So Brazil was AMAZING… we were in Salvador in the state of Bahia (pronounced Bye-hee-yuh) during Carnaval and it was just such a lively, fun, party atmosphere. Bahia has the highest percentage of Afro-Brazilians living in Brazil so that really has shaped their culture. From the religious aspect (the religion called Candomblé) to the dances (Capoeira, more about that later). Salvador is also divided up into 2 different sections, the lower city and the upper city, also called Pelourinho. The ship was docked in the lower city and to get to the upper city we walked for like 10 minutes (on a street that smelled awful… I saw several people peeing on the streets. Yuck!) to a huge elevator (aka the Lacerda) that takes you up to Pelourinho. The upper city is where Carnaval takes place. So the first day we walked over to the “Modelo Mercado” which is basically this huge market that sells a bunch of souvenirs, clothes, and other crazy stuff and it’s right outside the lacerda. We also spent some time in Pelourinho exploring, since it was early in the morning when we went up there it was pretty quiet but there were a lot of people around setting up for Carnaval that night. I guess it started on Friday but the mornings are pretty quiet. Capoeira is what the Africans invented when they were brought to Brazil by the Portuguese colonialists to be enslaved. They weren’t allowed to do any dancing so they invented capoeira (cap-oh-air-uh) which basically looks like really fast fighting with lots of kicking and flips and it’s usually done with 2 people in a big circle with everyone else singing and clapping and there’s usually a little band with some unrecognizable instruments. So it’s really amazing to watch and we could just stand there for hours! Also, they do this all barefoot on rock streets, sometimes even uneven cobblestone—and they’re doing like 5 flips in a row! It’s just crazy because they are such unbelievable athletes.
Saturday night Lydia and I went out to Carnaval and went to a little plaza in Old Pelourinho. We started drinking some VERY cheap beer (cans of beer for less than 1 US dollar)and were watching some Capoeira for awhile. The Capoeira boys (who, let me just add, have amazing bodies) dragged us into their circle and taught us some capoeira moves—mildly embarrassing but who cares, no one knew me! Then we all went down to the stage area where a band was playing some traditional Carnaval music and we all started dancing and the Capoeira boys were teaching us this traditional dance so that was really fun. We just danced for a long time there and then this guy “Edy” started dancing with Lydia and basically fell in love with her and he took us into the actual parade area for Carnaval. This is the area where it gets really crazy and you can actually get a feel for the 2 million people that are there. Basically there are these huge 18 wheelers but double the height called “Blocos” that carry people and a band. There’s also a closed off area (secured by a bunch of guys carrying a big rope) around the Bloco and you can only get into it if you have a t-shirt for it. So even though you can’t get into or on the Bloco you’re still allowed to follow behind them and dance and that’s exactly what we did!! We stayed out late just dancing and having a wonderful time!
Sunday morning Lydia and I tried to go to a mall because she wanted to buy some clothes, and after a pricy cab ride to a mall the taxi driver informed us that all the stores were closed for Carnaval. So we were livid of course. That afternoon we just walked around Pelourinho for a little bit, did some shopping and watched more capoeira (I’m telling you, I could watch it for hours!). That night we went back up to Carnaval and danced some more at the same plaza. These little girls were trying so hard to teach us to samba but we were just hopeless- it’s so hard! They seriously move their feet so fast it’s crazy. Anyway that was really cool because all these little girls were trying to teach us and it was just really cute. I wish I had had my camera but it was just too dangerous to bring it out, especially at night. Apparently the first day there, several groups of Semester at Sea kids got knives pulled on them and had all of their cameras and money stolen—I was not about to take that risk even though it means I don’t have too many pictures from Brazil. At lest I still have my camera! Anyway, Edy found us again (he was really a nice guy… I was just a little irritated that he was ALWAYS around) and we went back to the parade. It was actually good to have Edy there because if not I’m sure that we wouldn’t have been as safe, he really watched out for us. Sunday night was a totally different experience, there were way more people following the Blocos and it was just way too crowded for me! I was exhausted.
