Day 2 - Napping to the Taj

We had our second day in India planned perfectly; our 5am flight to Delhi would see us arriving in Delhi in the early afternoon (~11am), we would quickly drop off our bags at the hotel room we had reserved and then hop the 2 hour express train to Agra so that we could see the Taj Mahal glowing red at  sunset before training back to Dehli in the evening for a peaceful night of sleep. As you can imagine, it did not exactly work out that way.

Our day started at the ungodly hour of 2am after getting to bed at midnight the night before. Miles and miles of pothole ridden, cow populated roads separated us and our 5am flight to Delhi. The first obstacle was getting a taxi that late in the evening/early in the morning. There were a few camped outside the entrance to the port but asking for exorbitant tourist prices. Since the twilight taxi market isn't exactly a competitive, I had to put my haggling skills to the test, with my only bargaining chip being the bluff that I would walk around the ghost town that is Chennai at 3am and find another taxi. By some miracle  I eventually got the fare down to a reasonable level 800 rupees which comes out to $16 total.

Once at the airport things ran smoothly, I bought "The White Tiger" as my novel for India and started to make my way through it on the flight to Delhi while my traveling companions napped their first of many naps that day. The real adventure began once we landed. The taxi driver from the airport took my napping companions and I to a hotel with the right name, but at the wrong location. When we got to the correct hotel, they had resold our room at a higher rate to vacationers who were in town for Diwali, The festival of lights. To top it off train tickets to and from Agra were sold out. In short we were stuck in Delhi without a hotel and no way to make it to the Taj Mahal which we had flown all the way from Chennai to see.

This is where flexibility comes in; long story short, we chartered a 5 hour taxi ride there and back in addition to  two hotel rooms in Agra for about $200, or $50 each which only turned out to be a bit more then we would have paid to begin with. The result was that we got to see a lot more of India then we had planned for initially. At least I did, as my traveling companions were napping again.  We passed through fields, tiny road side villages and  past the birth place of Hare Krishna all on the way to Agra which we reached after sunset. We ate dinner on the rooftop of our hotel. Home made, slow cooked chicken our driver arranged to have delivered to us from his friend. We ended the evening with conversation, sitting on the roof of our hotel while the commotion of trishaws, rickshaws, car horns and moped engines floated five stories up from the road below.

India - Day 1

My first morning in India found me only a few miles away from the our berth in Chennai at a local school for the Dalit. Dalit being, from my limited knowledge, the umbrella classification of the historically persecuted and oppressed groups in the Indian hierarchical  caste system who were confined to "impure" trades such as leather work and burials. With the new, modern India a lot of this persecution is on the decline due to active efforts of the government in addition to a general change in the attitudes of the new generation. Still, the Dalit are statistically the poorest ethnic group in a country that is no stranger to extreme poverty and that is what brought us  to spend our time working at this school.

Pulling up to the school we were greeted by the students lining the road accompanied by a drum-line celebrating our arrival. we stepped off of the bus into a crowd of students that soon parted and lavished us with garlands of lavender and roses. The excitement of the students to see us was unexpected and inspiring,  not to mention contagious. By the time a short introduction ceremony was completed we were all ready to get to work and interact with the kids.

For my part I was asked to help paint blackboards along with a team of three other SAS participants. Together we made a team of four extremely inexperienced painters. To top it all off we have a very motivational herder following us around to speed up the process. The school children giggled at us as we splattered pint all over our shirts, pants, shoes, hair, legs, arms & eyeballs but they were always genuinely excited to see us as we entered their classroom and we were always given an emphatic "Thank You!" as we left.


When our work was finished they gathered all of us in the courtyard for lunch, Masala Dhosas were on the menu. They are an indian flat brad stuffed with potatoes and topped with various types of sauces with varying levels of spice.

After the lunch was over we finally had some time to interact with the kids. We were treated like celebrities, the kids crowded around us with pen and paper outstretched asking for autographs. The only thing that would make them happier than an autograph was for us to just take a picture with them. 

My time painting at this school was one of my favorite experiences on the trip so far. It served to foreshadow the kindness that I would see throughout my travels in India in addition to giving me the opportunity to really interact with the community in a  meaningful way. By the time we had to leave at the end of the day (after the school had let out) students still lined the road to see us off as we made out way back to the ship.

