posting postcards, and final internet day. And the very next evening we will be getting to Morocco. So my next 6 days are going to be intense! Looking forward to it!
-Nimish
September 7, 2010

Seville

Today was the day of my first overnight trip on SAS: Seville and Cordoba trip. It started out early, as usual, seeing me get 4 hours of sleep for the second night in a row. I got up to the union and signed in for the trip, and then got some breakfast with Ben before getting back. We were split into two groups, my trip and the Seville-Cordoba-Granada trip, and then boarded separate buses and headed out. The next two hours consisted of everyone in the bus passing out until we got to Seville. Upon reaching the city, we picked up our tour guide, Sergio (who was awesome), and then stopping at the Plaza de Espana (I feel like every city in Spain has one of these plazas, so I wonder which one is THE Plaza de Espana). As soon as I got off the bus, I felt a different vibe in Seville as compared to Cadiz. The city was larger, had much wider streets, many more cars (but still much fewer than in the USA), and just a beauty to it that I just didn’t feel in Cadiz. There were many more trees and plants, but everything seemed laid out in a very organized fashion. We entered the Plaza through one of the gates, and as we turned a corner, my mouth went from closed to wide open. The plaza was not necessarily that big, but the architecture of the buildings surrounding it was absolutely amazing. There are no words to describe it aside from architectural beauty. The plaza was surrounded by a small artificial river, with bridges leading to the side we were on, which was surrounded by building embellished with towers, columns, and portrait busts. In between each set of columns was a bust of a famous Spaniard, and not a single one of these repeated (there were at least 50+ busts). Unfortunately, the Plaza was under some renovation and time permitted us to only stay there for 15 minutes. From there, we made our way to the Alcazar, an old Spanish castle, and spent the next 2-3 hours navigating around its stunning gardens and vast structures. It was quite amazing, but I did wish we spent less time here and more time in the Plaza. Every room, however, had unique and elegant carvings and paintings, and one of them featured 6 enormous tapestries each of which were at least 20x30 feet. After the Alcazar, we crossed the street and hit up the Old Gothic Cathedral of Seville, which is only the third largest cathedral in the world and largest gothic one. When we walked in, my jaw once again dropped. In terms of shear size, it was the new cathedral in Cadiz times 2, and much taller. The architecture was different, the ceilings were much higher, and the entire interior was much more decorated than the Cadiz one. There was an enormous organ, altar, paintings, and in general just more in this one. The only way to do it justice is to show you the video I took of it. In terms of “awe”someness, the Gothic one was better, but in terms on beauty and lighting and tranquility, the Cadiz cathedral was better. Lunch was at a large and authentic but very cramped restaurant, where I ate nothing but three small loaves of bread and a bunch of Spanish Olives. Like I have mentioned before, Spanish food is not very vegetarian friendly. We were then allotted an hour or two of free time, during which I was finally able to get some souveigner shopping done (in general I’m not getting much in Spain, nothing really seems that authentic in the stores). When we met up at the cathedral again, Ben left us to go back to Cadiz as we made our way for Cordoba (another 2 hour drive). Once at our hotel, since it was late there was not much to do. We were once again given 2 hours of free time to wander the streets or do whatever before dinner was served. Two other guys and I just walked into the older part of the city and talked a lot while absorbing the local atmosphere, it was quite pleasant. We also got to see an abnormally large pigeon bully another pigeon and peck it and chase after it, and repeat. Dinner was quite a social event, I got to talk to the Voyage’s Marine Geography teacher for a while, and then just hung out with some of the others there while the others got wasted and went out partying (may god have mercy on them, because we have to get up early tomorrow again). All in all, it was a great day, and got to see some great architecture and experience the great city of Seville. It was not as mind-provoking as the first day, but not as crazy as yesterday. I wished we got to spend more time there, there just seemed to be so much to do and see compared to Cadiz; but it is what it is. I’m looking forward to sightseeing in Cordoba tomorrow and seeing the Mezquita.