Monday I spent the day at Itaparica Island and Ilha de Frades. At Frades (actually pronounced fredge-ace or something) we just went to the beach and ate some shrimp (ew! They had their heads and legs still attached!) and went swimming in really warm water and then had lunch on Itaparica Island. The lunch was amazing—I don’t have any idea what I ate I just know it was delicious- it was all Brazilian food and just generally amazing. We also visited a fountain of youth with 3 faucets for youth (obviously), health and money. We were on the ferry for most of the time but it was nice to be out on the water (you’d think I’d be sick of it by now but I’m not!).
That night we went out to dinner at a yummy little place called Mama Bahia and had the most amazing dinner! We split a bottle of wine and had delicious appetizers (cheese balls—I don’t know if it’s Brazilian but they were amazing), filet mignon (my fave) and some kind of dessert. After we went back to our plaza and just watched some of the bands and danced a little bit. I was exhausted from my day on the islands and ferry so we didn’t stay out too late.
On Tuesday I didn’t do a thing! I was so tired from all the dancing and partying and jam-packed days that I literally slept until 2 (the joys of not having a window in your room—complete darkness!) and then just lazed around. They were playing grey’s anatomy on the tv’s in our rooms so I watched that for awhile. Tuesday night (our last night by the way) we went to an “evening camarote” which is basically a viewing area for Carnaval and it’s in the section of Barra which is where they do the judging I guess. The camarote was basically amazing—a couple different bars, lots of places to eat, and it was all basically outdoors so you could watch the parade but not be quite as close to it, it’s definitely a safer option so I could bring my camera! I met some young Brazilians that we hung out with a bunch and that was really fun. They all spoke really good English because they had studied in Santa Barbara so it was so nice to be able to actually talk to people. We also made really good friends with the bartenders and they kept inviting us behind the bar to take pictures so I have some funny shots of that.
After the camarote we went back up to Pelourinho and watched some more bands and capoeira and then went to bed. On our last day it was raining but we decided to go to the beach anyway. So it stopped raining eventually but was really cloudy and gross so we left, kind of a waste of the morning but oh well- at least we got to see the beach! We went back to the modelo Mercado and shopped a little bit and got lunch at Mama Bahia again (cheese balls!!!) and then did some more shopping. That night we made some phone calls and got some pizza before going back to the ship for good… and now we’re at sea! We’ve been at sea for… well this is day 3 I guess. South Africa next Friday! I can’t wait for that—my safari is going to be amazing! Hope all is well with everyone—I miss you all so much!! Keep sending emails I LOVE to hear from people!
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Hola from Puerto Rico!
Blog:
Hola from Puerto Rico! I’m sitting on the 6th deck of the MV Explorer on our last night in San Juan. The past couple of days have been beautiful and exciting in our first port.
We arrived in San Juan on Wednesday at 8am. Pulling into port I was a little overwhelmed and I think it started to hit me that this trip is actually underway and I was arriving at our very first port. The governor or Puerto Rico (forgive me, I’m blanking on his name!) came to the ship and addressed all of the students. It was crazy- there were paparazzi in the union and they all freaked out when Archbishop Desmond Tutu walked into the room. I don’t know if I told all of you, but he will be with us on the entire voyage, it’s such an amazing opportunity to meet and even get to know one of the most influential figures in recent history! Anyway, it was a privilege to hear the governor speak to us and he stressed the importance of our upcoming experiences and our education and that no matter what happens and what changes we will always have our education. It was definitely really cool to have the governor on our ship. In Puerto Rico the governor is basically the equivalent of the President.
After the governor’s address I went up to Old San Juan via taxi with a group of girls and we just wandered around and went into some cute shops. Old San Juan is a pretty cute little city and the people are very friendly. I had to be back at the ship by 1 to go on my kayaking trip but unfortunately this other girl and I got into a crazy cab and the driver didn’t understand where we wanted to go so we were running a little late. Luckily I got to the ship on time and could still get onto the trip. It is definitely hard not knowing the language… I can only imagine how much harder it will be in the upcoming countries.