Side saddle moped riders 

I spent that night with a new friend, Prem. He boarded our floating campus as an inter-port student/lecturer in Mauritius and was tasked with using the five or so days while at sea before India to give us a crash course in Indian food, music, history, customs, geography, infrastructure, travel destinations and language. When he wasn't being mobbed with questions by other students and life long learners he blended into the community, joining us for card games, Sea Olympics, late night/early morning ramen

Delicious

That night Prem took us out for dinner in his local turf of Chennai. A local kebab restaurant  that served mostly Arab fare with a few South Indian dishes thrown in for good measure. Unlimited  fruit, shrimp, chicken ,steak and even cheese grilled over coals started off the meal the right way. A buffet line of Veg and Non-Veg Indian dishes featuring curries, rice, chicken, eggplant and many others kept it going and the little dessert oasis positioned in the center of the restaurant really ended the night the right way.

 We passed out promptly that night after the meal out of necessity, mostly due to that pesky 2am wake up call the next morning......

Prem, the man, seeing us off after a fantastic dinner

Mauritius

Mauritius is the stuff that post cards are made out of, the water is a deep blue  crystal clear, the sand is soft, fish are plentiful and coral reefs dot the shores. Our ship docked in Port Louis in the northwest corner of the island though my plans for  the 12 hours we were in the country were concentrated on exactly the other side of the country in  the area known as Blue Bay.

Blue Bay

Upon docking, two other friends and I boarded the express bus for the ~30 mile journey to the blue bay marine park. Blue bay is a nature reserve that was created around 10-12 years ago to protect its reefs from the destruction caused by some of the local fishing practices. One method in particular that our guide mentioned was the use of grenades, which although is an effective fishing method, curiously seemed to damage the coral reefs. Regardless, today blue bay is still some of the best snorkeling on the island so that was our destination.

Breakfast

Lunch

After the 30 cent, hour long bus ride past sugar cane fields, local villages and universities we made it  to the other side of the island. We started the day off perfectly enough by buying some type of chicken and spicy green leaf sandwich for $1 and then chartering a glass bottom boat to take us out around the bay (for $10!). This was my first experience ever snorkeling  that I can remember  so trying to breath without getting water in my lungs while constantly cleaning my goggles as they fogged up marked the first 10 minutes in the day. Thankfully after that ten minutes my experience playing underwater hockey for a night kicked in and it all worked out.

The snorkeling was absolutely gorgeous, there were way more fish around the reef then I expected and they had no fear! You would have to practically touch them to get them to move, else you could just float in the water and they would swim right up to you  and meander around in front of your goggles. Fish of all kinds were darting through the cracks and crevices of the coral, some blended in, some like the parrot fish shone blue for everyone within a hundred feet to see

When we returned to the beach that afternoon, we spent the rest of our short short time in Mauritius gathering sunlight on the beach before trekking back across the entire country to meet our ship in Port Louis.

The Port

Lip Dub

Sorry for the lack of posts, but in the mean time, you guys have to see this!

http://blog.isevoyages.org/2011/12/03/semester-at-sea-lipdub-ship-tour/

Day 6 - Wine Tasting and Cheetahs

My final day in South Africa I decided to spend at the wineries about 30-40 km away from our dock. We took a taxi to the train station that morning to pick up whatever train we could get heading out there, though it turned out we just missed one by a few minutes and the next one wasn't rolling out for another two hours. My fellow intrepid wine taster Heidi and I bought our tickets for the next one and then left the station to walk around the city surrounding it Luckily enough for us it turned out that there happened to be a large street market nearby which provided ample entertainment. We picked up some produce to take with us on the train (South Africa has delicious apples), we browsed through counterfeit movies, rugby jerseys and gypsy pants, then grabbed a quick lunch before hopping on the train.

The train traveled through the city, past the townships and finally the urban landscape gave way to agriculture. We disembarked the train in Stellenboch and walked about another quarter mile to the Speir winery to begin the tasting. We tried wines with hints of citrus, notes of zinfandel, smoky aromas,  full bodies and whatever other jargon  that can be used to describe them but unfortunately it all went over my head. The whites were good, though I couldn't tell the difference and I really wasn't able to get into any of the red wine (it tasted like ash for some reason). Who knows, one of these days when I'm more classy I'll have to head back.

