Mauritius

Yesterday, 2/27, we ate early and waited until customs cleared the ship and we could get clearance from immigration.  Marshall and Ellen asked if we wanted to go with them in small bus with driver and we said sure.  Then the computer that checks passengers in and out broke down and there was a mob of students waiting at the gangplank to get off.


 Finally got off at 9:30 and along with Ellen and Marshall, Bob and Melody, Marie, the Media Officer, Sonny (Dean of Students), her husband Bill and 2-year-old Alex, we set off to visit the city.  Maruitius has been conquered by the Dutch,then the French and latest by the English, so all of the signs were in French or English.  There is a French influence in the architecture  - grillwork, little balconies, etc.  All of these countries and islands were unfortunate enough to be located on  Europe's trade route  to India, so were conquered and civilized by European countries along the way.  The last picture below is of a shrine being carried to the lake, celebrating a 3-day Hindu festival.  Hindus were either  walking  to and from the lake on every main road.


Pictured below: Front row, Marshall and Marie.  Second row, Sonny, Ellen, Bob, Melody, Rick, me, Bill and Alex.  What a crew!

We went first to see Fort Adelaide, on the highest point in Port Louis, the capitol, where we were docked, and the view was beautiful.  We ran into the busload of SAS tourists on the city tour which we missed out on!  There are only 2 million people on the entire island.  We left the city because we all wanted to go to the beaches, which are supposed to be more beautiful than Hawaii.
 First, Aziz, the driver insisted that we had to see their volcano, which was up some narrow, winding roads, of course.  When we arrived it was a caldera, which is a volcano which has imploded inward, so there was nothing there but a wide hole covered in grass and weeds.  But the view from the mountain was incredible.  Mountains, sea, flowers and green, green everywhere - a welcome sight.

We headed down the mountain, into the countryside covered in sugar cane fields, some irrigated, some not.  We had several showers along the way which made me wonder, why irrigate?  It was very hot and humid so the air-conditioned bus was a relief whenever we got in and out of the bus.  In the small towns, everyone seemed to have their own vegetable gardens.  Hibiscus, bougainvilla, banana trees, mango trees, walls of oleander  and strange looking mountains, previously volcanos.  One mountain was Sleeping lady and the one in front of it - the driver wouldn't tell us the name until we came to a better place to view it.  It was called King Kong and looked just like the head of King Kong when we finally did see it. 

We literally drove right up to the beach - 20 feet from the water.  The beach itself was narrow but the water was pale aquamarine and very warm.  Even Alex enjoyed swimming in the ocean, even the salt water, but he did have goggles on.  Families of blacks, creoles,whites and Indians,  music of drums, ice cream truck with music driving through the park, warm rain showers came and went.  Bob was anxious to eat and there were no restaurants, only hotel/resorts.  So after everyone dried off and shook off the sand, we drove to Charlemas, a small village up the mountain, to Ruben's restaurant.  (On the way, however, we had to change dollar bills into rupees and we found an ATM that did just that!)   We all immediately had a beer, then I had crab soup, with a crab in it !, and seafood fritters.  Rick had seafood salad and my crab and fritters.  Alex slept on his Dad's chest the entire meal, but woke in time for dessert - candy.


The population of Mauritius is made of of Indians, who came here originally as slaves, Creoles who are black and Indian mix, blacks from Africa (Mauritius is considered part of Africa as it broke off of the continent of Africa eons ago), Asians and the white man - English, French, Dutch, etc.  60% of the population is Hindu, 15% Moslem, 15% Christian, and there is large Chinese section of Port Louis also.

The drive back to Port Louis was quiet, several fell asleep.  Bob wanted more photos of the city so we left him off while Marshall figured out how much each owed.  We were paying in rupees and American dollars so it was a real feat for him to convert dollars to rupees and add those to however many rupees we had.  We didn't want to have any rupees left.  It cost us $20 for the car and driver for the day!