So we rode on a bus for about an hour to a big bay and got partnered up. I was partners with this really cool girl Alex who I’d met a couple other times. After brief kayaking instructions by our gorgeous guide, Julio (of course), we were off! I hadn’t been kayaking in a while and it was a little bit harder than I remembered. We basically kayaked around a big bay which was not as exciting as I had expected although we did see an iguana (but they bite apparently so we were warned not to get too close). Then we went ashore and went swimming for a little while and Julio found a sea cucumber (anyone remember the Jackass movies? haha). Then we kayaked along the shoreline back to our original spot. In the description of the trip it said that we would kayak to see this “majestic tree” that grows “magically” in the middle of the bay… well, no such tree. So that was a little disappointing but at least I got to be out in the sun and got to meet some new people.
When we got back from the kayaking trip almost everyone went to welcome receptions at various universities around Puerto Rico. I went to the Universidad de Puerto Rico and it was absolutely amazing, I’m so glad that I got to go. We were greeted by a bunch of friendly students and Lydia and this other girl Sarah and I were paired with Rafael. We got pina coladas and small gifts (a glass with the University Seal on it, a small PR flag, a bracelet and some other cool goodies) and then sat at a table to chat. There was also a small group of students dressed in traditional outfits and playing traditional Puerto Rican music, they were so good and it was such a fun atmosphere. We spent some time talking to Rafael and he told us some cool places to check out near San Juan. The band walked around all the students and I even got to play one of the instruments (no idea what it’s called, my bad). The food that they served us was delicious and then 2 students taught us to salsa dance. Well, they tried to teach us. I personally failed miserably, haha. It was definitely really cool to get to talk to other students and I was amazed at how welcoming and friendly they all were.
Yesterday Lydia and I woke up super early and took a taxi out to Isla Verde. We wanted to spend some time at the beach and go to watch some of PR’s national sport… cockfighting! We asked some police officers where we could see the cockfights and they actually called one of their friends and told us that they were at 4pm that day. So we walked to an internet café and then came back to the beach where we just lounged for hours. I took a nice nap and Lydia and I drank strawberry and mango daiquiris. The water was beautiful and warm although there was a lot of gross seaweed attacking my legs. Around 3 we decided that we had gotten enough sun (turns out the backs of my legs were bright red… yikes!) and so we stopped at a cute little café and got sandwiches and gelato (of course we also took nerdy pictures). Then we went off to the cockfights. Women get in for free (either because women can’t bet or there just never are any there… we’re still not sure).
The cockfights were the most bizarre thing imaginable. Although I definitely did not enjoy watching 2 roosters fight to the death I’m definitely glad that I got to experience something that is so important in the Puerto Rican culture. Basically it is a big pit with Astroturf in the bottom and this ref guy sits there and yells things out that we obviously couldn’t understand. The roosters get lowered down in these fiberglass boxes on this conveyor belt and then get put into these burlap sacks where they are weighed. Then the ref examines them (who knows what he’s looking for…?). Then the guys that were putting the roosters in the ring would take this little stuffed animal rooster and kind of try to rile the roosters up by like hitting it in the head with it. Then they are placed in these clear plastic boxes facing each other where they get more agitated. Finally the boxes are picked up and they start the fight. It was really intense and definitely gory but as I said, I’m glad that I went. Each fight is on a 15 minute timer (although they usually didn’t last that long) and then a winner is proclaimed; usually it’s pretty obvious. I’m not really sure how it is such a popular sport because it just seems so cruel, but I guess that since it’s been going on for so long and is so embedded in their culture that it is almost like the USA and boxing, for example… it’s not exactly pleasant to watch I guess but people love it. Or maybe greyhound racing… although they don’t run to the death (in most cases anyway). Thursday night we just checked out old San Juan some more and got coffee and sat in a little piazza and people watched. It was low key but definitely enjoyable.
Today I went on a biking “eco-adventure” at 8am. It was definitely not what I would describe as an adventure, but pretty cool nonetheless. Since I hadn’t ridden a bike in years literally, I was a little wobbly at first but got the hang of it. We rode on a boardwalk through the woods and then out along the beach. Then we came to a pretty area and stopped for about 20 minutes to take pictures and have some water and then biked back and spent an hour at the beach. I didn’t wear my bathing suit but apparently the water was really warm. It was a nice relaxing morning to say the least. And our guide Javier was definitely hitting on Lydia, haha.