After the tasting it was time for something a little more my speed: petting cheetahs. The winery happened to have a cheetah reserve attached, which for me takes the cake as one of the weirder combinations of the trip. When you stop by and visit you can pay a small fee and enter the cage with the cheetahs and their handlers and spend some quality time with them. I was sad to find out that I had just missed David Hasselhoff, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift who had came through weeks before

After the cheetahs we split a cab with some other SAS kids we ran into back to the ship. I skyped, I bought a lot of snacks and then boarded for our next stop in Mauritius.

Day 5 - Aquarium

We left Gugulethu that morning after a quick breakfast and goodbyes with our host family. I met my roommate on the ship and we ventured to The Two Oceans Aquarium a short walk away from the port. The aquarium gets its name from the way it is organized, with one wing dedicated to the Atlantic Ocean that on the west side of Cape Point and another dedicated to the Indian Ocean on the east. I travelled there for an independent class assignment, though aquariums are always fun. I saw deadly box jellies, crabs with legs 3 feet in length, a tank dedicated to Finding Nemo and  the giant shark tank that some of the more daring students scuba dived in. 

That afternoon I bummed around the port for lunch, used the precious internet time a cup of coffee bought me to Skype my parents then went back to the ship to meet up with my roommate and some friends for dinner .We travelled out to Camps Bay which I mentioned on day two to watch the sun set. Dinner was at a beach front Italian restaurant where we each got wine, appetizers and entrees for $10-12 with a beautiful view of the sunset, not to shabby if I do say so myself.

Day 4 - Townships Round 3

After returning from Vicky's that morning I went back, yet again to the townships. This time was for an official SAS homestay with many of the same ladies who hosted the cooking class on the first day. Townships are an essential part of South Africa and are often are overlooked by vacationers passing through. Every waiter, taxi driver or busboy you meet in Cape Town has probably commuted from one of these townships by taxi or train and will head back that evening.

This time another SAS student Alex and I stayed with Mama Nucintu, her husband and five children.  We walked from the bus in which we were dropped off through the township of Gugulethu to her house. We were greeted by the neighborhood children outside of her home (including two of hers) playing soccer. She let us in on the fact that her son was happy to have two boys to play with instead of the two old ladies they had hosted previously. With that in mind when they asked us to play we immediately joined in and I took my place as the position I am most suited for, absolutely dominant goalie. They may be a bunch of little 5-8 year olds that come  up to my elbows but I wasn't going to show any mercy. Don't worry too much though, the kids were very capable and after a lifetime of practice they were able to sneak a few past me.

With the setting of the sun, our soccer game dissolved and most of the kids went back to their homes. Mama Nucinto had her young daughter and her little friends show us around the neighborhood. All of them took us to meet their families (I got a marriage proposal after one found out I was studying engineering!), we walked by spazas (tiny snack shops) a makeshift arcade and a hairdresser housed in a shipping container. In fact, a lot of the buildings were in old shipping containers. It was in one of those containers I met the local carpenter who used it to house his workshop. He studied his craft in England, served with the military I believe and somewhere along the way learned 11 languages. Various people in my group of SAS students (a few more had tagged along our walk around the neighborhood) tested his French, Spanish and Portuguese and surprised even his neighbors with perfect responses. That was definitely one humbling experiences you have so often during your travels.

Eventually, the gaggle of girls returned us home for the evening. We sat down for the evening with our host family and just talked over another delicious dinner. We heard concerns about how Somalians were moving into townships and taking over spazas with the Wal-mart strategy of undercutting prices. We found out that both of our parents were technically unemployed and unable to find jobs, though they were resourceful. They get money through a local snack bar they opened, by driving students to school every morning and by doing the homestays we were on. Maybe the most interesting tidbit of info I  remember from my trip was our host fathers passion for classical music and WWF wresting, a combination almost never found in the US. Later in the evening when the conversation died down Alex and I passed out after a few nights of little sleep.