the merchandise.

the market in ghana!

quick pic

HI! After a long and treacherous trip...WE HAVE REACHED SOUTH AFREECA! AHHHHH! We will be disembarking in the next couple of hours as we clear customs. I am sorry I have been so sporadic in my blogging. I have not forgotten to finish telling you about Ghana. So, hold tight for the next week or so while I am in South Africa. I miss you all and hope all is well on the home front!

fufu at the indian consulate.

fufu!

My first night day in Ghana was quite an experience. Well, you know how I mentioned before that I did not get my Indian visa because the visa agency we went through messed up, but that we could deal with that later? Well, the later is now. For the past 3 weeks, the Institute for Shipboard Education back at the University of Virginia has been working its butt off to get the 66 of us Indian visas. They have tried everything. They even almost gave up and told us there was a very slim chance we were getting off the boat while we are in India. In a final act of desperation, all 66 of us who had not received and Indian visa were bussed to the Indian consulate in Accra, Ghana to plead for our visas. I knew that I was sailing around the world and who knows where I may end up, right? But, I have to say that this one surprised me. It really did. This is one place I would have never guessed I would go to.
I had visions of us rolling up, 66 Americans, with a huge American flag, AK47s strapped to our sides, Rocky music playing in the background, and demanding they give us our visas. I really want to go to India so if someone had done that I would not have complained. But, that didn't happen. The entire process was a little less spectacular. In fact, we didn't even need to get off the busses. The dean and a couple other people went in as our representatives and, after 2 hours, everything had been sorted out and we all had our Indian visas. 

12 of us had coordinated a homestay for that night. Luckily one of the girls doing the homestay had not received her Indian visa as well and, like me, had to meet up with everyone else once we were done.  We were picked up from the Indian consulate, just as the Semester at Sea buses were pulling away, in a car that had obviously been in an accident and the 2 right doors would not open. It was blaring Ghanaian rap with a police officer in the passenger seat. I guess this was normal for Ghana. We were taken to our homestay house where we met Elizabeth, the mother, and learned that the police officer, Benne, was her son. The rest of the group met us there a half an hour later and we went to the market to get all the ingredients we needed to make fufu, "a traditional Ghanaian dish."

One image from the market that will never leave my mind is of the woman we bought chicken from preparing it for us. In Ghana, it is very rare that you will see a woman pushing a baby in a stroller or sitting in a high chair. Most often, they will be tied to their mother’s backs. Ghanaian woman take a large piece of fabric, swaddle the child inside, place the baby on their back and tightly wrap the fabric around themselves so the baby just kind of hangs out there. Well, the woman that sold us the chicken had a baby on her back. When we told her what we wanted, she went into this large cooler, grab out a chicken and starting cutting it into pieces with a large knife, swinging it backwards towards the little guy on her back over and over again. Every time she pulled her hand back, all of us winced, just waiting for her to nick that little guy! But, the little guy just snoozed as his mom hacked away at this chicken. Casual.

Once we had everything we needed, we returned home and began to prepare the fufu for dinner. Fufu is a mixture of boiled cassava and plantains that are mashed up, rolled into a big gooey ball and put in soup with different vegetables and is usually made with fish or goat. Ours was a little less traditional in that sense since it was made with chicken. It takes a really long time to make and once it was done our home stay mother brought it out in a basin type thing, which resembled those basins you  wash babies in a little too much,  placed it on the floor in front of us and told us to dig in. Ok. So, Fufu Eating 101. You pick off a little piece of the gooey cassava, plantain ball with your hands, dip it in the soup and stuff it in your mouth, with about 7 people to a basin. Not the most sanitary thing in the world. Personally, I do not think I would say fufu would be my first choice of meal. But, hey, it works.

at the market!

what you ghana do?

ghana.

     Gha-na-na. What’s my name? Gha-na-na. What’s my name? I am back on the ship, my people, after 5 days in Africa. A return to my floating chunk of Amurica. You know, something that I did not account for before I came on this trip was how easy, and simultaneously difficult, it would be to return to the boat after each of these ports. We have these short bursts of a culture, a people, a language, a life style, a cuisine, everything that makes up a country, and then boom, it’s over. And, we are somehow meant to compile our thoughts, ideas, beliefs, feelings, and anything we may have picked up along the way into something that we call an experience. 