We grabbed lunch on the ship and then ventured back into Old San Juan to spend the afternoon doing some shopping. We went into a great little gallery where I got 2 prints of gorgeous paintings and even got to meet the artist and his wife who were so sweet. We just wandered around some more and took dorky pictures of course. Tonight Dean Maniates (aka the political science professor from Allegheny turned Academic Dean of SAS) took Lydia and I out to dinner to a very authentic Puerto Rican restaurant. It was really nice to have dinner with him and a great way to end our time in Puerto Rico. We grabbed coffee and cookies after at a historical pastry shop, La Bombadera. We leave in about an hour and start the trip to Salvador Brazil. I have class for 7 days in a row (eek!) but then about 5 off where I get to experience Carnival!
I hope everyone is doing well! Post Comments or send emails to bowmank@allegheny.edu
I miss you all!
Ps- pictures will be uploaded when I'm in Brazil so I don't use up precious internet minutes
Hola from Puerto Rico! I’m sitting on the 6th deck of the MV Explorer on our last night in San Juan. The past couple of days have been beautiful and exciting in our first port.
We arrived in San Juan on Wednesday at 8am. Pulling into port I was a little overwhelmed and I think it started to hit me that this trip is actually underway and I was arriving at our very first port. The governor or Puerto Rico (forgive me, I’m blanking on his name!) came to the ship and addressed all of the students. It was crazy- there were paparazzi in the union and they all freaked out when Archbishop Desmond Tutu walked into the room. I don’t know if I told all of you, but he will be with us on the entire voyage, it’s such an amazing opportunity to meet and even get to know one of the most influential figures in recent history! Anyway, it was a privilege to hear the governor speak to us and he stressed the importance of our upcoming experiences and our education and that no matter what happens and what changes we will always have our education. It was definitely really cool to have the governor on our ship. In Puerto Rico the governor is basically the equivalent of the President.
After the governor’s address I went up to Old San Juan via taxi with a group of girls and we just wandered around and went into some cute shops. Old San Juan is a pretty cute little city and the people are very friendly. I had to be back at the ship by 1 to go on my kayaking trip but unfortunately this other girl and I got into a crazy cab and the driver didn’t understand where we wanted to go so we were running a little late. Luckily I got to the ship on time and could still get onto the trip. It is definitely hard not knowing the language… I can only imagine how much harder it will be in the upcoming countries.
So we rode on a bus for about an hour to a big bay and got partnered up. I was partners with this really cool girl Alex who I’d met a couple other times. After brief kayaking instructions by our gorgeous guide, Julio (of course), we were off! I hadn’t been kayaking in a while and it was a little bit harder than I remembered. We basically kayaked around a big bay which was not as exciting as I had expected although we did see an iguana (but they bite apparently so we were warned not to get too close). Then we went ashore and went swimming for a little while and Julio found a sea cucumber (anyone remember the Jackass movies? haha). Then we kayaked along the shoreline back to our original spot. In the description of the trip it said that we would kayak to see this “majestic tree” that grows “magically” in the middle of the bay… well, no such tree. So that was a little disappointing but at least I got to be out in the sun and got to meet some new people.
When we got back from the kayaking trip almost everyone went to welcome receptions at various universities around Puerto Rico. I went to the Universidad de Puerto Rico and it was absolutely amazing, I’m so glad that I got to go. We were greeted by a bunch of friendly students and Lydia and this other girl Sarah and I were paired with Rafael. We got pina coladas and small gifts (a glass with the University Seal on it, a small PR flag, a bracelet and some other cool goodies) and then sat at a table to chat. There was also a small group of students dressed in traditional outfits and playing traditional Puerto Rican music, they were so good and it was such a fun atmosphere. We spent some time talking to Rafael and he told us some cool places to check out near San Juan. The band walked around all the students and I even got to play one of the instruments (no idea what it’s called, my bad). The food that they served us was delicious and then 2 students taught us to salsa dance. Well, they tried to teach us. I personally failed miserably, haha. It was definitely really cool to get to talk to other students and I was amazed at how welcoming and friendly they all were.