We had dinner on the ship and ran, literally, into one of our onboard daughters who was drunker than a skunk.  She threw her arms around me, yelled Mom, and promptly dropped her dinner all over the deck. 

Everyone was watching and I told her she was drunk and all she did was laugh.  A bunch of students had rented a catamaran for the day and were sunburned and drunk.  One student collapsed on the dock, brought on the ship  by wheelchair and then transported to the hospital.  Another girl was 2-1/2 hours late for the ship, although students are warned the ship will not wait for them.  The drinking has really gotten out of hand.  Students are allowed to drink  on board which I think is too much  but the drinking on shore is outrageous.  Not all of the students drink and are serious students, but some are complete partyers. (Is that a word?)

Beautiful Capetown

The next day we boarded a double-decker red tour bus for a trip around the city, with earphones for listening to descriptions of what we were seeing.   It was spectacular from the top of Table Mountain (no cloud cover, Nick) but the cable car was closed because of the high winds. Capetown receives strong winds because east or west, the winds  come screaming over the Atlantic or Indian oceans.  We saw what was once District Six which was a township of shacks, and was bulldozed down which gave rise to the fight against Apartheid in Capetown.  12,000 people were dislocated.

Our favorite scenes, however, were the beautiful beaches on  the east coast.  What a contrast between the very expensive condos on the beach and the townships.  This trip has certainly been one of contrasts, on purpose.  The idea is to expose these students to the rest of the world, including the exceedingly poor nations.  80% of the resources of the world are spent by 25% of the population and the United States, with China close behind now, is the leader.  Okay, no preaching!

This last pic is of the World Cup stadium where we heard all those obnoxious horns. Taken from the upper deck of our city bus.


As I am inserting the pictures on the 24th (happy Birthday Kylie), we are 2 days out of Capetown in very rough water. We rounded the Cape of Good Hope last night and are heading North North East at 24 knots headed for Mauritius (just East of Madagascar).

Inverdoorn safari/Capetown, S.A.

When Melody and Bob booked the safari, they were told we would go in a 9-passenger van but we would be the only passengers.  When we walked to the pick-up point (most cars can't enter dock area), there was a Mercedes E-class waiting for us with driver.  Well....we are all big people and we were stuffed in this Mercedes for 3 hours.  However, along the way we did see a winery (there are hundreds in S.A.), and a township,  which is a city of shacks occupied by very poor Africans and which are the scourge of S.A.  After Aparatheid was abolished here, promises were made by the Mandela government that new housing would be built, but the poor are poorer than ever, and the rich, richer than ever.  I digress.

We arrived in time for lunch only to meet people from the ship who had also asked us to go with them!  (They were also on the cancelled trip and Dean Dan says we will be refunded the entire cost of that trip. Yea!)  The lodge was delightful, small bungalows.  Ours had a shared living room with 3 bedrooms off of it.  The reserve is owned by French couple so everything was very French.  No TV, phone but a beautiful pool and outdoor eating areas.  All of our meals were outside.  After afternoon tea at 4:39 pm, we all climbed into 2 huge Land Rovers, seating 8 and 12 respectfully, and set off on an early evening drive.  It was very hot and dry.

We saw cape buffalo, rhinos, zebras, one lone male lion asleep under a tree, Egyptian geese, ibises, wildebeest, springbok, eland,etc.  They do not claim to have the big 5, which means they don't have elephants. (The large  safaris include the big 5: lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes and leopards.)  We were gone from 5 to 7 pm when it started to get dark.  Riding on the rough trails was like riding a rollercoaster.  The park is much smaller, obviously, than the Serengeti but very well-maintained.  Safari parks are springing up all over S.A. but Inverdoorn has been there 16 years.  Upon our return to the lodge, we had a 5-course dinner which was delicous, with wine, and an outdoor fire pit but it was 10 pm by then and time to sleep as we would be up at 5:30 am.