-Nimish
September 6, 2010

10 Minutes!!!

 10 Minutes. That’s all I need to describe the craziness of today. I woke up at 7, excited to see Ronda and the Puente (bridge). The place was quite far from Cadiz, so I knew that we should leave early (like 8 or before), but the others didn’t want to leave till 9. After getting 4 hours of sleep the night before, I was tired, but pumped to do my first independently organized trip. After a breakfast of delicious cereal and milk (my absolute favorite breakfast meal), we headed out for the bus station and, unknown to us, a very big pickle. We get to the station at 9:10 only to find that the bus for Ronda had left at 9... only 10 minutes before we got there! And the next bus to Ronda was not leaving until 1:45. That combined with a 3 hour ride to Ronda and the fact that the last bus from there was leaving at 6, meant that we would only have 1 hour in Ronda. I knew we should have left at 8 like I had said before, but there was nothing that we could do now. We spend the next hour rushing between the bus station and train station (which were like 1 minute away from each other, and 5 minutes from the ship), trying to figure out an alternate way. We called a taxi only to find that it would cost 166+ Euros and could only take 4 people, and we were 5. Since I was the only one who knew how to speak Spanish, I had to do all the talking. Finally, I asked the bus station attendant, who told me that we could take the next bus to Ronda from the bus station of Puerto de Santa Maria, where we were thinking of maybe going to by train to spend our 4 hours of free time till the next bus. And that’s what we did. We got on the train at 10:30 for Ferrez de la Companera (which would pass Santa Maria), and got there by 11:10. The train ride was really nice and relaxing and quite cheap, and the train was very efficient. As soon as we got out, I went to the station attendant and asked him where the bus station was. And he said “No hay estacion de autobus aqui.” Translation: “There is no bus station here.” I was so pissed at the guy from the Cadiz station. I tried to think of other ways to get to Ronda, and settled on taking the train back from Cadiz and getting the next bus from there (1:45). The others were not up for this, and decided to just hang out in Santa Maria. And I REALLY wanted to go to Ronda, so I peaced them out and got on the next train back (11:50), deciding to go to Ronda solo. On the train ride, though, is when it hit me. It just was not practical (I will talk more about this later). So when I got to Cadiz, I said to myself, “screw it, let me go back to the ship and see if there is anyone doing anything.” When I got back, I found Coop, who had missed his White Town Trip, which was also going to visit Ronda. So apparently Ronda did not want to be visited today. Coop was with a few others who were just going to walk around parts of Cadiz we hadn’t seen yet, so I joined them. The stroll was quite pleasant, and I definitely saw the more residential and “ghetto” (meaning graffiti and what not, but still not quite bad) part of the city, which was new to me, especially after yesterday’s great walk. We spent the next 2-3 hours just walking around unknown areas, and somehow found ourselves in the Plaza de La Cathedral. I don’t know how, but we always seem to end up in that Plaza, yesterday and today. We then just chilled there for an hour or so. I got some more ice cream (which was my lunch again), and then we all just talked to many SAS people who were there (since it had free wi-fi there) and other interesting locals. Coop was trying to get some locals to say three adjectives of what they think about the USA for his video journalism class. Of course I had to walk to random people and ask them, because I was the only one who knew Spanish. Some people just completely freaked out. “No, no we don’t want to say anything about America.” Two others, however did not mind and gave him an “interview,” and the interesting part was that both of them talked about how they respected President Obama, and thought that he was actually doing some good (or at least trying him best to do so). One of these two was a very, very, very drunk homeless woman, who just started talking to all the SAS students there. She was quite “interesting,” to say the least. We then decided to start heading back to the ship, and a few students from the plaza joined us. We stopped at a small bar on the way so that the others could get some tapas (snacks), and had a really deep conversation about human society and why we need to have a monetary system. When we got back to the ship, I decided that after all of the events of the day, I needed to blow off some steam. I went onto the deck and drew the view of the city for 2 hours, which really helped me feel better. I ate dinner with my RA and another friend of mine, and then ran into my group from the morning. We decided to go to the beach for the sunset, which was a stunning view, and very pleasant. Walking back at night was also great, especially at night with the group. But I did see one thing: walking these alleys at night by yourself would be really creepy and freaky, hence the point to stick in a group. When we got to the port, I connected to wi-fi in the area and got on the internet for the first time in almost 2 weeks. Skyping with my parents was difficult, but did happen eventually. It was really great hearing their voices and seeing them again. The session was short but sweet. It was getting late and I needed to pack for my overnight trip to Seville and Cordoba the next day. I’m looking forward to that, especially after recent events, particularly the event of not getting to see Ronda, and then finding out that the rest of my group (who didn’t have trip commitments like) are going to go to Ronda on Tuesday when I will be in Cordoba (this upset me a little because, like I said, I really want to see Ronda). But this is the way things are, and I still get to visit Seville and Cordoba, so that made me feel a little better.