Yesterday Lydia and I woke up super early and took a taxi out to Isla Verde. We wanted to spend some time at the beach and go to watch some of PR’s national sport… cockfighting! We asked some police officers where we could see the cockfights and they actually called one of their friends and told us that they were at 4pm that day. So we walked to an internet café and then came back to the beach where we just lounged for hours. I took a nice nap and Lydia and I drank strawberry and mango daiquiris. The water was beautiful and warm although there was a lot of gross seaweed attacking my legs. Around 3 we decided that we had gotten enough sun (turns out the backs of my legs were bright red… yikes!) and so we stopped at a cute little café and got sandwiches and gelato (of course we also took nerdy pictures). Then we went off to the cockfights. Women get in for free (either because women can’t bet or there just never are any there… we’re still not sure).
The cockfights were the most bizarre thing imaginable. Although I definitely did not enjoy watching 2 roosters fight to the death I’m definitely glad that I got to experience something that is so important in the Puerto Rican culture. Basically it is a big pit with Astroturf in the bottom and this ref guy sits there and yells things out that we obviously couldn’t understand. The roosters get lowered down in these fiberglass boxes on this conveyor belt and then get put into these burlap sacks where they are weighed. Then the ref examines them (who knows what he’s looking for…?). Then the guys that were putting the roosters in the ring would take this little stuffed animal rooster and kind of try to rile the roosters up by like hitting it in the head with it. Then they are placed in these clear plastic boxes facing each other where they get more agitated. Finally the boxes are picked up and they start the fight. It was really intense and definitely gory but as I said, I’m glad that I went. Each fight is on a 15 minute timer (although they usually didn’t last that long) and then a winner is proclaimed; usually it’s pretty obvious. I’m not really sure how it is such a popular sport because it just seems so cruel, but I guess that since it’s been going on for so long and is so embedded in their culture that it is almost like the USA and boxing, for example… it’s not exactly pleasant to watch I guess but people love it. Or maybe greyhound racing… although they don’t run to the death (in most cases anyway). Thursday night we just checked out old San Juan some more and got coffee and sat in a little piazza and people watched. It was low key but definitely enjoyable.
Today I went on a biking “eco-adventure” at 8am. It was definitely not what I would describe as an adventure, but pretty cool nonetheless. Since I hadn’t ridden a bike in years literally, I was a little wobbly at first but got the hang of it. We rode on a boardwalk through the woods and then out along the beach. Then we came to a pretty area and stopped for about 20 minutes to take pictures and have some water and then biked back and spent an hour at the beach. I didn’t wear my bathing suit but apparently the water was really warm. It was a nice relaxing morning to say the least. And our guide Javier was definitely hitting on Lydia, haha.
We grabbed lunch on the ship and then ventured back into Old San Juan to spend the afternoon doing some shopping. We went into a great little gallery where I got 2 prints of gorgeous paintings and even got to meet the artist and his wife who were so sweet. We just wandered around some more and took dorky pictures of course. Tonight Dean Maniates (aka the political science professor from Allegheny turned Academic Dean of SAS) took Lydia and I out to dinner to a very authentic Puerto Rican restaurant. It was really nice to have dinner with him and a great way to end our time in Puerto Rico. We grabbed coffee and cookies after at a historical pastry shop, La Bombadera. We leave in about an hour and start the trip to Salvador Brazil. I have class for 7 days in a row (eek!) but then about 5 off where I get to experience Carnival!
I hope everyone is doing well! Post Comments or send emails to bowmank@allegheny.edu
I miss you all!
Ps- pictures will be uploaded when I'm in Brazil so I don't use up precious internet minutes
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Hello Friends and Family!
I just wanted to post really quickly to say that we have successfully EMBARKED on our voyage. Mom and Doc and I got to the Bahamas yesterday around 4ish (like they say—time in the Bahamas doesn’t really matter). We took a cab ride from the airport and found our hotel- the Quality Inn. It was… well let’s just say 3 stars was being incredibly generous. But no worries, we were in the BAHAMAS. We took a short walk over to Senor Frogs and I had my first (legal) strawberry dacquiri. It was really cool because it’s right on the water and you could see the water underneath the floors. We ordered up so delicious fried food and listened to drunk people singing karaoke (around 5pm… good times.) Then we went back to the hotel and I called Lydia (who is also an Alleghenian) and we met up around 7:30 at her hotel on Paradise Island (famous for the Atlantis). So we met up for a little while and then went back to our hotel.