Morning coffee at 6 am and back in the Land Rovers for an early  morning drive.  We were bundled up as it does get cold in the desert at night.  We scooted past the rhinos and wildebeest, looking for the panther which they haven't spotted for a long time, found the giraffes which were fun, then saw an ostrich herd, and headed for the cheetah preserve.   The lions are in their own preserve and the cheetahs are in another, otherwise all of the other animals are in the large preserve.  Again, the cheetahs are so used to the vehicles that they just crossed in front of us, lay down and weren't the least bit curious.  But Lisa then showed us how they exercise the cheetahs.  They shred a cloth so that it looks like a chicken and then, just like the "rabbit" on a greyhound track, races the "chicken" along a track which the cheetah races after!  And then they are fed. They reach speeds of 60 mph in a short space, but they are sprinters, not long-distance runners.

Must tell you about Lisa, our guide and driver.  She was about 5', the prettiest little thing you've ever seen, bright blue eyes and the smile of a model and as agile as one of the animals.  At one point, the other Land Rover  broke down and she practially crawled into the engine to see what was wrong and actually fixed his truck!  That's Lisa on top of the truck. The guides have to know everything about the vehicles and the park.  Photo below is of Bob and Melody Cecil, me, Rick and Lisa.

We returned for breakfast about 9 a.m., which was delicious: crepes, eggs, sausage, wonderful fruit, etc., and as were leaving, 2 girls brought 2 large cheetahs on leashes through the pool area so we could take pictures!  We piled into the car and I decided that this time we would take turns sitting in the front seat - Rick sat in the front on the way up.  It was hilarous.  We hadn't gone 30 miles when I smelled rubber burning (I know, girls, bionic nose!).  But we thought it was nearby.  Then Rick and I both felt that the tire was flat.  When we stopped, the tire had burned off around the rim and was so hot, we had to let it cool.  The driver, Peter, who was at least 60 and the 2 men changed the tire. We stopped every 1/2 hour to change seats like a Chinese fire drill!  Well, actually I was there the longest because I fell asleep but Rick didn't get a turn!

To be or not to be......in Capetown

Well, things didn't turn out as we had wished it had.  After we landed, we were told to stay on the ship because the field trip people were working desparately to get a flight or even a charter to get us to Elizabethtown for our safari.  By 2 pm they told us we could leave the ship; we went shopping and walking around the city, which is gorgeous...still no news.  When we returned at 5 pm, we were told by a note on the field trip desk that our safari had been cancelled.  We were furious, but not surprised.   Bono was playing in concert Friday evening in Capetown, just down the way from our dock,  and there were no planes available for anyone to go anywhere. 


So.......Sat. morning we went shopping, bumped into Bob and Melody who said they had  booked a safari/trip overnight Sun. night so we went down and booked with them. (SAS is supposed to refund cancelled trips so hopefully we will receive a refund for our other safari.)  This is not a SAS approved trip but we couldn't get on any others.  So tomorrow we are leaving at 8 am for Inverdoorn Game reserve, 2-hour drive from Capetown and a reserve for 1000 cheetahs.  You can see it online and we're hoping it is good.  Nothing could compare, however, to our Serengeti safari 10 years ago.


Capetown is filled with visitors, some for the concert, others here because it's Sat. and it has a real European feeling.  The shopping center is fantastic, right next to our dock, with every kind of shop imaginable.  We walked for 5 hours today, had lunch on the waterfront (pizza and beer!), listened to a small band,  and came back for dinner to hear everyone's stories of their trips today.  It's so good to be in a clean, English-speaking, gorgeous city!  Snob that I am!

Capetown at last

Although we arrived in Capetown on Thursday at 8 am, we spent all day Thursday  circling in the South Atlantic  because the sea was rough, winds high and the pilot wouldn't take us in into port.  We kept getting reports that we would hear any time, but nothing came of all the announcements.  So last evening a bunch of us, Bob, Melody, Marshall, Ellen, Rick, Donna and Jeff all met in Donna and Rick's room next door and had a few! Announcements kept up all night until finally we just went to sleep.  We were told to be dressed, ready to go, in case immigration had come aboard during the night and the ship was cleared. 