      After each port, there is a reflection where people share their experiences. At the beginning of the reflection they usually pass around a microphone and ask people to say one word that describes the country that we just left. I didn’t go to the reflection for Ghana because I don’t think I could come up with one word to describe Ghana if I thought about it for the next three weeks. I am not even sure if I can come up with 1000 words to describe Ghana to you right now. But, I am going to try my best.

"this time for africa! waka waka! hey hey!"

Fun Fact of the Day: In Ghana, everyone is primarily referred to as the name they are given based on the day of the week they were born followed by the name that they were given at birth. For instance, I was born on a Tuesday. The name given to females born on Tuedays is Abena (pronounced aab-na). Thus, in Ghana, my name would be Abena Sara. So, until Friday, don't think of referring to me as anything else.

my little dance partner.

dancing down the amazon.

     
     Our final day on the Amazon is not one to be forgotten! That morning we woke up early, had breakfast and we’re off, cruising to another indigenous village. The people there did a ritualistic dance for us and then had us do it with them. It was a lot of fun! I was slightly disappointed in the experience though since it was the second “indigenous village” that we visited and, though I am sure the people we met were native peoples living in an isolated village, I wonder how much of what we saw was real and how much had been developed to show to tourists. From there, we cruised back to Manaus. We said a sad farewell to Anand G and the rest of the crew.
     A small group of us decided to hold off on the showers for a little bit longer and explore the city. We walked through a market and tried different foods and drinks along the way. We met up with the rest of the people from our trip back in the port and shared a giant pitcher of the local beer.
     I was thankful for this trip. Not ten days before, I would get anxious when I couldn't hear the vibration of my phone. A day was not a true day unless I checked Facebook, at least twice. I knew what Rihanna had worn to latest award ceremony and that Brad Pitt and Angelina were definitely still together. Now, I couldn't tell you any, much less than all, of those things. And, that is ok.
     Looking back at our first day on the riverboat, it feels awkward. We had nothing to do but talk to one another as our boat cruised to the spot where it anchored for the night. In fact, I remember times when all of us just sat in silence because we were unsure of what exactly to do. We didn't know each other. We didn't have our phones. I am not afraid to admit that it was weird. But, somewhere between the meeting of the rivers and piranha fishing, we changed. We learned to go with the flow, not always knowing what we were going to do 10 seconds or 10 minutes or 2 days from now. We learned to experience the Amazon, in that moment with the people around us. And, that was cool. Yes, it will go down in our memory books as that one time we slept in hammocks on a boat in the Amazon but I think it was a lot more. Everyday on the boat there is a quote of the day, one of those quotes from a few days ago seems to sum up Brazil perfectly, for me. Jawaharial Nehru said "We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only seek them with our eyes open." In that sense, Brazil was where I learned to open my eyes.

the group, at the indigenous village

how to catch malaria for beginners.

a happy bunch after waking up in the Amazon rain forrest. 

    It’s the start of day 3 in the Amazon! We woke up bright and early at sunrise in the Amazon rainforest. After disassembling our hammocks, we headed back to the boat, where we were met by the same amazing breakfast we had had the morning before. While we were eating breakfast, we cruised to a floating dock on the Rio Negro that was surrounded by dolphins. All of us jumped in and swam with them. Forget Discovery Cove, people. The Amazon is where it’s at. It was amazing. If you held fish over your head, slapped it down in the water once, the dolphins would bolt right up from behind you and jump up to get it! Crazy!
     That afternoon, we had lunch on the boat and took off for the area we would be anchoring for the night, which was on the way back to Manaus. We took small motorboats out to go piranha fishing. Now, in theory, this sounds pretty cool. In practice, not so much. Mid-fishing, a huge storm hit and we had yet to catch any fish. I was on my second to last pair of clean clothes though and was not about to let them get all wet in the rain without having a fish to show for it! So, when a couple of people decided to go back to the main boat, I stayed firm and stuck it out. Unfortunately though, the second half of our excursion did not yield any fish either. I was only slightly confused/disappointed/shocked when Anand G reached in the water as we were finally heading back to the boat and simply picked out a piranha, after we had been standing with our poles in the freezing rain for almost 3 hours and caught nothing! We returned back to the main boat just to pick up a couple more people and then go caiman spotting.