This morning Mom and Doccie and I went to a little Bahamian restaurant for breakfast and then dragged my crazy-heavy bags (93 lbs total… eek!) to the insanely long line. I got onto the ship (MV Explorer by the way) and found my way to my room. After some struggles with my ID card (my key for everything) I finally got into my room. I also found Professor Maniates (aka Dean Maniates, a poli-sci prof from Allegheny but who is the Dean for SAS this semester… cool!) I got off the boat and found my parents and then got back on (this was all overwhelming and a total blur… I didn’t really meet anyone but was kind of walking around in a group of similarly confused group of people). I said goodbye to Doccie and my mom went to get in line to board the ship with some other eager parents.
Around 2:30 I found my Mom and we explored the ship a little bit, found my room, FINALLY met my roommate, Noopur (from UConn and a fellow New Englander, yay!). Mom met Dean Maniates and then we said some (a little bit teary) goodbyes. I was finally on my own!
I unpacked a little and explored a little and met some really cool girls on my hall.
We left right after our lifeboat drill (which was painfully boring, I must say.) We had to stand in a dining hall for about 45 minutes wearing these RIDICULOUS life vests (bright orange obviously) and had to be silent. (Don’t worry, there are a few pictures of us looking gorgeous, obviously!)
Then we watched the ship pull away from Prince George Wharf in the Bahamas and our now on our way to Puerto Rico. Already it is moving so fast! I can look out the window and see the Ocean moving quickly by us.
Alright, I’ve gotta get in the insanely long line for dinner and then meat my Sea-mates (aka people on my hall).
Bon Voyage!
Love,
K-lee
I just wanted to post really quickly to say that we have successfully EMBARKED on our voyage. Mom and Doc and I got to the Bahamas yesterday around 4ish (like they say—time in the Bahamas doesn’t really matter). We took a cab ride from the airport and found our hotel- the Quality Inn. It was… well let’s just say 3 stars was being incredibly generous. But no worries, we were in the BAHAMAS. We took a short walk over to Senor Frogs and I had my first (legal) strawberry dacquiri. It was really cool because it’s right on the water and you could see the water underneath the floors. We ordered up so delicious fried food and listened to drunk people singing karaoke (around 5pm… good times.) Then we went back to the hotel and I called Lydia (who is also an Alleghenian) and we met up around 7:30 at her hotel on Paradise Island (famous for the Atlantis). So we met up for a little while and then went back to our hotel.
This morning Mom and Doccie and I went to a little Bahamian restaurant for breakfast and then dragged my crazy-heavy bags (93 lbs total… eek!) to the insanely long line. I got onto the ship (MV Explorer by the way) and found my way to my room. After some struggles with my ID card (my key for everything) I finally got into my room. I also found Professor Maniates (aka Dean Maniates, a poli-sci prof from Allegheny but who is the Dean for SAS this semester… cool!) I got off the boat and found my parents and then got back on (this was all overwhelming and a total blur… I didn’t really meet anyone but was kind of walking around in a group of similarly confused group of people). I said goodbye to Doccie and my mom went to get in line to board the ship with some other eager parents.
Around 2:30 I found my Mom and we explored the ship a little bit, found my room, FINALLY met my roommate, Noopur (from UConn and a fellow New Englander, yay!). Mom met Dean Maniates and then we said some (a little bit teary) goodbyes. I was finally on my own!
I unpacked a little and explored a little and met some really cool girls on my hall.
We left right after our lifeboat drill (which was painfully boring, I must say.) We had to stand in a dining hall for about 45 minutes wearing these RIDICULOUS life vests (bright orange obviously) and had to be silent. (Don’t worry, there are a few pictures of us looking gorgeous, obviously!)
Then we watched the ship pull away from Prince George Wharf in the Bahamas and our now on our way to Puerto Rico. Already it is moving so fast! I can look out the window and see the Ocean moving quickly by us.
Alright, I’ve gotta get in the insanely long line for dinner and then meat my Sea-mates (aka people on my hall).
Bon Voyage!
Love,
K-lee
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