We woke up at 4 am still cruising, everyone getting more and more upset because we can't get in.  Rumors were rampant.  Finally about an hour ago, 9:30 am Friday,  the Captain announced the the pilots would board in about an hour.  We were supposed to leave on our safari, along with hundreds of others, at 8 am so we'll see what time we actually land and get off the ship.  We have to pick up our passports (the Purser keeps them while we're on board) because we'll be flying to Elizabethtown and then drive to Keriga preserve.

In the meantime, Kelly, the IT whizkid, tracked our ship's path on GPS and this is what it looked like!  Capetown is in the lower right corner, right on the tip of South Africa.  Kelly and his wife, Mary, the librarian, are leaders of our safari so we ought to have a ball - if all the flights get changed, etc.

The picture of Capetown and Table Rock Mountain covered in a "tablecloth" cloud cover.

John wanted a picture of the ship, so here it is!

Well, we finally entered the Capetown port about 10:00 am.  Madhouse sorting out the delayed overnight and day trips. Immigration insists that each person do a face-to-face with an immigration official before receiving your passport. Our 8am safari trip is now scheduledfor 3pm.

On the briny seas!

This is what 0 latitude, 0 longitude looks like. Not it, but looks like it.  We crossed the equator on Friday, 2/11 but won't celebrate Neptune's Day until after we leave Mauritius bound for India.  The Captain announced that if we would look over the starboard side we would see the meeting of the longitue and latitude.  People actually rushed to the side to see the X marks the spot!  The sea was silken, shimmering and smooth and we enjoyed the smooth ride for about 4 days.

In addition to Global Studies, which everyone must take, I am now in John Cerrone's class on the United Nations and Human Rights.  He is brilliant, a Notre Dame law graduate, and he never looks at his notes.  He also makes the students do a lot of talking. The age of computers has changed the way professors lecture.  Bob, for instance, puts all of his lectures on ship's computers for students to read and he rarely refers to them, expecting the students to have read the lectures, he continues from there. However, we have all decided that probably 25% of the students are here to party and go on their own trips, not the SAS trips.  For many students, the courses will not transfer  to their university, so they don't care what grade they get as long as they pass.

                                                                

 Every day seems to roll  into another, breakfast, read, go to class, lunch, read, go to LLL class, dinner and movies or special events.  Many have been sick since Ghana with pretty serious bacterial upsets but so far we have been lucky.  Once the seas got rough yesterday, we both felt queasy.  But we take our seasick pills and we're fine.
We had a tour of the kitchen yesterday with John the first Officer or Hotelier.  He is a character, also English, as is the Captain, Jeremy.  The menus repeat once a month, although to me it seems like we have the same thing every day: pasta, curried something, salad, sandwiches, and some sort of meat.  The soups are the best.  There is also a bar/restaurant on the 7th deck where the students hang out, sunbath and does who knows what.  The kitchen keeps track of food thrown away, 40 some lbs a day for 1000 passengers, isn't bad.  We carry tons of water and he told us that when we arrive in India, we will be using mineral water for drinking water and for bathing, because they can't provide fresh water and we can't make water in the port.

We took our onboard kids for pizza and enjoyed hearing their experiences in Ghana and what they're going  to do inSouth Africa.  Most are going on independent trips, not SAS

trips as they are cheaper and they can go where they want to go.  We stick to SAS, dependable, air-conditioned busses, etc.  Some girls are going cage diving, diving with sharks!  This is actually prohibited and any injury will not be cover by  our medical insurance.

We have Rhoda Kadalie on board, a South African from Capetown, who is politically active, and has lectured several times on the good and bad about Capetown:  high HIV rate 85%., reducing life expectancy to 40, down 20 years in the last 10 years; high crime rate.  Mbeci, former president, denied that HIV existed, and refused to make antiviral available.  At least now, some drugs are available.