Today was quite the ride for me. I’ve never really been on my own like this, so something like this hasn’t really happened to me before. On the train ride back from Santa Maria, the epiphany I had was of a little something that Yash told me before I left: “Be open and have fun no matter what, because $h!+ will go down and you will not be able to see everything you want to.” Apparently, this was the world teaching me a thing or two about traveling. I tried so much in those few hours to figure out alternate routes, and got bad information from people, and it was not happening. Furthermore, the fact of traveling by myself to a place three hours away from Cadiz, with only one hour to visit the city, and on top of that doing it alone, was probably not the best idea. I remembered the pre-port presentation before getting to Spain, when they specifically told us, “Don’t travel alone, you will be much more vulnerable, and the risks are just not worth it.” As much as I wanted to see Ronda, I knew that I had to let go. When we were in North India during the summer, Yash had to let go of seeing the Valley of Flowers; and now it was my turn to let go of visiting somewhere I wanted to go. And both of us had this experience because we did not have much time in those parts. This is what happens when you only have 5 days in a country to do everything you want to do. Like Yash said, there is no way you are going to be able to see it all, for various reasons: time, problems you may encounter, and just random things that happen. Tomorrow I am going to Seville and Cordoba, which is at least to me enough consolidation for missing Ronda. So trying to keep an optimistic outlook on things. But today was definitely eye opening. As sad as I am for missing Ronda, another part of me is telling me that some good came out of it: I did learn a lot. And plus, as much as I hate Spanish, it actually felt really good putting my little Spanish to good use to help others in my group. All of this happened, because of 10 minutes!
-Nimish
September 5, 2010

ESPANA!!! Cadiz, Flamenco, and Great First Day

LAND HO!!! The day started out early. I woke up at 6am and quickly got ready so that I could watch us dock at the port. I got to the deck by 7 and I was already kind of late. We could already see the lights from Cadiz which was still a bit far away. But the most ridiculous part was that it was 7am, and the moon was still ruling the skies. The initial lights from the sun had just barely began showing around 7:30, and didn’t actually rise until 8/8:30am. I’ve never seen such a late sun rise. There’s always a first I guess. As we got closer and closer, I felt my blood pumping faster and faster. When we got to our port, two tugboats came out and helped us parallel park next to two other large ships, which took like 20 minutes. Everything is so much slower on sea board vessels. And finally we touched land, 8:30am. BIENVENIDOS A ESPANA!!! There was the city, calling me, and I was so excited and ready to explore. I celebrated by having breakfast for the first time in 9 days, and boy did it taste good. That’s right, the first meal I had in Spain was Milk and Cereal. We then all went to Kathryn’s door and banged it until she woke up. She was like, “What???!!!” “We are in Spain!!!” “Already?” “Yeah, come on and get ready, we r leaving.” After picking up my passport, I collected my backpack and other things, and headed out to the dock. As I stepped off the gangway onto Spanish land, it really hit me that I was visiting my first European country and first country on my voyage. Standing on solid land that wasn’t wobbling like the ship felt really good, but weird at first. We immediately left out on our Cadiz City Orientation tour. We drove in an A/C bus along the coast for around 20 minutes before departing the vehicle and taking the rest by foot. We started out by visiting the “New Cathedral” of Cadiz. This stop was by far my favorite place of the city. It was absolutely magnificent, I’ve never seen anything like it... yet. The Cathedral was massive, the ceiling were 100+ feet into the air, and there were domes and pillars everywhere along with a few windows along the top, giving the cathedral a very misty and mysterious feeling. One word: EPIC!!! Along the sides in multiple nooks were statues and paintings of various saints and patrons of the time, each of which were surround by more smaller sculptures and paintings of angels, important people, etc. And in the center of the whole place was a single altar, also surrounded by big pillars, statues, and beautiful paintings near the ceiling. And underneath this altar was a large room, which had a very humid and musty smell. At first I just thought it was because we were slightly underground. But then I saw many paintings of people along the sides of the room’s corridors, and more statues at the end of these corridors. Our tour guide told us that behind each of these paintings was the tomb of that person, and in one of the corridors was the waxed mummy of one of the saints. After hearing this, I got this good spooky feeling standing there. From the cathedral we made our way to the city hall along the narrow alleyways of the