      Caimen are a subspecies of alligator. Anand G could spot them so easily in the dark just by shining a flashing in the mangroves and seeing the light reflected from their eyes. After catching a few baby caimens to bring back to the boat to fry up (J.K. just to show people, but I wouldn’t hold it past 'em) we had dinner and settled into our hammocks for the night. By that point, I was exhausted and collapsed into my hammock the second I saw it!

me, in my hammock on the boat.

how to survive in the amazon.

the beginning of our hike!

     
     Hoy (that’s hello in Portuguese for all you Americanos)! It’s the start of the day 2 in Brazil! I am not sure I ever went to the bed the night before. Between the quiet buzzing of the mosquitoes, the equatorial air that stayed locked in my wool hammock, and the anything-but-synchronized hum of 40 plus people sleeping in a confined space, it was not happening. That did not stop our 6 o’clock wake up! As tired as I was, my day was redeemed upon eating the amazing breakfast that was spread out for us downstairs. We had fresh fruits like papaya, bananas, pineapple, and oranges, fried plantains, scrambled eggs, the best cornbread I have ever had, and pancakes made out of tapioca. Even the coffee was amazing since it was grown right here in Brazil. After breakfast, we left for a 3-hour hike through the rainforest.

       We were told to dress so that we were showing as little skin as possible to be extra cautious about any malaria ridden bugs we may encounter. I was surprised to meet our guide, Manual, and notice he was wearing shorts and wasn’t even pretending to wear anything on his feet. What a hoot he was! Somehow I ended up towards the front of the line of people and had quite the heart to heart with Manual. He only spoke Portuguese (which is the official language of Brazil, FYI) and knew a couple words of Spanish but that didn’t stop him from rattling off his life story to my 4-semesters-of-college-level-Spanish self. I didn’t understand over 75 percent of what he was saying but that didn't phase him. I mind as well have been a native speaker. I was able to get by reading his facial expressions and decoding his hand motions. After each word he spoke, I became more convinced that Manual had to be the inspiration for some Pixar character. He had too much chutzpa to be a real person. Our hike ended at a tributary to the Rio Negro and our boat met us there. We walked a little upstream to some rapids, then, got back on the boat to go to an indigenous village for the afternoon.
      The indigenous village was interesting. Only 150 people lived in this isolated habitation along the river. Yet, it seemed as if they were very used to seeing tourists and even had built a little hut for the sole purpose of selling jewelry and trinkets to visitors. We played soccer with the children and were smoked by a team of players under 4'5''. They had built their own little school for the younger kids and a school boat, like a school bus, dropped the older kids off from a school a little bit upstream. It was a great time but, as we left, I wonder about how much they were catering to us, letting us observe and inherently disrupt their daily lives.
      After the village, our boat took us to a trail a little ways up the river where we left for a hike to our campsite for the night. About 5 minutes into our hike, the sun went down and we were left to the disposal of all the creatures of the forest. At one point, we had to cross a small creek on a log as Anand G stood in the water and guided us across. My favorite part was when Anand G looked down as I was crossing that log and noticed an electric eel in the water. That was funny. Not.
     Finally, we reached our campsite, where Manual had constructed posts to hang out hammocks. The guides immediately set to work building a fire to roast chicken on that they had skewered on sticks they found in the forest. When the chicken was done, each of us were told to find a leaf, stick it over the hot fire to disinfect it, then load it up with some rice and a piece of chicken. That chicken was one of the highlights of the trip. Did its preparation pass FDA standards? At one point, Manuel found a baby alligator in a nearby stream and held it over our chicken as it peed all over it. Not to mention, right after I got my piece, it fell on the ground and there was not enough for me to get another piece. I ate it anyways. I am not sure if that added flavor or what, but I do know it was some of the best chicken I have ever had. Hands down. My mouth is watering thinking about it now.
    That night we went to bed in our hammocks tied to trees in the forrest. Mine did not have a tarp over it to block it from the rain so I got rained on a little.
     Looking back on the hike and this entire day, now, it doesn't seem that bad. I had a place to sleep. I didn't get bitten by any tarantulas or anything. I got to go in the water, which is kind of like a bath? But, I wish I could have written this post at the time and seen how different my morale was. Then my attitude was "I have been a good sport, but I am about to loose it," now it is "I did that, now I can do anything."

manuel and his baby alligator.

amazonas.

the meeting of the rivers!