So here we are. Thursday morning, in Capetown, after a terribly rough night.  None of us got any sleep but then were told that we could not get into  our berth in Capetown as the winds were too strong at the harbor entrance for the ship to safely land!  So here we are going around in circles in the South Atlantic waiting for the winds to die down!  Rick has already missed  his Habitat for Humanity project and my guess is that we'll be here all day!  We better not miss our safari tomorrow!

Ghana and no water

A few facts about the Republic of Ghana: It is slightly smaller than Oregon; supplies most of the world's cocoa beans (and bauxite); there are over 50 languages spoken although English is the official language; is located almost on the equator so it is hot; was visited by President Obama in 2009, his first visit to an African country; and was a major port for the exportation of slaves.


 There are several "castles", more like  forts, where the slaves were held until they were sent abroad.  During the height of the slave trade, 1000 slaves were crammed into dungeons to await departure. These dark rooms contained little air, and those held captive, received little to no food and water with no facilities to eliminate waste.  Those who were "troublesome" were bound to dungeon walls, and women were often raped.  Those who died were thrown into the ocean.  Upon leaving the castle, Africans were forced through an opening that was called "The Door of No Return" as all those who departed through the doorway would never return to Africa again.


Interestingly, of the 10 million slaves forced across the Atlantic, only 5% of the slaves ended up in the US; most went to Brazil and the Caribbean Islands.  One of the reasons this percentage is low is because of the natural population growth.  The largest trading countries were the British, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese.


The reason we have no water is a mystery.  First the Captain said there would be no laundry while we are in port; then he said no china would be used, only paper plates and cups; then the said the water would be turned off from 10 pm to 7 am.  Then last night the Asst. to the Dean (The Voice) announced that water would be turned off from 10 pm to 7 pm tonight!  And we may have the same routine tomorrow night.  The rumors are rampant:  the City couldn't supply enough fresh water and we couldn't use water from the ocean to desalinate because it is too dirty in port.  We do have drinking water.    We leave tomorrow night and we have already packed up our dirty laundry to send as soon as the ship hits open ocean.

The Voice is so called because she makes all of the announcements at 9 am, noon and 5 pm, and in between.  Her voice is rather harsh, so  whenever she makes an announcement, everyone cringes.  Turns out she's a litigation attorney!  Figures.

We have as much fun watching the port traffic and  the loading and unloading of container ships.  The cocoa beans in burlap bags arrive on huge trucks, driven into the warehouse, loaded into containers and trucks take the containers to the ship for the cranes to take on board.  Watching the loading of containers on the ship is like watching a dance: all the containers are piled on the pier; frontend loaders pick them up and put them on the pier for the cranes to lift onto the ship.  Yesterday, there was a container ship with three cranes unloading and was gone this morning.  It was huge.  I can't understand why the ship doesn't tip over in heavy seas.

Walked to the Central Market one morning, about 2 miles after a shuttle bus ride to the port entrance. Bought some Kente print fabric. Print being the operative word. Real Kente fabric is thick, almost beaded and of a distinctive pattern. Got the print of the pattern. Heavy bargaining to determine final cost. Getting better, but I don't think I took advantage of any of the vendors.  The market is a huge circle and you can find most anything in or around it. VERY narrow aisles going every which way with sellers also babysitting and cooking at/in their stalls.

This is the lady that Prof Cecil and I bought fabric from. Lots of choices. Note the children in lower left. As we walked through and around the market, we saw everything from eggs to appliances.  Remember that most have no refrigeration, so they must go to market every day. Not unusual to see a purchase of one or two eggs; or a potato.
 The market appeared to be segmented by various groups/tribes and/or religons.  You always ask before taking a persons picture. Most are happy to allow it and overjoyed to see the digital image. However, some were very outspoken about denying one to take their picture. Okay to film the product but not the person.  

Saw some interesting architecture.






A stairway to an abandoned building.




An exterior stairway to everywhere.




And a modern bank building.
Note the barbed wire fence around the bank. Not unusual!