city. There we went into the wedding room of the building, also very amazing. From there, were visited various museums, which were interesting, but nothing as stupendous as the cathedral. In one of them, however, I heard a very interesting story. There were two large artifacts, and the finder of the first one apparently knew that there was a second one. After spending his whole life looking for it, he died. His family sold their house, and when the new owner demolished the house, guess was he found; the second artifact. Funny, the other man searched for it his whole life, and the entire time it was under his bed. I feel like we all are like this man: we all look for things and ways to find ourselves in the world, when everything we really need is simply inside us all, we just need the wisdom and willingness to look inside ourselves and discover this on our own. After the last museum, I broke off from the group with a number of others in the group to get some lunch. We found a small pleasant Spanish bar. We asked the waiter for 3 menus. After waiting for 5 minutes he brought out some food. We thought that it was a complementary appetizer for the orders we would be making, but then he brought out more food. I asked him about this, and then asked for a “Book with the food options.” When he brought these out, we realized what he was doing. The very first item on the menu was called “Menu” which was a 5 course meal, consisting of small quantities of various dishes. Unfortunately for me and two others in the group (also Indians), there were no vegetarian friendly options at the restaurant we all stopped at. So we asked a few locals, and they directed us to a cafe with Empanadas, which were bread stuffed with spinach, cheese, and mushrooms. I didn’t really enjoy it, so instead I decided to have an “ice cream” lunch, which was actually great because it was really warm that day. We then regrouped with the rest of the others, and continued to walk around the city, along the various alleys. After walking for 1.5 hours, we found ourselves at a beach on the other side of the island. Which was when I realized I left my water bottle somewhere :(. From there, it took us another 1.5 hours to get back to our ship, at which point it was 5:30. After a quick dinner of pasta and rice pilaf on the ship (I think I’m going to have to stick to the ship’s food in Spain, because finding vegetarian food was quite difficult), I made my way for the next trip: Authentic Flamenco Night, leaving at 7:30. We first drove to a small bullring, were we got to see an amateur bullfight, which was bloodless and did not feature the matador killing the bull at the end. In reality however, the “bull” was only a cow with smallish horns, and the matador was actually three people, including a boy who looked like he was in high school, distracting the cow at different times. At one point, however, the cow was really close to ramming into the boy, but fortunately if barely missed at the last second. The whole scene was not bad, but nothing that amazing. But then came the dancing. From the bullring we made our way to a small authentic looking restaurant, where they indulged us in tapas, beer, and Sangria (none of which I had). The Flamenco dancing then began featuring a guitar player and singer and male dancer and three female dancers, and I was nothing short of blown away from what ensued. The dancing was energetic, full of passion and emotion, and simply fabulous. It was music was fast paced, catchy, and just great. This continued for some 1.5 hours or so, after which the two younger female dancers stayed behind and began dancing with us. I didn’t really join in, but the second I hear the Maque Rina, I had to get in. The rest was just lots of fun and memorable, and featured a human train. We left the restaurant around 11, with the entire bus singing songs all the way back, all 40 minutes of the drive. Back on the ship, I made plans with Ben for the next day Ronda trip, and now time to go to bed, as its 2am and I need to wake up at 7 tomorrow.
The experience in Cadiz was just great. The city was so pleasant and looked vintage in a good way. The thing I liked most about it, was that everyone was walking. There were very few vehicles especially in the alleys, and the roads were primarily for pedestrians, with an occasional car forcing everyone to move to the side. The only thing I personally did not really like was the stench of fish in certain areas, like around eating parts of the city. Otherwise, the architecture was great and walking along the alleys was really relaxing and enjoyable. The flamenco night, as I said before, was just so much fun to watch and then participate in. Watching the dancers, ignited a fire and energy in the dancers and all of us watching them. If we all put that much passion and energy in everything we did, we could do anything we wanted and enjoy life to the fullest. This day was amazing: I saw great things in the city, saw a great show, and met many people during the trips. And to thinks, this was just the first day of actual travel in the countries. A great way to start an epic journey. Bring on the rest of the days!
-Nimish
September 4, 2010