   
      Guess who’s back? Back again? Sara’s back. Tell a friend. Hey errybudy! I am back on the boat after an amazing 5 day stay in Brazil! And, now, we are crossing the pond, en route to Ghana! There is so much to tell that I am going to write a post for each day of my trip so y’all get the full effect. The problem is that I can only communicate so much of my experience to you through words. At least, some has to be lost in translation. If there were a way to post smells or sensations from touching or doing something on a blog I would be on that. Yet, I will have to give my most valiant effort to share my experience through my posts within the technological limitations of the contemporary era! I guess I will start this chapter of my blog the night before I disembarked in Brazil. 

       A group of six or seven of us discovered the observation deck at the front of the seventh deck of the MV Explorer. We lied down on the deck and stared at the stars for about an hour and a half. The sky was super clear and I could see more stars than I have ever seen before! But, the real entertainment came as we watched the swarm of Amazonian bugs invade our ship. For those of you out there hoping to write a textbook on bugs, look no further for your photographic material than the deck of a ship as it cruises down the Amazon. That is nature’s little way of welcoming you to this part of the world. "Welcome to the Amazon, where the bugs are plentiful, malaria is free and itching is guaranteed!" 
      The next morning at 10 AM, a group of 40 of us disembarked from the ship and were met by one of our tour guides, Marcus. Before I go any further, let me explain how ports work on Semester at Sea. Essentially, you have free-range to do absolutely whatever you want in a port, as long as you are back on the ship 2 hours before departure...sober. Well, there are some rules. Don't do drugs. Don't drive a car. Don't skydive. And, you are required to complete 6 of those day-long FDPs, class field trips, throughout the semester. But, for the most part, how you spend your time in port is of no concern to Semester at Sea. You have the option of signing up for Semester at Sea planned excursions in each port that are usually pretty pricey and can last from an afternoon to our entire stay in a port. Or, you can use travel books, the 120 minutes of internet time we are alloted for the semester, and the few internet websites that we are able to use without digging into our minutes to plan your time in a port independently. I was lucky and learned one more option early on in the voyage. Global Citizens is a private company that caters to Semester at Sea students by organizing trips in each port that are similar to many of the longer overnight trips offered through Semester at Sea at a fraction of the cost. I chose to sign up for a 5-day river boat tour down the Amazon organized by Global Citizens. So that's that. Let me get back to the first day.
      After a 15-minute walk through the streets of Manaus, the city our ship was docked at, we reached our river boat. I don’t even know where to begin describing the boat. It was two stories tall and kind of looked like an old steamboat. Stay tuned, because I am going to post a picture of it as soon as possible. We cruised to the meeting of the rivers. Literally, this is where the Amazon and the Rio Negro meet. Here, the dark, nearly black, color of the waters of the Rio Negro attempt to mix with the Yoohoo looking waters of the Amazon (which reminded me a lot of Willy Wonka’s chocolate river). The colors are a result of the sediments in their tributaries. They don’t mix very well because of their different densities and, at the point where they meet, look more like black coffee before the creamer has been evenly distributed. 
      We were met by our head guide Anand G and cruised about 4-hours up-stream where we docked for the night. That night we slept in hammocks tied to the rafters of the boat and ate amazing Brazilian food cooked by Anand G’s wife on the boat. He brought his entire family on board, including his two sons, who are seven and ten and who are on winter break from school right now! Which, fun fact: the Brazil government requires all children to attend and even gives a stipend to parents in certain situations if they send their children to school! That is all I’ve got for now folks but more to come tomorrow! Just a little taste of what is to come! Sending love and kisses to all my peeps back in Amurica! Miss you all!